IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Prince Devitt with the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship belt
Details
Current champion(s)	Kushida
Date won	January 4, 2016
Date established	February 6, 1986
Promotion	New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) Ring of Honor (ROH)
Statistics First champion(s) Shiro Koshinaka Most reigns Jushin Thunder Liger (11 reigns) Longest reign Jushin Thunder Liger (sixth reign, 628 days) Shortest reign Juventud Guerrera (first reign, 7 days)

The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling junior heavweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix. The title was introduced on February 6, 1986, at a NJPW show. Only wrestlers under the junior heavyweight weight-limit may hold the championship. NJPW currently controls two junior heavyweight championships: the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The weight-limit for the tag team title is 100 kg (220 lb); it is assumed that this title has the same weight-limit.^[1] From August 5, 1996, until November 5, 1997, the title was part of the J-Crown, or J-Crown Octuple Unified Championship. The J-Crown was an assembly of eight different championships from several different promotions. It was created on August 5, 1996, when The Great Sasuke won an eight-man tournament. The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, the British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship, the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship, the NWA World Welterweight Championship, the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship, the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship, the WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship, and the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship were the eight championships that were involved.^[2] On November 5, 1997, then-champion Shinjiro Otani vacated all J-Crown belts but the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship after the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) retook control of its Light Heavyweight title, effectively ending the J-Crown. Being a professional wrestling championship, the title is won as a result of a predetermined outcome.

Overall, there have been 73 reigns shared among 33 wrestlers. Title changes happen mostly at NJPW-promoted events, as it has only changed hands at non-NJPW events twice. Reigns 36 and 37 occurred on World Championship Wrestling's Nitro television program, when Juventud Guerrera defeated Jushin Thunder Liger on November 29, 1999, and on December 6, 1999, when Liger retrieved the championship by defeating Guerrera's stand-in Psychosis. The inaugural champion was Shiro Koshinaka, who defeated The Cobra on February 6, 1986, in the finals of a tournament. Liger holds the record of most reigns, with 11. At 628 days, Liger's sixth reign is the longest in the title's history. Liger, with a combined 11 reigns, holds the record for most days as champion at 2,245. Guerrera's only reigns holds the record for shortest reign at one week. With 11 successful defenses, Minoru Tanaka's reign under the ring name "Heat" had the most during a single reign. Over his 11 reigns, Liger successfully defended the title 31 times, the most of any champion. With zero, El Samurai's second reign, Hiroshi Hase's second reign, Tiger Mask's fourth and sixth reigns, Liger's fourth reign, Guerrera's only reign, Pegasus Kid's only reign, Low Ki's third reign and Kushida's first reign are all tied for least successful defenses. Kushida is the current champion in his third reign, after defeating Kenny Omega on January 4, 2016, at NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome event to win the title.

Title history

#	Order in reign history
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
—	Used for vacated reigns so as not to count it as an official reign
N/A	The information is not available or is unknown
+	Indicates the current reign is changing daily

