| NJPW World Television Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The championship belt | |||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | October 10, 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Current champion | El Phantasmo | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date won | April 29, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
TheNJPW World Television Championship (Japanese:NJPW WORLD認定TV王座,Hepburn:Nyū Japan Wārudo-nintei Tī Vī Ōza) is aprofessional wrestlingchampionship owned by theNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)promotion.[2][3] The inaugural champion wasZack Sabre Jr., who has held the championship a record-setting two times. The current champion isEl Phantasmo, who is in his record-tying second reign.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling president and CEO Takami Ohbari andTV Asahi representative Hiroyoki Mihira announced the creation of the title at Declaration of Power on October 10, 2022.[2] The championship is seen as a celebration of both the upcoming 50-year anniversary of thepartnership between the two companies, as well as the continued growth ofNJPW World, New Japan Pro-Wrestling'sonline streaming service. Ohbari also expressed encouragement for younger wrestlers on the roster to compete for the championship.[2][4]
All matches contested for the championship will be held with a 15-minute time limit.[2] Furthermore, due to its nature as atelevision championship, all championship matches (including all matches in theinaugural tournament) will be available for free through theNJPW World service, as well as through New Japan Pro-Wrestling'ssocial media platforms.[2]
The first champion was determined in a sixteen-mansingle-elimination tournament, which began on October 14, 2022, at Battle Autumn (Night 1) and concluded on January 4, 2023, atWrestle Kingdom 17.[5][6] In the event of a time limit draw during the tournament, the winner (and thus, person advancing) was decided by acoin toss.[5]
| First round Battle Autumn (Nights 1-3, 9) (October 14, 15, 16 & 26, 2022) | Second round Battle Autumn (Nights 10, 12) (October 27 & 30, 2022) | Semifinals Battle Autumn (Night 16) (November 5, 2022) | Final Wrestle Kingdom 17 (Night 1) (January 4, 2023) | ||||||||||||
| David Finlay | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Yoshinobu Kanemaru | 11:52[7] | ||||||||||||||
| David Finlay | 13:03[11] | ||||||||||||||
| Zack Sabre Jr. | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Alex Zayne | 14:55[7] | ||||||||||||||
| Zack Sabre Jr. | Sub | ||||||||||||||
| Zack Sabre Jr. | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Evil | 4:48[13] | ||||||||||||||
| Yoshi-Hashi | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Jeff Cobb | 12:14[8] | ||||||||||||||
| Yoshi-Hashi | 9:48[11] | ||||||||||||||
| Evil | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Aaron Henare | 10:55[8] | ||||||||||||||
| Evil | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Zack Sabre Jr. | Sub | ||||||||||||||
| Ren Narita | 10:32 | ||||||||||||||
| Sanada | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Taichi | 14:57[9] | ||||||||||||||
| Sanada | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Kenta | 13:05[12] | ||||||||||||||
| Hirooki Goto | 9:32[9] | ||||||||||||||
| Kenta | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Sanada | 14:31[13] | ||||||||||||||
| Ren Narita | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Ren Narita | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Tomohiro Ishii | 14:33[10] | ||||||||||||||
| Ren Narita | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Toru Yano | 8:47[12] | ||||||||||||||
| Toru Yano | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Great-O-Khan | 11:20[10] | ||||||||||||||
As of February 13, 2026, there have been nine reigns between seven champions.Zack Sabre Jr. was the inaugural champion, with his inaugural reign being the longest at 365 days, the longest combined days at 386, with 16 title defense between both his reigns, and is tied withEl Phantasmo for the most reigns at two.Zack Sabre Jr's second reign and Great-O-Khan's first reign are the ones with zero title defenses.Hiroshi Tanahashi was the first Japanese wrestler to win the title and was the oldest champion at 47 years old.Ren Narita was the youngest champion, winning the title at 26 years old.
El Phantasmo is the reigning champion in his record-tying second reign. He defeated previous championGreat-O-Khan for the title at Wrestling Hizen no Kuni on April 29, 2025 inSaga, Japan.
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Defenses | Number of successful defenses |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Defenses | ||||||
| New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) | |||||||||||
| 1 | Zack Sabre Jr. | January 4, 2023 | Wrestle Kingdom 17 Night 1 | Tokyo,Japan | 1 | 365 | 16 | DefeatedRen Narita in the finals of an 16-mansingle-elimination tournament to become the inaugural champion. | [2][1] | ||
| 2 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | January 4, 2024 | Wrestle Kingdom 18 | Tokyo,Japan | 1 | 50 | 1 | [14] | |||
| 3 | Matt Riddle | February 23, 2024 | The New Beginning in Sapporo Night 1 | Sapporo,Japan | 1 | 49 | 2 | ||||
| 4 | Zack Sabre Jr. | April 12, 2024 | Windy City Riot | Chicago,Illinois | 2 | 21 | 0 | ||||
| 5 | Jeff Cobb | May 3, 2024 | Wrestling Dontaku Night 1 | Fukuoka,Japan | 1 | 164 | 3 | [15] | |||
| 6 | Ren Narita | October 14, 2024 | King of Pro-Wrestling | Tokyo,Japan | 1 | 82 | 0 | This was athree-way match, also involvingYota Tsuji. | [16] | ||
| 7 | El Phantasmo | January 4, 2025 | Wrestle Kingdom 19 | Tokyo,Japan | 1 | 91 | 4 | This was afour-way match, also involvingJeff Cobb andRyohei Oiwa. | [17] | ||
| 8 | Great-O-Khan | April 5, 2025 | Sakura Genesis | Tokyo,Japan | 1 | 24 | 0 | [18] | |||
| 9 | El Phantasmo | April 29, 2025 | Wrestling Hizen no Kuni | Saga,Japan | 2 | 290+ | 6 | [19] | |||
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns | Combined defenses | Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zack Sabre Jr. | 2 | 16 | 386 |
| 2 | El Phantasmo † | 2 | 10 | 381+ |
| 3 | Jeff Cobb | 1 | 3 | 164 |
| 4 | Ren Narita | 1 | 0 | 82 |
| 5 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | 1 | 1 | 50 |
| 6 | Matt Riddle | 1 | 2 | 49 |
| 7 | Great-O-Khan | 1 | 0 | 24 |
