By: Super Mastodon
Champions. They symbolized greatness and leadership. The ones at the top representing the company or league they compete in.
Since 1987, that has been represented in New Japan Pro Wrestling by one of the most prestigious titles in all of wrestling: the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
A little bit of background before we get things officially started. IWGP stands for “International Wrestling Grand Prix” which was a yearly traditional tournament for NJPW, a predecessor to what we now know today as the “G1 Climax.” Back then instead of trophies, the winner of the tournament was awarded a championship belt and that was the purpose of the IWGP Title at the time because the NWF Heavyweight Championship was still the top prize for NJPW during that timeframe.
The IWGP Tournament ran from 1983 to 1988, Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant won twice, while the rest were won by Antonio Inoki. When the NWF Heavyweight Championship was retired, the IWGP Heavyweight Championship replaced it as the top belt for the promotion and has remained that ever since.
Today we will be taking a look at all the wrestlers who have held the championship since its official inception as a wrestling belt up until the present day!
So without further ado, let’s get straight to action and meet the roster of champions for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship!
1.) Antonio Inoki
Total Days: 325
Number of Reigns: 1
The inaugural IWGP Heavyweight Champion is none other than the founder of NJPW himself, Antonio Inoki! Can’t think of any better wrestler for NJPW at the time to become the new champion, Inoki was and still is a megastar in Japan!
Along with Shohei “Giant” Baba, Inoki is a student of the legendary Rikidozan. They were the up and coming stars of JWA, Rikidozan’s promotion but when their master passed away, the two split off to run their own promotions, Baba would create AJPW, while Inoki made NJPW, as they say the rest is history. At the International Wrestling Grand Prix finals tournament on June 12, 1987 Antonio Inoki defeated the late Masa Saito to become the first ever IWGP Heavyweight Champion! The belt would then later become the top championship of the promotion, replacing the NWF Heavyweight Championship. Inoki was already a bonafied star at this point and with him still leading the way, NJPW just grew bigger and bigger! The fans adored his badass yet underdog style of wrestling and his sole run with the belt was a great one for 325 days! He had numerous bouts for the belt most notably against Riki Choshu. Other gaijins also competed against Inoki during his time as champion such as Bam Bam Bigelow, Dick Murdoch, and Dr. Death. Because of a foot injury he suffered though, Inoki was forced to vacate the title. He never won the belt ever again in his career, but I think he never had to anyway. Inoki is a legend already and with him being the foundation of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, it was a solid start.
Where Are They Now?
Inoki almost killed the very company he created due to his obessesion with MMA. His integration of MMA to NJPW was the darkest point in the company’s history. After he left NJPW, he created a new MMA/Wrestling based promotion: IGF and later on would run another company of his own “INOKI ISM” with similar roots. Oh and he entered politics too. What a life.
2.) Tatsumi Fujinami
Total Combined Days: 785
Number of Reigns: 6
When Inoki was going in to the “decline” even though he is actually still a formidable wrestler, one of the men who would eventually replace him as the top star of NJPW is Tatsumi Fujinami. He began his career as a young upstart under Inoki’s wing in JWA. When that promotion folded, he joined his sensei at NJPW.
In the 70’s, Fujinami competed across the border to gain experience. This is a frequent practice in Japanese wrestling in general called “excursion” so there wrestlers hone their craft as much as possible. After making waves in Mexico and the US, even winning the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship, he would return as a big deal in the 80s for New Japan!
Fujinami’s 6 reigns with the title spanned for at least two decades. After Inoki vacated the belt, he was the second overall champion, beating Big Van Vader to hold the belt but his first run only lasted for 19 days as it was soon vacated after a bout against Riki Choshu ending in a no contest. On June 24, 1988 Fujinami would begin a solid run as the Ace of New Japan by beating once again his rival Choshu and would hold the belt for 285 days! He would not only defend the belt against national talent but also international ones against the likes of Kerry von Erich, Sid Vicious, and Jerry Lawler.
The third reign wasn’t that much different from his first. Another winning battle against Choshu but only ran for 22 days. His fourth one however would be his longest at 306 days! This is probably Fujinami’s most notable World Title run of his career as in 1991 he made history by being the only wrestler in history to become IWGP and NWA World Champion at the same time defeating Ric Flair at Starrcade in the Tokyo Dome! Definitely a match one for the ages.
