Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship

The Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (三冠ヘビー級王座, Sankan Hebīkyū Ōza) is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the Japanese All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion.

Not to be confused with Triple Crown (professional wrestling).

Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship
Details
Promotion	All Japan Pro Wrestling
Date established	April 18, 1989
Current champion(s)	Suwama
Date won	March 23, 2020
Other name(s)
PWF Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship
Statistics First champion(s) Jumbo Tsuruta Most reigns Suwama (7 reigns) Longest reign Mitsuharu Misawa (705 days) Shortest reign Terry Gordy (3 days) Oldest champion Genichiro Tenryu (52 years) Youngest champion Kento Miyahara (26 years, 350 days) Heaviest champion Akebono (210 kg (460 lb)) Lightest champion Masakatsu Funaki (95 kg (209 lb))

History

The championship was established after the unification of its then-flagship title the PWF World Heavyweight Championship, with the NWA United National Championship and the NWA International Heavyweight Championship. The titles were unified on April 18, 1989 when NWA International Heavyweight Champion Jumbo Tsuruta defeated the PWF World Heavyweight and NWA United National Champion Stan Hansen.[1]

Unlike most unified championships, the Triple Crown was originally represented through the continued use of the three individual championship belts. From 1989 to 2000, the holder of the Triple Crown was also presented by Nippon TV (AJPW's broadcaster at the time) with a large, globe-shaped trophy bearing the words "World Heavyweight Champion." The original title belts were returned to All Japan founder Giant Baba's widow Motoko in August 2013 and a new single title belt incorporating designs from the three original belts was made.[2] The new title belt, which featured three plates representing the three original title belts, was unveiled on October 27.[3] One of the plates includes the text "Jumbo Tsuruta Apr. 18 1989", representing the crowning of the inaugural champion.[4] There have been a total of 28 recognized champions who have had a combined 63 official reigns.

