| J-Crown | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | August 5, 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date retired | November 5, 1997 | ||||||||||||||||||
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TheJ-Crown, also known as theJ-Crown Octuple Unified Championship (Japanese:ジュニア8冠王座,Hepburn:Junia 8 kan'ōza;English:Junior 8-Crown Champion), was aunified, multi-promotionalprofessional wrestling championship initially created byNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It was formed via the unification of eight (later seven)junior heavyweight andother lower-weight class titles from several different organizations. The J-Crown Tournament that crowned the inaugural champion was held in August 1996.
The J-Crown was the unification of eight different championship belts from multiple different countries, including ones from Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[1] The tournament to crown the first champion was held over four nights, from August 2 to August 5, 1996, the same dates thatNew Japan Pro-Wrestling's annualG1 Climax event took place, promoting two major tournaments on one tour.[1]Jushin Thunder Liger is credited with coming up with the idea for the J-Crown.[1] The inaugural champion wasThe Great Sasuke.[1] The J-Crown was defended for just over a year.
WhileÚltimo Dragón was champion, the titles appeared onWorld Championship Wrestling programming, as Dragón also held theWCW Cruiserweight Championship.[1] Dragón additionally held theNWA World Middleweight Championship concurrently with the J-Crown.[1] When Liger was champion, he lost theWAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship toYuji Yasuraoka on June 6, 1997, inTokyo,Japan. Liger, however, continued to defend the J-Crown with seven titles instead of eight.
As part of their introduction of a newWWF Light Heavyweight Championship, theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) demanded that the then-current championShinjiro Otani return the belt. Otani returned the championship to the WWF and subsequently dissolved the J-Crown on November 5, 1997, by vacating all of the remaining component titles except for theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, with the other belts being restored to their home promotions.
| Title | Promotion | Champion |
|---|---|---|
| NWA World Middleweight Championship | Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre | Corazón de León |
| WCW World Cruiserweight Championship | World Championship Wrestling | Dean Malenko |
Every match was a title match, the final was for all 8 championships.
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
| Masayoshi Motegi | Pin | |||||||||||||
| The Great Sasuke | 11:50 | |||||||||||||
| The Great Sasuke | Pin | |||||||||||||
| El Samurai | 16:25 | |||||||||||||
| Gran Hamada | Pin | |||||||||||||
| El Samurai | 12:38 | |||||||||||||
| The Great Sasuke | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Último Dragón | 13:56 | |||||||||||||
| Jushin Thunder Liger | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Último Dragón | 2:38 | |||||||||||||
| Último Dragón | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Shinjiro Otani | 16:04 | |||||||||||||
| Negro Casas | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Shinjiro Otani | 11:34 | |||||||||||||
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | |||||||
| New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) | |||||||||||
| 1 | The Great Sasuke | August 5, 1996 | G1 Climax 1996 Final | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 67 | DefeatedÚltimo Dragón in a tournament final to become the first champion. This event was promoted byNew Japan Pro-Wrestling. | ||||
| 2 | Último Dragón | October 11, 1996 | Osaka Crush Night | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 85 | This event was promoted byWrestle Association R. During his reign, Último Dragón had already captured theNWA World Middleweight Championship fromCorazón de León and then captured theWCW Cruiserweight Championship fromDean Malenko inWCW Starrcade, making him the most decorated wrestler in history at the time as he was the active reigning and defending champion of 10 titles. This record would be broken on October 18, 2025, atAEW WrestleDream byMercedes Moné after she won a total of 11 championships. | ||||
| 3 | Jushin Thunder Liger | January 4, 1997 | Wrestling World 1997 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 183 | This event was promoted byNew Japan Pro-Wrestling. Lost theWAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship toYuji Yasuraoka on June 6, 1997, in Tokyo, Japan; from that point on, the J-Crown is represented by seven championship belts. | ||||
| 4 | El Samurai | July 6, 1997 | House show | Sapporo, Japan | 1 | 35 | This event was promoted byNew Japan Pro-Wrestling. | ||||
| 5 | Shinjiro Otani | August 10, 1997 | House show | Nagoya, Japan | 1 | 87 | This event was promoted byNew Japan Pro-Wrestling. | ||||
| — | Deactivated | November 5, 1997 | — | — | — | — | TheWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) demanded thatShinjiro Otani vacate and return theWWF Light Heavyweight Championship to them immediately. On the same day Otani also vacated the remaining belts except for theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, with the belts returning to their home promotions. | ||||
