The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship is arguably the most prestigious title in pro wrestling of its weight division.
Before it became the premier title for New Japan’s junior heavyweights, the NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Championship and later on WWF Light Heavyweight Championship were defended in the NJPW territory thanks to their partnerships with the aforementioned promotions.
However on February 6, 1986 the first ever IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship was crowned and since then became the top title to compete for wrestlers weighing in at 220 lbs. and under, eligible for the juniors division. As of the writing of this article there have been a total of 85 championship reigns across 39 individual champions.
So without further ado, let’s get into the action and check out the wrestlers who have held the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship in its four decade existence!
1.) Shiro Koshinaka
Total Combined Days: 702
Number of Reigns: 3
For the younger or newer fans of Puroresu, the name Shiro Koshinaka may not be familiar but he was one of the most influential and best wrestler of his time who is sadly doesn’t get spoken much these days, at least in a wider scale. Koshinaka is originally a product of AJPW, that’s where he began his career and would also do an excursion in EMLL at Mexico, the promotion that would become CMLL later on. After feeling frustrated of not going anywhere with the promotion he left All Japan to go New Japan in the 80’s and that’s where his career truly flourished.
On February 6, 1986 Koshinaka became the inaugural IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, defeating The Cobra (George Takano) in the finals of a tournament. During that timeframe New Japan were on a promotion rivalry with UWF so him and Nobuhiko Takada would become rivals themselves, representing their respective promotions. Koshinaka being a Giant Baba student while Takada is a former student of Inoki, lots of history between those two.
Koshinaka would hold the belt on two more occasions in the 80’s with his second being the longest at 317 days. As the 90’s rolled on, he moved on to the heavyweights division and founded one of the most notable factions during that time “Heisei Ishingun” where wrestlers who have backgrounds in martial arts were a part of. Kuniaki Kobayashi, Masashi Aoyagi, Akitoshi Saito, and The Great Kabuki were some of the most prominent members among others.
Where Are They Now?
Since 2003, Koshinaka wrestled as a freelancer and still does to this day. He has competed for many promotions in Japan such as WAR, NOAH, DDT, etc. No one is stopping the Hip Attack.
2.) Nobuhiko Takada
Total Days: 123
Number of Reigns: 1
As mentioned earlier, Takada won the belt from Koshinaka during the NJPW-UWFI rivalry with him representing UWFI. If you missed the previous article, UWFI is a martial arts oriented wrestling promotion focusing more on the “worked shoot based” style of wrestling. He won the belt on May 19, 1986 but would only have a go with the belt for four months before dropping it back to Koshinaka. During that four months however, he did have 6 title defenses against the likes of The Cobra, Keiichi Yamada, Kazuo Yamazaki, Koshinaka twice, and Black Tiger played by “Rollerball” Mark Rocco whom British fans may be more familiar with.
Like Koshinaka, Takada would also move to the heavyweights division but unlike his rival would actually win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship making him the first former junior champion to become heavyweight champion in history.
Where Are They Now?
He currently runs his MMA promotion: RIZIN.
3.) Kuniaki Kobayashi
Total Days: 129
Number of Reigns: 1
One of my first exposures in Puroresu was actually with the great Kuniaki Kobayashi. His feud with Tiger Mask were some of my early memories with puro and while I was amazed with the highflying moves of Tiger, Kobayashi also got my attention with his martial arts gimmick, probably thanks to my often viewing of kung fu movies starring Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan as a kid. Anyway, Kobayashi debuted with New Japan at the age of 17. Similar path like others, he was sent to excursion first in Mexico then in the US and after returning got into a rivalry with the aforementioned Tiger Mask, the original: Satoru Sayama and while he may be best known for feuding with Dynamite Kid, his matches with Kobayashi were just as great too!
In the mid 80’s Kobayashi competed for AJPW, there he wrestled Tiger Mask again but this time it’s the second incarnation under Mitsuharu Misawa. There he held AJPW’s Junior Heavyweight belt and also NWA’s International Jr. Heavyweight Championship. 1987 Kobayashi returned to NJPW and captured the vacant IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship, vacated due to Koshinaka’s injury. He only had 1 successful defense against a young Owen Hart before dropping the belt to Hiroshi Hase. In the 90’s, Kobayashi joined Koshinaka in moving up to the heavyweights.
Where Are They Now?
Since the 2000’s until 2013, Kobayashi has wrestled sporadically in numerous independent promotions in Japan. His last recorded match so far was two years ago in Wrestle Kingdom 11 participating in the pre-show’s New Japan Rumble at 61 years old!
4.) Hiroshi Hase
Total Combined Days: 195
Number of Reigns: 2
Hiroshi Hase is often considered by many as the greatest wrestler who never won “the big one” throughout his career. Throughout his active career he has wrestled for the top promotions of Japan: NJPW, AJPW, WAR, NOAH, and even competed in WCW. Yet he has never won the World Championship. He is what some would call a “choke artist” but I don’t even feel comfortable labeling him that because he is still a great wrestler and has won a respectable amount of gold, including the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship twice.
First in December 27, 1987 Hase got his first run with the title that lasted for 152 days, defended it three times against Koshinaka (2x) and Takada before dropping the belt to Owen Hart. The second run was in 1989 for only 70 days, winning from Koshinaka and quickly losing the belt to Jushin “Thunder” Liger, which was a start for something historic for Liger himself.
Where Are They Now?
As mentioned, Hase has competed for many promotions but never got the premier Heavyweight Championship of any company once in his career. He also had a notable career in politics. After a 12 year hiatus from in-ring action, he made his return to Keiji Mutoh’s Pro Wrestling Masters show in 2017 and later on the following year as well, main eventing in multi-men tag matches against familiar foes.
