Wrestle-1 Championship

Wrestle-1 Championship

The Wrestle-1 Championship belt
Details
Promotion Wrestle-1
Date established July 21, 2014[1]
Current champion(s) Masayuki Kono
Date won November 2, 2016[2]

The Wrestle-1 Championship (WRESTLE-1チャンピオンシップ Wrestle-1 Chanpionshippu) is a professional wrestling championship owned by the Wrestle-1 (W-1) promotion. In Japanese the title's name includes the katakana term for "championship", Chanpionshippu (チャンピオンシップ), derived from the English language instead of the more common kanji term Ōza (王座). The title also does not feature the word "Heavyweight" or any other weight class, indicating an open-weight status de facto.[7]

Like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won as a result of a scripted match. There have been ten reigns shared among seven wrestlers. Masayuki Kono is the current champion in his second reign.[2]

History

Championship tournament

On July 21, 2014, a full year after the start of the promotion, Wrestle-1 announced the creation of its first own title, the Wrestle-1 Championship.[1][8] Previous Wrestle-1 events had featured matches for championships owned by other promotions like All Star Wrestling (ASW), European Wrestling Promotion (EWP), Pro Wrestling Zero1 and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).[9][10] It was announced that the inaugural champion would be determined in a sixteen-man single-elimination tournament taking place between September 21 and October 8. Wrestle-1's founder Keiji Mutoh quickly announced that he would not be taking part in the tournament.[8][11] The tournament brackets were revealed on August 8, with the exception of two participants, who would be determined in qualifying matches on August 31.[7][12] In the qualifying matches, Jiro Kuroshio defeated Andy Wu and Daiki Inaba defeated Koji Doi.[13] The tournament featured only wrestlers officially signed to Wrestle-1 and none of the freelancers or outside wrestlers working regularly for the promotion.[7] Pro Wrestling Zero1's reigning World Heavyweight Champion Masakatsu Funaki announced he was looking to defend his title throughout the tournament and unifying it with the Wrestle-1 Championship.[14][15] However, just before the start of the tournament on September 19, Funaki lost the World Heavyweight Championship.[16][17] The Wrestle-1 Championship belt was unveiled at a press conference on September 17.[18][19][20] The first two rounds of the tournament were held over three shows between September 21 and 23 and saw Kai, Masakatsu Funaki, Masayuki Kono and Shuji Kondo advance to set up the two semifinal matches for October 8.[21][22][23] In the semifinals, Kai and Kono were victorious over Kondo and Funaki, respectively, setting up a final match later that same day, where Kono defeated Kai to win the tournament and become the inaugural Wrestle-1 Champion.[3][24][25]

First round
(September 21, 22)
Second round
(September 23)
Semifinals
(October 8)
Finals
(October 8)
        
Kai Pin
Manabu Soya 23:40[26]
Kai Pin
Minoru Tanaka 18:18[27]
Minoru Tanaka Pin
Daiki Inaba 12:31[28]
Kai Pin
Shuji Kondo 12:50[3]
Hiroshi Yamato Pin
Seiki Yoshioka 18:48[26]
Hiroshi Yamato Pin
Shuji Kondo 15:11[27]
Shuji Kondo Pin
Kaz Hayashi 16:35[26]
Kai Pin
Masayuki Kono 17:57[3]
Masakatsu Funaki Sub
Tajiri 03:50[26]
Masakatsu Funaki Pin
Akira 14:13[27]
Ryota Hama Pin
Akira 07:34[28]
Masakatsu Funaki Pin
Masayuki Kono 07:10[3]
Masayuki Kono Pin
Jiro Kuroshio 04:56[28]
Masayuki Kono Sub
Yusuke Kodama 09:07[27]
Yasufumi Nakanoue Pin
Yusuke Kodama 12:32[26]

Title history

# Order in reign history
Reign The reign number for the specific wrestler 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 Ref(s)
1 Masayuki Kono 1 October 8, 2014 24 Tokyo Shodai Ōja Kettei Tournament 0[29] Kono defeated Kai in the finals of a sixteen-man tournament to become the inaugural champion. [3][24][25]
2 Keiji Mutoh 1 November 1, 2014 127 Tokyo Hold Out 2[30] [29][31][32]
3 Kai 1 March 8, 2015 24 Tokyo Trans Magic 0[33] [30][34][35]
4 Hideki Suzuki 1 April 1, 2015 102 Tokyo Cherry Blossom 2[36] [33][37][38]
5 Kai 2 July 12, 2015 71 Tokyo Symbol 0[39] [36][40][41]
6 Manabu Soya 1 September 21, 2015 111 Tokyo 2nd Anniversary 2[42] [39][43]
7 Yuji Hino 1 January 10, 2016 115 Tokyo Sunrise 2[44] [42][45]
8 Kai 3 May 4, 2016 99 Tokyo Triumph 1[46] [44]
9 Daiki Inaba 1 August 11, 2016 83 Yokohama Puroresu Love in Yokohama 1[2] [46]
10 Masayuki Kono 2 November 2, 2016 34+ Tokyo Autumn Bout 0 [2][47][48]

Combined reigns

Kai, record three-time Wrestle-1 Champion

As of December 6, 2016

Indicates the current champion
<1 Indicates that the reign lasted less than one day
Rank Wrestler No. of reigns Combined
defenses
Combined
days
1 Kai 3 1 194
2 Keiji Mutoh 1 2 127
3 Yuji Hino 1 2 115
4 Manabu Soya 1 2 111
5 Hideki Suzuki 1 2 102
6 Daiki Inaba 1 1 83
7 Masayuki Kono 2 0 58+

