Written by: Super Mastodon (@SuperMastodon)

Every IWGP Heavyweight Champion has their share in the wide history of New Japan Pro Wrestling, let’s see who’s the best among the rest.

The Legendary History Of The IWGP Heavyweight Championship ...

Championship belts are a symbol of success. In many combat sports they are seen as the top prizes for an athlete to achieve, the end goal so to speak where one can truly proclaim they have made it once they become the World Champion. It is no different in professional wrestling, wherein belts are awarded to the wrestlers ranking at the top whether because of their undeniable skills, working their way to reach it, or by sheer popularity. Unlike in other sports, when it comes to pro wrestling there can be many more ways on how a fighter can become the champion but at the end of the day, all of them enter the ring and showcase their talent to be able to attain these prizes. One of which is the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, the premier title for promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling. Throughout its existence since 1987 as the main title for NJPW, the IWGP Championship has been held by 30 recognized champions, all of which have their own unique stories and paths taken on how they managed to be a part of the belt’s lineage. For this piece, I have ranked all 30 of these wrestlers from worst to best during their times as IWGP Champion. I know there are already tons of lists like this out there, it’s not really an “out of this world” idea but I’d like to share my two cents on the topic as well for what it’s worth and possibly even start some flame wars for my opinions. But this is exactly just that, a subjective list but after studying and watching New Japan content and history for the past few years I think I am knowledgeable enough to do a somewhat definitive ranking at least in my view.

I did not have a complicated criteria in ranking these wrestlers, I just followed two principles in judging their reigns; longevity and overall impact. Obviously the longer the reigns and other statistical records such as combined successful defenses, the champion is more connected to winning, their match quality may come in to play as well but not the end all be all of the judging. Lastly the overall impact may sound vague but to put it simply, how much their reigns as champions contributed to the company and its impact not only to the promotion but especially the fans. Because sometimes having one short run but very memorable can be argued as better than that of a lengthy but generally pointless reign. How they won the titles, their journey towards getting there, did they draw good business, and other related elements. Yes, before you comment I’m aware that the likes of Hulk Hogan and Kurt Angle have held variations of the IWGP Championship at some point, but I’m only ranking the wrestlers recognized in the official lineage of the title so this means when the belt was just a tournament prize (i.e. Hogan) and the IGF 3rd Belt lineage (i.e. Angle) will not be counted here.

After consuming hours upon hours of content, hopefully I can at least make a list satisfactory enough for you as a reader, if not and most likely you’ll disagree with some of these decisions, then feel free to hit me up on how you’re ranking them yourselves. I always enjoy discussing wrestling anyway as long as it’s done in a respectful manner. So without further ado, let’s get straight into action, and rank all 30 IWGP Heavyweight Champions in history from worst to best!

NOTE: Thoughts/opinions are of the author’s own and does not necessarily reflect on the entire website.

 

