IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship
Professional wrestling championship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship (IWGP GLOBALヘビー級王座, IWGP GLOBAL hebī-kyū ōza) is a professional wrestling championship owned and promoted by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" are the initials of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix (インターナショナル・レスリング・グラン・プリ, intānashonaru resuringu guran puri).[2] The title was created when the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship was retired. The current champion is Yota Tsuji, who is in his record-tying second reign.
| IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
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Current title design (2023–present) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | December 11, 2023[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Current champion | Yota Tsuji | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date won | October 13, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other names | |||||||||||||||||||
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History
Background
At 2023's Power Struggle, after Will Ospreay had defended the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Shota Umino in the main event, Bullet Club leader David Finlay attacked Umino's former mentor, AEW's Jon Moxley, and Ospreay, and proceeded to destroy both the U.S. belt and Ospreay's custom IWGP United Kingdom Heavyweight Championship belt with a mallet, saying he felt spurned by both lands the belts represented. Finlay's manager, Gedo, stated that Finlay deserved a championship of his own.[3]
At the Power Struggle post-media scrum, Ospreay declared that if the IWGP Intercontinental Championship could not be brought back, then he, Moxley, and Finlay should wrestle for a new title at Wrestle Kingdom 18.[4] At a press conference on November 6, 2023, NJPW chairman Naoki Sugabayashi effectively announced the retirement of the United States title, and that the three-way match would indeed be for a brand new championship.[5] On December 11, at another press conference, he announced the name of the new championship, the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship.[1][6] Finlay would go on to win the match at Wrestle Kingdom and be crowned the inaugrual champion.[7]
Belt design
The new championship belt was revealed on January 3, 2024. It is set on a white strap, similar to the now-retired IWGP Intercontinental Championship, and features five plates: one center and two sets of side plates. The center plate features depictions of lions on each side, the "IWGP" letters in the center, and the words (all in capital letters) "Global" and "Champion" on the top and bottom, respectively; the New Japan logo is also featured on the top. Four gold circles with a ruby in the center are vertically set, two on each side, next to the center plate. The two sets of side plates each feature different parts of the world globe.[8]
Reigns
As of April 30, 2026, there have been six reigns shared among four wrestlers. David Finlay was the inaugural champion and is tied with Yota Tsuji for the most reigns at two. Finlay's second reign was the longest single reign at 245 days, with four successful defenses, while his inaugural reign was the shortest at 50 days. Tsuji was the first Japanese wrestler to win the championship and has the most successful title defenses between both of his reigns at seven, and he has most combined days at 361+. Nic Nemeth was the oldest champion when he won it at 43 years old. Gabe Kidd is the youngest champion, winning it at 28 years old.
Yota Tsuji is the current champion in his record-tying second reign. He defeated previous champion Gabe Kidd for the title at King of Pro-Wrestling in Tokyo, Japan on October 13, 2025.[9]
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Defenses | Number of successful defenses |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Defenses | |||||
| New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) | ||||||||||
| 1 | David Finlay | January 4, 2024 | Wrestle Kingdom 18 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 50 | 0 | Defeated Will Ospreay and Jon Moxley in a three-way match to become the inaugural champion. | [10] | |
| 2 | Nic Nemeth | February 23, 2024 | The New Beginning in Sapporo: Night 1 | Sapporo, Japan | 1 | 71 | 1 | [11] | ||
| 3 | David Finlay | May 4, 2024 | Wrestling Dontaku: Night 2 | Fukuoka, Japan | 2 | 245 | 4 | [12] | ||
| 4 | Yota Tsuji | January 4, 2025 | Wrestle Kingdom 19 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 162 | 4 | [13] | ||
| 5 | Gabe Kidd | June 15, 2025 | Dominion 6.15 in Osaka-jo Hall | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 120 | 2 | [14] | ||
| 6 | Yota Tsuji | October 13, 2025 | King of Pro-Wrestling | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 199+ | 3 | [15] | ||
Combined reigns
As of April 30, 2026.
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combinded defenses |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yota Tsuji † | 2 | 7 | 361+ |
| 2 | David Finlay | 4 | 295 | |
| 3 | Gabe Kidd | 1 | 2 | 120 |
| 4 | Nic Nemeth | 1 | 71 |