20.) Minoru Tanaka
Total Combined Days: 998
Number of Reigns: 4
With the likes of Liger, Ultimo, Sasuke, and Otani either waning down or leaving the company, a new generation of junior heavyweights are slowly taking their spots. One of the men who delivered and went on to have a great career of his own is Minoru Tanaka.
Tanaka is one of the most decorated junior heavyweight champions of all time. Winning titles in NJPW, AJPW, NOAH, ZERO1, WRESTLE-1, and even in Europe. If the J-Crown existed during his prime, I believe he would be a strong contender to win it as well! Tanaka won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title four times.
First run beating the aforementioned Takaiwa and would go on to have a 264 day reign with two successful defenses. A year later when Kendo Kashin vacated the belt after leaving the promotion, Tanaka defeated Masahito Kakihara to win the belt for the second time at 153 days but this time with four defenses, one even against now NJPW booker Gedo.
His most successful run with the belt was from 2003 to 2004 where he competed under the persona “HEAT” a video game inspired character from the Japanese GBA game Toukon Heat. He was also the leader of the heel stable; Control Terrorism Unit that went ahead of the Liger led New Japan Junior Sekigun. An impressive 387 days as champion, which is the fourth single longest reign with the belt. With his 12 defenses, he has faced many of the local talent but also international ones such as Curry Man (Christopher Daniels) and The American Dragon (Daniel Bryan.) Two years later in 2006 he would compete in TNA under his first name only “Minoru” and became a part of the stable “Team Japan” with Hirooki Goto, Black Tiger, and Liger. The same year he won the IWGP Jr. Title for the fourth and final time at 196 days.
Where Are They Now?
As of the writing of this article, Minoru Tanaka is the reigning GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion of Pro Wrestling NOAH. At 46 years old, he is still one of the best wrestlers in the world regardless of weight class.
21.) Masayuki Naruse
Total Days: 80
Number of Reigns: 1
Masayuki Naruse is to the Jr. Heavyweight belt what Tadao Yasuda is to the Heavyweight belt. A product of Inoki’s obsession with MMA. Masayuki Naruse is an MMA fighter who turned to pro wrestling, specifically NJPW, as the RINGS MMA promotion was about to collapse. He was quickly slotted into a feud against Minoru Tanaka in 2001 whom he would eventually beat for the title. Naruse only had an 80 day reign, beating El Samurai, and losing to Kendo Kashin. After that he won the All Asia Tag-Team Championships with Mitsuya Nagai and in 2006 he wrestled his final match against Takashi Iizuka (pre Iron Finger) before never being seen in a pro wrestling ring ever again. Unlike Yasuda however who is a notorious champion, Naruse is a completely forgettable champion.
Where Are They Now?
He did return to the ring once in 2015 in a support event for Masahito Kakihara who was at the time battling cancer.
22.) Tiger Mask IV
Total Combined Days: 858
Number of Reigns: 6
Trained by the original Tiger Mask himself: Satoru Sayama and The Great Sasuke, Yoshihiro Yamazaki has learned from the best. Unlike Misawa and Kanemoto, Yamazaki was actually endorsed by Sayama himself to take on the Tiger Mask character which he did and became the fourth and longest active Tiger Mask.
Tiger Mask first started his career in Michinoku Pro before moving full time to NJPW since 2002. Nowadays he is mainly seen during the opening tags and punishing the young lions, but in his prime Tiger Mask was one of the best junior heavyweights and led the division through the dark years of the Inokism era. He is tied with KUSHIDA for second most reigns with the belt at 6. His first run was in 2003, he even defended the belt once against Dick Togo in MPW. He would win the belt 5 more times, with his longest being his second run at 277 days.
Once the new generation of junior heavyweights came over, Tiger Mask quickly got outshined due to their athleticism and charisma. Still though, we must give him his credit for sticking with New Japan during the not so great years and it paid off as the division is now in a much better state.
Where Are They Now?
Mainly teaming up with Liger on multi men tag matches. Although he still competes for the BOSJ Tournament every year.
23.) Jado
Total Days: 62
Number of Reigns: 1
Probably the most random reign ever of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title belongs to Jado. As you all know, Jado was never really a singles wrestler. Him and his longtime tag-team partner Gedo are one of the most popular tag-teams in Japanese wrestling ever. Gedo and Jado are multi-time junior heavyweight tag-team champions across different promotions around the world.