#	Wrestler	Reign	Date	Days held	Location	Event	Successful defenses	Notes	Ref(s).
1	Koshinaka, ShiroShiro Koshinaka	1	February 6, 1986	102	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	1	Koshinaka defeated The Cobra in a tournament final to become the first champion.	[3]
2	Takada, NobuhikoNobuhiko Takada	1	May 19, 1986	123	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	6
3	Shiro Koshinaka	2	September 19, 1986	317	Fukuoka, Japan	Live event	2
—	Vacated	—	August 2, 1987	—	N/A	N/A	—	Koshinaka vacated the championship due to injuring his right ankle.
4	Kobayashi, KuniakiKuniaki Kobayashi	1	August 20, 1987	129	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	1	Kuniaki Kobayashi defeated Nobuhiko Takada to win the vacant championship.
5	Hase, HiroshiHiroshi Hase	1	December 27, 1987	152	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	3
6	Hart, OwenOwen Hart	1	May 27, 1988	28	Sendai, Japan	Live event	1
7	Koshinaka, ShiroShiro Koshinaka	3	June 24, 1988	265	Osaka, Japan	Live event	6
8	Hase, HiroshiHiroshi Hase	2	March 16, 1989	70	Yokohama, Japan	Live event	0
9	Jushin Liger	1	May 25, 1989	77	Osaka, Japan	Live event	2
10	Sano, NaokiNaoki Sano	1	August 10, 1989	174	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	2
11	Jushin Thunder Liger	2	January 31, 1990	200	Osaka, Japan	Live event	1
12	Pegasus Kid	1	August 19, 1990	74	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	0		[4]
13	Jushin Thunder Liger	3	November 1, 1990	165	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	2
—	Vacated	—	April 15, 1991	—	N/A	N/A	—	Liger vacated the championship so a new champion could be decided in the Top of the Super Juniors tournament.
14	Honaga, NorioNorio Honaga	1	April 30, 1991	43	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	2	Honaga defeated Jushin Thunder Liger in the finals of the Top of the Super Juniors tournament.
15	Jushin Thunder Liger	4	June 12, 1991	58	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	0
16	Nogami, AkiraAkira Nogami	1	August 9, 1991	88	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	1
17	Honaga, NorioNorio Honaga	2	November 5, 1991	95	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	1
18	Jushin Thunder Liger	5	February 8, 1992	139	Sapporo, Japan	Live event	3
19	Samurai, ElEl Samurai	1	June 26, 1992	149	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	3
20	Último Dragón	1	November 22, 1992	43	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	1		[5]
21	Jushin Thunder Liger	6	January 4, 1993	628	Tokyo, Japan	Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome	5
—	Vacated	—	September 24, 1994	—	N/A	N/A	—	Liger vacated the championship due to fracturing his left ankle.
22	Honaga, NorioNorio Honaga	3	September 27, 1994	145	Osaka, Japan	Live event	6	Honaga defeated Wild Pegasus in a tournament final to win the vacant championship.
23	Kanemoto, KojiKoji Kanemoto	1	February 19, 1995	73	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	2
24	Sabu	1	May 3, 1995	42	Fukuoka, Japan	Wrestling Dontaku 1995	1
25	Kanemoto, KojiKoji Kanemoto	2	June 14, 1995	204	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	2	This match was also for Kanemoto's UWA World Welterweight Championship.
26	Jushin Thunder Liger	7	January 4, 1996	116	Tokyo, Japan	Wrestling World 1996	2
27	The Great Sasuke	1	April 29, 1996	165	Tokyo, Japan	Battle Formation	5	On August 5, 1996, Sasuke won an 8-man tournament to form the J-Crown, an octuple-belt championship that includes the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title; these titles were still considered separate, but were defended together.
28	Último Dragón	2	October 11, 1996	85	Osaka, Japan	Live event	7
29	Jushin Thunder Liger	8	January 4, 1997	183	Tokyo, Japan	Wrestling World 1997	4	Liger lost the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship from the J-Crown on June 6, 1997, but continued to defend the other 7 belts.
30	Samurai, ElEl Samurai	2	July 6, 1997	35	Sapporo, Japan	Live event	0
31	Otani, ShinjiroShinjiro Otani	1	August 10, 1997	181	Nagoya, Japan	The Four Heaven in Nagoya Dome	5	On November 5, 1997, Otani vacated all J-Crown belts but the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title after the WWF retook control of its Light Heavyweight title, effectively ending the J-Crown.
32	Jushin Thunder Liger	9	February 7, 1998	403	Sapporo, Japan	Live event	8
33	Kanemoto, KojiKoji Kanemoto	3	March 17, 1999	164	Hiroshima, Japan	Live event	3
34	Kashin, KendoKendo Kashin	1	August 28, 1999	44	Tokyo, Japan	Jingu Climax	1