30.) Brock Lesnar

No. of Reigns: 1

Total Days: 280

Brock Lesnar | Puroresu System Wiki | Fandom

To be honest, I actually had quite the difficult decision on who to give the dishonorable spot of being the last one in the list, whether it’s Brock Lesnar or the man above him, well if we’re going to rank this in tiers they’re really not that far off but why they are ranked so low are for two drastically different reasons and I’ll explain why Lesnar eventually got this spot in my opinion. As much as the WWE may want to romanticized Brock’s time in New Japan as finding glory in international soil, it couldn’t be any further more from the truth. I’ll say it straight up as to why I consider Brock as the worst IWGP Champion even though on paper it seemed like a decent reign, he disrespected the belt, pure and simple. Now I know some of you might be like “it’s wrestling, why take it so seriously, it’s just a prop belt?” then you must not be a pro wrestling fan to begin with if you have such arguments or mentality. Especially in Japan, professional wrestling is treated like an actual sport and the level of respect they give to it is built with the foundations of many legends of the past who took it seriously and it is ingrained in the culture of the country, at least most major promotions treat it that way like NJPW. For some context, 2005 was arguably New Japan’s worst year. The attendance was at an all time low, fans were beginning to lose interest seeing their favorites get beat up by either real or pseudo MMA fighters. The home grown talents were losing all of their credibility due to embarrassing displays in MMA bouts, being knocked out or submitted in seconds. Add in the fact that the economic state of the country in general wasn’t stable, it truly was a “dark year.” To make matters more grim, enter Brock Lesnar. Fresh from his departure in the WWE, he wanted to continue wrestling outside of the company where he established his career but he was having some internal problems himself, legal issues with Vince McMahon. But he would soon eventually find a deal with New Japan and Inoki aimed to build the company around their new found star, with Brock already having the credentials and accolades of a main eventer, him being the focal point of a wrestling company is a no-brainer but the thing is, he wasn’t there because he was passionate about it, Brock was there purely to make money and spite Vince. Essentially, his entire NJPW run was an attempt to signal “f you” to his former employer. It showed too, uninspiring performances, far from what he was capable of doing. He immediately won the title in his debut match in a triple threat against Kazuyuki Fujita and Masahiro Chono, from that point on everything was going to circle around him, at least that was the plan. As I’ve said, Lesnar did not wrestle in the level everyone was familiar of him at that point, lackluster title defenses, even in a supposed high profile Tokyo Dome bout against Shinsuke Nakamura where he allegedly worked stiff too.  He had two more defenses in early 2006 against Akebono and Giant Bernard respectively before deciding to leave NJPW and take the physical belt itself hostage. Most of you are probably familiar of the infamous story by now, for those who don’t, Brock had some financial disagreements with management, instead of doing the professional manner in dropping the title to someone or at the very least vacate it, he left the company and took the belt home with him. For about a year, the IWGP Title he held was stuck in his garage, back in Japan Inoki would eventually leave the company he created, and new people took over. In 2007 Antonio Inoki created his new hybrid wrestling-MMA promotion: Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) and made another deal with Brock to start up the company with a bang booking him with the IWGP Title, however he would only work with someone of his choosing and luckily Kurt Angle was available so he dropped the title to Kurt in to be fair was a decent match. But in New Japan, they already had a separate interim champion since Lesnar’s absence and counted the remaining run of Lesnar’s reign as a separate lineage known as the “IWGP 3rd Belt Championship” which is why Kurt is not officially a part of the title’s history itself. The Olympic Gold Medalist would eventually lose the belt in a New Japan ring against Shinsuke Nakamura, ending a tumultuous turn of events. Brock Lesnar’s IWGP Title reign remains the worst part of the belt’s rich history, you’ll always have those in every championship but he could be argued to have the worst case due to how he handled the entire situation from his intentionally underwhelming in-ring performances and the way he conducted himself. The only reference they even to do this is during the traditional slideshow of champions before every title match where his picture can be seen, other than that you never hear about it in any conversation in the company and I hope it remains that way. A shameful act led to a forgettable and wasted title reign that nearly brought NJPW to obscurity.

 

29.) Tadao Yasuda

Number of Reigns: 1

Total Days: 48

IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING

Tadao Yasuda certainly has one of the more interesting career retrospectives, both for good and bad. Just like many of his peers, initially started out as a sumo wrestler before transitioning into pro wrestling. However unlike say some other legends of the past like Rikidozan or Genichiro Tenryu, Yasuda went to pro wrestling past his athletic prime and somewhat of a late age. Nevertheless he still persevered, went through the New Japan dojo and went into overseas to hone his craft better, there’s one thing Yasuda deserves the credit for and it is his determination in improving his work. Unfortunately though, his overall body of work is left to be desired and he is far from the top tier level talents at the time, add in his lack of personality or character, he was mainly relegated into the lower midcard for the bulk of his career. Think of him as like the YOSHI-HASHI of the late 90’s, at some point though the loyal fans would grow some sort of endearment towards him because they do recognize the hard work he puts in despite far from being the best worker in the roster especially being in the same batch as guys like The Three Musketeers. Yasuda instead of being shunned away, the fans embraced him as somewhat of an underdog and eventually he’d make his way onto high profile bouts, the most notable of which was representing Team New Japan in their feud against the Japanese group of the nWo. As the 2000’s rolled around, Yasuda is still pretty much on the same position he was in until just like many of his contemporaries, Inoki booked them onto real MMA fights, most wrestlers loss these fights as after all they were trained to be pro wrestlers not martial artists. However, there would be one of those rare occasions where they’d score a win and Yasuda happened to be one of those wrestlers in his fight against Jerome Le Banner in 2001, tapping out his opponent with a forearm choke submission hold into the second round. It was one of the biggest upset victories in MMA at the time but someone wasn’t upset by this and that man being Antonio Inoki whom he thought he finally found his golden boy in Tadao Yasuda of all people! What’s the next logical step for this? Obviously if you want to build him up to be a credible main eventer, he’ll work his way to the top right? Nope. Immediately as soon as Yasuda had that win, he also defeated Yuji Nagata for the vacant IWGP Heavyweight Championship on the following year, beating him in the tournament finals. The best way for me to describe how baffling this decision was with all due respect to Yasuda, think someone like in the stature of Bo Dallas in WWE or Brandon Cutler in AEW suddenly becoming the World Champions of their respective companies with no build whatsoever, it just doesn’t make any sense from a booking perspective. This is why Inokism gets such a bad reputation because the in-ring work can be polarizing, but it is these decisions that are way over the top that resulted in bad business and it’s really not fault of the wrestlers at all, they were forced to ride along the bandwagon train of their boss. Yasuda had one successful defense against Hiroyoshi Tenzan, then it would get proven real quick that his MMA win was nothing but a fluke, losing all three of his next fights and Inoki taking the belt away from him as quick as he gave it to him by having Nagata defeat Yasuda not so long afterwards. It was an experiment that shouldn’t have been done in the first place and Yasuda never saw the same kind of spotlight ever again in his career, the phrase “15 minutes of fame” is the fitting description for this title reign.

