The is a professional wrestling world junior heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the . Only wrestlers under the junior heavyweight weight-limit may hold the championship. NJPW currently controls two junior heavyweight championships: the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The weight-limit for the title is . The current champion is Yoh, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Douki at Dominion 6.14 in Osaka-jo Hall in Osaka, Japan, on June 14, 2026.

History

The title was introduced on February6, 1986, at a NJPW show.

From August5, 1996, until November5, 1997, the title was part of the J-Crown, or J-Crown Octuple Unified Championship. The J-Crown was an assembly of eight different championships from several different promotions. It was created on August 5, 1996, when The Great Sasuke won an eight-man tournament. The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, the British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship, the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship, the NWA World Welterweight Championship, the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship, the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship, the WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship, and the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship were the eight championships that were involved. On November5, 1997, then-champion Shinjiro Otani vacated all J-Crown belts but the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship after the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) retook control of its Light Heavyweight title, effectively ending the J-Crown.

On November 12, 2023, the title belt itself became a champion during DDT's Ultimate Party 2023 event, by winning the company's comedic Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship, which is defended under a 24/7 rule: during the event, Hiromu Takahashi, who was both IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion, successfully defended the latter title against Kazuki Hirata before laying in the ring. Because the Junior Heavyweight Championship belt was on Takahashi's chest when he did so, the referee counted this as a pinfall and declared the belt the new champion; Hirata quickly pinned the belt to win the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship, although the Junior Heavyweight Championship and its belt remained in Takahashi's possession.

Reigns

As of , , there have been a total of 100 reigns shared among 44 different wrestlers with eight vacancies. Title changes happen mostly at NJPW-promoted events, as it has only changed hands at non-NJPW events twice. Reigns 36 and 37 occurred on World Championship Wrestling's Nitro television program, when Juventud Guerrera defeated Jushin Thunder Liger on November29, 1999, and on December6, 1999, when Liger retrieved the championship by defeating Guerrera's stand-in Psychosis. Shiro Koshinaka was the first champion in the title's history. Liger holds the record for most reigns with eleven, over which he has successfully defended the title 31 times, more than any champion. He also holds the record for the longest reign in the title's history at 628 days during his sixth reign. Guerrera's only reign of 7 days is the shortest in the title's history.

The current champion is Yoh, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Douki at Dominion 6.14 in Osaka-jo Hall in Osaka, Japan, on June 14, 2026.

Combined reigns

As of , .

References

1. General

   Specific

External links

• njpw.co.jp