His two final runs with the belt, Fujinami was no longer the “top dog” he once was but more of a grizzled veteran role going up against the younger guys. He defeated Shinya Hashimoto in 1994 but would only last for 27 days until losing the belt right back at him. Then in 1998 he would have his final run with the belt that lasted for 196 days.
Many people often call themselves “The Dragon” but only few get to deserve that recognition, Tatsumi Fujinami is one of those. He is one of the greatest technicians wrestling has ever seen! His rivalry with Riki Choshu is still highly revered by many fans to this day. If there was a wrestler to follow after Inoki’s footsteps, he was the right choice for that.
Where Are They Now?
At the age of 65, Fujinami is still going strong in the wrestling scene! Often competing for his own promotion: Dradition. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015.
3.) Big Van Vader
Total Combined Days: 451
Number of Reigns: 3
Nowadays due to how global wrestling has become, we get many great gaijins wrestling for NJPW. But before Bullet Club became the massive entity it is now, the first true gaijin who terrorized New Japan was the late great Leon White aka Big Van Vader!
Vader was unlike most big men in his time. He was athletic while at the same time being a strong and tough wrestler. His first appearance with NJPW literally caused a riot that got the company banned from the arena at the time, where he defeated Inoki in mere seconds! The fans did not take kindly of this and at the time, wrestling still has that “realness” bubble attached to it.
He had three reigns with the IWGP Title across the same amount of years. Vader was the big villain of New Japan at the time, often taking on fan favorites such as Fujinami and Choshu. Played his role well and which is why he was a top legend in Japan wherever promotion he competed in! His career in the US was still good, primarily in WCW, he really got misused in the WWF, but he already had a solid resume in Japan that only few could hope they have.
Where Are They Now?
Vader continued wrestling until in his final years, mainly working for small indies in the US and Japan. He would sadly passed away in 2018.
4.) Salman Hashimikov
Total Days: 48
Number of Reigns: 1
Probably the most forgotten IWGP Heavyweight Champion, its Salman Hashimikov. The only comparison I think that could give him justice is that if the US has Kurt Angle, then Russia had Salman Hashimikov. He had a fantastic career in Freestyle Wrestling, obtaining multiple Gold and Silver Medals in World and European Championships.
After ending his amateur run, Hashimikov would train in the New Japan Dojo led at the time by Inoki along with his fellow Russian Victor Zangiev. In 1989 he defeated Vader to have his first and only run with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, it would only last for 48 days before he dropped the belt to Choshu.
Where Are They Now?
He competed in UWF International in 1993 and 1994 after his New Japan career ended. Not much in known what he is up to these days, but hopefully he is doing well for himself.
5.) Riki Choshu
Total Days: 383
Number of Reigns: 3
We’ve already talked about Fujinami and you might have read Choshu’s name a lot during that, well it is because their careers are pretty much intertwined with one another. These two are Yin to the other’s Yang. Like I’ve said, the rivalry between Choshu and Fujinami helped shape not only the way New Japan is today, but Puroresu in general!
Choshu only had three runs with the IWGP Title. First in 1989 beating Hashimikov which only lasted for 29 days before dropping the belt to another gaijin in Vader. He would reclaim the belt from Vader the next year and had a solid 129 days as champion. Lastly his third one is his greatest at 225 Days beating Tatsumi Fujinami in an NJPW/WCW Collaboration event. He defeated the likes of Scott Norton, Masahiro Chono, and Super Strong Machine during that run before losing the belt to a man you might know as The Great Muta.
In his half a century career in professional wrestling, Riki Choshu has done it all: wrestle, book, promote, and train. He is one of the most respected legends in all of Japan, mentored many of our favorite Japanese wrestlers today, notably Tomohiro Ishii and Togi Makabe in NJPW who both citied Choshu as their idols. He is the innovator of the Sasori-Gatame submission hold, now popularly known as the Scorpion Deathlock or Sharpshooter as used by Sting and Bret Hart respectively throughout their own careers.
Where Are They Now?
Choshu just wrestled his final match last month on June 26, 2019 in his Power Hall events. He faced his long time rival Tatsumi Fujinami for the last time in a 6 man tag match that also involved other wrestlers that have a connection with him.
