The first NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion was Ken Fenelon, who was awarded the title in May 1943 by Paul "Pinkie" George, the promoter of the local National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) promotion. For the first few years of its existence, the title was contested largely in Iowa, where George's NWA promotion was based.[2] On July 14, 1948, the NWA was established by George and his partners as a governing body for various regional wrestling promotions in the United States, after which the World Junior Heavyweight Championship became the property of the alliance. At the founding meeting of the NWA governing body in Waterloo, Iowa, Billy Goelz was recognized as the governing body's World Junior Heavyweight Champion; the governing body additionally retroactively recognized all previous holders of the Iowa championship as former NWA World Junior Heavyweight champions.
In 1973, Wrestling Pro of the Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling (GCCW) promotion faced Ken Mantell for the championship. During the match, the referee was knocked out and Wrestling Pro won the match, but a second referee appeared and awarded the victory to Mantell. The promoter Bob Kelly declared Wrestling Pro as the new champion and awarded him a title belt. However, Wrestling Pro was recognized as champion only in the GCCW territory and did not receive universal recognition from the NWA.[5] 49 days after his initial loss, Mantell defeated Wrestling Pro to claim both versions of the title.
In March 1976, Hodge vacated the title after being injured in a car accident, marking the end of his record seventh reign as champion.[6]
In 1983, the title had splintered into two different lineages. The NWA recognized champion was The Cobra, who worked for NJPW. The Cobra held the title from November 3, 1983 until July 28, 1985, when he lost it against Hiro Saito. However, he regained the title that same day. The Cobra's second reign as champion continued until August 1, 1985, when NJPW separated from the NWA. During the course of The Cobra's reigns, Les Thornton was recognized as champion by Georgia Championship Wrestling. The Georgia title was vacated when Thornton joined the NWA's rival the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Following Thornton's move to the WWF, Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) awarded the title to Hector Guerrero on July 13, 1984, with JCP claiming that Guerrero had won a tournament for the championship in Los Angeles, California. Guerrero later lost the championship in a match against Mike Davis and, at Starrcade '84, Davis lost the title to Denny Brown. When NJPW separated from the NWA in August 1985, NWA vice president Shohei Baba recognized Brown as the official champion. In May 1988, champion Nelson Royal left JCP while holding the title, after which the championship began being defended in independent promotions until it was abandoned in December 1989.
In 1996, The Great Sasuke won the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship as part of the eight-man "J-Crown" tournament.
In 1995, the championship was re-established by Japan's Wrestle Yume Factory (WYF) promotion, with Masayoshi Motegi being the first champion under the WYF banner. In 1996, the J-Crown tournament was held to unify eight different championship belts from five different organizations, including the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.[9] The tournament to determine the first J-Crown Champion was held over four nights, from August 2 to August 5, 1996, the same dates that NJPW's annual G1 Climax event took place, promoting two major tournaments on one tour.[9]Jushin Thunder Liger is credited with coming up with the idea for the J-Crown.[9] The inaugural champion was The Great Sasuke.[9] While Último Dragón was J-Crown Champion, the titles appeared on World Championship Wrestling (WCW) programming, as Dragon also held the WCW Cruiserweight Championship and the NWA World Middleweight Championship at the time.[9] When Liger was champion, he lost the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship to Yuji Yasuraoka on June 6, 1997, in Tokyo, Japan. Liger, however, continued to defend the J-Crown with seven titles instead of eight. As part of their introduction of a new WWF Light Heavyweight Championship, the WWF demanded that the then current J-Crown Champion Shinjiro Otani return the WWF Light Heavyweight belt. Otani dissolved the J-Crown on November 5, 1997, by vacating all of the component titles except for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, with the other belts being restored to their home promotions. After the dissolution of the J-Crown, the Junior Heavyweight title was returned to the NWA, who kept it vacant until March 1999, when Logan Caine won a tournament to become champion.
In 2014, NWA re-established its working relationship with NJPW. The champion at that time, Chase Owens, defended the title on several NJPW events. During the working relationship, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask IV held the title. On May 1, 2017, Billy Corgan's company, Lightning One, Inc., purchased the NWA, including its name, rights, trademarks, and championships. As a result, the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship was vacated.[11] Corgan's ownership took effect on October 1, 2017.[12] The title remained vacant until March 2022 when Homicide won the title on night two of the 2022 Crockett Cup.[13]
This match was promoted by Paul "Pinkie" George's Iowa-based National Wrestling Alliance promotion. During this reign, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is officially formed as a wrestling governing body, with the championship becoming property of the alliance and expanding out of Iowa.
This match was promoted by Mid-South Wrestling. Starr defeated Les Thornton to win the vacant championship. After his victory, Starr received recognition from the NWA as champion over international champion Steve Keirn.
This match was promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. In 1983, some North American promoters declared the title vacant due to Tiger Mask wrestling for the World Wrestling Federation, which was not a member of the NWA; however, during the annual NWA convention, the NWA announced that Tiger Mask was still recognized as the official champion and ordered its territories to recognize him as champion.
