NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING

I.W.G.P JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE HISTORY

February 06, 1986 to Present

Adapted from the list on Solie's Title Histories by Michael Farrow

Those in red are real changes, those in yellow are those that have occurred in my circuit since 27/04/99

Name Defeated Date Notes/Special Circumstances Location Time
Koshinaka Shiro The Cobra 06/02/86 Tournament final Tokyo Unavailable
Takada Nobuhiko Koshinaka Shiro 19/05/86 None Tokyo Unavailable
Koshinaka Shiro (2) Takada Nobuhiko 15/09/86 Koshinaka vacated in July 87 due to injury Fukuoka Unavailable
Kobayashi Kuniaki Takada Nobuhiko 20/08/87 Tournament final Fukuoka Unavailable
Hase Hiroshi Kobayashi Kuniaki 27/12/87 None Tokyo Unavailable
Owen Hart Hase Hiroshi 27/05/88 None Sendai Unavailable
Koshinaka Shiro (3) Owen Hart 24/06/88 None Osaka Unavailable
Hase Hiroshi (2) Koshinaka Shiro 16/03/89 None Yokohama Unavailable
Jyushin Lyger Hase Hiroshi 25/05/89 None Osaka Unavailable
Sano Naoki Jyushin Lyger 10/08/89 None Tokyo Unavailable
Jyushin Lyger (2) Sano Naoki 31/01/90 None Tokyo Unavailable
The Pegasus Kid Jyushin Lyger 19/08/90 None Tokyo 15:02
Jyushin Lyger (3) The Pegasus Kid 02/11/90 Lyger vacated the title in April '91 to enter the Top of the Super Jr. tournament. Tokyo Unavailable
Honaga Norio Jyushin Lyger 29/04/91 Top of Super Jr. Final for the title Tokyo Unavailable
Jyushin Lyger (4) Honaga Norio 12/06/91 None Tokyo Unavailable
Nogami Akira Jyushin Lyger 09/08/91 None Tokyo 17:16
Honaga Norio (2) Nogami Akira 05/11/91 None Tokyo 18:39
Jyushin Lyger (5) Honaga Norio 08/02/92 Lyger held the WCW World Light Heavyweight title from 25/12/91 to 29/02/92. Won from and lost to Brian Pillman Sapporo Unavailable
El Samurai Jyushin Lyger 26/06/92 None Tokyo Unavailable
Ultimo Dragon El Samurai 22/11/92 None Tokyo Unavailable
Jyushin Lyger (6) Ultimo Dragon 04/01/93 Lyger vacated when he broke his leg in a tag match on 24/09/94 Tokyo Unavailable
Honaga Norio (3) "Wild Pegasus" Chris Benoit 27/09/94 Tournament final Osaka Unavailable
Kanemoto Kohji Honaga Norio 19/02/95 None Tokyo Unavailable
Sabu Kanemoto Kohji 03/05/95 None Fukuoka Unavailable
Kanemoto Kohji (2) Sabu 14/06/95 Kohji also held the UWA Junior Heavyweight Title Tokyo Unavailable
Jyushin Lyger (7) Kanemoto Kohji 04/01/96 None Tokyo Unavailable
The Great Sasuke Jyushin Lyger 29/04/96 See J-Crown explanation at foot of the page Tokyo Unavailable
Ultimo Dragon (2) The Great Sasuke 11/10/96 See J-Crown explanation at foot of the page Osaka Unavailable
Jyushin Lyger (8) Ultimo Dragon 04/01/97 See J-Crown explanation at foot of the page Tokyo 18:21
El Samurai (2) Jyushin Lyger 06/07/97 See J-Crown explanation at foot of the page Sapporo 19:40
Ohtani Shinjiro El Samurai 10/08/97 See J-Crown explanation at foot of the page Nagoya 18:05
Jyushin Lyger (9) Ohtani Shinjiro 07/02/98 None Sapporo Unavailable
Kanemoto Kohji (3) Jyushin Lyger 17/03/99 None Hiroshima Unavailable

J-Crown explanation

The Great Sasuke, the IWGP Junior Champ at the time, won the J-Crown tournament on 05/08/96 to decide an "undisputed Junior Heavweight Champion". The Great Sasuke won seven other belts; The British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Title, The Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) World Junior Light Heavyweight Title, The WWF World Light Heavyweight Title, The World Wrestling Association (WWA) World Junior Light Heavyweight Title, The Wrestling Association R (WAR) International Junior Heavyweight Title, The NWA World Welterweight Title and the The NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title.

Ultimo Dragon won the J-Crown titles by defeating Sasuke on 11/10/96. Ultimo was the reigning NWA World Middleweight Title, which he had won from Corazon de Leon (Chris Jericho) in Tokyo on 08/11/94. This title was not merged into the J-Crown, as Ultimo had not put it up for grabs in the tournament (besides the Middleweight class did not stretch much above 195lbs). Ultimo won the the WCW World Cruiserweight Title on 29/12/96 from Dean Malenko in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. This was also seperate from the J-Crown. From 29/12/96 until 04/01/97, Ultimo held ten different Lightweight titles.

Jyushin Lyger defeated Ultimo in the Annual Tokyo Dome Supercard on the fourth of January 1997 in 18:21. Jyushin won the eight J-Crown titles but not the WCW World Cruiserweight title not the NWA World Middleweight Title. However, Lyger lost one of the belts, the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Title, to Yasuraoka Yuuji in Tokyo on 06/06/97. He kept the other seven titles.

El Samurai defeated Lyger on 06/07/97 in Sapporo in 19:40 for the remaining seven titles in the J-Crown.

Ohtani Shinjiro defeated El Samurai to win the J-Crown on 10/08/97 in Nagoya in 18:05. Ohtani remained J-Crown champion until 05/11/97, when he vacated all the titles in the J-Crown except the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title, after the WWF forced him to vacate their World Light Heavyweight title, as they were trying to restart the division in the US and could not invite Ohtani to join their tournament (NJPW is affiliated to WCW and wouldn't allow Ohtani to wrestle for the WWF). Before that the WWF World Light Heavyweight Title was a title wrestled for in Japan and Mexico, but not in the States.

As I write this (02/05/99), this was the destiny of these belts after they were vacated :

The British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Title - Won by "Dirt Bike Kid" Jason Harrison in a one-night tournament on 14/12/98. He relinquished it in late 1998. Tiger Mask IV beat Jason Cross for the vacant title on 11/04/99 in Crystal Palace.

The Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) World Junior Light Heavyweight Title - Gran Hamada defeated Convict I for the vacant title on 30/07/98.

The WWF World Light Heavyweight Title - TAKA Michinoku won the tournament to crown the new champ. He lost it fifteen months later to Christian, who lost the belt to Duane Gill. It is not known whether the WWF are going to restart the division as Gill was recently handed his notice.

The World Wrestling Association (WWA) World Junior Light Heavyweight Title - After the J-Crown fell apart, a new champion was never crowned.

The Wrestling Association R (WAR) International Junior Heavyweight Title - After Yasuraoka Yuuji won the title, he held it until 15/01/99, where he lost it to Orihara Masao. Orihara lost it to Mochizuki Masaaki on 01/03/99. Both changes took place in Tokyo.

The NWA World Welterweight Title - Dragon Kid defeated Dr Cerebro to win the vacant title in early February '99. Dragon lost it to Judo Suwa on 25/04/99.

The NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title - The NWA finally held a tournamnet in New Jersey in January 1999, which was won by Logan Caine

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