Title history

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
1	Jumbo Tsuruta	April 18, 1989	Champion Carnival tour	Tokyo	1	48	1	Tsuruta, the NWA International Heavyweight Champion, defeated Stan Hansen, the PWF Heavyweight and NWA United National Champion, to unify the titles.	[1]
2	Genichiro Tenryu	June 5, 1989	Super Power Series tour	Tokyo	1	128	2		[1]
3	Jumbo Tsuruta	October 11, 1989	October Giant Series tour	Yokohama	2	237	2		[1]
4	Terry Gordy	June 5, 1990	Super Power Series tour	Chiba	1	3	0		[1]
5	Stan Hansen	June 8, 1990	Super Power Series tour	Tokyo	1	39	0		[1]
6	Terry Gordy	July 17, 1990	Summer Action Series tour	Kanazawa	2	10	0		[1][5]
—	Vacated	July 27, 1990	—	—	—	—	—	Gordy was hospitalized. The title is vacated as he is hospitalized during a scheduled title defense later that night.	[6]
7	Stan Hansen	July 27, 1990	Summer Action Series tour	Matsudo	2	176	1	Defeated Mitsuharu Misawa.	[1]
8	Jumbo Tsuruta	January 19, 1991	New Year Giant Series tour	Matsumoto	3	374	3		[1][7]
9	Stan Hansen	January 28, 1992	New Year Giant Series tour	Chiba	3	207	3		[1]
10	Mitsuharu Misawa	August 22, 1992	Summer Action Series II tour	Tokyo	1	705	7		[1]
11	Steve Williams	July 28, 1994	Summer Action Series tour	Tokyo	1	86	1		[1]
12	Toshiaki Kawada	October 22, 1994	October Giant Series tour	Tokyo	1	133	1		[1]
13	Stan Hansen	March 4, 1995	Excite Series tour	Tokyo	4	83	0		[1][8]
14	Mitsuharu Misawa	May 26, 1995	Super Power Series tour	Sapporo	2	364	4		[9]
15	Akira Taue	May 24, 1996	Super Power Series tour	Sapporo	1	61	1		[10]
16	Kenta Kobashi	July 24, 1996	Super Power Series tour	Tokyo	1	180	2		[11]
17	Mitsuharu Misawa	January 20, 1997	New Year Giant Series tour	Osaka	3	466	8		[12][13]
18	Toshiaki Kawada	May 1, 1998	AJPW 25th Anniversary	Tokyo	2	42	0		[14]
19	Kenta Kobashi	June 12, 1998	Super Power Series tour	Tokyo	2	141	2		[14][15]
20	Mitsuharu Misawa	October 31, 1998	October Giant Series tour	Tokyo	4	83	0		[14]
21	Toshiaki Kawada	January 22, 1999	New Year Giant Series tour	Osaka	3	7	0		[6]
—	Vacated	January 29, 1999	—	—	—	—	—	Vacated after Kawada fractured his right ulna in winning the title.	[6]
22	Vader	March 6, 1999	Excite Series tour	Tokyo	1	57	0	Defeated Akira Taue.	[6]
23	Mitsuharu Misawa	May 2, 1999	Giant Baba Memorial Show	Tokyo	5	181	2		[6]
24	Vader	October 30, 1999	October Giant Series tour	Tokyo	2	120	1		[6]
25	Kenta Kobashi	February 27, 2000	Excite Series tour	Tokyo	3	110	1	[16]
—	Vacated	June 16, 2000	—	—	—	—	—	Kobashi jumped to Pro Wrestling Noah.	[6]
26	Genichiro Tenryu	October 28, 2000	October Giant Series tour	Tokyo	2	223	1	Defeated Toshiaki Kawada in a tournament final.	[17]
27	Keiji Mutoh	June 8, 2001	Super Power Series tour	Tokyo	1	261	4		[18]
28	Toshiaki Kawada	February 24, 2002	Excite Series tour	Tokyo	4	32	0	[6]
—	Vacated	March 28, 2002	—	—	—	—	—	Kawada suffered a knee injury.	[14]
29	Genichiro Tenryu	April 13, 2002	Champion Carnival tour	Tokyo	3	197	1	Defeated Keiji Mutoh.	[19]
30	The Great Muta	October 27, 2002	Royal Road 30 Giant Battle Final	Tokyo	2	119	1	Formerly known as Keiji Mutoh.	[20]
31	Shinya Hashimoto	February 23, 2003	Excite Series tour	Tokyo	1	171	2		[6][21]
—	Vacated	August 13, 2003	—	—	—	—	—	Hashimoto dislocated his right shoulder.	[22][23]
32	Toshiaki Kawada	September 6, 2003	Summer Action Series II tour	Tokyo	5	529	10	Defeated Shinjiro Otani in a tournament final.	[24][25]
33	Satoshi Kojima	February 16, 2005	Realize tour	Tokyo	1	502	8	[26]
34	Taiyō Kea	July 3, 2006	Crossover tour	Tokyo	1	62	1		[14][27]
35	Minoru Suzuki	September 3, 2006	Summer Impact tour	Sapporo	1	357	5	[14][28]
36	Kensuke Sasaki	August 26, 2007	Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku Vol. 3	Tokyo	1	247	2		[14][29]
37	Suwama	April 29, 2008	Growin' Up tour	Nagoya	1	152	2
38	The Great Muta	September 28, 2008	Flashing tour	Yokohama	3	167	1		[30]
39	Yoshihiro Takayama	March 14, 2009	Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku Vol. 7	Tokyo	1	196	2
40	Satoshi Kojima	September 26, 2009	Flashing tour	Yokohama	2	176	1		[31]
41	Ryota Hama	March 21, 2010	Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku Vol. 9	Tokyo	1	42	0	[32]
42	Minoru Suzuki	May 2, 2010	Growin' Up tour	Nagoya	2	119	1		[14][33]
43	Suwama	August 29, 2010	Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku Vol. 10	Tokyo	2	420	5
44	Jun Akiyama	October 23, 2011	Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku Vol. 13	Tokyo	1	308	4
45	Masakatsu Funaki	August 26, 2012	Summer Impact tour	Tokyo	1	203	4	[34]
46	Suwama	March 17, 2013	2013 Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku: Basic & Dynamic	Tokyo	3	224	2
47	Akebono	October 27, 2013	Anniversary Tour	Tokyo	1	215	4
—	Vacated	May 30, 2014	—	—	—	—	—	Vacated due to Akebono being sidelined with health issues.
48	Takao Omori	June 15, 2014	2014 Dynamite Series	Tokyo	1	14	0	Defeated Jun Akiyama.
49	Suwama	June 29, 2014	2014 Dynamite Series	Sapporo	4	28	0
50	Joe Doering	July 27, 2014	2014 Summer Action Series	Tokyo	1	160	3
51	Go Shiozaki	January 3, 2015	New Year Wars 2015	Tokyo	1	138	2
52	Akebono	May 21, 2015	2015 Super Power Series	Tokyo	2	164	2
53	Jun Akiyama	November 1, 2015	All Japan Pro Wrestling Charity Hirosaki Tournament	Hirosaki	2	62	0		[35]
54	Suwama	January 2, 2016	2016 New Years Two Days	Tokyo	5	10	0
—	Vacated	January 12, 2016	—	—	—	—	—	Vacated due to Suwama rupturing his achilles tendon.
55	Kento Miyahara	February 12, 2016	2016 Excite Series	Tokyo	1	464	8	Defeated Zeus.
56	Shuji Ishikawa	May 21, 2017	2017 Super Power Series	Tokyo	1	98	2
57	Kento Miyahara	August 27, 2017	2017 Summer Explosion	Tokyo	2	43	0
58	Suwama	October 9, 2017	2017 Hataage Kinen Series	Tokyo	6	12	0
59	Joe Doering	October 21, 2017	Jun Akiyama and Takao Omori Debut 25th Anniversary Show	Yokohama	2	155	3
60	Kento Miyahara	March 25, 2018	2018 Power Dream Series	Saitama	3	126	2
61	Zeus	July 29, 2018	2018 Summer Action Series	Osaka	1	84	1
62	Kento Miyahara	October 21, 2018	2018 Raising An Army Memorial Series	Yokohama	4	519	10
63	Suwama	March 23, 2020	2020 Dream Power Series	Tokyo	7	145+	2