Brown had previously won a disputed version of the championship at Starrcade '84 by defeating Mike Davis; Brown received official recognition as champion by NWA vice president Shohei Baba, promoter of All Japan Pro Wrestling, on August 1 after New Japan Pro-Wrestling, which had controlled the championship since 1982, withdrew from the NWA.
This match was promoted by USA Championship Wrestling. USA Championship Wrestling closed in October 1988; Royal later founded Atlantic Coast Wrestling in the Carolinas and continued to bill himself as world champion.
This match was promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The Great Sasuke won an eight-man tournament to decide the first holder of the J-Crown, a combination of eight titles categorized junior heavyweight or lower (including the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship). These titles were still considered separate, as opposed to one unified championship, and continued to be defended separately on occasion.
The championship was vacated when the J-Crown was dissolved upon the request of the World Wrestling Federation. All of the component titles were returned to their home promotions.
Kevin Douglas was stripped of the title for no-showing a scheduled title defense on October 13, 2012 against Chase Owens. A one-night tournament was held in Kingsport, Tennessee in lieu of the Douglas-Owens match.
The WCW International World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship that was contested in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) between 1993 and 1994. Although it was owned and controlled by WCW, the championship was presented as the highest accolade of "WCW International", a fictitious subsidiary. The championship was contested at WCW events and at several events in Japan under the aegis of New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).
Keiichi Yamada, better known as Jushin Liger and later Jushin Thunder Liger, is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is the longest-tenured member of the NJPW roster, having wrestled for the company since his debut in 1984 until his retirement in January 2020. Throughout his career, which spanned three-and-a-half decades, he wrestled over 4,000 matches and performed in major events for various promotions across the globe.
Shinjiro Otani is a semi-retired Japanese professional wrestler and the current acting president of Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). He is currently inactive from pro-wrestling competition due to a cervical spine injury sustained in April 2022. A product of the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) dojo, Otani is best known for his longtime association with Zero1, a promotion he founded in 2001 along with Shinya Hashimoto.
The NWA National Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship owned and promoted by the U.S.-based, National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
Yoshihiro Yamazaki is a Japanese professional wrestler, best known for being the fourth man to portray Tiger Mask. He currently works for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where he is a former 6-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and 2-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion. Having competed as Tiger Mask since 1995, he is the longest tenured incarnation of the character.
The IWGP Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight 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 June 12, 1987, in the final of an IWGP tournament. It was unified with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship on March 4, 2021, to form the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
Dennis Brown is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Downtown" Denny Brown. He is best known for his appearances with the National Wrestling Alliance affiliates Championship Wrestling from Florida and Jim Crockett Promotions in the 1980s and with World Championship Wrestling in the 1990s.
Osamu Matsuda is a Japanese professional wrestler who is best known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and is better known by his stage name El Samurai.
Tatsumi Fujinami is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to WWE on a legend's contract. Fujinami is most well known for his long tenure with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a six-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He was famously nicknamed "The Dragon", and is credited for inventing the dragon sleeper and the dragon suplex.
The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world junior heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix. 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 title is 100 kg (220 lb). The current champion is Sho, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating El Desperado at The New Beginning in Sapporo on February 23, 2024.
The J-Crown, also known as the J-Crown Octuple Unified Championship, was a professional wrestling championship promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), formed via the unification of eight junior heavyweight and other lower-weight class titles from several different organizations. The J-Crown Tournament that crowned the inaugural champion was held in August 1996.
The NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship started in 1979. It was formed by a split in lineage from the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship caused by the retirement of champion Nelson Royal the same year. The first champion, Steve Keirn, was recognized as world champion only by Florida, Los Angeles, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling. This version was eventually taken to the latter promotion by Tatsumi Fujinami, who already held the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship.
The NWF Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship used as part of the National Wrestling Federation and later New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Luke James Uggles Eatwell, known by his ring name Zack Sabre Jr. and its abbreviated form ZSJ, is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the leader of the group The Mighty Don't Kneel and is the current and formerly inaugural NJPW World Television Champion in his record-setting second reign. He also makes sporadic appearances for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and its sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH).
The NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship owned by the Japanese Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1) promotion. The title is meant for wrestlers under the weight limit of 100 kg (220 lb), referred to as "junior heavyweights" in Japan.
Steven Owens, better known by the ring name Chase Owens is an American professional wrestler currently signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of Bullet Club. He is one-half of the current IWGP Tag Team Champion with Kenta and also won with Bad Luck Fale. Owens has also won the KOPW trophy.
Steve Anthony is an American professional wrestler and trainer. Throughout his career, Anthony has competed for various promotions throughout the United States and Japan most notably Ring of Honor, World League Wrestling, New Japan, Pro Wrestling Noah, and various National Wrestling Alliance member promotions. Within the NWA, Anthony is a former two-time NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion, a title which he defended in both America and Japan.
The Skydiving-J was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on June 17, 1996 at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. The event was notable for revolutionizing junior heavyweight wrestling in NJPW and Japanese wrestling history. The event aired on television on TV Asahi on July 6, 1996. All of the matches contested at the event were junior heavyweight championship matches from different promotions from Japan. This was a very significant event in the revolution of junior heavyweight wrestling as title defences from various promotions at the event would result in the unification of various junior heavyweight championships to create the J-Crown.
References
↑ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4thed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
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