GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship
Professional wrestling championship
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The Global Honored Crown (GHC) Junior Heavyweight Championship (Japanese: GHCジュニアヘビー級王座, Hepburn: GHC Junia Hebī-kyū Ōza) is a professional wrestling title in Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Noah, contested exclusively among junior heavyweight (<100 kg) wrestlers. It was created in 2001 when Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Juventud Guerrera in a 12-man tournament final. In addition to Japan, the title has also been defended in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. Kai Fujimura is the current champion in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Eita at Legacy Rise: Night 4 on August 10, 2026.
| GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Current championship design | |||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||
| Promotion | CyberFight | ||||||||||||||
| Brand | Pro Wrestling Noah | ||||||||||||||
| Date established | June 24, 2001 | ||||||||||||||
| Current champion | Kai Fujimura | ||||||||||||||
| Date won | August 10, 2026 | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Tournament
Noah held a 10-man tournament to crown the first champion, held over its month-long, 11-event Navigation for the Bright Destination tour. The tour was held from June 9 through June 24, 2001.[1]
| Round 1 June 9 & 15 | Round 2 June 16, 17, 20 & 21 | Semifinals June 23 | Final June 24 | ||||||||||||||||
| Yoshinobu Kanemaru | Pin | ||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Path Finder | Pin | Path Finder | 12:15 | |||||||||||||||
| 9 | Kenta Kobayashi | 8:27 | Yoshinobu Kanemaru | Pin | |||||||||||||||
| Tsuyoshi Kikuchi | 13:34 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tsuyoshi Kikuchi | Pin | ||||||||||||||||||
| B. J. Whitmer | 7:12 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Yoshinobu Kanemaru | Pin | ||||||||||||||||||
| Juventud Guerrera | 17:17 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Makoto Hashi | Pin | ||||||||||||||||||
| Naomichi Marufuji | 15:02 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Naomichi Marufuji | Pin | ||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Satoru Asako | Pin | Juventud Guerrera | 19:02 | |||||||||||||||
| 10 | Matt Murphy | 11:21 | Satoru Asako | Pin | |||||||||||||||
| Juventud Guerrera | 11:04 | ||||||||||||||||||
Title history
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Defenses | Number of successful defenses |
| <1 | Reign lasted less than a day |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Defenses | ||||
| 1 | Yoshinobu Kanemaru | June 24, 2001 | Navigation for the Bright Destination | Nagoya, Japan | 1 | 117 | 2 | Defeated Juventud Guerrera in a tournament final. | [1] |
| 2 | Tatsuhito Takaiwa | October 19, 2001 | Tug of War | Yokohama, Japan | 1 | 51 | 1 | [2] | |
| 3 | Naomichi Marufuji | December 9, 2001 | Navigation in Raging Ocean | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 119 | 1 | [3] | |
| 4 | Makoto Hashi | April 7, 2002 | Come and Watch in Ariake | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 1 | 0 | [4] | |
| — | Vacated | April 8, 2002 | — | — | — | — | — | Hashi refused the title after winning by referee stoppage due to Marufuji injuring his knee. | [5] |
| 5 | Yoshinobu Kanemaru | May 26, 2002 | Navigation with Breeze | Sapporo, Japan | 2 | 308 | 3 | Defeated Kenta in a tournament final to win the vacant title. | [6] |
| 6 | Michael Modest | March 30, 2003 | Encountering Navigation | Fukuoka, Japan | 1 | 166 | 2 | [7][8] | |
| 7 | Takashi Sugiura | September 12, 2003 | Navigation Over the Date Line | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 114 | 2 | [9] | |
| 8 | Jushin Thunder Liger | January 4, 2004 | Wrestling World 2004 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 188 | 5 | This was a New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) event. | [10][11] |
| 9 | Yoshinobu Kanemaru | July 10, 2004 | Departure 2004 | Tokyo, Japan | 3 | 373 | 5 | [12] | |
| 10 | Kenta | July 18, 2005 | Destiny 2005 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 321 | 6 | [13] | |
| 11 | Takashi Sugiura | June 4, 2006 | Northern Navigation | Sapporo, Japan | 2 | 202 | 1 | [14] | |
