List of IWGP Intercontinental Champions
The IWGP Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix.[1] On October 3, 2010, American promotion Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) announced that it had reached an agreement with NJPW for the promotion to run its first shows in the United States.[2] NJPW officially announced the tour, titled NJPW Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast, on January 4, 2011, announcing shows for May 13 in Rahway, New Jersey, May 14 in New York City and May 15 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[3][4] It was also announced that during the tour, New Japan would introduce a new "IWGP Intercontinental Championship".[3] There have been twenty-four reigns shared among fourteen wrestlers with one vacancy. Evil is the current champion in his first reign. He won the title by defeating previous champion Tetsuya Naito on July 12, 2020 at Dominion.
Title history
No. | Overall reign number |
---|---|
Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
Days | Number of days held |
Defenses | Number of successful defenses |
N/A | Unknown information |
+ | Current reign is changing daily |
No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Defenses | ||||
1 | MVP | May 15, 2011 | Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast |
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 1 | 148 | 2 | Defeated Toru Yano in an eight–man tournament final to become the inaugural champion. | [5] |
2 | Masato Tanaka | October 10, 2011 | Destruction '11 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 125 | 3 | [6] | |
3 | Hirooki Goto | February 12, 2012 | The New Beginning | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 161 | 2 | [7] | |
4 | Shinsuke Nakamura | July 22, 2012 | Kizuna Road | Yamagata, Japan | 1 | 313 | 8 | [8] | |
5 | La Sombra | May 31, 2013 | Super Viernes | Mexico City, Mexico | 1 | 50 | 1 | This was a two out of three falls match. | [9][10] |
6 | Shinsuke Nakamura | July 20, 2013 | Kizuna Road | Akita, Japan | 2 | 168 | 3 | [11] | |
7 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | January 4, 2014 | Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 92 | 1 | [12] | |
8 | Shinsuke Nakamura | April 6, 2014 | Invasion Attack | Tokyo, Japan | 3 | 76 | 1 | [13] | |
9 | Bad Luck Fale | June 21, 2014 | Dominion 6.21 | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 92 | 0 | [14] | |
10 | Shinsuke Nakamura | September 21, 2014 | Destruction in Kobe | Kobe, Japan | 4 | 224 | 3 | [15] | |
11 | Hirooki Goto | May 3, 2015 | Wrestling Dontaku | Fukuoka, Japan | 2 | 147 | 1 | [16] | |
12 | Shinsuke Nakamura | September 27, 2015 | Destruction in Kobe | Kobe, Japan | 5 | 120 | 2 | [17] | |
— | Vacated | January 25, 2016 | N/A | Tokyo, Japan | — | — | — | Vacated due to Nakamura leaving NJPW for WWE. | [18] |
13 | Kenny Omega | February 14, 2016 | The New Beginning in Niigata | Nagaoka, Japan | 1 | 126 | 1 | Defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the vacant title. | [19] |
14 | Michael Elgin | June 19, 2016 | Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 98 | 1 | This was a ladder match. | [20] |
15 | Tetsuya Naito | September 25, 2016 | Destruction in Kobe | Kobe, Japan | 1 | 259 | 4 | [21] | |
16 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | June 11, 2017 | Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall | Osaka, Japan | 2 | 230 | 4 | [22] | |
17 | Minoru Suzuki | January 27, 2018 | The New Beginning in Sapporo | Sapporo, Japan | 1 | 92 | 1 | ||
18 | Tetsuya Naito | April 29, 2018 | Wrestling Hinokuni | Kumamoto, Japan | 2 | 41 | 0 | ||
19 | Chris Jericho | June 9, 2018 | Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 209 | 1 | ||
20 | Tetsuya Naito | January 4, 2019 | Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome | Tokyo, Japan | 3 | 92 | 1 | This was a no disqualification match. | |
21 | Kota Ibushi | April 6, 2019 | G1 Supercard | New York City, New York |
1 | 64 | 1 | ||
22 | Tetsuya Naito | June 9, 2019 | Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall | Osaka, Japan | 4 | 105 | 0 | ||
23 | Jay White | September 22, 2019 | Destruction in Kobe | Kobe, Japan | 1 | 104 | 1 | [23] | |
24 | Tetsuya Naito | January 4, 2020 | Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome | Tokyo, Japan | 5 | 190 | 2 | ||
25 | Evil | July 12, 2020 | Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall |
Osaka, Japan | 1 | 30+ | 1 | Naito's IWGP Heavyweight Championship was also on the line. |
Combined reigns
As of August 11, 2020.
† | Indicates the current champion |
---|
Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined defenses |
Combined days |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Shinsuke Nakamura | 5 | 17 | 901 |
2 | Tetsuya Naito | 5 | 7 | 687 |
3 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | 2 | 5 | 322 |
4 | Hirooki Goto | 2 | 3 | 308 |
5 | Chris Jericho | 1 | 1 | 209 |
6 | MVP | 2 | 148 | |
7 | Kenny Omega | 1 | 126 | |
8 | Masato Tanaka | 3 | 125 | |
9 | Jay White | 1 | 104 | |
10 | Michael Elgin | 98 | ||
11 | Minoru Suzuki | 92 | ||
Bad Luck Fale | 0 | |||
13 | Kota Ibushi | 1 | 64 | |
14 | La Sombra | 1 | 50 | |
15 | Evil † | 1 | 1 | 30+ |
References
- Fiorvanti, Tim (January 2, 2017). "What to watch for at New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 11". ESPN. Archived from the original on January 3, 2017. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
- Meltzer, Dave (October 3, 2010). "New Japan Pro Wrestling comes to the U.S." Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on October 6, 2010. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
- Caldwell, James (January 5, 2011). "NJPW News: New Japan to introduce new title on U.S. tour, officially announces dates & venues for "Invasion" tour". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
- Johnson, Mike (January 4, 2011). "New Japan announces dates and cities for American tour". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
- "NY遠征最終日、真壁がライノ撃破! 初代インターコンチ王者はMVP! ライガーまさかの王座陥落!!(結果速報)". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). May 16, 2011. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
- "Destruction '11". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 14, 2011. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
- "The New Beginning". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 15, 2012. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
- "NJPW 40th anniversary Tour Kizuna Road". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
- Salazar López, Alexis A. (June 1, 2013). "Resultados Arena México Viernes 31 de Mayo '13". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on June 1, 2013. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
- ラ・ソンブラが新インターコンチネンタル王者に! 中邑がメキシコで王座陥落!. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). June 1, 2013. Archived from the original on June 8, 2013. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
- "吉野家Presents Kizuna Road 2013". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 23, 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
- "バディファイトPresents Wrestle Kingdom 8 in 東京ドーム". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 4, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
- "Invasion Attack 2014". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
- "Dominion 6.21". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 24, 2014. Retrieved June 21, 2014.
- "Destruction in Kobe". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on September 24, 2014. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
- "レスリングどんたく 2015". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 4, 2015. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
- "Destruction in Kobe". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
- 中邑真輔が退団会見でインターコンチ王座を返上し、深々と礼。 新日本のレスラー人生を振り返り「こんなレスラー、他にいなかったなと」【1.25会見】. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). January 25, 2016. Archived from the original on January 25, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
- "The New Beginning in Niigata". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 14, 2016. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
- "Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on August 8, 2016. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
- "Destruction in Kobe". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
- 保険見直し本舗 Presents Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved June 11, 2017.
- tps://411mania.com/wrestling/csonkas-njpw-destruction-in-kobe-2019-review/