Open the Owarai Gate Championship

Open the Owarai Gate
Details
Current champion(s) "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa
Date won April 10, 2016
Date established May 4, 2007
Promotion Dragon Gate

The Open the Owarai Gate Championship is a professional wrestling title in Japanese promotion Dragon Gate. The word owarai in the title's name is the Japanese word for comedy.

The championship was first conceived during Stalker Ichikawa's first United States tour, joining fellow Dragon Gate wrestlers CIMA, Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino and Don Fujii during the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla two-night event Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament on May 19 and May 20, 2007 in Burbank, California.[1] In addition to changing his name to "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa, he also gave birth to the Open the Owarai Gate Championship which he wore during the second night of the event against Top Gun Talwar. The name change and the introduction of the belt was made official on May 25.[2]

The championship is both unique and very unusual. The title is not necessarily defended by traditional methods of simply beating the champion by pinfalls or submission. While such a situation can still happen, the title also has a stipulation regarding audience approval during the match. This means that while the champion could still technically lose the match, he could retain the belt simply by having earning more applause and/or laughter from the audience.[3]

The championship was defended for the first time on June 10 at Hakata Star Lanes in Fukuoka, Fukuoka. In addition, Ichikawa also began by having ten "Free Defense" tickets that would ensure he would always retain the title regardless. However, before his defense against Kikutaro on September 22 at the Ota-ku Gymnasium in Tokyo, the tickets were destroyed and he was forced to defend the belt on his own merit. He was able to successfully retain due to unusual circumstances since, such as his mother appealing to the crowd and later his opponent feeling sorry.

Title history

Wrestler: Reigns: Date: Location: Notes:
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa 1 May 25, 2007 Burbank, California Conceived during a visit to Pro Wrestling Guerrilla; officially defended on June 10 in Fukuoka, Fukuoka.
CIMA 1 October 8, 2007 Shizuoka, Shizuoka Defeated Ichikawa and K-ness in a three-way match. Ichikawa failed to gain approval from the crowd, so CIMA, as the match winner, won the title.
Jackson Florida 1 October 17, 2007 Hyogo CIMA fails V1 for various purposes against Stalker Ichikawa. Jackson Florida becomes champion since he was sitting at ringside.
Masaaki Mochizuki 1 January 19, 2008 Nagoya Mochizuki won the title by disqualification and fan support.
Jackson Florida 2 February 2, 2008 Hakata, Fukuoka
Johnson Florida 1 July 11, 2008 Tokyo
ICHIKAWA 2 July 21, 2008 Kumamoto ICHIKAWA stole title belt from Johnson after beating him in three way match with K-ness. Repeated attempts to contact the title belt commissioner were met with only his voicemail, so ICHIKAWA was just named the 7th champion.
Jackson Florida 3 August 16, 2008 Toyama
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa 3 March 16, 2009 Kumamoto
Kinta Tamaoka 1 March 20, 2009 Kobe The title match was between Stalker and Masaaki Mochizuki, but Kinta - the referee - received more fan support than either of them, so he became champion.
Vacated March 20, 2009 Kobe Vacated immediately after winning it.
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa 4 March 29, 2009 Fukui, Japan
Anthony W. Mori 1 April 4, 2009 Nagoya, Japan
Kikutaro 1 May 15, 2009 Tokyo, Japan Kikutaro becomes 13th Champion via fan support
Don Fujii 1 April 10, 2011 Mie, Japan Don Fujii becomes 14th Champion via fan support
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa 5 August 21, 2011 Hakata, Fukuoka "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa becomes 15th Champion via fan support. CIMA refuses the title on September 24, 2011, despite getting fan support.
Rich Swann 1 November 5, 2011 Gifu, Japan Rich Swann becomes the 16th Champion via fan support
Vacated December 25, 2011 Fukuoka, Japan Vacated after Naoki Tanizaki stole the title belt from Swann.
Keni'chiro Arai 1 August 2, 2012 Tokyo, Japan Arai defeated "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa via fan support to become the 17th Champion.
Kikutaro 2 December 20, 2012 Tokyo, Japan Kikutaro becomes the 18th Champion via fan support.
Ryo "Jimmy" Saito 1 March 7, 2013 Tokyo, Japan Saito becomes the 19th Champion via fan support.
Jimmy Kanda 1 November 23, 2014 Saga, Japan Kanda becomes the 20th Champion via fan support.
Yosuke♥Santa Maria 1 February 4, 2015 Kasukabe, Japan Santa Maria becomes the 21st Champion via fan support.
Akira Tozawa 1 March 29, 2015 Saga, Japan Tozawa becomes the 22nd Champion via fan support.
Mr. Nakagawa 1 November 14, 2015 Fukuoka, Japan The title match was between "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa and Akira Tozawa, the reigning champion, but Nakagawa - the referee - received more fan support than either of them, so he became champion.
Masato Yoshino 1 November 23, 2015 Okayama, Japan Yoshino becomes the 23rd champion via fan support.
Vacated April 3, 2016 Kobe Yoshino was stripped of the title after failing to defend it within the previous three months.
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa 6 April 10, 2016 Mie, Japan CIMA had originally won the title, but since he did not want it, his opponent Ichikawa was awarded the championship.

List of reigns by length

As of May 8, 2016.

Wrestler Days Held Date Won Date Lost
Kikutaro 695 May 15, 2009 April 10, 2011
Ryo "Jimmy" Saito 626 March 7, 2013 November 23, 2014
Akira Tozawa 230 March 29, 2015 November 14, 2015
Jackson Florida 212 August 16, 2008 March 16, 2009
Jackson Florida 160 February 2, 2008 July 11, 2008
Keni'chiro Arai 140 August 2, 2012 December 20, 2012
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa 136 May 25, 2007 October 8, 2007
Don Fujii 133 April 10, 2011 August 21, 2011
Masato Yoshino 132 November 23, 2015 April 3, 2016
Jackson Florida 94 October 17, 2007 January 19, 2008
Kikutaro 77 December 20, 2012 March 7, 2013
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa 76 August 21, 2011 November 5, 2011
Jimmy Kanda 73 November 23, 2014 February 4, 2015
Yosuke♥Santa Maria 53 February 4, 2015 March 29, 2015
Rich Swann 50 November 5, 2011 December 25, 2011
Anthony W. Mori 41 April 4, 2009 May 15, 2009
ICHIKAWA 26 July 21, 2008 August 16, 2008
Masaaki Mochizuki 14 January 19, 2008 February 2, 2008
Johnson Florida 10 July 11, 2008 July 21, 2008
CIMA 9 October 8, 2007 October 17, 2007
Mr. Nakagawa 9 November 14, 2015 November 23, 2015
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa 6 March 29, 2009 April 4, 2009
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa 4 March 16, 2009 March 20, 2009
Kinta Tamaoka <1 March 20, 2009
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa 28 April 10, 2016 Current champion

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Results, 2007". Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Archived from the original on 2007-10-09. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  2. ↑ "Dragon Gate USA News Archive, May 2007". Dragon Gate USA. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  3. ↑ "Open the Owarai Gate". DGUSA. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2007-10-13.

Exterminal link

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