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.
Kenta Kobayashi, known mononymously as Kenta, is a Japanese professional wrestler. He currently works for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of the Bullet Club stable. A former amateur kickboxer, Kobayashi's wrestling style is based upon strong kicks and strikes. Kobayashi pioneered both the Go 2 Sleep and Busaiku Knee kick finishing maneuvers, later popularized by CM Punk and Bryan Danielson, respectively.
Yuji Nagata is a Japanese professional wrestler, and former mixed martial artist and amateur wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Considered one of the greatest Japanese wrestlers of all time, he is the fifth longest-reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion with a reign of 392 days, and formerly held the record for most successful title defenses with 10, until Hiroshi Tanahashi broke the record at Wrestle Kingdom VI. He is the only wrestler to have won Japanese professional wrestling's three biggest singles tournaments; New Japan Pro-Wrestling's G1 Climax, All Japan Pro Wrestling's Champion Carnival and Pro Wrestling Noah's Global League. In addition, he is the only man to have held all four major heavyweight championships in Japanese professional wrestling, the IWGP, World, GHC and Triple Crown heavyweight championships, making him the only "Grand Slam" champion.
Hirooki Goto is a Japanese professional wrestler. Since his debut, he has wrestled primarily for New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Taichiro Maki is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Taichi, shortened from his previous ring name Taichi Ishikari. He is currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of the Just 5 Guys stable.
Tetsuya Shimizu, better known by the ring name Bushi, is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).
Nobuo Yoshihashi is a Japanese professional wrestler. He currently works for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as Yoshi-Hashi, where he is a former IWGP Tag Team Champions with Hirooki Goto. They have held the belt on three separate occasions. as well as being a former NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion with Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii, a team which holds the record for the longest reign with the titles.
Kyosuke Mikami, better known by his ring name El Desperado, is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. He was a member of the Suzuki-gun stable from 2014 until its disbandment in 2022.
Jeffrey Cobb is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of the United Empire stable.
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.
Takaaki Watanabe, better known by his ring name Evil, is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of Bullet Club and the leader of its sub-group House of Torture, and is the current NEVER Openweight Champion in his third reign.
William Peter Charles Ospreay is an English professional wrestler, currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is also known for his 8 year tenure with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he held various championships, including the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. He is the leader of the United Empire and a member of the Don Callis Family stable. Ospreay is regarded by fans, peers, and industry journalists as one of the best in-ring performers of all-time.
Hirai Kawato is a Japanese professional wrestler, signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) under the ring name Master Wato. He was previously on an international learning excursion, working for NJPW's Mexican partner Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) under the ring name Kawato-San. He is a former CMLL World Lightweight Champion and competed in the main event of CMLL's 2020 Sin Piedad supercard show.
Ren Narita is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of Bullet Club and its sub-group House of Torture. He is a former NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion with Minoru Suzuki and El Desperado.
Nathan Troy Blauvelt, better known by his ring name Brody King, is an American professional wrestler, singer, and actor. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of the House of Black and is a former one-time AEW World Trios Champion.
Villain Enterprises was a villainous professional wrestling stable consisting of Marty Scurll, Brody King, PCO, and Flip Gordon. The stable performed in Ring of Honor (ROH), where they are former ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), where King and PCO are former NWA World Tag Team Champions, and Australia's World Series Wrestling (WSW), where Scurll is a former WSW World Champion. King and PCO have also won both ROH's Tag Wars tournament and the NWA/ROH co-promoted Crockett Cup tournament in 2019, and previously held the ROH World Tag Team Championship, while Scurll and King are former WSW Tag Team Champions. They were joined by Flip Gordon at Best in the World.
The NJPW 49th Anniversary Show was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on March 4, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan at the Nippon Budokan arena. The event featured six matches, including the start of the annual New Japan Cup. In the main event match, Kota Ibushi defeated the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado to retain his IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships and become the first IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.
Drew Jacob Parker is a Welsh retired professional wrestler, best known for his tenure with the Japanese promotions Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), and for his time in the British independent circuit.
