NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (Zero1) explained

Championshipname:NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship
Currentholder:Seiki Yoshioka
Won:March 3, 2024
Promotion:Pro Wrestling Zero1
New Wrestling Alliance
Created:September 20, 2011
Mostreigns:Jason Lee and Takuya Sugawara (2 reigns)
Firstchamp:Craig Classic
Shortestreign:Mineo Fujita (days)
Longestreign:Shinjiro Otani (days)
Oldest:Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (47 years, days)
Youngest:Jason Lee (21 years, days)
Heaviest:Shinjiro Otani (107kg (236lb))[1]
Lightest:Jonathan Gresham (73kg (161lb))
Pastnames:NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship

The NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship owned by the Japanese Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1) promotion. The title is meant for wrestlers under the weight limit of 100kg (200lb), referred to as "junior heavyweights" in Japan.[2]

On July 11, 2011, then-NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion Craig Classic announced that he was relinquishing his title in protest over the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) stripping The Sheik of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.[3] However, on September 20, NWA affiliate Pro Wrestling Zero1 announced that they still recognized Classic as the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion. When Classic returned to the promotion on October 2, he was still in possession of the NWA title belt (which was the belt worn by the original Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama, in the 1980s), which he went on to successfully defend against Munenori Sawa.[4] [5] Despite this being the first appearance of the new version of the title, Zero1 went as far as adopting the original title's history, referring to Classic as the 108th champion and his defense against Sawa as his 22nd successful defense. Meanwhile, NWA crowned their own NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion, Kevin Douglas, on October 7, meaning that there now were two champions supposedly holding the same title.[6] That same month, Zero1 quit the NWA and renamed all of their National Wrestling Alliance championships "New Wrestling Alliance" championships.[7]

Like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won as a result of a scripted match. There have been a total of twenty-three reigns shared among tewnty different wrestlers. The current champion is Seiki Yoshioka who is in his first reign.

Title history

  1. Web site: http://z-1.co.jp/zero1/wrestlers . https://web.archive.org/web/20151011205748/http://z-1.co.jp/zero1/wrestlers . ja:選手紹介 . October 11, 2015 . October 11, 2015 . . Japanese.
  2. Web site: Pride of the UWFi or Searching for Kazushi . https://web.archive.org/web/20140204053747/http://www.f4wonline.com/component/content/article/2839/ . Lee . Alan . February 4, 2014 . May 10, 2013 . Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
  3. Web site: Tues update: More from Raw, Drew injury update, Cena talks Chicago, Punk merch, Raw trending, Smackdown tonight, TNA releases, tons more . https://web.archive.org/web/20110715012302/http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/3-news/21333-tues-update-more-from-raw-drew-injury-update-cena-talks-chicago-punk-merch-raw-trending-smackdown-tonight-tna-releases-tons-more . July 15, 2011 . July 12, 2011 . Alvarez . Bryan . Bryan Alvarez . May 10, 2013 . Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
  4. Web site: NWA世界Jr王座防衛:クレイグ・クラシックが継続参戦 . October 3, 2011 . May 10, 2013 . . Japanese.
  5. Web site: http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/text/201110020002-spnavi_2.html . https://web.archive.org/web/20111006225717/http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/text/201110020002-spnavi_2.html . ja:橋本大地が破壊王の元付き人・天山に完敗 . October 6, 2011 . October 2, 2011 . May 10, 2013 . Sports Navi . . Japanese.
  6. Web site: Mon. update: WWE week, Sonnen fight, Another UFC fighter with stips, WWE network, WWE video game . https://web.archive.org/web/20111012102619/http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/96-wwe/22503-mon-update-wwe-week-sonnen-fight-another-ufc-fighter-with-stips-wwe-network-wwe-video-game . October 12, 2011 . October 10, 2011 . Meltzer . Dave . Dave Meltzer . May 10, 2013 . Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
  7. Web site: New Wrestling Alliance World Junior Heavyweight Title . May 10, 2013 . Puroresu Dojo.

Combined reigns

As of,

Indicates the current champion
¤The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest length is considered.
RankWrestlerNo. of
reigns
Combined
defenses
Combined days
12 6 483
21 3 481
32 3 421
4Craig Classic1 17 421
5Sugi1 3 403
6El Lindaman1 1 310
71 2 266
8Kotaro Suzuki1 3 265
92 3 257
10Isami Kodaka1 2 ¤242
111 2 232
12Minoru Tanaka1 3 224
13Fuminori Abe1 5 213
141 4 195
15Jonathan Gresham1 1 132
16Sean Guinness 1 1 129
17Seiki Yoshioka1 1 +
181 0 61
191 0 58
201 1 45

See also

External links