 

28.) Masahiro Chono

No. of Reigns: 1

Total Days: 44

Masahiro Chono - IWGP Heavyweight Champion (NJPW), 1998 (con imágenes)

It is a shame that one of the biggest names in NJPW history is ranked so low in this list but this isn’t a ranking based on popularity or name value but their time as IWGP Champions and Chono barely held the title that has evaded him for a long time in his career. As you can see he only held it once and for a mere 44 days without defending it. The thing about Chono is before he became the charismatic enigma we know him as today, he started out as your typical “ace in the making” squeaky clean character, who is a talented wrestler but with a bland personality. He was developing as a performer alongside with his fellow Three Musketeers: Shinya Hashimoto and Keiji Mutoh but initially he lacked the proper character to truly push him into the top. Although to his credit he did become NWA World Heavyweight Champion in 1992 which was his biggest accolade of his career yet at that point, beating Rick Rude in the G1 Climax Finals for the vacant belt. Speaking of the G1, the tournament itself is synonymous with Chono due to him holding the record for most wins and overall having great matches throughout his career, but again there was always something missing about him that is holding him back to reach his true potential in the main event scene. In the same year for his first defense of the NWA Title, Chono unfortunately suffered a neck injury at the hands of Steve Austin (pre-Stone Cold) which would later on forced him to take a break. The damage was quite severe but he was still able to return to action, however his athleticism was greatly affected and had to adjust his style into a much more slower pace, this would turn out to be a blessing in disguise as not so long after this, winning his third G1, Chono had a drastic character make over, instead of being the clean-cut babyface he turned his attitude around and adapted this yakuza boss gimmick which he is very much known for today. This allowed him to be a much more engaging wrestler as due to his limitations in the ring because of his injury, he makes up for it with his undeniable charisma and personality. He is the founder of the faction “Team Wolf” with Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Hiro Saito, then later on Keiji Mutoh, laying in the foundation for what would become the New World Order. Even Eric Bischoff himself has stated multiple times that he found inspiration for the group in Japan and Chono was basically the forefront of the most successful faction in pro wrestling history. nWo Japan ruled over NJPW for almost an entire decade and this allowed Chono to eventually become IWGP Heavyweight Champion since his popularity skyrocketed even further as the leader of the group. On August 8, 1998 he defeated Tatsumi Fujinami in his sixth and final reign of the title, putting an end to the previous era of the past. Things were looking to be promising for Mr. G1 but it seemed like it wasn’t meant to be as once again, before he could even defend the title, Chono was forced to vacate it because of his neck injury. He has actively wrestled for New Japan after this and has made some attempts to reclaim the championship but he never held it again. His last match with the company was in 2011 and his final overall bout of his 35 year career was in 2014. He’s been long retired now but has returned every now and then as a special guest commentator and awarding the G1 trophy to modern day winners. At least he was able to hold the championship in his career but I think even Chono would agree that he could have done a lot more, a mixed of awful timing and bad luck took away what could have been a potentially solid run.