35	Jushin Thunder Liger	10	October 11, 1999	49	Tokyo, Japan	Final Dome	1
36	Guerrera, JuventudJuventud Guerrera	1	November 29, 1999	7	Denver, United States	Nitro	0
37	Jushin Thunder Liger	11	December 6, 1999	227	Milwaukee, United States	Nitro	3	Psychosis replaced Guerrera in the match due to Guerrera suffering a fractured right arm.
38	Takaiwa, TatsuhitoTatsuhito Takaiwa	1	July 20, 2000	101	Sapporo, Japan	Summer Struggle 2000	2		[6]
39	Minoru Tanaka	1	October 29, 2000	264	Kobe, Japan	Get a Right!!	2		[6]
40	Naruse, MasayukiMasayuki Naruse	1	July 20, 2001	80	Sapporo, Japan	Dome Quake	1
41	Kashin, KendoKendo Kashin	2	October 8, 2001	131	Tokyo, Japan	Indicate of Next	2
42	Minoru Tanaka	2	February 16, 2002	153	Tokyo, Japan	Fighting Spirit 2002	3		[7]
43	Kanemoto, KojiKoji Kanemoto	4	July 19, 2002	278	Sapporo, Japan	Summer Fight Series 2002	6		[7]
44	Tiger Mask	1	April 23, 2003	153	Hiroshima, Japan	Strong Energy 2003	4		[8][9]
—	Vacated	—	September 23, 2003	—	N/A	N/A	—	The championship was vacated so it could be contested for in a battle royal.
45	Jado	1	October 13, 2003	62	Tokyo, Japan	Ultimate Crush	1	Jado defeated Dick Togo, El Samurai, Gedo, Heat, Jushin Thunder Liger, Katsushi Takemura, Koji Kanemoto, Masahito Kakihara, Masayuki Naruse and Tiger Mask in a battle royal to win the vacant championship.	[9]
46	Heat	3	December 14, 2003	387	Nagoya, Japan	Battle Final 2003	11	Previously known as Minoru Tanaka.	[9][10]
47	Tiger Mask	2	January 4, 2005	277	Tokyo, Japan	Toukon Festival: Wrestling World	3
48	Black Tiger	1	October 8, 2005	134	Tokyo, Japan	Toukon Souzou New Chapter	1	This match was also for Black Tiger's NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.
49	Tiger Mask	3	February 19, 2006	73	Tokyo, Japan	Acceleration	1	This match was also for Black Tiger's NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.	[11]
50	Kanemoto, KojiKoji Kanemoto	5	May 3, 2006	235	Fukuoka, Japan	New Japan Cup 2006 Special	1		[11]
51	Minoru	4	December 24, 2006	194	Tokyo, Japan	Battle Xmas! Catch the Victory	4	Previously known as Minoru Tanaka/Heat.
52	Taguchi, RyusukeRyusuke Taguchi	1	July 6, 2007	155	Tokyo, Japan	New Japan Soul C.T.U Farewell Tour	4		[12]
53	Inoue, WataruWataru Inoue	1	December 8, 2007	191	Osaka, Japan	New Japan Alive	3		[13]
—	Vacated	—	June 16, 2008	—	N/A	N/A	—	The championship was vacated when Inoue moved to the heavyweight division.
54	Tiger Mask	4	July 8, 2008	75	Tokyo, Japan	New Japan Trill	0	Tiger Mask defeated Prince Devitt in a tournament final to win the vacant championship.	[14]
55	Low Ki	1	September 21, 2008	105	Kobe, Japan	New Japan Generation	1		[15]
56	Tiger Mask	5	January 4, 2009	223	Tokyo, Japan	Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome	4		[16] [17]
57	Místico	1	August 15, 2009	85	Tokyo, Japan	G1 Climax 2009: New Lords, New Laws	2		[18] [19]
58	Tiger Mask	6	November 8, 2009	57	Tokyo, Japan	Destruction '09	0		[20]
59	Marufuji, NaomichiNaomichi Marufuji	1	January 4, 2010	166	Tokyo, Japan	Wrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome	5		[21]
60	Devitt, PrincePrince Devitt	1	June 19, 2010	364	Osaka, Japan	Dominion 6.19	7
61	Ibushi, KotaKota Ibushi	1	June 18, 2011	85	Osaka, Japan	Dominion 6.18	2
—	Vacated	—	September 12, 2011	—	N/A	N/A	—	The championship was vacated after Ibushi was sidelined with a shoulder injury.	[22]
62	Devitt, PrincePrince Devitt	2	September 19, 2011	227	Kobe, Japan	Kantaro Hoshino Memorial Show	4	Devitt defeated Kushida to win the vacant championship.
63	Low Ki	2	May 3, 2012	87	Fukuoka, Japan	Wrestling Dontaku 2012	1
64	Ibushi, KotaKota Ibushi	2	July 29, 2012	71	Tokyo, Japan	Last Rebellion	2
65	Low Ki	3	October 8, 2012	34	Tokyo, Japan	King of Pro-Wrestling (2012)	0
66	Devitt, PrincePrince Devitt	3	November 11, 2012	419	Osaka, Japan	Power Struggle	4
67	Ibushi, KotaKota Ibushi	3	January 4, 2014	181	Tokyo, Japan	Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome	4
68	Kushida	1	July 4, 2014	79	Tokyo, Japan	Kizuna Road 2014	0
69	Taguchi, RyusukeRyusuke Taguchi	2	September 21, 2014	105	Kobe, Japan	Destruction in Kobe	2
70	Omega, KennyKenny Omega	1	January 4, 2015	182	Tokyo, Japan	Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome	3
71	Kushida	2	July 5, 2015	80	Osaka, Japan	Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall	1
72	Omega, KennyKenny Omega	2	September 23, 2015	103	Okayama, Japan	Destruction in Okayama	1
73	Kushida	3	January 4, 2016	124+	Tokyo, Japan	Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome	4