| 12 | Tatsuhito Takaiwa | December 23, 2006 | SEMful Gift in Differ | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 126 | 2 | This was a Pro Wrestling Sem event. | [15] |
| 13 | Mushiking Terry | April 28, 2007 | Spring Navigation | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 182 | 0 | [16] | |
| 14 | Yoshinobu Kanemaru | October 27, 2007 | Autumn Navigation | Tokyo, Japan | 4 | 323 | 5 | ||
| 15 | Bryan Danielson | September 14, 2008 | The Tokyo Summit | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 29 | 1 | This was a Ring of Honor (ROH) event. | |
| 16 | Kenta | October 13, 2008 | Autumn Navigation | Hiroshima, Japan | 2 | 121 | 3 | ||
| 17 | Katsuhiko Nakajima | February 11, 2009 | Take the Dream Vol. 7 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 18 | 0 | This was a Kensuke Office event. | |
| 18 | Kenta | March 1, 2009 | Second Navigation | Tokyo, Japan | 3 | 243 | 3 | ||
| — | Vacated | October 30, 2009 | — | — | — | — | — | Vacated due to Kenta suffering a knee injury. | |
| 19 | Yoshinobu Kanemaru | October 31, 2009 | Autumn Navigation | Tokyo, Japan | 5 | 400 | 6 | Defeated Jyushin Thunder Liger in the finals of the Junior Heavyweight League to win the vacant title. | |
| 20 | Kotaro Suzuki | December 5, 2010 | Winter Navigation | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 292 | 7 | Suzuki was formerly known as Mushiking Terry. | |
| 21 | Katsuhiko Nakajima | September 23, 2011 | Shiny Navigation | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 9 | 0 | ||
| — | Vacated | October 2, 2011 | — | — | — | — | — | Vacated after Nakajima underwent surgery for acute appendicitis. | |
| 22 | Ricky Marvin | October 16, 2011 | Navigation Sunday 2011 in Korakuen | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | <1 | 0 | Defeated Satoshi Kajiwara to win the vacant title. | |
| — | Vacated | October 16, 2011 | — | — | — | — | — | Marvin refused the title, declaring that he wanted to win it by defeating Katsuhiko Nakajima. | |
| 23 | Katsuhiko Nakajima | November 27, 2011 | Great Voyage 2011 in Tokyo Vol. 4 | Tokyo, Japan | 3 | 164 | 4 | Defeated Ricky Marvin to win the vacant title. | |
| 24 | Yoshinobu Kanemaru | May 9, 2012 | The Navigation in May 2012 | Tokyo, Japan | 6 | 143 | 3 | ||
| 25 | Shuji Kondo | September 29, 2012 | The Navigation Saturday 2012 in Korakuen | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 120 | 3 | [17] | |
| 26 | Taiji Ishimori | January 27, 2013 | Great Voyage 2013 in Osaka | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 405 | 10 | ||
| 27 | Daisuke Harada | March 8, 2014 | Great Voyage 2014 in Tokyo | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 273 | 7 | ||
| 28 | Atsushi Kotoge | December 6, 2014 | Great Voyage 2014 in Tokyo Vol. 3 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 99 | 1 | ||
| 29 | Taichi | March 15, 2015 | Great Voyage 2015 in Tokyo | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 283 | 4 | ||
| 30 | Taiji Ishimori | December 23, 2015 | Destiny 2015 | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 63 | 1 | ||
| 31 | Yoshinobu Kanemaru | February 24, 2016 | The Second Navigation 2016 | Tokyo, Japan | 7 | 212 | 4 | ||
| 32 | Atsushi Kotoge | September 23, 2016 | Shiny Navigation 2016 | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 94 | 3 | ||
| — | Vacated | December 26, 2016 | — | — | — | — | — | Vacated due to Kotoge moving to the heavyweight division. | |
| 33 | Hajime Ohara | January 7, 2017 | The First Navigation 2017 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 140 | 2 | Defeated Taiji Ishimori to win the vacant title. | |
| 34 | Hayata | May 27, 2017 | Navigation With Breeze 2017 | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 29 | 0 | ||
| 35 | Taiji Ishimori | June 25, 2017 | Great Voyage 2017 in Fukushima | Kōriyama, Japan | 3 | 98 | 1 | ||
| 36 | Daisuke Harada | October 1, 2017 | Great Voyage 2017 in Yokohama Vol. 2 | Yokohama, Japan | 2 | 394 | 6 | ||
| 37 | Kotaro Suzuki | October 30, 2018 | Global League 2018 Day 1 |
Tokyo, Japan | 3 | 47 | 2 | [18] | |
| 38 | Daisuke Harada | December 16, 2018 | Great Voyage in Yokohama Vol. 2 | Yokohama, Japan | 3 | 84 | 1 | [19] | |
| 39 | Minoru Tanaka | March 10, 2019 | Great Voyage 2019 in Yokohama | Yokohama, Japan | 1 | 147 | 1 | [20] | |