 

27.) Genichiro Tenryu

No. of Reigns: 1

Total Days: 25

IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING

I think we can all agree that Genichiro Tenryu is an absolute legend and one of the all time greats, especially in his home country where he is treated with respect due to his longevity and body of work. It is nice to have a name with such high prestige be listed into the champions that have held the IWGP Title through the years but that’s pretty much what he offered in terms of his time with the belt. Tenryu as great as he is, probably has the most unnecessary title reign with New Japan’s top prize. For some context, he was already past his athletic prime by this point in 1999. A decade earlier he left his original home promotion of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) leading the first roster exodus in the company by starting up the short lived Super World of Sports (SWS) and then later had a much more successful promotion: Wrestling and Romance (WAR) which had an active partnership with NJPW which is why wrestlers from both rosters, including Tenryu himself managed to work for their respective shows and other events. But because of leaving AJPW originally, Giant Baba felt disrespected by Tenryu’s actions and swore that he would never step foot in an All Japan ring ever again as long as he lives, which is pretty much what happened and why Tenryu was able to wrestle everywhere else, while also keeping the WAR brand alive. In his prime, he was a great technician and brawler, setting the standard for Triple Crown Championship matches against his rival Jumbo Tsuruta. However as like everyone else, Tenryu’s age caught up with him and around this point of his career, he wrestled at a slower pace but more brutal than ever. Way before Minoru Suzuki, Genichiro Tenryu is the original “murder grandpa” for his relentless, no nonsense attitude and devastating chops towards his opponents. Fans still gravitated towards him and being the only wrestler to score clean pin falls over Baba and Inoki in the course of his career, he always had this mystique of a credible contender. On December 10, 1999 Tenryu ended Keiji Mutoh’s third reign with the IWGP Title which lasted for 340 days. This would set up the main event for the traditional Tokyo Dome show the following month, Wrestling World 2000, Kensuke Sasaki defeated the veteran Tenryu in his first defense. Ultimately, Tenryu only acted as a transitional champion from Mutoh to Sasaki. It was a pointless reign in the grand scheme of things and only served for Sasaki to get over a well established veteran. I don’t think he was meant to be a long term champion anyway since he was already past his peak. Holding the record for shortest time as a former IWGP Champion does not exactly sound enticing. Anyway, also in the same year WAR went defunct and Tenryu returned to AJPW as they were desperate for any wrestlers by that point with Mitsuharu Misawa leading the largest roster exodus into the creation of Pro Wrestling NOAH. Oh the irony. He actively wrestled up until 2015 having his last match against Kazuchika Okada at the age of 65.

 

