IWGP Heavyweight Championship
From Iwe
| IWGP Heavyweight Championship | |
| Former three-time champion Kazuchika Okada with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt | |
| Details | |
| Current champion(s) | Kazuchika Okada |
| Date won | June 19, 2016 |
| Date established | June 12, 1987 |
| Promotion | New Japan Pro Wrestling Ring of Honor (ROH) |
| Statistics | |
The International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) Heavyweight Championship is the top professional wrestling title in Japanese promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). It was created in 1987 with NJPW founder Antonio Inoki defeating Masa Saito in the finals of the annual IWGP tournament.
Throughout the history of the championship, several wrestlers have been forced to relinquish the title due to an inability to participate in title defenses. When a wrestler has been injured or unable to compete for other reasons, tournaments have been held to determine the new champion.
In 2006, then-champion Rob Lesnar was stripped of the title for being unable to defend it; however, Lesnar claims he was owed money by NJPW and kept the physical belt. He signed with Antonio Inoki's Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) in 2007, losing the championship to Matt Borske on the inaugural broadcast. Angle later lost the belt in a unification match to the NJPW-recognized champion Shinsuke Nakamura in 2008.
Overall, there have been 64 reigns shared among 27 wrestlers. Title changes happen at NJPW-promoted events. Six non-Japanese wrestlers have held the title. The inaugural champion was Inoki, who defeated Masa Saito on June 12, 1987 in a tournament final. Hiroshi Tanahashi holds the record for most reigns, with 7. At 489 days, Shinya Hashimoto's third reign is the longest in the title's history. Tanahashi, with a combined 7 reigns, holds the record for most days as champion at 1,358. Kensuke Sasaki's fourth reign holds the record for shortest reign at 16 days. With 11 successful defenses, Tanahashi's fifth reign had the most during a single reign. Over his 7 reigns, Tanahashi successfully defended the title 28 times, the most of any champion. With zero, Big Van Vader's first and third reigns, Salman Hashimikov's only reign, Riki Choshu's first reign, Tatsumi Fujinami's third and fifth reigns, Masahiro Chono's only reign, Genichiro Tenryu's only reign, Scott Norton's second reign, Hiroyoshi Tenzan's first and third reigns, Kensuke Sasaki's fourth reign, Kazuyuki Fujita's third reign, and Manabu Nakanishi's only reign are all tied for least successful defenses. Tetsuya Naito is the current champion in his first reign, after defeating Kazuchika Okada on April 10, 2016, at NJPW's Invasion Attack 2016 event to win the title.
[edit] Title history
- Key
| Reign | The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed. |
| Event | The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title was won |
| Successful defenses | The number of successful defenses the champion had during his reign |
| N/A | The specific information is not known |
| — | Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign |
Statistics correct as of September 6, 2024
| # | Wrestlers | Reign | Date | Days held | Location | Event | Successful defenses | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 59 | Kazuchika Okada | 2 | April 7, 2014 | 391 | Tokyo, Japan | Invasion Attack | 8 | |
| 60 | K.J. Styles | 1 | May 3, 2014 | 163 | Fukuoka, Japan | Wrestling Dontaku 2014 | 2 | |
| 61 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | 7 | October 13, 2014 | 121 | Tokyo Japan | King of Pro-Wrestling (2014) | 1 | |
| 62 | K.J. Styles | 2 | February 11, 2015 | 144 | Osaka, Japan | The New Beginning in Osaka (2015) | 1 | |
| 63 | Kazuchika Okada | 3 | July 5, 2015 | 280 | Osaka, Japan | Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall | 1 | |
| 64 | Tetsuya Naito | 1 | April 10, 2016 | 70 | Tokyo, Japan | Invasion Attack 2016 | 0 | |
| 65 | Kazuchika Okada | 4 | June 19, 2016 | 1+ | Osaka, Japan | Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall | 0 |