| 40 | Hayata | August 4, 2019 | Departure 2019 | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 153 | 3 | [21] | |
| 41 | Yoshinari Ogawa | January 4, 2020 | New Sunrise | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 106 | 1 | [22] | |
| 42 | Kotaro Suzuki | April 19, 2020 | Noah the Spirit | Tokyo, Japan | 4 | 203 | 5 | [23] | |
| 43 | Daisuke Harada | November 8, 2020 | Premium Prelude 2020 | Tokyo, Japan | 4 | 96 | 2 | [24] | |
| 44 | Seiki Yoshioka | February 12, 2021 | Destination 2021: Back to Budōkan | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 30 | 0 | [25] | |
| 45 | Atsushi Kotoge | March 14, 2021 | Great Voyage 2021 in Fukuoka | Fukuoka, Japan | 3 | 105 | 2 | [26] | |
| 46 | Hayata | June 27, 2021 | Muta The World | Fukuoka, Japan | 3 | 197 | 8 | [27] | |
| 47 | Daisuke Harada | January 10, 2022 | N-Innovation Day 3: U-Cup Special | Yokohama, Japan | 5 | 62 | 2 | [28] | |
| 48 | Eita | March 13, 2022 | Great Voyage 2022 in Yokohama | Yokohama, Japan | 1 | 47 | 0 | [29] | |
| 49 | Hayata | April 29, 2022 | Majestic 2022: N Innovation | Tokyo, Japan | 4 | 184 | 5 | [30] | |
| 50 | Ninja Mack | October 30, 2022 | Ariake Triumph: The Return | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 11 | 0 | This match was stopped after Hayata suffered a legitimate elbow injury and was unable to continue. | [31] |
| 51 | Dante Leon | November 10, 2022 | Global Honored Crown 2022 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 43 | 0 | [32] | |
| 52 | Amakusa | December 23, 2022 | N Innovation 2022 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 114 | 3 | [33] | |
| 53 | Hayata | April 16, 2023 | Green Journey in Sendai 2023 | Sendai, Japan | 5 | 202 | 3 | [34] | |
| 54 | Daga | November 4, 2023 | Demolition Stage in Niigata | Niigata, Japan | 1 | 252 | 6 | [35] | |
| 55 | Amakusa | July 13, 2024 | Destination 2024 | Niigata, Japan | 2 | 50 | 0 | [36] | |
| 56 | Daga | September 1, 2024 | N-1 Victory Night 9 |
Osaka, Japan | 2 | 122 | 1 | [37] | |
| 57 | Eita | January 1, 2025 | The New Year 2025 | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 122 | 3 | This was a Two-out-of-three falls match, which Eita won 2–1. | [38] |
| 58 | Yo-Hey | May 3, 2025 | Memorial Voyage in Kokugikan | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 128 | 4 | [39] | |
| 59 | Hiromu Takahashi | September 8, 2025 | N-1 Victory Night 1 |
Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 115 | 2 | [40] | |
| 60 | Amakusa | January 1, 2026 | The New Year 2026 | Tokyo, Japan | 3 | 121 | 2 | [41] | |
| 61 | Dragon Bane | May 2, 2026 | Spring Mayhem | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 49 | 0 | [42] | |
| 62 | Eita | June 20, 2026 | Eita's 15th Anniversary Show | Agematsu, Japan | 3 | 51 | 2 | [43] | |
| 63 | Kai Fujimura | August 10, 2026 | Legacy Rise (Night 4) |
Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 12+ | 1 | ||
Combined reigns
As of August 22, 2026.
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined defenses |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yoshinobu Kanemaru | 7 | 28 | 1,876 |
| 2 | Daisuke Harada | 5 | 18 | 909 |
| 3 | Hayata | 5 | 19 | 765 |
| 4 | Mushiking Terry/Kotaro Suzuki | 4 | 14 | 724 |
| 5 | Kenta | 3 | 12 | 685 |
| 6 | Taiji Ishimori | 3 | 12 | 566 |
| 7 | Daga | 2 | 7 | 373 |
| 8 | Takashi Sugiura | 2 | 3 | 316 |
| 9 | Atsushi Kotoge | 3 | 6 | 298 |
| 10 | Amakusa | 3 | 5 | 285 |
| 11 | Taichi | 1 | 4 | 283 |
| 12 | Eita | 3 | 5 | 220 |
| 13 | Katsuhiko Nakajima | 3 | 4 | 191 |
| 14 | Jyushin Thunder Liger | 1 | 5 | 188 |
| 15 | Tatsuhito Takaiwa | 2 | 3 | 177 |
| 16 | Michael Modest | 1 | 2 | 166 |
| 17 | Minoru Tanaka | 1 | 1 | 147 |
| 18 | Hajime Ohara | 1 | 2 | 140 |
| 19 | Yo-Hey | 1 | 4 | 128 |
| 20 | Shuji Kondo | 1 | 3 | 120 |
| 21 | Naomichi Marufuji | 1 | 1 | 119 |
| 22 | Hiromu Takahashi | 1 | 2 | 115 |
| 23 | Yoshinari Ogawa | 1 | 1 | 106 |
| 24 | Dragon Bane | 1 | 0 | 49 |
| 25 | Dante Leon | 1 | 0 | 43 |
| 26 | Seiki Yoshioka | 1 | 0 | 30 |
| 27 | Bryan Danielson | 1 | 1 | 29 |
| 28 | Kai Fujimura † | 1 | 1 | 12+ |
| 29 | Ninja Mack | 1 | 0 | 11 |
| 30 | Makoto Hashi | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 31 | Ricky Marvin | 1 | 0 | <1 |
See also
Belt design
The standard Championship belt has three plates on a blue leather strap.