26.) Bob Sapp

No. of Reigns: 1

Total Days: 66

IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING

Now some of you might be surprised to see Bob Sapp ranked fairly high on this list as through the years he has received the stigma of the “worst IWGP Heavyweight Champion” ever and I can see some arguments as to why. From an in-ring stand point, sure he is the worst wrestler out of the entire lineage, especially in a title history filled with some of the greatest wrestlers ever that stepped foot in the ring. Sapp was not exactly known for being a five star machine, but with that said we have to take into consideration the time and context of his run with the belt. Before he became the laughing stock of the combat sports community, there was a point in time where Bob Sapp was a legitimate beast and arguably the most popular fighter in the world. Due to his massive size, standing at 6’5” and weighing in at 319 lbs. in his peak, Sapp was the living embodiment of a “powerhouse.” Initially he did well in his fights in K-1 and PRIDE, after all he towered most of his competition and finished them off quickly with his advantage in strength. Around the 2000’s, Bob Sapp was without a doubt one of the biggest household names in Japan because of his continuous success in kickboxing and MMA and larger than life charisma, while also appearing in multiple television shows and commercials, he was a massive celebrity and Japanese people always had a fascination with gaijin big men in sports which is why guys like Andre The Giant were box office draws in the country for a long time even past his prime. Sapp was the same in the sense that, he drew money by just simply being billed in the card, he was a spectacle that the fans wanted to witness and so with business not doing so well for Inoki, it was a no-brainer to have someone in the popularity of Bob Sapp work under him to gain some of the money he brings in. Right from the get-go he was treated as a big deal, making his pro wrestling debut in a NJPW ring in the Tokyo Dome of all places on October 14, 2002 where he defeated Manabu Nakanishi. According to reviews, it was far from a desirable match but it did what it needed to do and that is to establish Sapp’s name among the ranks of the promotion. He would only wrestle sporadically as he was still focused in his MMA and kickboxing exploits. On March 28, 2004 he defeated Kensuke Sasaki to become IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He is the first and so far only black wrestler to win the title and had one successful defense over Shinsuke Nakamura before being stripped off the title after 66 days. While the charm worked for awhile, it didn’t last as long as Sapp might have wanted it to. As dominant as he was early on, there were clear weaknesses to his game. For one, being that big doesn’t give you that much stamina and he needed to finish off his opponents as quickly as possible or else he’ll gas out fast which became a detriment to his career in the long run. Kazuyuki Fujita made an embarrassment out of Sapp in a K-1 ring so Inoki vacated the title off him. Even though Bob Sapp may have been the most popular individual in Japan at the time, at the end of the day giving him the IWGP Title felt more like a stunt move. At least he was a real athlete unlike say David Arquette winning the WCW Championship. Looking back on it, his time at the top felt short and his downfall was just as fast as his rise, becoming one of the most notorious losers in both MMA and kickboxing, clearly just showing up sometimes for a mere paycheck. His popularity did more harm than good as guys like Nagata and Nakanishi were sidelined for the “flavor of the month” who couldn’t wrestle without being exhausted past five minutes but at least he didn’t act unprofessional about anything and accepted the vacancy of the championship. His name does still stick out like a sore thumb on paper though but always remember to have context before pulling an immediate judgment. For his pro wrestling career, he mainly competed for IGF but in 2013 he did have two return matches in NJPW one of which was for Wrestle Kingdom 7. Other than that, he is rarely mentioned in the current product which is probably for the best. His last recorded wrestling match was in 2017 for ZERO1.

 

25.) Salman Hashimikov

No. of Reigns: 1

Total Days: 48

IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING

It’s probably safe to say that Salman Hashimikov is the most forgotten champion out of this entire list and that’s not a disrespect on his impressive career especially as an amateur wrestler where is a 4x Gold Medalist in the Men’s freestyle wrestling World Championships as well as a multitude of other medals in other competitions from the late 70’s to the early 80’s. He is one of the most accomplished wrestlers ever while representing the Soviet Union but his time in professional wrestling is short lived which is why modern day fans may not be familiar of his name. By the late 80’s, Hashimikov along with his fellow Russian wrestler Victor Zangiev trained in the New Japan dojo when they decided to become pro wrestlers under the mentorship of Antonio Inoki. Making his debut on February 1989 where they both faced each other. Hashimikov led the Red Bull Army stable compromised of other Russian wrestlers which mainly accompanied him and Zangiev in the ring but some of them wrestled as well. After a streak of five straight wins over the likes of Darryl Peterson, Shiro Koshinaka, Masa Saito, Hiro Saito, and Kengo Kimura, Hashimikov has established himself as a solid member of the roster. He went on to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on May 25, 1989 successfully defeating Big Van Vader which is a big deal in itself. It was a classic battle between two powerful heavyweights but Hashimikov just managed to edge out Vader because of his amateur background. However that is pretty much the only highlight of his entire run, he had one non-title match beating Mike Kirchner (aka Corporal Kirchner in the WWF) under four minutes before losing the belt to Riki Choshu on July 12, 1989. After that Hashimikov continued to wrestle for NJPW up until the early months of the following year, then had two matches in the States with Zangiev for the Pat O’Connor Invitational Tag-Team Tournament where they reached the second round before having a long hiatus from pro wrestling. He had a few comeback matches in 1993 and 1994, particularly challenging for Nobuhiko Takada’s UWF-I World Championship on July 19, 1993 but was unsuccessful. Other than that he has permanently retired from any active competition. It is the definition of an average title reign, it wasn’t great but not bad either. He had two solid matches against top tier opponents, didn’t really do any harm towards the title’s lineage and if you study his previous work then he actually adds credibility to it because of his decorated amateur wrestling career.

