10.) Akira Nogami
Total Days: 88
Number of Reigns: 1
Akira Nogami is another graduate of the 1984 class of the New Japan Dojo. Nogami went to excursion for Otto Wanz’s CWA promotion in Austria. Upon his return to New Japan he had a whole new look him, adopting a kabuki-esque character and competing as “AKIRA” a gimmick he still follows to this day.
Before transitioning into the heavyweights division, he had a brief run with the belt in 1991 but only lasted for 88 days and 1 successful defense. He won the belt from Liger and dropped it to Honaga.
Where Are They Now?
Since the 2000’s, AKIRA would go on to have a journeyman career in wrestling competing for many number of promotions in Japan and is still competing in the indies today.
11.) El Samurai
Total Combined Days: 184
Number of Reigns: 2
In the 90’s, junior heavyweights were at their peak in wrestling worldwide! In New Japan specifically guys like Jushin Liger, Ultimo Dragon, Great Sasuke, and Shinjiro Otani were having legendary matches with one another. But one man who often gets overshadowed amongst a group of talented performers is El Samurai. In my opinion, El Samurai is on the same league as those I’ve mentioned. He helped legitimizing the junior heavyweights thanks to his experience learning the lucha style during his excursion in Mexico.
El Samurai’s two runs with the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship are 6 years apart from one another. First in 1992 he had a 149 day reign beating Benoit, Liger, and Malenko before losing the belt to Ultimo Dragon. Then in 1997 for the second and last time only for 35 days, exchanging belts with Liger.
Samurai continued to wrestle for NJPW until the 2000’s. He only wrestled unmasked since becoming El Samurai in 2004 and 2005, one of those matches was against Shinsuke Nakamura. By the end of his NJPW career he began slowing down but would still become IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag-Team Champions three times all with different partners; Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Koji Kanemoto.
Where Are They Now?
After leaving NJPW, El Samurai continued wrestling for various indie promotions but mainly in a more comedic style as he grew older. His last recorded match was on Pro Wrestling KAGEKI in 2013 so he pretty much is retired from in-ring competition now.
12.) Ultimo Dragon
Total Combined Days: 128
Number of Reigns: 2
Another one of the all time greats right here, Yoshihiro Asai began his wrestling career in 1987 after graduating from the New Japan Dojo. It wasn’t until in 1991 where he competed in Mexico’s CMLL where he became the iconic character he is known for today as “Ultimo Dragon.” To me, Ultimo is just as much of a Lucha Libre legend as he is a Puroresu legend, if not more. While Gran Hamada was really the first Japanese wrestler to make the Puro style famous in Mexico, Ultimo is the one who popularized it to a global scale! Thanks to a mixture of martial arts based maneuvers added with the spectacle of lucha, he quickly rose up to become one of the notable wrestlers of the 90’s.
How great is Ultimo Dragon? Well I think the famous picture of him having 10 different championship belts at once speaks enough volume to that. That is of course the J-Crown, which is basically 8 different junior heavyweights, all from different promotions held together by a single wrestler, it just so happened Ultimo added more to that collection by winning two other belts as well making him the most decorated singles champion in history! Austin Aries, eat your heart out.
One of the belts included in the J-Crown is of course the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship which he won twice. His first run in 1992 wasn’t really anything noteworthy, only lasted for 43 days. His second run was a part of the J-Crown in 1996, won the belt in Tenryu’s WAR promotion from Great Sasuke then defended the belt to the likes of Gran Naniwa and Masayoshi Motegi in independent events in Japan, Rey Mysterio Jr. in WAR, and twice on WCW first to Dean Malenko in Starrcade 1996 and on an episode of Nitro against Liger, whom he lost the belt to eventually.
In 1997 Ultimo Dragon founded the Toryumon promotion and would stay with the company until 2003. Nowadays you might be familiar with the promotion as “Dragon Gate.” From 2003 to 2004 he had a brief run with the WWE and even got to achieve one of his dreams which was to compete in WrestleMania.