5.) Owen Hart
Total Days: 28
Number of Reigns: 1
While most fans are probably familiar with the late great Owen Hart’s career in North America, he did dabble in Japan during his younger years as a part of his training. During his tour there, Owen would often be pitted against a fellow young upstart Keiichi Yamada, who would later don the character of Jushin “Thunder” Liger.
Owen won his first and only run with the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship in 1988 beating Hiroshi Hase but only 28 days later dropped it to Koshinaka. He was only a mere rookie then, granted a very talented one at that, but looking how his career turned out, it is definitely a right choice to put the belt on him and added more to its historic prestige. Owen is the first foreign wrestler to become IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion.
In 2019 he was inducted posthumously in the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum by his family. His legacy will live on forever.
6.) Jushin “Thunder” Liger
Total Combined Days: 2, 245
Number of Reigns: 11
This is not an opinion, but a fact, no arguing about it, Jushin “Thunder” Liger is the greatest IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion of all time. Liger IS the junior heavyweight belt, the perfect ambassador of it for life. He doesn’t only have the stats to back it up, but just his in-ring greatness alone is enough for him to claim it.
Liger holds all kinds of records with the title most synonymous with his career. Most reigns with the belt out of any other wrestler at 11, total combined days of 2, 245, most title defenses in 31, and his 6th run is still the single longest reign with the belt at 628 days. All records will probably go unbeaten.
There is no other man who represented the junior heavyweight divisions quite perfectly as Liger. He can even be argued as the greatest junior heavyweight/cruiserweight in all of wrestling! Faced many of the best not only in Japan, but also in the US, Mexico, and Europe. You know he’s great too, when he became a much bigger entity than the anime his character was inspired from! When Liger is mentioned, you don’t think of the anime, you think of the great wrestler! If I’m not mistaken, Liger is also the first Junior Heavyweight Champion who competed in the G1 Climax.
I could list off all his opponents and each reign but that would take us ages, plus if you’re reading this chances are you are familiar already with Liger, after all he has had a wonderful four decade career in wrestling that will soon come to an end comes January 4, 2020 in the Tokyo Dome for Wrestle Kingdom. I cannot do him justice but all I can say, Liger is the GOAT of the juniors and will remain as that for the rest of eternity.
7.) Naoki Sano
Total Days: 174
Number of Reigns: 1
Naoki Sano is another underrated wrestler who rarely gets spoken about nowadays unless you’re a really hardcore Puroresu fan. He graduated from the New Japan Dojo in 1984 and upon his return from excursion in Mexico, he feuded with Jushin “Thunder” Liger for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship. When we think of great rivals with Liger names such as Great Sasuke, Ultimo Dragon, or even Brian Pillman for Western fans pop up, but Sano was a good nemesis for Liger as well! They were the complete opposite of one another, Liger is the flashy colorful wrestler while Sano is just a serious, straight to business who’s ready to kick anyone’s ass.
He won his first and only run with the belt in 1989 and had two defenses before dropping it back to Liger. A respectable 174 days but he never won it again. Afterwards, thanks to the boom of MMA, Sano left NJPW and wrestled for more martial arts oriented promotions such as Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (Yoshiaki Fujiwara’s promotion) and UWFI in the 90’s. Throughout the 2000’s he would have the best run of his career in Pro Wrestling NOAH where he began wrestling as Takuma Sano.
Where Are They Now?
Sano is still an active wrestler to this day, he just returned to NOAH last year since 2015 and competes for other independent or locally produced shows.
8.) Pegasus Kid
Total Days: 74
Number of Reigns: 1
Similar situation to Owen Hart, Chris Benoit began his career at Stampede Wrestling and would go to Japan as a part of their dojo system to improve his skills. After three years of touring the country, he would then wrestle under a masked gimmick named “The Pegasus Kid.” He had great matches with the likes of Jushin Liger, Shinjiro Otani, El Samurai, and the Black Tiger aka Eddie Guerrero during that run.
The first title he ever held in his career was the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship on August 19, 1990 but would only have it for 74 days before losing to Liger, who he won it from. He would lose the mask in Mexico and began wrestling as the “Wild Pegasus” before becoming a much bigger name in Western promotions such as WCW and ECW. The rest is history.
9.) Norio Honaga
Total Combined Days: 283
Number of Reigns: 3
Admittedly I have not seen many matches of Norio Honaga but from the few that I’ve watched, the best thing I could say is he was a good wrestler who performed in a very technical manner, the problem is that he did not really have the personality or charisma to become an “icon” per se in wrestling, maybe that’s why he’s not remembered as much as his other contemporaries.
With that said however, he did win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship three times, which is one of only three belts he’s ever held in his career. The others are the All Asia Tag-Team Championship in AJPW and the UWA World Welterweight Championship in Mexico.
His first two runs weren’t really noteworthy, lasted for only 43 and 95 days respectively. He did successfully defended the belt once against Mexican legend Negro Casas during his second reign. His third reign would be his longest at 145 days in 1994, beating the likes of the aforementioned Otani, Benoit, Guerrero, and also Dean Malenko during that run!
Honaga continued to wrestle for NJPW until in 1998 when he started to retire and become a referee. He is the oldest wrestler to hold the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title at 39 years old, just a month older than when Tiger Mask IV won the belt.
Where Are They Now?
After NJPW, Honaga was a referee for Riki Choshu’s short lived Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling promotion in 2003. He’s still freelancing as a wrestling referee today.