 

24.) EVIL

No. of Reigns: 1

Total Days: 13+ (ongoing)

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A wrestler named “EVIL” becoming World Champion in 2020 couldn’t have been more on-brand for the year. The most recent title win in our memories and something that has completely left the entire NJPW community split in half. It’s been awhile since the company had an ultra-polarizing champion at the top and EVIL certainly takes that distinction, on one side you have fans praising the angle as a star-making decision while on the flipped side those against it claim it has been the worst thing New Japan has done over the past decade, at least that’s how it feels like with how much vitriol it has produced since the fact and admittedly, I contributed in that as well. Before getting into it on a much deeper scale, let’s take a step back first into how this all went down, Takaaki Watanabe like most wrestlers here is a product of the New Japan dojo. After his excursion in ROH, he was put into Tetsuya Naito’s Los Ingobernables de Japon stable and was the first ever member of what would turn out to be a highly successful group, now donning the persona “The King of Darkness” EVIL, it did take awhile for him to get his stride but after winning the NEVER Openweight Championship and becoming 2x IWGP Tag-Team Champion with SANADA, while also having high profile matches such as challenging for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on few occasions and even a match against Chris Jericho, EVIL was being built slowly as a credible talent. The thing is though, many have perceived him to be a midcarder at best, that was the ceiling most fans have put him on as after all there are far more much talented wrestlers on the roster and the thought of him even becoming the World Champion never crossed the minds of people. He was seen as someone who is a good enough contender but not actually be the winner through the end of it all, but alas with the status of the company and the conditions of everything, the COVID virus has left a damper on the entire world and NJPW booking is not safe. When NJPW finally returned after taking a break due to the pandemic, Naito’s second reign with the Double Belts was already lengthy but the momentum was halted as he was unable to defend the championships. The discontinued New Japan Cup was resumed with a whole new set of competitors as most gaijins and other wrestlers living outside of Japan were still not allowed to enter the borders yet. EVIL would wind up winning the whole tournament, cheating his way through victory and showing more attitude than before, hitting his opponents below the belt and using chairs among many other dirty tactics to secure the win. This would all buildup to the finals where he defeated Okada and became the next challenger to Naito, everyone expected a friendly exhibition between the two but it turned out to be a betrayal as EVIL sided himself with the Bullet Club, turning the LIJ fist bump into a Too Sweet then hitting Naito with his finisher. BC were in dire need of a better representative in their heavyweight ranks as most of their guys are stuck out of the country. Then the match at Dominion happened and let’s just say it was disappointing. This is why EVIL is ranked low in this list not only because he is the reigning champion as of the writing of this article, but simply because his style is not tailor made for the main event scene of NJPW. It may work in a different environment like the WWE but not in New Japan. He stalls way too much and instead of gaining heat, he does the opposite and kills the momentum, it doesn’t help that his matches coincided with the pandemic so crowd reactions are at a bare minimum. The match with Naito was bad and he wound up winning with the help of a new ally in Dick Togo. The same can be said for his first defense against Hiromu, which to the latter’s credit did try his best to get the match some flare it desperately needed but that wasn’t enough to save it from being boring. I’m not saying EVIL is a bad wrestler, he can be capable of good matches but he shouldn’t be the top champion in a company filled with other better options. The stories are present to add intrigue to EVIL’s matches, but once the bell rings, he always fails to deliver and elevate his opponents to another level.

 

23.) Jay White

No. of Reigns: 1

Total Days: 54

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White | Japanese wrestling ...