Where Are They Now?
From 2004 up until today Ultimo Dragon is still an active competitor in the independent scene around the world. Definitely fitting of the term “living legend.”
13.) Sabu
Total Days: 42
Number of Reigns: 1
Probably one of the most forgotten IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship runs is with the hardcore legend Sabu. The year is 1995, Atsushi Onita returned from retirement (as is tradition nowadays) and started his own renegade promotion: Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and it quickly became one of the hottest things around in Japan! Quite literally too with the frequent explosion death matches among other crazy stuff they did there. Inspired by his uncle The Sheik and Terry Funk, Sabu was at the forefront of the hardcore and deathmatch scene in Japan thanks to FMW.
This got him a shot to wrestle a couple of times in NJPW, going as far as to even winning the Junior Heavyweight title beating Koji Kanemoto. But the reign wouldn’t last long as he quickly dropped it right back at him for only 42 days. Sabu’s NJPW career was just as brief as his title run, after a series of matches with Gran Hamada, he went back to the States to wrestle for a new little promotion you may remember as ECW.
Where Are They Now?
After the closure of ECW, Sabu has wrestled for a plethora of promotions through the years including WWE and TNA. Still busting tables in his 50’s.
14.) Koji Kanemoto
Total Combined Days: 954
Number of Reigns: 5
In the late 90’s up until the early 2000’s, one of the men who found a consistent spot at the top of the junior heavyweights division was Koji Kanemoto. He began his wrestling career in 1990 and later on became the third man to wrestle as “Tiger Mask” when Mitsuharu Misawa dropped the character. He would also be the shortest however as it wouldn’t be long before he lost in a “mask vs. mask” match against Liger.
Kanemoto has one of the most impressive resumes as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champions, a total combined days of 954 which is the fourth most in history across 5 title reigns. His fourth run with the belt would be his longest at 278 days in 2002. The reason why he probably doesn’t get talked about much these days is because at his peak, he wrestled during the infamous Inokism years. Another underrated worker who got overlooked thanks to his flashier contemporaries and less success in the Western territories, but I highly suggest looking up matches of Kanemoto during his prime, one of the best in Japan for sure.
Where Are They Now?
Since leaving NJPW in 2010, Kanemoto started competing for many other promotions in Japan.
15.) The Great Sasuke
Total Days: 165
Number of Reigns: 1
On August 5, 1996 one of the most historic tournaments ended with the winner being The Great Sasuke when he became the first ever J-Crown Octuple Unified Champion! A collection of 8 junior heavyweight championships across different promotions, independently they are still a part of their own lineages but are grouped together to determine the “best junior heavyweight” in wrestling.
The 8 belts that were a part of the J-Crown were:
British Commonwealth Jr. Heavyweight Championship (Michinoku Pro)
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship (NJPW)
NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Championship
NWA World Welterweight Championship (CMLL)
UWA World Jr. Light Heavyweight Championship
WAR International Jr. Heavyweight Championship
WWA World Jr. Light Heavyweight Championship
WWF Light Heavyweight Championship
One of the things that really got my interest was that before his matches, Great Sasuke would have every individual belt announce so the announcer really got his work cut out for him. Sasuke only held the IWGP Jr. Title once in his entire illustrious career and it is part of the J-Crown when he won it. He defended it four times in NJPW and once in his home promotion of Michinoku Pro which he founded.
Sasuke in his prime was truly one of the best wrestlers in the world. He is a chameleon in a sense that he can wrestle any style against any opponent, kinda similar in many ways to one of his all time rivals Jushin Liger. His infamous top rope botch would go on to become a heavy part of a storyline between him and Liger’s feud. He revolutionized junior heavyweights thanks to the J-Crown and to that, he became highly revered by the fans and his peers.
Where Are They Now?
He is the first and only masked politician in Japan. After his political pursuits, Sasuke went back to wrestling which he still does to this day mainly for his own Michinoku Pro. You might have also recently seen him in a match or two in GCW.
