J-Crown
The J-Crown (also known as J-Crown Octuple Unified Championship) was formed originally by New Japan Pro-Wrestling as a way of unifying eight junior heavyweight and cruiserweight titles from several different organizations. The J-Crown tournament was held in August 1996.
| J-Crown | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | |||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||
| Date established | August 5, 1996 | ||||||||||||||||
| Date retired | November 5, 1997 | ||||||||||||||||
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History
The J-Crown was the unification of eight different championship belts from five different organizations, including ones from both Japan and Mexico.[1] The tournament to crown the first champions was held over four nights, from August 2 to August 5, 1996, the same dates that New Japan Pro-Wrestling's annual G1 Climax event took place, promoting two major tournaments on one tour.[1] Jushin Thunder Liger is credited with coming up with the idea for the J-Crown.[1] The inaugural champion was The Great Sasuke.[1]
The J-Crown was defended for just over a year. While Ultimo Dragon was champion, the titles appeared on World Championship Wrestling programming, as Dragon also held the WCW Cruiserweight Championship and the NWA World Middleweight Championship at the time.[1] When Liger was champion, he lost the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship to Yuji Yasuraoka on June 6, 1997, in Tokyo, Japan. Liger, however, continued to defend the J-Crown with seven titles instead of eight.
As part of their introduction of a new WWF Light Heavyweight Championship, the World Wrestling Federation demanded that the then current champion Shinjiro Otani return the belt. Otani dissolved the J-Crown on November 5, 1997, by vacating all of the component titles except for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, with the other belts being restored to their home promotions.
Championships
Tournament
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
| Masayoshi Motegi | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Great Sasuke | 11:50 | |||||||||||||
| The Great Sasuke | Pin | |||||||||||||
| El Samurai | 16:25 | |||||||||||||
| Gran Hamada | Pin | |||||||||||||
| El Samurai | 12:38 | |||||||||||||
| The Great Sasuke | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Último Dragón | 13:56 | |||||||||||||
| Jushin Thunder Liger | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Último Dragón | 2:38 | |||||||||||||
| Último Dragón | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Shinjiro Otani | 16:04 | |||||||||||||
| Negro Casas | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Shinjiro Otani | 11:34 | |||||||||||||
Title history
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| 1 | Great Sasuke | August 5, 1996 | House show | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 67 | Defeated Último Dragón in a tournament final to become the first champion. | |
| 2 | Último Dragón | October 11, 1996 | Osaka Crush Night (Wrestling Association R event) | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 85 | During his reign, Último Dragón captured the NWA World Middleweight Championship and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, making him the most decorated wrestler in recorded history as he was the active reigning and defending champion of ten titles, a record which still stands. | |
| 3 | Jushin Thunder Liger | January 4, 1997 | Wrestling World 1997 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 183 | Lost the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship to Yuji Yasuraoka on June 6, 1997, in Tokyo, Japan; from that point on, the J-Crown is represented by seven championship belts. | |
| 4 | El Samurai | July 6, 1997 | House show | Sapporo, Japan | 1 | 35 | ||
| 5 | Shinjiro Otani | August 10, 1997 | House show | Nagoya, Japan | 1 | 87 | ||
| — | Deactivated | November 5, 1997 | — | — | — | — | The World Wrestling Federation demanded that Shinjiro Otani return the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship to them immediately. On the same day Otani also returned the remaining belts except for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. | |
References
- Clevett, Jason (November 4, 2004). "The legend of Jushin "Thunder" Liger". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-03-04.