| IWGP Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||
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| Details | |||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | Inoki Genome Federation | ||||||||||||||||
| Date established | June 29, 2007 | ||||||||||||||||
| Date retired | February 17, 2008 (Unified with NJPW'sIWGP Heavyweight Championship) | ||||||||||||||||
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TheIWGP Heavyweight Championship (IWGPヘビー級王座,IWGP hebī-kyū ōza) was aprofessional wrestlingworld heavyweightchampionship owned byNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) that existed from 1987 until 2021. This article covers the interpretation of the title's history according toInoki Genome Federation (IGF) and its founderAntonio Inoki. Bothpromotions agreed on the title's history up to July 15, 2006, whenBrock Lesnar, who was the reigning champion, was stripped of the title by NJPW. Inoki saw this event as an error made by NJPW and spawned the IGF version of the title's history, with Lesnar still recognized as the official champion.
IGF was aterritory of theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA),[1] thus the title was additionally recognized by the NWA as theNWA Japan Championship.[2] NJPW recognized the title as theIWGP 3rd Belt (IWGP 3rdベルト,IWGP sādo beruto),[a] a championship that was merely represented by a previous (third) version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship's title belt. The title also saw the involvement ofTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), which also recognized it as theIWGP World Heavyweight Championship.[3] TNA assisted in the title's retirement in 2008 when TNA wrestlerKurt Angle lost toShinsuke Nakamura tounify Angle's IGF title with Nakamura's NJPW-recognizedIWGP Heavyweight Championship. The NJPW-recognized IWGP Heavyweight Championship was retired in 2021.
As a professional wrestling championship, the title was won via a scripted ending to a match or awarded to a wrestler because of astoryline. All title changes occurred at IGF- or NJPW-promoted events. There were a total of three reigns among three wrestlers during the title's brief history.
On October 8, 2005, atNew Japan Pro-Wrestling's (NJPW) Toukon Souzou New Chapter event inTokyo, Japan,Brock Lesnar defeatedKazuyuki Fujita andMasahiro Chono in aThree Way match for theIWGP Heavyweight Championship. He held the title for 280 days, having three successful defenses, until he failed to show up for a scheduled title defense. NJPW thus stripped Lesnar of the championship on July 15, 2006.[4] Lesnar cited visa issues along with NJPW owing him compensation as his reasons for failing to appear at the planned title defense. After this series of events, NJPW founderAntonio Inoki left NJPW and created a new promotion,Inoki Genome Federation (IGF). Inoki then recognized Lesnar as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion due to Lesnar never having lost the championship in a match and Lesnar still maintaining physical possession of the title belt.[5] NJPW recognized Lesnar as the IWGP 3rd Belt Champion and not the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, maintaining their stance on having stripped him of the title in 2006.[6]
On June 29, 2007, IGF held its debut show with Lesnar defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship againstKurt Angle in the main event. Angle defeated Lesnar to win the championship and went on to appear in the AmericanTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)promotion with the physical title belt. TNA also referred to the title belt as the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the same manner as IGF, recognizing Angle as the official IWGP Heavyweight Champion. TNA occasionally referred to the title as the "IWGP World Heavyweight Championship" to match Angle'sTNA World Heavyweight Championship.[3] NJPW did not recognize Angle as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, instead it viewed Angle as the second IWGP 3rd Belt holder.[7]
Angle went on to have two successful defenses as champion. His first defense came in TNA in a feud againstSamoa Joe. Angle first appeared with the title belt in TNA on the July 5, 2007, episode of TNA's television programTNA Impact!.[8][9] The title belt became relevant to the storyline rivalry between Joe and Angle heading into TNA'sHard Justicepay-per-view (PPV)event. Leading up to TNA'sVictory Road PPV event on July 15, 2007,TNA X Division Champion Joe and TNA World Heavyweight Champion Angle teamed together to faceTNA World Tag Team ChampionsTeam 3D (Brother Devon andBrother Ray) in aTag Team match with the stipulation being whoever scored the pinfall or submission for their team won the championship of the person pinned or made to submit. Joe pinned Brother Ray in the bout, thus winning the World Tag Team Championship for himself and a partner of his choosing.[10][11] Joe chose to hold the title alone and challenged Angle to a Winner Take All match at Hard Justice for the TNA World Heavyweight, TNA X Division, TNA World Tag Team, and the IWGP Championships on the July 19 2007, episode ofImpact!. Angle accepted the match, with Joe and Angle facing at Hard Justice on August 12, 2007 inOrlando, Florida for all of the titles.[12][13] Angle defeated Joe at the event to win the TNA World Tag Team and TNA X Division Championships, while retaining the TNA World Heavyweight and IWGP Championships.[14][15]