On September 23, 2003 the title was vacated after Tiger Mask IV’s 153 day reign. A few weeks later on October 13, the vacant belt was contested in a battle royal that included many of the top junior heavyweight stars in the division at that time. The winner in the end though was Jado. Yep, just out of nowhere. He’s not even like the Manabu Nakanishi of this belt, a feel good moment isn’t exactly what anyone felt when Jado won the belt, just pure randomness. I guess it’s all foreshadowing to his eventual booking duties that almost killed NOAH years later but I digress.
After 62 days and 1 successful title reign to El Samurai, he dropped the belt to HEAT aka Minoru Tanaka. That was the first and last time Jado ever got near to the Junior Heavyweight belt again. If only Gedo won it too, would’ve been perfect.
Where Are They Now?
Jado is now a part of Bullet Club after betraying his former stablemates in CHAOS, of course he is joined by Gedo. They pretty much are married now at this point but in a wrestling tag-team sense. He is also one of the bookers for New Japan.
24.) Black Tiger IV
Total Days: 134
Number of Reigns: 1
Every hero needs a villain. Black Tiger is exactly that to Tiger Mask. Similar to his rival, the Black Tiger gimmick has been portrayed by many wrestlers over the years. The original incarnation was Mark “Rollerball” Rocco who is more well known in the UK scene at the time, mainly competing for World of Sport. The most well known Black Tiger is probably the second one which was Eddie Guerrero during his time in New Japan. The third one was another great luchador in Silver King, and the fourth who would become IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, Rocky Romero! Black Tiger V was portrayed by Tatsuhito Takaiwa, the first Japanese wrestler to do so, 6th was Tomohiro Ishii for a short period of time, and the present Black Tiger, the 7th incarnation is Kazushige Nosawa aka NOSAWA Rongai who uses the character in AJPW.
Before he became the rap artist of CHAOS and a multi-time junior tag champion, Rocky first got a taste of success donning the Black Tiger character. On October 8, 2005 he defeated his arch nemesis Tiger Mask both for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship, the latter which he already held.
During his 134 day title reign he defended both belts but only had successfully done it once against Koji Kanemoto before losing them once again to Tiger Mask.
He often gets overlooked nowadays but Rocky Romero has one of the most decorated careers ever. Winning championships everywhere in the world, plus he is a good wrestler himself as well. Just this year in the BOSJ tournament, he got to show off what he can do in singles action and I’m more surprised by fans being surprised that Rocky is good, well he is always good if given the right platform. Nowadays however, he is more focused on being the gaijin ambassador of New Japan and a part of the English commentary, while still wrestling and managing from time to time.
25.) Ryusuke Taguchi
Total Combined Days: 260
Number of Reigns: 2
Similar to Rocky Romero, most fans now know Ryusuke Taguchi as a comedy act, which is fine as I think he is one of the best to wrestle that kind of style. But every now and then, Taguchi busts out his old self, which was a more serious and competitive driven wrestler.
Taguchi made his debut in NJPW on 2002, his very first opponent? None other than Toru Yano. These two were destined to be take on a hilarious path down the road it seems like. It wouldn’t be until in 2006 where Taguchi first got a taste of gold when he teamed up with veteran El Samurai to become IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag-Team Champions. The following year he won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship for the first time, defending the belt 5 times, once in even in Pro Wrestling Kageki against Azteca aka Harakiri Hakata. The run would last for 155 days.
After that Taguchi would probably have the best run of his career by forming a tag-team partnership with Prince Devitt together as “Apollo 55” in 2009. They were one of the most successful junior tag-teams of all time, capturing the tag belts of the division 5 times. In 2013, Taguchi challenged Devitt for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship which was accepted but he unfortunately loss the match. Shortly thereafter, heartbreak came along when Devitt had a change of attitude and wouldn’t be long when he betrayed Taguchi to form a new stable of his own, more on that later.
While Devitt is terrorizing New Japan, Taguchi was on the sidelines due to a hip injury but when he returned, the grudge match between him and Devitt took place. On Invasion Attack 2014, the two battled it out with Taguchi having the upper hand in the end and winning, they buried the hatchet as the two shook hands. The same year, Taguchi won the title once again from KUSHIDA, a 105 day reign that saw him beating the likes of Taichi and El Desperado, before losing the belt to Kenny Omega in Wrestle Kingdom 9.
Where Are They Now?
Taguchi is one of the veterans of the junior heavyweight division. At this point, he probably won’t win the belt again but that’s fine, having the gatekeeper and mentor role isn’t so bad.