6.) Great Muta/Keiji Mutoh
Total Combined Days: 1,238
Number of Reigns: 4
In the 90’s, NJPW began another transitional period. Fujinami and Choshu are beginning to wane down in their careers as the top stars for the company, luckily with their dojo system, New Japan has found three new wrestlers that could lead them into the future, dubbed as “The Three Musketeers” one of those men is Keiji Mutoh.
After being trained by the legendary Hiro Matsuda in the dojo, Mutoh would wrestle as a young rookie in NJPW before being sent overseas. He would compete in Puerto Rico before finding his way into the NWA where he created “The Great Muta” persona. An evil mist-spitting, ninja-esque character that would terrorize his opponents.
1992 saw The Great Muta capture the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the aforementioned Riki Choshu. It really did mark a new era for where the company is going forward, and it is an impressive first title reign at that, lasting for 400 days! In 1993 IWGP Champion Muta would face NWA Champion and by this point his greatest rival: Masahiro Chono, in what was one of the highest profile matches in New Japan history! The run would end however at the hands of another one of Mutoh’s rivals: Shinya Hashimoto.
He wouldn’t win the belt again until three years later, this time he won against Hashimoto. Around these years, the NJPW vs. UWF rivalry was brewing, which we will get more into later. Mutoh’s second run lasted for 246 days, shorter than his first one, but still impressive nonetheless. In 1999 for his third run, Keiji Mutoh was a completely different athlete! He had more swag than ever before, the nWo Japan was at their peak, faction wars are heavily implemented in storylines. For 340 days he successfully defended the belt against the likes of Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima, and even PRIDE superstar Don Frye! His fourth and final run would come many years later in 2008, at this point Keiji Mutoh is already a legend. He headlined the first ever Wrestle Kingdom with Chono as they faced TenCozy in a tag-team match dedicated to their late friend Hashimoto. Mutoh defeated Shinsuke Nakamura and had a run that lasted for 252 days, at this point though he is already at a late age, Mutoh still impressively held his own against the younger guys! He would lose the belt in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 3 to Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Where Are They Now?
Despite being 56 years old, Mutoh is still going strong in the wrestling scene whether in Japan or the US, competing whether as himself or Great Muta. Obviously he couldn’t go at it the way he used to, but he is still a fan favorite and the Shining Wizard still manages to pop the crowd! He is also still actively running his own promotion: Wrestle-1.
7.) Shinya Hashimoto
Total Days: 1,052
Number of Reigns: 3
Another member of the aforementioned Three Musketeers is the late great Shinya Hashimoto. While Mutoh wrestled a colorful style, Hashimoto was all business. No nonsense type of competitor that’s sole purpose is to kick his opponent’s ass! He did that well, very well actually.
A lot of old school fans consider Hashimoto as the greatest IWGP Heavyweight Champion of all time. His contemporaries were out and making name for themselves elsewhere, he stayed in New Japan and became the top star there after the days of Fujinami and Choshu. The 90’s were some of the hottest years of pro wrestling in terms of business, Hashimoto was leading that wave for NJPW!
His first run he defeated The Great Muta. But what really solidified Hashimoto as a top contender is his rivalry with Tatsumi Fujinami, in many ways can be seen as a “passing of the torch.” He had a back-and-forth affair with The Dragon for the belt. Second run lasted for 367 days and his third at 489. For the longest time, Shinya Hashimoto was the longest reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion in history! He had many classic bouts against pretty much every wrestler that competed in New Japan during that time, most notably and controversially also against Naoya Ogawa. He personified what a true champion is and to this day I still consider him as the “bar” for all those that came after him who held the same gold.
Due to his untimely passing, I think Hashimoto does not get enough the recognition he deserves. Plus him mainly staying in Japan and not making a name in the States probably hurt his chances of being a household name but at the end of the day, it does not matter. He was still one of the best and treated as such wherever promotions he competed till his final years. A legend in every sense of the word.
8.) Nobuhiko Takada
Total Days: 116
Number of Reigns: 1
I have briefly mentioned about the UWFI rivalry with NJPW earlier on. For the unaware, UWF International was a revival of the original UWF promotion that focused on “shoot-based” work style matches. With the rise in popularity of MMA in Japan, professional wrestling took notice and UWF-I was born, in a way blazing the trail for actual successful MMA promotions in the country such as PRIDE.
