| Antonio
Inoki |
87/06/12 |
Tokyo |
Defeats Masa Saito in the final of '87
IWGP Tournament to be recognized as the first IWGP Heavyweight
champion; vacant on 88/05/02 when Inoki breaks his foot. |
| Tatsumi
Fujinami |
88/05/08 |
Tokyo |
| Defeats Big Van Vader; title held up on 88/05/27
after a no-contest match against Riki Choshu in Sendai. |
| Tatsumi
Fujinami [2] |
88/06/24 |
Osaka |
| Wins rematch against Riki Choshu; vacates on
89/04/05 to raise the authority of the title, for which a one-night
tournament at Tokyo Dome on 89/04/24 is held. |
| Big
Van Vader |
89/04/24 |
Tokyo |
| Defeats Shin'ya Hashimoto in one-night 8-man
tournament final with Lou Thesz as the special referee. |
| Salman
Hashimikov |
89/05/25 |
Osaka |
| Riki
Choshu |
89/07/12 |
Osaka |
| Big
Van Vader [2] |
89/08/10 |
Tokyo |
| Riki
Choshu [2] |
90/08/19 |
Tokyo |
| Tatsumi
Fujinami [3] |
90/12/26 |
Hamamatsu |
| Big
Van Vader [3] |
91/01/17 |
Yokohama |
| Tatsumi
Fujinami [4] |
91/03/04 |
Hiroshima |
| Riki
Choshu [3] |
92/01/04 |
Tokyo |
| Great
Muta (Keiji Mutoh) |
92/08/16 |
Fukuoka |
| Shin'ya
Hashimoto |
93/09/20 |
Nagoya |
| Tatsumi
Fujinami [5] |
94/04/04 |
Hiroshima |
| Shin'ya
Hashimoto [2] |
94/05/01 |
Fukuoka |
| Keiji
Mutoh [2] |
95/05/03 |
Fukuoka |
| Nobuhiko
Takada |
96/01/04 |
Tokyo |
| Shin'ya
Hashimoto [3] |
96/04/29 |
Tokyo |
| Kensuke Sasaki |
97/08/31 |
Yokohama |
| Tatsumi
Fujinami [6] |
98/04/04 |
Tokyo |
| Masahiro
Chono |
98/08/08 |
Osaka |
| Vacant on 98/09/21 after suffering a neck injury
on 98/09/19 in Nagoya. |
| Scott Norton |
98/09/23 |
Yokohama |
| Defeats Yuji Nagata. |
| Keiji
Mutoh [3] |
99/01/04 |
Tokyo |
| Gen'ichiro
Tenryu |
99/12/10 |
Osaka |
| Kensuke Sasaki [2] |
00/01/04 |
Tokyo |
| Vacates the title on 00/10/09 after losing a
non-title match to Toshiaki Kawada. |
| Kensuke Sasaki [3] |
01/01/04 |
Tokyo |
| Defeats Toshiaki Kawada in 6-man one-night tournament
final. |
| Scott Norton [2] |
01/03/17 |
Nagoya |
| Kazuyuki Fujita |
01/04/09 |
Tokyo |
| Vacates on 02/01/04 due to injury. |
| Tadao Yasuda |
02/02/16 |
Tokyo |
| Defeats Yuuji Nagata in 7-man tournament final. |
| Yuuji Nagata |
02/04/05 |
Tokyo |
| Yoshihiro Takayama |
03/05/02 |
Tokyo |
| |
| Hiroyoshi Tenzan |
03/11/03 |
Yokohama |
| |
| Shinsuke Nakamura |
03/12/09 |
Osaka |
Unifies NWF
Heavyweight Title on 04/01/05 after defeating Yoshihiro Takayama
on 04/01/04 in Tokyo; vacates on 04/02/05 due to the injury from
a match on 03/12/31. |
| Hiroyoshi Tenzan [2] |
04/02/15 |
Tokyo |
| Defeats Gen'ichiro Tenryu in one-night 8-man
tournament final. |
| Kensuke Sasaki [4] |
04/03/12 |
Tokyo |
| Bob Sapp |
04/03/28 |
Tokyo |
| Vacates on 04/06/01 after losing to Kazuyuki Fujita in an MMA match on 04/05/22 in Saitama. |
| Kazuyuki Fujita [2] |
04/06/05 |
Osaka |
| Defeats Hiroshi Tanahashi. |
| Kensuke Sasaki [5] |
04/10/09 |
Tokyo |
| Hiroyoshi Tenzan [3] |
04/12/12 |
Nagoya |
| Satoshi Kojima |
05/02/20 |
Tokyo |
| |
| Hiroyoshi Tenzan [4] |
05/05/14 |
Tokyo |
| Triple Crown Title not on line. |
| Kazuyuki Fujita [3] |
05/07/18 |
Sapporo |
| Brock Lesnar |
05/10/08 |
Tokyo |
Wins a 3-way match against Fujita and Masahiro Chono by pinning Chono and is awarded the third version of the belt; stripped on 06/07/15 when Lesnar does not come to Japan due to a contractual problem but refuses to return the belt. |
| Hiroshi Tanahashi |
06/07/17 |
Sapporo |
Defeats Giant Bernard in 6-man tournament final and is awarded the second version of the belt. |
| Yuuji Nagata [2] |
07/04/13 |
Osaka |
Kurt Angles defeats Brock Lesnar at an Inoki Genome Federation card on 07/06/29 in Tokyo to win the physical possession of the third version of the champion belt without the authorization by New Japan, which continues to recognize Nagata as the champion. |
| Hiroshi Tanahashi [2] |
07/10/08 |
Tokyo |
| Shinsuke Nakamura [2] |
08/01/04 |
Tokyo |
Defeats Kurt Angles on 08/02/17 in Tokyo to unify the third version of the championship belt. |
| Keiji
Mutoh [4] |
08/04/27 |
Osaka |
