The Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship (Japanese : インディペンデントワールド世界ジュニアヘビー級王座 , Hepburn : Indipendento Wārudo Sekai Junia Hebī-kyū Ōza ) is a professional wrestling championship that is being defended in various independent promotions in Japan . The title was originally created in 1993 by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling .
There have been a total of forty-four reigns spread over three lineages and shared among thirty different wrestlers. The current champion is Naoki Tanizaki who is in his first reign.
History
The title was created in 1993 by Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and it stayed with FMW from its inception to mid-1999, when FMW retired it. In 1998, the title was renamed FMW Junior Heavyweight Championship (FMW認定ジュニアヘビー級王座 , FMW-nintei Junia Hebī-kyū Ōza ) with the launch of the FMW Unified Organization. It was considered a different title with a new lineage.
On May 31, 1999, Kodo Fuyuki became the FMW commissioner and withdrew the recognition of the title following the introduction of the WEW Single Championship which he awarded to himself on September 24. Yuhi Sano was then recognized as the first Independent World Junior Heavyweight Champion , in continuation of his FMW Junior Heavyweight Championship reign, thus starting a third lineage. Since then, the title has been defended in various Japanese promotions including Big Japan Wrestling , DDT Pro-Wrestling , Kaientai Dojo , Union Pro Wrestling , Osaka Pro Wrestling and Michinoku Pro Wrestling .
Even with the belt being dropped by FMW, the original title belt is still used, which bears the "FMW" name on it. In May 2010, a new championship belt was made, as Tarzan Goto 's Super FMW promotion briefly revived the FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship to determine its final champion.
Reigns
Original Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship
Key
No.
Overall reign number
Reign
Reign number for the specific champion
Days
Number of days held
Defenses
Number of successful defenses
No.
Champion
Championship change
Reign statistics
Notes
Ref.
Date
Event
Location
Reign
Days
Defenses
1
The Great Sasuke
October 28, 1993
Kankuran!
Tokyo, Japan
1
[a]
5
Defeated Battle Ranger Z to become the inaugural champion.
[1] [2]
—
Vacated
October 1994
—
—
—
—
—
Sasuke vacated the title to concentrate on a death match against Atsushi Onita .
[1]
2
Ricky Fuji
December 20, 1994
FMW vs. W*ING Alliance Full War in Nagoya
Nagoya, Japan
1
48
1
Defeated The Great Sasuke to win the vacant title.
[1] [3]
3
Hideki Hosaka
February 6, 1995
Japan Nationwide Atsushi Onita Memorial Retirement Tour Last Fight – Final Chapter – February Series
Okazaki, Japan
1
52
1
[1] [4]
4
Koji Nakagawa
March 30, 1995
Japan Nationwide Atsushi Onita Memorial Retirement Tour Last Fight – Final Chapter – March Series
Yokohama, Japan
1
[b]
0
[1] [5]
—
Vacated
1995
—
—
—
—
—
Vacated due to unknown circumstances.
[1]
5
Koji Nakagawa
November 20, 1995
Scramble Survivor
Fukuoka, Japan
2
167
1
Defeated Ricky Fuji to win the vacant title.
[1] [6]
6
Taka Michinoku
May 5, 1996
FMW 7th Anniversary Show
Kawasaki, Japan
1
420
10
[1]
7
El Satánico
June 29, 1997
CMLL Domingos de Coliseo
Mexico City
1
57
0
This was a best two-out-of-three falls match held at a Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre house show .
[1] [7]
8
Taka Michinoku
August 25, 1997
Live event
Puebla, Mexico
2
115
1
[1]
—
Vacated
December 18, 1997
—
—
—
—
—
Taka Michinoku vacated the title right after defending against Shoichi Funaki .
[1]
FMW Junior Heavyweight Championship
Key
No.
Overall reign number
Reign
Reign number for the specific champion
Days
Number of days held
Defenses
Number of successful defenses
New Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship
Key
No.
Overall reign number
Reign
Reign number for the specific champion
Days
Number of days held
Defenses
Number of successful defenses
+
Current reign is changing daily
No.
Champion
Championship change
Reign statistics
Notes
Ref.