Combined reigns

As of August 15, 2020.

Record seven-time and current champion Suwama

†	Indicates the current champion

Rank	Wrestler	No. of reigns	Combined defenses	Combined days
1	Mitsuharu Misawa	5	21	1,799
2	Kento Miyahara	4	20	1,152
3	Suwama †	7	11	963+
4	Toshiaki Kawada	5	11	743
5	Satoshi Kojima	2	9	678
6	Jumbo Tsuruta	3	6	659
7	Genichiro Tenryu	3	4	548
8	Keiji Mutoh/The Great Muta	3	6	547
9	Stan Hansen	4	4	505
10	Minoru Suzuki	2	6	476
11	Kenta Kobashi	3	5	431
12	Akebono	2	6	379
13	Jun Akiyama	2	4	370
14	Joe Doering	2	6	315
15	Kensuke Sasaki	1	2	247
16	Masakatsu Funaki	1	4	203
17	Yoshihiro Takayama	1	2	196
18	Vader	2	1	177
19	Shinya Hashimoto	1	2	171
20	Go Shiozaki	1	2	138
21	Shuji Ishikawa	1	2	98
22	Steve Williams	1	1	86
23	Zeus	1	1	84
24	Taiyō Kea	1	1	62
25	Akira Taue	1	1	61
26	Ryota Hama	1	0	42
27	Takao Omori	1	0	14
28	Terry Gordy	2	0	13

See also

• Champion Carnival
• GHC Heavyweight Championship
• IWGP Heavyweight Championship
• World Heavyweight Championship (Zero1)
• Wrestle-1 Championship
• BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship
• NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship

References

1. Emelett, Ed (September 1995). "Japan's Triple Crown: "It's the Most Important Title in the World!"". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. London Publishing Co.: 28. ISSN 1043-7576.
2. 全日「３冠ベルト」を馬場家に返還. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). August 7, 2013. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
3. 曙が諏訪魔を下し、新ベルトとなった三冠王座を奪取！健在だったファンクスにファン歓喜！ドリフは惜しくもアジアタッグに届かず！. Battle News (in Japanese). October 27, 2013. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
4. 現３冠ベルトに刻まれた初代王者の名前. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). February 15, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
5. Hoops, Brian (July 17, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history, Kangaroos, Gagne vs. Kiniski in Hawaii, Gordy wins Triple Crown, Hogan wins WCW title from Flair at Bash at the Beach, famous Punk vs. Cena Chicago bout". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
6. "Wrestling History". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Archived from the original on 2008-05-27. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
7. Hoops, Brian (January 19, 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/19): Ric Flair wins WWF title in 1992 Royal Rumble". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
8. Hoops, Brian (March 4, 2017). "Daily Pro Wrestling History (03/04): ROH 10th Anniversary Show". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
9. "Title Changes: 1995". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. London Publishing Co.: 90 March 1996. ISSN 1043-7576.
10. "Roll Call of Champions". Inside Wrestling. London Publishing Co.: 85 October 1996. ISSN 1047-9562.
11. "Roll Call of Champions". Inside Wrestling. London Publishing Co.: 65 February 1997. ISSN 1047-9562.
12. "Roll Call of Champions". Inside Wrestling. London Publishing Co.: 65 May 1997. ISSN 1047-9562.
13. Hoops, Brian (January 20, 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/20): HHH returns, wins 2002 Royal Rumble". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
14. "AJPW Triple Crown Championship title history". Wrestling-Titles.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
15. Hoops, Brian (June 12, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (June 12): AWA 10th anniversary show, Dusty Rhodes in Winnipeg, Clash Of Champions 15". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
16. "AJPW Excite Series 2000 tour results". Shining Road. Archived from the original on 2007-07-07. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
17. "AJPW October Giant Series 2000 tour results". Shining Road. Archived from the original on 2007-05-27. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
18. Molinaro, John F. (2001-06-08). "Mutoh (Muta) wins Triple Crown title". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-10-13.
19. "AJPW Champion's Carnival tour results". Shining Road. Archived from the original on 2007-05-30. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
20. "AJPW October Giant Series tour results". Shining Road. Archived from the original on 2007-07-11. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
21. Power Slam Staff (August 2003). "We are the Champions (as of July 8)". Power Slam Magazine. Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD. p. 15. 109.
22. "Triple Crown Title". Shining Road. Archived from the original on 2008-01-15. Retrieved 2008-01-17.
23. "All-Japan Triple Crown Heavyweight Title History". Wrestling Information Archive. Archived from the original on 12 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-17.
24. "AJPW Summer Action Series II tour results". Shining Road. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
25. Power Slam Magazine Staff (March 2005). "We are the champions (as of February 11)". Power Slam Magazine. Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD. p. 15. 116.
26. "AJPW results, 2005". Shining Road. Archived from the original on 2007-06-07. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
27. "AJPW Cross Over tour results" (in German). PuroLove.com. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
28. "AJPW Summer Impact tour results" (in German). PuroLove.com. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
29. "AJPW Summer Impact '07 tour results" (in German). PuroLove.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
30. "News/Rumours". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
31. "AJPW Flashing Tour 2009: Day 7". Cagematch. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
32. Lefort, Kieran (2010-03-21). "All Japan Sumo Hall report 3-21 - New Triple Crown champion". Figure Four Weekly/Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
33. "AJPW Growin' Up tour results" (in German). PuroLove.com. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
34. "All Japan (Akiyama/Funaki) for August 26, 2012". Puroresu Spirit. 2012-08-26. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
35. チャリティー弘前大会/ 【11.1】全日本プロレス　チャリティー弘前大会. All Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). 2015-11-02. Retrieved 2015-11-02.

External links

• Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship at All-Japan.co.jp
• Wrestling-Titles.com: Triple Crown Heavyweight Title