See also

References

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  2. 1 2 3 4 "「Wrestle-1 Tour 2016 Autumn Bout」". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). November 2, 2016. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Wrestle-1 Tour 2014 初代王者決定トーナメント". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). October 8, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  4. 武藤 敬司. Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 1, 2014. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  5. 1 2 稲葉 大樹. Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). Archived from the original on August 11, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  6. 河野 真幸. Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 8, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 "トーナメント出場選手、トーナメント組合せ決定!~「Wrestle-1 Tour 2014 初代王者決定トーナメント」開催概要のお知らせ". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). August 8, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  8. 1 2 Caldwell, James (July 22, 2014). "TNA news: Tag Champs returning to Japan for potential title defense, W-1 to determine first Champ before BFG PPV". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  9. "Fighting Entertainment Wrestle-1 「衝撃~Impact~」". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). July 6, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  10. Takagi, Hiromi (July 6, 2014). "ムタが本家ムーンサルトで真田を撃破 自称エース・Kaiが屈辱の髪切り=W-1". Sports Navi (in Japanese). Yahoo!. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  11. 武藤W-1王座決定トーナメント不参加. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). July 23, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  12. "フリーとして参戦していた征矢がW-1に入団!初代王者決定トーナメントの組み合わせ&8.31後楽園の全カードが決定!". Battle News (in Japanese). August 8, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  13. "Wrestle-1 Tour 2014 Flashing Summer". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). August 31, 2014. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  14. 船木W1王者へゼロワンと統一王座だ. Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). August 13, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  15. W-1初代王者決定T 船木「1回戦からベルトかける」. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). August 13, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  16. 9/19後楽園大会 試合結果. Pro Wrestling Zero1 (in Japanese). September 19, 2014. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  17. 耕平が船木から王座奪還. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). September 20, 2014. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  18. "【Wrestle-1 Championship】ベルトお披露目&「初代王者決定トーナメント」出場選手 記者会見 vol.1". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). September 17, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  19. "武藤W-1「初代王者決定T」ベルト披露". Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). September 17, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  20. 「W―1」新チャンピオンベルトお披露目 武藤「世界のレスラーの目標に」. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). September 17, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  21. "それぞれの想いを胸に、10.8後楽園で準決勝&決勝開催!~船木誠勝選手、Kai選手、近藤修司選手会見". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). September 24, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
  22. "Kaiが誰よりも初代王者になりたい理由". Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). September 25, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
  23. "10.8後楽園で行われるW-1初代王者決定トーナメント準決勝の組み合わせがKaivs近藤、船木vs河野に決定!". Battle News (in Japanese). September 23, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
  24. 1 2 初代W-1王者河野、挑戦者に武藤指名. Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). October 9, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  25. 1 2 Lions, Phil (October 8, 2014). "Alberto Del Rio heading to Japan and more Wrestle-1 news". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 "Wrestle-1 Tour 2014 初代王者決定トーナメント". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). September 22, 2014. Retrieved September 22, 2014.
  27. 1 2 3 4 "Wrestle-1 Tour 2014 初代王者決定トーナメント". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). September 23, 2014. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  28. 1 2 3 "Wrestle-1 Tour 2014 初代王者決定トーナメント". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). September 21, 2014. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
  29. 1 2 "武藤敬司デビュー30周年記念大会「Hold Out」". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). November 1, 2014. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  30. 1 2 "Wrestle-1 Tour 2015 Trans Magic". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). March 8, 2015. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  31. Caldwell, James (November 1, 2014). "TNA/Wrestle-1 news: Muta wins his promotion's title at 30th Anniversary show, Del Rio in semi-main event, Matt Hardy in three-way match, Bro-Mans in six-man tag, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  32. W-1至宝戦 誰よりもベルト似合う武藤 王者河野下す. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). November 2, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
  33. 1 2 "Wrestle-1 Tour 2015 Cherry blossom". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). April 1, 2015. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  34. Caldwell, James (March 8, 2015). "Japan news: Great Muta loses W-1 title, full line-up for Sunday's New Japan Cup Night 2". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  35. "武藤破りW-1王者!Kai"電流爆破で防衛戦もOK"". Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). March 9, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  36. 1 2 "Wrestle-1 Tour 2015 Symbol". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). July 12, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  37. W-1王座を奪取した鈴木秀樹が武藤戦を熱望. Sports Navi (in Japanese). Yahoo!. April 1, 2015. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  38. 鈴木秀樹がW-1王座奪取. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). April 2, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
  39. 1 2 "「Wrestle-1 Tour 2015 2nd Anniversary」". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). September 21, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  40. 新王者Kaiに異例のブーイング. Daily Sports Online (in Japanese). Kobe Shimbun. July 12, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  41. Kai王座奪取もブーイング…武藤がトーナメント開催提案. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). July 13, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
  42. 1 2 "「Wrestle-1 Tour 2016 Sunrise」". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). January 10, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  43. 征矢学がW-1王者に輝き2冠王. Daily Sports Online (in Japanese). Kobe Shimbun. September 21, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  44. 1 2 "「Wrestle-1 Tour 2016 Triumph」". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). May 4, 2016. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  45. W―1チャンピオンシップは火野裕士が第7代王者に. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). January 11, 2016. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
  46. 1 2 「プロレスLove in Yokohama」. Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). August 11, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  47. 河野が王座奪取「武藤敬司が出てくるまでベルト封印」. Daily Sports Online (in Japanese). Kobe Shimbun. November 3, 2016. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  48. 【W―1】河野が王座奪取 第10代W―1王者に. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). November 3, 2016. Retrieved November 3, 2016.

External links

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