Date
Event
Location
Reign
Days
Defenses
Battlarts
1
Yuhi Sano
May 31, 1999
Live event
Sapporo, Japan
1
244[c]
3
Battlarts recognizes Sano's reign as beginning on May 14, 1999, when he won the FMW-Certified Junior Heavyweight Championship.
[9]
2
Minoru Tanaka
January 30, 2000
Live event
Tokyo, Japan
1
102
2
[9]
3
Katsumi Usuda
May 11, 2000
Live event
Tokyo, Japan
1
38
0
[9]
4
Naoyuki Taira
June 18, 2000
Live event
Tokyo, Japan
1
161
3
[9]
5
Katsumi Usuda
November 26, 2000
Live event
Tokyo, Japan
2
373
5
[9]
—
Vacated
December 4, 2001
—
—
—
—
—
Vacated after Battlarts became inactive.
[9]
Michinoku Pro Wrestling (MPW)
6
Ikuto Hidaka
February 17, 2002
Live event
Yokohama, Japan
1
87
1
Defeated Kazuya Yuasa in a tournament final to win the vacant title.
[9]
—
Deactivated
May 15, 2002
—
—
—
—
—
Retired due to FMW closing.
[9]
Various indies
7
Kota Ibushi
August 26, 2007
Pro-Wrestling Summit In Ariake
Tokyo, Japan
1
349
7
Defeated Madoka to revive the title.
[9]
Kaientai Dojo (K-Dojo)
8
Madoka
August 9, 2008
Super Big Show Chiba Hakkenden
Chiba, Japan
1
36
0
[9]
9
Makoto Oishi
September 14, 2008
Club-K Super Downtown 2008
Tokyo, Japan
1
374
7
[9]
10
Gentaro
September 23, 2009
Club-K Super Downtown 2009
Chiba, Japan
1
191
6
[9]
11
Marines Mask (II)
April 2, 2010
Club-K Super Evolution 8
Tokyo, Japan
1
160
2
[9]
12
Tigers Mask
September 9, 2010
Club-K Shinkiba #4
Tokyo, Japan
1
17
0
[9]
Osaka Pro Wrestling (OPW)
13
Orochi
September 26, 2010
Osaka Pro Sumire September Series
Osaka, Japan
1
48
1
[9]
14
Tigers Mask
November 13, 2010
Osaka Pro Fuyu Ga Hajimaru Yo Series
Osaka, Japan
2
217
3
[9]
Kaientai Dojo (K-Dojo)
15
Daigoro Kashiwa
June 18, 2011
Club-K Super Take
Tokyo, Japan
1
141
4
[9]
16
Hiroki
November 6, 2011
Club-K Super Joke 2011
Tokyo, Japan
1
447
15
[9]
17
Ricky Fuji
January 26, 2013
Club-K 3000
Chiba, Japan
1
78
1
[9]
18
Hayato Nanjyo
April 14, 2013
CLUB-K SUPER Evolution 11 - K-DOJO 11th Anniversary
Tokyo, Japan
1
27
0
[9]
19
Taka Michinoku
May 11, 2013
Club-K Tour In Osaka
Osaka, Japan
1
483
16
This match was also for Taka Michinoku's UWA World Middleweight Championship .
[9]
20
Teppei
September 6, 2014
Club-K 3000
Chiba, Japan
3
169
2
Formerly held the title under the name Tigers Mask and began working under the name Atsushi Maruyama during this reign.
[9]
21
Hi69
February 22, 2015
Club-K Super In TKP Garden City
Osaka, Japan
2
49
0
Formerly held the title under the name Hiroki.
[9]
22
Isami Kodaka
April 12, 2015
Club-K Super Evolution 13
Tokyo, Japan
1
203
8
[9]
23
Shiori Asahi
November 1, 2015
Club-K Super In Korakuen
Tokyo, Japan
1
503
11
[9] [10]
24
Ken Ohka
March 18, 2017
Club-K Super In Blue Field
Chiba, Japan
1
190
3
[9] [11]
DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT)
25
Daisuke Sasaki
September 24, 2017
Who's Gonna Top? DDT Dramatic General Election 2017 - Last Request Special!