Afterwards, TNA slowly fazed out the championship from their programming with Angle going on to defend the IWGP title at IGF shows. With NJPW and TNA forming a working relationship, Angle also defended the title at NJPW shows, where the title was referred to as the IWGP 3rd Belt. Angle's second defense of the title was at NJPW'sWrestle Kingdom II in Tokyo Dome event on January 4, 2008, where he defeated former NJPW-recognized IWGP Heavyweight ChampionYuji Nagata to retain the IWGP 3rd Belt.[16] Angle's third defense was against then-NJPW-recognized IWGP Heavyweight ChampionShinsuke Nakamura in aunification match on February 17, 2008 at NJPW's Circuit 2008 New Japan ISM event. Angle lost the match and the existence of the IGF-recognized IWGP Heavyweight Championship ended.[17] IGF later introduced another title three years later with theIGF Championship on August 22, 2011.[18]
The title design featured a black leather base with five gold plates spaced evenly apart and the center plate being the largest. On the center plate, the words "IWGP Heavyweight Champion" were featured alongside the caricature of aneagle or similarbird of prey.[A]
The inaugural champion wasBrock Lesnar, who was recognized by IGF as the official IWGP Heavyweight Champion. There were a total of three reigns among three wrestlers during the title's brief history before beingunified with the NJPW-recognized IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
| Names | Dates | Notes | Ref(s). |
|---|---|---|---|
| IWGP Heavyweight Championship | July 15, 2006 – February 17, 2008 | Name used by IGF during the title's existence. | [9] |
| NWA Japan Championship | July 15, 2006 – February 17, 2008 | Name used by NWA during the title's existence. | [2] |
| IWGP World Heavyweight Championship | July 15, 2006 – February 17, 2008 | Name used by TNA during the title's existence. | [3] |
| IWGP 3rd Belt[a] | July 15, 2006 – February 17, 2008 | Name used by NJPW during the title's existence. | [5] |
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Defenses | Number of successful defenses |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Defenses | ||||||
| New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) | |||||||||||
| 44 (1) | Brock Lesnar | October 8, 2005 | Toukon Souzou New Chapter | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 629[B] | 3 | Brock Lesnar defeatedKazuyuki Fujita andMasahiro Chono in aThree Way match for theIWGP Heavyweight Championship.New Japan Pro-Wrestling stripped Lesnar of the title on July 15, 2006. IGF, however, considered his reign still active. | [4] [6] | ||
| 45 (2) | Kurt Angle | June 29, 2007 | Toukon Bom-Ba-Ye | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 233 | 2 | [6] [19] | |||
| 46 (3) | Shinsuke Nakamura | February 17, 2008 | Circuit 2008 New Japan ISM | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | <1 | 0 | Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Kurt Angle to unify IGF's IWGP Heavyweight Championship and NJPW'sIWGP Heavyweight Championship. | [6] [17] | ||
| — | Unified | February 17, 2008 | Circuit 2008 New Japan ISM | Tokyo, Japan | — | — | — | Titles are unified and the IGF version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship is deactivated. IGF later replaces the title with theIGF Championship in 2011. | [6] [17] | ||
General
Specific
In the usual Inoki manner, the debut show was followed by great controversy. In the run-up to the show, Inoki already announced that she wanted to fight out the IWGP Heavyweight Title in the main event between Lesnar and Angle. Brock Lesnar was the holder of the title until July 2006, but then refused to lose a title match against Hiroshi Tanahashi, whereupon New Japan (owner of the IWGP trademark) revoked the title. However, Lesnar refused to return the title and simply kept it to himself. After announcing the IGF main event, Inoki said Lesnar was still the champion and that the title would be at stake in the match. The NWA governing body recognized Lesnar (and then Angle, who won the debut show title) as the NWA Japan Champion
The IWGP 3rd Belt
Angle went on to also defeat Brock Lesnar in Tokyo for the IWGP belt
