IWGP Intercontinental Championship
| IWGP Intercontinental Championship |
IWGP Intercontinental Championship belt. |
| Details |
| Current champion(s) |
Masato Tanaka |
| Date won |
October 10, 2011[1] |
| Promotion |
New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) |
| Date established |
May 15, 2011 |
| Statistics |
| Most reigns |
All champions (1 reign) |
| First champion(s) |
MVP |
| Longest reign |
MVP (&10000000000000148000000148 days) |
| Oldest champion |
Masato Tanaka (38 years, &10000000000000224000000224 days) |
| Youngest champion |
MVP (37 years, &10000000000000199000000199 days) |
| Heaviest champion |
MVP (114 kg (250 lb)) |
| Lightest champion |
Masato Tanaka (95 kg (210 lb)) |
|
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. 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, during the Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome event, announcing events for May 13 in Rahway, New Jersey, May 14 in New York City and May 15 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[3] It was also announced that during the tour, New Japan would introduce a new "IWGP Intercontinental Championship", which would become the promotion's fifth active title.[3] Being a professional wrestling championship, the title is won as a result of a predetermined outcome. Overall, there have been two reigns shared among two wrestlers. Masato Tanaka is the current IWGP Intercontinental Champion, after defeating MVP on October 10, 2011.[1]
Championship tournament
On April 8, 2011, NJPW announced the participants in the tournament to crown the first IWGP Intercontinental Champion. The list of participants included former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) performer MVP, who had signed a contract with NJPW in January 2011, Kazuchika Okada, who had been on a learning excursion to American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) since February 2010, Hideo Saito, who had been on a similar tour of Puerto Rican World Wrestling Council (WWC) since September 2010, former IWGP Tag Team and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Tetsuya Naitō and Yujiro Takahashi, NJPW regulars Tama Tonga and Toru Yano and American independent worker Dan Maff, who made his first appearance for NJPW during the tour.[4] On May 6 it was announced that Tonga had suffered an injury, which would force him out of the tournament. He would be replaced by former TNA and Ring of Honor (ROH) performer Josh Daniels.[5]
- Tournament bracket
Title history
| # |
Order in reign history |
| Reign |
The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed |
| Event |
The event in which the title was won |
| Successful defenses |
The number of successful defenses the champion had during his reign |
| — |
Used for vacated reigns so as not to count it as an official reign |
| N/A |
The information is not available or is unknown |
| + |
Indicates the current reign is changing daily |
| # |
Wrestler |
Reign |
Date |
Days
held |
Location |
Event |
Successful defenses |
Notes |
| 01 !1 |
MVP !MVP |
01 !1 |
02011-05-15 May 15, 2011 |
&10000000000000148000000148 |
Philadelphia !Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
NJPW Invasion Tour 2011 !NJPW Invasion Tour 2011 |
02 !2 |
MVP defeated Toru Yano in an eight–man tournament final to become the first champion.[8] |
| 02 !2 |
Tanaka !Masato Tanaka |
01 !1 |
02011-10-10 October 10, 2011 |
&10000000000000159000000159+ |
Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan |
Destruction '11 !Destruction '11 |
03 !3 |
[1] |
References
- ^ a b c "Destruction '11" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. http://www.njpw.co.jp/match/detail_result.php?e=412. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
- ^ Meltzer, Dave (October 3, 2010). "New Japan Pro Wrestling comes to the U.S.". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/17790/. Retrieved May 13.
- ^ a b 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. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/Other_News_4/article_46541.shtml. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
- ^ Martin, Adam (April 8, 2011). "Indy News #2: CHIKARA, NJPW, Wrestling on GFL". WrestleView. http://www.wrestleview.com/viewnews.php?id=1302269993. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
- ^ "ニューヨーク遠征のカードが続々決定!! 棚橋はチャーリー・ハースとIWGP戦! ジュニアタッグ防衛戦も決定!!" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. May 6, 2011. http://www.njpw.co.jp/news/detail.php?nid=5623. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
- ^ a b c d "初日から大熱狂も、真壁がライノに敗戦! 新設ベルト争奪戦は？ 5.13ニュージャージー大会詳細アップ!!" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. May 14, 2011. http://www.njpw.co.jp/news/detail.php?nid=5662. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
- ^ a b "夜の摩天楼で奏でる渾身のエアギター！棚橋がＣ・ハースをハイフライ葬！ 大熱狂のニューヨーク大会2日目詳報！" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. May 15, 2011. http://www.njpw.co.jp/news/detail.php?nid=5666. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
- ^ a b "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）" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. May 16, 2011. http://www.njpw.co.jp/news/detail.php?nid=5669. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
External links