Strong Openweight Championship
Japanese pro wrestling championship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Strong Openweight Championship (STRONG無差別級王座, STRONG musabetsu-kyū ōza) is a professional wrestling world championship owned and promoted by the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It is exclusively featured on NJPW's Strong brand and is defended at NJPW Strong branded shows in America. The current champion is Boltin Oleg, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Tomohiro Ishii at The New Beginning USA in Trenton, New Jersey, on February 27, 2026.
| Strong Openweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
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The Strong Openweight Championship belt | |||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||
| Brand | Strong | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | April 2, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Current champion | Boltin Oleg | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date won | February 27, 2026 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other names | |||||||||||||||||||
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The title was officially announced on April 2, 2021, and the inaugural champion was Tom Lawlor. It was primarily featured on NJPW's American television program NJPW Strong, which includes American wrestlers, as well as on programming by NJPW partner American promotions All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Ring of Honor (ROH).[1] When the title is jointly held with the AEW Continental Championship and ROH World Championship, the three titles together make up the American Triple Crown Championship, also referred to as the Continental Crown; as of March 2024[update], this has only happened once.
History
The title was officially announced on April 2, 2021.[2] Initially, the title was exclusively featured on NJPW's American television program NJPW Strong, which includes a distinct roster of American wrestlers.
On November 11, 2023, NJPW's American partner promotion AEW announced a tournament called the Continental Classic, with the winner becoming the first AEW Continental Champion.[3][4][5] Eddie Kingston, who held the ROH World Championship and the Strong Openweight Championship, announced that he would be putting his championships on the line in the tournament and that the tournament's winner would be an American Triple Crown Champion (collectively referred to as the Continental Crown).[5][6] At AEW's Worlds End event, Kingston defeated Jon Moxley in the Continental Classic final, retaining the Strong Openweight and ROH World championships and becoming the first Continental Crown Champion. Kingston would lose the AEW Continental Championship to Kazuchika Okada on the March 20, 2024, episode of AEW Dynamite, thus losing his recognition as Triple Crown Champion.[7]
Inaugural tournament
| Qualifying March 5, 12, 19, 26 | Round 1 April 9 | Semi-finals April 16 | Final April 23 | ||||||||||||
| Clark Connors | Pin[8] | ||||||||||||||
| TJP | 9:27 | ||||||||||||||
| Clark Connors | 9:57 | ||||||||||||||
| Lio Rush | Pin[9] | ||||||||||||||
| Rocky Romero | 13:57 | ||||||||||||||
| Lio Rush | Pin[10] | ||||||||||||||
| Lio Rush | 7:38 | ||||||||||||||
| Brody King | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Brody King | Pin[11] | ||||||||||||||
| Bateman | 13:25 | ||||||||||||||
| Brody King | Pin[9] | ||||||||||||||
| Chris Dickinson | 10:42 | ||||||||||||||
| Blake Christian | 8:53 | ||||||||||||||
| Chris Dickinson | Pin[8] | ||||||||||||||
| Brody King | 20:05 | ||||||||||||||
| Tom Lawlor | Sub | ||||||||||||||
| Ren Narita | Pin[11] | ||||||||||||||
| Misterioso | 11:12 | ||||||||||||||
| Ren Narita | 13:19 | ||||||||||||||
| Tom Lawlor | Sub[9] | ||||||||||||||
| The DKC | 9:13 | ||||||||||||||
| Tom Lawlor | Pin[10] | ||||||||||||||
| Tom Lawlor | Pin | ||||||||||||||
| Hikuleo | 8:58 | ||||||||||||||
| Jordan Clearwater | 7:57 | ||||||||||||||
| Hikuleo | Pin[12] | ||||||||||||||
| Hikuleo | Pin[9] | ||||||||||||||
| Fred Rosser | 6:22 | ||||||||||||||
| Fred Rosser | Pin[12] | ||||||||||||||
| J. R. Kratos | 14:16 | ||||||||||||||
Reigns
As of March 8, 2026, there have been nine reigns between eight champions. Tom Lawlor was the inaugural champion. Tomohiro Ishii is the oldest, when he won it at 49 years old, while Gabe Kidd is the youngest champion at 27 years old. Lawlor's reign is the longest at 387 days while Hikuleo's reign is the shortest at 18 days.
The current champion is Boltin Oleg, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Tomohiro Ishii at The New Beginning USA in Trenton, New Jersey, on February 27, 2026.
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Days recog. | Number of days held recognized by the promotion |
| Defenses | Number of successful defenses |
| N/A | Unknown information |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. | Defenses | ||||
| New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) | ||||||||||
| 1 | Tom Lawlor | April 23, 2021 (air date) |
New Japan Cup USA 2021 | Port Hueneme, CA | 1 | N/A | 387 | 9 | Defeated Brody King in the finals of an 16-man single-elimination tournament to become the inaugural champion. The exact date this event was taped is unknown. It aired on April 23, 2021 on tape delay. | [13][2] |
| 2 | Fred Rosser | May 15, 2022 | Strong: Collision in Philadelphia | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 279 | 238 | 7 | Aired on tape delay on June 25, 2022. | [14] |
| 3 | Kenta | February 18, 2023 | Battle in the Valley | San Jose, CA | 1 | 74 | 74 | 2 | [15] | |
| 4 | Hikuleo | May 3, 2023 | Wrestling Dontaku | Fukuoka, Japan | 1 | 18 | 18 | 0 | [16] | |
| 5 | Kenta | May 21, 2023 | Resurgence | Long Beach, CA | 2 | 45 | 45 | 0 | [17] | |
| 6 | Eddie Kingston | July 5, 2023 | Independence Day Night 2 |
Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 311 | 311 | 12 | During this reign, the championship became part of the American Triple Crown Championship (also referred to as the Continental Crown), with Kingston defending the championship alongside the AEW Continental Championship and ROH World Championship after winning the Continental Classic tournament at Worlds End. Kingston would lose the AEW Continental Championship to Kazuchika Okada on the March 20, 2024 episode of AEW Dynamite, thus dissolving the Triple Crown. | [18] |
| 7 | Gabe Kidd | May 11, 2024 | Resurgence | Ontario, CA | 1 | 335 | 335 | 6 | This was a No Ropes Last Man Standing match. | [19] |
| 8 | Tomohiro Ishii | April 11, 2025 | Windy City Riot | Chicago, IL | 1 | 322 | 322 | 1 | This was a 30-minute iron man match, which Ishii won 2–1 in sudden death overtime. | [20] |
| 9 | Boltin Oleg | February 27, 2026 | The New Beginning USA | Trenton, NJ | 1 | 9+ | 9+ | 0 | [21] | |
Combined reigns
As of March 8, 2026.
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined defenses |
Combined days |
Combined days rec. by NJPW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Lawlor | 1 | 9 | N/A | 387 |
| 2 | Gabe Kidd | 1 | 6 | 335 | |
| 3 | Tomohiro Ishii | 1 | 1 | 322 | |
| 4 | Eddie Kingston | 1 | 12 | 311 | |
| 5 | Fred Rosser | 1 | 7 | 279 | 238 |
| 6 | Kenta | 2 | 2 | 119 | |
| 7 | Hikuleo | 1 | 0 | 18 | |
| 8 | Boltin Oleg † | 1 | 1 | 9+ | |