Out of everyone else in this list Jay White has the most intriguing case. For now his sole reign of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship only served as a transitional run, beating Hiroshi Tanahashi in his 8th and most latest run with the title but then not so long after that, quickly loss in his first defense against a rejuvenated Kazuchika Okada. Right now in comparison to everyone else in this list, he hasn’t accomplished much yet in his time as a champion but it’s all but guaranteed this wouldn’t be the last time he’ll hold the belt with how much they’ve been building him up ever since returning from excursion and donning the Switchblade persona. As New Japan expands its borders to the international scene, the dojo has also accommodated even more gaijin students than usual, one of which was Jay White from New Zealand beginning his training since 2015 and then wrestled matches with ROH and RevPro during his time overseas with the partner companies. As he made his return to NJPW in 2017, Jay turned out to be the man behind the Switchblade vignettes that have been hyping up his debut at Wrestle Kingdom 12 and immediately he was seen with lots of potential by facing Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Over time, Jay has continued to develop even further his skill set and personality, he plays the heel role effectively and as soon as he betrayed CHAOS, with Gedo now by his side and becoming the new de facto leader of the Bullet Club post Elite era, things were looking even brighter for his future. He was already a former champion by this point, beating Kenny Omega for the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship on January 28, 2018. But his career trajectory would go up even further as soon as joining BC, on February 11 the following year he got his revenge win over Tanahashi this time for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship which the former champion freshly won off of at Wrestle Kingdom. It was a massive upset victory and a shocker for some, not a lot of people expected Tana to immediately lose in his first defense but it sure did wonders for Switchblade, solidifying his status as a main event level player, plus going over Kazuchika Okada in the Tokyo Dome. His run wasn’t meant for long though as the Rainmaker would go on to pick himself back up and return to form, eventually ending Jay’s short run with the title at Madison Square Garden at G1 Supercard. Months afterwards Jay would then move to the Intercontinental Championship scene in his rivalry against Tetsuya Naito which concluded for now earlier this year. Admittedly I was a doubter of Jay White in the beginning. His match back didn’t do much for me and a lot of other fans probably share the same sentiment. But I’ve learned my lesson to never judge too soon, after all he’s still young and eventually he finally found his “mojo” if you will and is now arguably the best heel in the entire roster. It’s only a matter of time when he wins the belt again and has the potential to surpass a lot of former champions in this list, ranking him at this spot though is a safe splace for now but he could very much rise up further as his career continues to progress. As fans, all we can do is just wait and see where his journey leads us.

 

22.) Manabu Nakanishi

No. of Reigns: 1

Total Days: 45

Manabu Nakanishi | Japan pro wrestling, Pro wrestling ...

If I’m solely looking at this list from a sentimental stand point and ranking champions based on how they won the belt, then Manabu Nakanishi probably makes it at the very top or at least close to it. His journey towards getting his first and only IWGP Heavyweight Championship reign is a perfect example of sometimes having a short but momentous title win is better than having a lengthy but lackluster run from an overall point of view. Why was this all such a big deal? Well we have to take a look first what happened to Nakanishi beyond that point. He began his career as an amateur wrestler in 1986 and competed in many freestyle wrestling tournaments all over the world. His biggest event was participating in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Spain representing Japan. While he didn’t receive that much accolades from it, Nakanishi proved to be a talented athlete and upon transitioning into pro wrestling, he was viewed with lots of potential due to his natural athleticism and strength. He was in the same class as the likes of Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, and Hiroyoshi Tenzan, collectively they were known together as “The Third Generation” and you’ll see the rest of these guys in the list later, appropriately enough the man who debuted the last is the first to appear in this list. Throughout the early to mid 90’s Nakanishi pretty much floundered around the midcard scene and was primarily a tag-team act. He won his first title on May 3, 1997 winning the IWGP Tag-Team Championships with the aforementioned Kojima and two years later with an even longer reign with Nagata who became his fiercest rival and friend out of the bunch. Slowly Nakanishi would develop a charismatic personality which gained him the gradual support of the fans and during nWo Japan’s peak at the company, he was one of the defenders of NJPW’s honor. 1999 seemed to be his peak year as his long tag title run with Nagata began and also won the G1 Climax, everything was set in stone for Nakanishi to eventually make his way at the top but he was never able to capitalize on it. The 2000’s weren’t so kind to him, many New Japan main stays started to leave, prominently Hashimoto and Mutoh, but The Third Generation were not given their fair chance at the spotlight due to Inoki deciding to push wrestlers with MMA backgrounds instead and also the next set of young talents such as Tanahashi, Nakamura, and Shibata were starting to make a name for themselves. While Nagata and Tenzan did capture the belt at some points, Nakanishi got casted away. He sadly became an afterthought and his relevance in the roster slowly diminished due to this. Ironically for a big man, he got treated like an underdog as the fans still had his back despite being far away from the top, they still believed that someday Nakanishi will be able to pull it off and win the IWGP Title,  he had already challenged for the belt before once in 1998 but loss to Scott Norton but that was the last time he ever got near the title. Eventually Inoki was out of the company and a new era was upon New Japan, Nakanishi started to become a prominent part of the roster again and in 2009 in Korauken Hall, what was once only seen as a dream became a reality when Manabu Nakanishi finally won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship by defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi! I would be underselling the moment by just simply writing it, you have to watch it on your own to truly feel the emotions that were running in the entire building that night. The match itself was good for what it was but the finish is what will always be remembered forever as finally after years of dedication and loyalty to the company, there were times where he could have left and build up his career at another promotion where he could’ve been used properly, when a lot of people thought he’d never do it, Nakanishi once again defied all expectations and won the title that has evaded his career for so long. Yuji Nagata celebrating with his best friend in quite possibly one of the most emotional title wins in wrestling history, definitely up there with the likes of Daniel Bryan and Eddie Guerrero. Sure it may have been a consolation prize at best but of all people who can say that they are deserving to win it, Nakanishi was the man. His generation endured a lot of pain both literally and figuratively, his victory marked a light that was shined upon his peers and a beautiful feel-good moment that the fans will cherish forever. He immediately dropped the belt back to Tana but he didn’t need to have a long reign to solidify his status as by simply capturing the belt in a clean and fair fashion, Manabu Nakanishi is immortalized and belongs in the group of legends. Unfortunately things went downhill after this, in 2011 he suffered a spinal injury which drastically affected his mobility until the day he retired which was earlier this year, having his last four matches in the same building where he won the title which was very fitting, but if there’s one thing that can’t be denied of Nakanishi is his work ethic driven by passion, making him a remarkable inspiration to many.

