NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship | |
Currentholder: | Último Dragón |
Won: | July 19, 2010 |
Created: | December 10, 1979 |
Promotion: | National Wrestling Alliance New Japan Pro-Wrestling All Japan Pro Wrestling Toryumon Mexico Dradition |
Firstchamp: | Steve Keirn |
Longestreign: | Último Dragón |
Pastnames: |
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The NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship started in 1979. It was formed by a split in lineage from the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship caused by the retirement of champion Nelson Royal the same year. The first champion, Steve Keirn, was recognized as world champion only by Florida, Los Angeles, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling. This version was eventually taken to the latter promotion by Tatsumi Fujinami, who already held the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship.
In 1981, champion Chavo Guerrero left NJPW to go back to the United States, only to come back to Japan under the banner of All Japan Pro Wrestling, where a year later, it was renamed the International Junior Heavyweight Championship to avoid confusion and (along with being given a new belt design) in general line with AJPW's NWA titles. The championship became the cornerstone of AJPW's junior heavyweight division until its eventual replacement by the World Junior Heavyweight Championship, which kept the belt design until 2017.[1]
In March 2007, after over two decades of inactivity, Toryumon Mexico reactivated the championship, using the belt that was used prior to November 1982.
No. | The overall championship reign | |
Reign | The reign number for the specific wrestler listed. | |
Event | The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title changed hands | |
N/A | The specific information is not known | |
— | Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign | |
Indicates that there was a period where the lineage is undocumented due to the lack of written documentation in that time period. |
width=0 data-sort-type="number" scope="col" | No. | width=14% scope="col" | Champion | width=0 scope="col" | Reign | width=16% scope="col" | Date | width=0 data-sort-type="number" scope="col" | Days held | width=14% scope="col" | Location | width=17% scope="col" | Event | width=51% class="unsortable" scope="col" | Notes | width=0 class="unsortable" scope="col" | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
scope=row | 1 | 1 | Los Angeles, California | live event | Defeated Chavo Guerrero in a decision match to be recognized as World Junior Heavyweight Champion in Florida and Los Angeles. | ||||||||||||
scope=row | 2 | 1 | Sapporo, Japan | live event | Also held the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship, but defended them separately. | ||||||||||||
scope=row | 3 | 1 | Hollywood, Florida | live event | [2] | ||||||||||||
scope=row | 4 | 2 | Kawasaki, Japan | live event | |||||||||||||
Fujinami was injured and unable to defend the championship. | |||||||||||||||||
scope=row | 5 | 1 | Kita Kyushu, Japan | live event | Defeated Bret Hart in a decision match. | ||||||||||||
scope=row | 6 | 1 | Tokyo, Japan | live event | |||||||||||||
scope=row | 7 | 1 | Houston, Texas | live event | [3] | ||||||||||||
scope=row | 8 | 2 | Houston, Texas | live event | |||||||||||||
scope=row | 9 | 1 | Charlotte, North Carolina | live event | Additionally recognized as international champion in Jim Crockett Promotions. | ||||||||||||
scope=row | 10 | Sangre Chicana | 1 | Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico | live event | Additionally recognized as world champion in Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre. | |||||||||||
scope=row | 11 | 2 | Mexico City, Mexico | live event | |||||||||||||
Vacated after a match against Chavo Guerrero that ended in a no decision. | |||||||||||||||||
scope=row | 12 | 3 | Tokyo, Japan | live event | Defeated Chavo Guerrero in rematch. The National Wrestling Alliance and All Japan Pro Wrestling rename the title the "NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship" during this reign. | ||||||||||||
Vacated after Onita broke his leg during a match against Hector Guerrero. | |||||||||||||||||
scope=row | 13 | 3 | Tenryu, Japan | live event | Defeated Ultra Seven (Masahiko Takasugi) in tournament final. | [4] | |||||||||||
scope=row | 14 | Mighty Inoue | 1 | Osaka, Japan | live event | ||||||||||||
scope=row | 15 | Dynamite Kid | 1 | Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan | live event | ||||||||||||
scope=row | 16 | 1 | Koga, Ibaraki, Japan | live event | |||||||||||||
scope=row | 17 | 1 | Tokyo, Japan | live event | |||||||||||||
Vacated when Tiger Mask moves to the heavyweight division. The title was replaced with AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship. | |||||||||||||||||
scope=row | 18 | 1 | Mexico City, Mexico | live event | Defeated Shocker in a tournament final to revive the title for Toryumon Mexico and is awarded the pre-1982 belt. | [5] | |||||||||||
Vacated when Goto graduates to the heavyweight division. | |||||||||||||||||
scope=row | 19 | Super Delfin | 1 | Osaka, Japan | live event | Defeated Último Dragón in a decision match to revive title. | |||||||||||
scope=row | 20 | Último Dragón | 1 | Tokyo, Japan | live event | ||||||||||||
scope=row | 21 | 1 | Mexico City, Mexico | live event | |||||||||||||
scope=row | 22 | 1 | Tokyo, Japan | Dream Impact IV | |||||||||||||
scope=row | 23 | Último Dragón | 2 | + | Tokyo, Japan | live event | Defeated Fujita and Hajime Ohara in a three-way dance. Also won AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship on December 15, 2013, but defended titles separately. |