In the 80’s the original UWF had a rivalry with Inoki’s NJPW. The same storyline was revived in the 90’s but this time, Nobuhiko Takada was leading the charge. Takada is famous for his serious style of technical in-ring way of wrestling. Very martial arts oriented and appropriately so, considering the promotion he represented. He had a great match with Keiji Mutoh for the title in 1996 which he won, making him the first former IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion to hold the Heavyweight title later on in his career.
The run with the belt itself wasn’t much, it was just a continuation of the NJPW vs. UWFI rivalry. He defended the belt once in UWFI against Shiro Koshinaka before dropping it to Hashimoto after 116 days.
Where Are They Now?
After his career with NJPW and UWFI, Takada founded the HUSTLE promotion which ran for 6 years. In 2015 he co-founded another company, this time an MMA based one in RIZIN.
9.) Kensuke Sasaki
Total Combined Days: 647
Number of Reigns: 5
If AJPW had the Four Pillars, then NJPW had the Three Musketeers. Jun Akiyama, while a great wrestler in his own right, never really got credited officially at least as a “5th Pillar.” Kensuke Sasaki is in the same situation, that he was still a top star during the same timeframe but never really became an official member of the Musketeers. Nevertheless though, it wouldn’t take away from his years of success, especially as IWGP Heavyweight Champion.
Sasaki first got hold of the belt in 1997 defeating Shinya Hashimoto. He would have four more reigns with the belt later on in his career. Unlike most wrestlers in this list so far though, Sasaki did not actually graduate from the New Japan Dojo and was trained by Choshu in his Japan Pro Wrestling company, a satellite of AJPW. But he would eventually make his way into NJPW later on. Just like Mutoh and Chono, Sasaki would also find success in the US mainly for WCW. He was also an honorary member of The Road Warriors whenever they went to Japan as “The Power Harrior” and even held the IWGP Title as that persona. In the 2000-2001 era, Sasaki was arguably the Ace of New Japan, headlining many of their events and facing top stars even outsiders like Toshiaki Kawada. His second run with the belt was his longest at 279 days!
Afterwards he would go on to become a freelancer and even created his own promotion “Kensuke Office/Diamond Ring.” Sasaki is one of only two wrestlers who held “Japan’s Big 3 Gold” NJPW’s IWGP Heavyweight, AJPW’s Triple Crown, and NOAH’s GHC Heavyweight. Calling it an impressive feat is a massive understatement!
Where Are They Now?
After retiring from in-ring competition in 2014, he is still an active participant in the wrestling business whether as a guest commentator or mentor to other young wrestlers. He is married to Joshi legend Akira Hokuto as well, that right there is a true power couple!
10.) Masahiro Chono
Total Days: 44
Number of Reigns: 1
The last member of The Three Musketeers we have yet to talk about until now, is the great Masahiro Chono! Similar paths with his peers Mutoh and Hashimoto earlier on, trained in the dojo and went international for their excursions. Chono though had an interesting career to say the least. In his initial years, he mainly wrestled as an underdog scrappy babyface, but that was the extent of his character. He did successfully become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion but would always fall short with his IWGP Title chases. On September 1992, things changed altogether for Chono. He suffered a neck injury from a botched piledriver while defending his NWA Title to Steve Austin. Oddly enough, this very injury would be a blessing in this disguise, as years later after winning his third G1 Climax, Chono underwent a whole personality change!
He was done being the “mr. nice guy” attempting to become a fan favorite, he went to business for himself and adopted a “yakuza leader” gimmick which he is best known for nowadays and would lead a faction called “Team Wolf” initially with Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Hiro Saito, which inspired Eric Bischoff to create the New World Order (nWo) in WCW!
Due to this change of attitude, Chono would have his first and only run with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He defeated the legendary Tatsumi Fujinami in 1998 but would quickly vacate the belt just 44 days in due to neck injuries. Surprisingly enough, he never held the belt again ever since. But despite that, Chono still remained one of New Japan’s top draws until the mid 2000’s. Who could forget one of the most iconic matches in company history in a barbed wire death match with him and Atsushi Onita? Plus he has arguably the greatest theme song in all of wrestling!
Where Are They Now?
Chono’s last match was in 2014 for Dotonbori Pro Wrestling. He is still active with his appearances, mainly for his pal Mutoh’s produced shows: Pro Wrestling Masters. Also a frequent guest commentator in big events for New Japan