 

21.) Scott Norton

No. of Reigns: 2

Total Combined Days: 126

Scott Norton - IWGP World Heavyweight Champion (World Championship ...

As mentioned earlier Chono’s sole reign with the IWGP Title ended in vacancy due to his neck injury. A tournament was held for the belt which saw the finals between nWo member Scott Norton defeat the rising star Yuji Nagata. It wasn’t a mind blowing five star bout or anything like that but from a storytelling stand point, it conveyed what it needed to do which is Nagata trying his best to take down the much bigger and powerful opponent but in the end still got bulldozed and granted another victory for the nWo. This was the career defining win for Scott Norton as before this he had two runs with the IWGP Tag-Team Championships with Tony Halme (aka Ludvig Borga) and Hercules Hernandez respectively but other than that, he was a midcarder at best until becoming a part of the New World Order in 1996. For the US side of the group, Norton was just another muscle for the team as it wouldn’t take long before the faction became bloated with members. In Japan however due to NJPW and WCW’s partnership, he became a much bigger deal and managed to stand out, being treated as one of the top tier members of nWo Japan alongside with founding members Chono, Mutoh, Tenzan, and Saito. Unlike in WCW, Norton was a main eventer in NJPW and feuded with many of their top stars like Shinya Hashimoto and Kensuke Sasaki as well as the next generation talents. The roster by that point was pretty much split much like in its American counterpart whether you’re a part of the nWo or you’re against it. In his inaugural run with the belt, he held it for a respectable 103 days. The arm wrestling legend defeated former champion Hashimoto in his first defense by count out. His next two matches though were probably the most odd in the history of the IWGP Title as it was the only two occasions wherein the belt was defended in WCW television, first against Van Hammer of all people on November 2, 1998 beating him in under two minutes and a week later he won over Lodi at 18 seconds. Yes, Lodi the guy who tagged with Lenny Lane who were best known for their stereotypical homosexual gimmicks. Who would’ve thought those two would even have matches with the IWGP Title? But it goes to show you how much WCW thought of the belt. He had one last successful defense against Manabu Nakanishi before losing to Keiji Mutoh who has turned face and split away from his former comrades. Norton wouldn’t win the belt again two years later on March 17, 2001 beating Kensuke Sasaki but immediately dropped the belt to Kazuyuki Fujita weeks later, only lasted for 23 days. In the grand scheme of things, Scott Norton’s IWGP Title runs were somewhat underwhelming in comparison to the rest of the champions here but it wasn’t an entirely bad reign per se. His style is polarizing, certainly not built for lengthy high profile matches, he wasn’t exactly in the same vein as Vader or Stan Hansen as a worker, but he knew his role well and played the part perfectly of being the gaijin heavyweight of the nWo because he does have some legitimate credentials with him. Out of all the gaijins that have held the belt, he fits right in the middle of not being the worst, but far from the best either. He continued wrestling for NJPW in 2006. In 2017 he had two surprise comeback matches in the company, first at Wrestle Kingdom 11 participating in the Rumble pre-show and the following day in a multi-men tag for New Year’s Dash where he was reunited with his TEAM 2000 stable mates defeating the Bullet Club.

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