Tokyo, Japan
1
87
5
This was a three-way match, where Sasaki defended the DDT Extreme Championship and Konosuke Takeshita defended the KO-D Openweight Championship .
[9] [12]
(DDT) DDT Pro-Wrestling : Ganbare☆Pro-Wrestling (GanPro)
26
Ken Ohka
December 20, 2017
Burning'X'mas 2017
Tokyo, Japan
2
129
0
[9]
27
Keisuke Ishii
April 28, 2018
Dreaming I Was Dreaming 2018
Tokyo, Japan
1
253
6
[9]
28
Shuichiro Katsumura
January 6, 2019
Do It On Your Own Hands 2019
Tokyo, Japan
1
265
5
[9]
29
Keisuke Ishii
September 28, 2019
I Do Not Need A Comic Magazine! 2019
Tokyo, Japan
2
302
7
[9]
30
Hagane Shinno
July 26, 2020
Killer Queen 2020
Tokyo, Japan
2
27
0
Formerly held the title under the name Madoka.
[9]
31
Asuka
August 22, 2020
Heaven's Door 2020
Tokyo, Japan
1
126
2
[9]
32
Shota
December 26, 2020
The World 2020
Tokyo, Japan
1
20
2
[9]
Professional Wrestling Just Tap Out (JTO)
33
Arata
January 15, 2021
JTO Hatsu
Tokyo, Japan
1
310
5
[9]
34
Naoki Tanizaki
November 21, 2021
JTO in Osaka
Osaka, Japan
1
960+
4
[13]
Combined reigns
†
Indicates the current champion
¤
The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest possible length is used.
^ The date of at least one of the title changes in this reign is uncertain, which means that the reign lasted between 338 and 368 days.
^ The date of at least one of the title changes in this reign is uncertain, which means that the reign lasted between 1 and 235 days.
^ a b Sano's two separate reigns are generally being counted as one 261 days reign.
See also
References
^ a b c d e f g h i j k " "Independent World" World Junior Heavyweight Title [FMW] (Japan)" . Wrestling-Titles.com . Retrieved November 9, 2019 .
^ "Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling - "KANKURAN!" " . PuroLove.com (in German). Retrieved August 23, 2021 .
^ "Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Results: 1994 (unvollständig)" . PuroLove.com (in German). Retrieved August 23, 2021 .
^ "Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling - "JAPAN NATIONWIDE ATSUSHI ONITA MEMORIAL RETIREMENT TOUR LAST FIGHT ~ FINAL CHAPTER ~ FEBRUARY SERIES" " . PuroLove.com (in German). Retrieved August 23, 2021 .
^ "Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling - "JAPAN NATIONWIDE ATSUSHI ONITA MEMORIAL RETIREMENT TOUR LAST FIGHT ~ FINAL CHAPTER ~ MARCH SERIES" " . PuroLove.com (in German). Retrieved August 23, 2021 .
^ "Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling - "SCRAMBLE SURVIVOR 1995"" " . PuroLove.com (in German). Retrieved August 23, 2021 .
^ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "CMLL Domingos De Coliseo" . Cagematch.com . Retrieved August 23, 2021 .
^ a b c "FMW Junior Heavyweight Title (Japan)" . Wrestling-Titles.com . Retrieved November 9, 2019 .
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai "Independent World Junior Heavyweight Title (Japan)" . Wrestling-Titles.com . Retrieved November 9, 2019 .
^ "CLUB-K SUPER in 後楽園ホール | KAIENTAI DOJO" . Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-11-01 .
^ "CLUB-K SUPER in Blue Field | KAIENTAI DOJO" . Archived from the original on 2017-03-19. Retrieved 2017-03-18 .
^ "DDT ProWrestling" .
^ Just Tap Out (November 21, 2021). "大会名:(株)村上製作所 プレゼンツ JUST TAP OUT in OSAKA" . pwjto.com (in Japanese). Retrieved November 22, 2021 .
External links
Championships
Major events Tournaments
Tenno-zan
Osaka Tag Festival
Key people Partnerships
Championships Tournaments
Only Give Up Tournament
JTO Girls Tournament
JTO Tournament
Personnel Partnerships
Championships
World Tag Team Hardcore Junior Heavyweight Women's
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