Combined reigns

Jushin Thunder Liger holds the record for most reigns as champion with 11 total reigns

As of May 7, 2016.

†	Indicates the current champion

Rank^[A]	Wrestler	No. of reigns	Combined defenses	Combined days
1	Jushin Liger/Jushin Thunder Liger	11	31	2,245
2	Prince Devitt	3	15	1,010
3	Heat/Minoru/Minoru Tanaka	4	20	998
4	Koji Kanemoto	5	14	954
5	Tiger Mask	6	12	858
6	Shiro Koshinaka	3	9	702
7	Kota Ibushi	3	8	337
8	Kenny Omega	2	4	285
9	Kushida †	3	5	283+
10	Norio Honaga	3	9	283
11	Ryusuke Taguchi	2	6	260
12	Low Ki	3	2	226
13	Hiroshi Hase	2	3	195
14	Wataru Inoue	1	2	191
15	El Samurai	2	3	184
16	Shinjiro Otani	1	5	181
17	Kendo Kashin	2	3	175
18	Naoki Sano	1	2	174
19	Naomichi Marufuji	1	5	166
20	The Great Sasuke	1	5	165
21	Black Tiger	1	1	134
22	Kuniaki Kobayashi	1	1	129
23	Último Dragón	2	8	128
24	Nobuhiko Takada	1	6	123
25	Tatsuhito Takaiwa	1	1	101
26	Akira Nogami	1	1	88
27	Místico	1	2	85
28	Masayuki Naruse	1	1	80
29	Pegasus Kid	1	0	74
30	Jado	1	1	62
31	Sabu	1	1	42
32	Owen Hart	1	1	28
33	Juventud Guerrera	1	0	7

Footnotes

A. ^{^} Each wrestler's total number of days as champion is ranked highest to lowest; wrestlers with the same number are tied for that certain rank.

References

General

• Benaka, Matt; Westcott, Brian; Zadarnowski, Andrew. "IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title History". Wrestling Title Histories by Gary Will and Royal Duncan. Solie.org. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
• Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "Japan & Korea: New Japan IWGP Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 373. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
• "IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship history". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co.jp. Retrieved 2015-08-30.

Specific

1. "No Limit、またしてもIWGP Jr.タッグ奪還ならず！/4月19日TNA「Lock Down」試合結果(1)". NJPW.co.jp (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. 2009-04-20. Archived from the original on 2009-04-21. Retrieved 2015-08-30. 「Lock Down」は全試合が「シックスサイドスチール」と呼ばれる金網マッチで行われる大会。なれない試合形式に加えて3Wayタッグ。さらに、もう一組の挑戦者チームであるLAXのホミサイドはともかく、ヘルナンデスはどう見ても新日本のJr.規定である100Kgを超えている。数々のハンディを抱えての再挑戦となった。
2. Clevett, Jason (2004-11-04). "The legend of Jushin "Thunder" Liger". Slam! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
3. "PWI: Wrestling History". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. PWI-Online.com. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
4. Milner, John (2005-03-22). "Chris Benoit". Slam! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
5. Molinaro, John F. (1999-10-28). "Chris Benoit". Slam! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
6. "試合結果 2000年". So-net.ne.jp (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2003-12-11. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
7. "試合結果 2002年". So-net.ne.jp (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2002-12-16. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
8. Power Slam Staff (August 2003). "We are the Champions (as of July 8)". Power Slam Magazine (Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD). p. 15. 109.
9. "試合結果 インデックス 2003年". NJP-W.jp (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2005-12-18. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
10. Power Slam Magazine Staff (March 2005). "We are the champions (as of February 11)". Power Slam Magazine (Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD). p. 15. 116.
11. "試合結果". NJPW.co.jp (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2006-06-03. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
12. "新日本プロレス創立35周年Tour Circuit 2007 New Japan Soul C.T.U Farewell Tour". NJPW.co.jp (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
13. "新日本プロレス創立35周年Tour Circuit2007 New Japan Alive". NJPW.co.jp (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
14. "New Japan Trill". NJPW.co.jp (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
15. "Circuit2008 New Japan Generation". NJPW.co.jp (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
16. Martin, Andrew (2009-01-04). "1/4 NJPW Wrestle Kingdom III results: Tokyo, Japan". Wrestleview. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
17. Golden, Hunter (2009-01-07). "Rising Sun Soliloquy Newsletter #7: Colossal Tokyo Dome Edition!". Wrestleview. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
18. Golden, Hunter (2009-08-20). "Rising Sun Soliloquy Newsletter #36". Wrestleview. Archived from the original on 2009-08-24. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
19. "フィールズ Presents G1 Climax 2009 ～New Lords，New Laws～". NJPW.co.jp (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
20. "Resultados NJPW Destruction – Tiger Mask vence a Místico – Team 3D y Nakamura retienen". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). 2009-11-08. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
21. "January 4 New Japan Tokyo Dome report – legends, promotional wars". Wrestling Observer. 2010-01-04. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
22. "9.19神戸大会全カード決定!　飯伏が負傷欠場、デヴィvsKushidaで"新王者"決定戦！金本vs魔界28号は星野勘太郎メモリアルマッチ!!". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). 2011-09-12. Retrieved 2015-08-30.

External links

• New Japan Pro Wrestling.co.jp