Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship
Professional wrestling championship
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The Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship (WRESTLE-1クルーザーディビジョンチャンピオンシップ, Wrestle-1 Kurūzā Dibijon Chanpionshippu) is a professional wrestling championship owned by the Wrestle-1 (W-1) promotion. The title is meant for cruiserweight wrestlers and holds a weight limit of 200 lb (91 kg).
| Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship belt (March 2015 — Present) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | Wrestle-1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | February 25, 2015[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date retired | April 1, 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won as a result of a scripted match. There have been fifteen reigns shared among eight wrestlers.
History
When Wrestle-1 was founded in 2013, one of its main focuses was to build an openweight division, where its wrestlers would not be typecast as heavyweights or junior heavyweights, like in most Japanese promotions, but would be able to interact with each other across weight limits.[5][6] However, on February 13, 2015, after Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo had successfully defended the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship against Minoru Tanaka and Seiki Yoshioka, Hayashi announced he was interested in building a division for Wrestle-1's lighter wrestlers,[7][8][9] electing to call the proposed division a "cruiserweight" division instead of the "junior heavyweight" division, which is more common in Japanese puroresu, and reminiscing of Mutoh and Hayashi's stints in WCW in the 1990s.[10] This led to a match on February 22, billed as an "assessment match" to a possible cruiserweight division,[11] where Tanaka defeated Hayashi.[12] Following the match, Tanaka, Andy Wu, El Hijo del Pantera, Hiroshi Yamato, Rionne Fujiwara, Seiki Yoshioka and Yusuke Kodama voiced their support for a cruiserweight division in Wrestle-1.[13][14] On February 25, Wrestle-1 officially announced the creation of a cruiserweight division and the promotion's third title, a cruiserweight championship.[1][15][16]
In May 2016, Kotaro Suzuki made the title's first international defenses by defeating Mark Haskins and Ultimo Tiger in England at events held by 4 Front Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Pride.[17]
Championship tournament
On March 9, 2015, Wrestle-1 officially presented the new title, naming it the "Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship". It was announced that the title holds a weight limit of 200 lb (91 kg) that wrestlers need to make the day before a title match. Also announced was an eight-man single-elimination tournament that would culminate on May 5 with the crowning of the first champion.[18][19][20] The championship belt was officially unveiled on March 31 at a press conference, where all participants in the tournament underwent and passed a weigh-in.[21][22] On May 5, Minoru Tanaka defeated Kaz Hayashi in the finals of the tournament to become the inaugural Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Champion.[23][24]
| First round (April 1, 19) | Semifinals (May 5) | Finals (May 5) | ||||||||||||
| Minoru Tanaka | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Seiki Yoshioka | 17:26[25] | |||||||||||||
| Minoru Tanaka | Sub | |||||||||||||
| El Hijo del Pantera | 07:43[23] | |||||||||||||
| Andy Wu | Pin | |||||||||||||
| El Hijo del Pantera | 08:08[25] | |||||||||||||
| Minoru Tanaka | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Kaz Hayashi | 23:53[23] | |||||||||||||
| Kaz Hayashi | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Yusuke Kodama | 17:52[26] | |||||||||||||
| Kaz Hayashi | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Hiroshi Yamato | 14:38[23] | |||||||||||||
| Hiroshi Yamato | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Rionne Fujiwara | 09:31[26] | |||||||||||||
Title history
| 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 | ||||
| 1 | Minoru Tanaka | May 5, 2015 | Triumph | Tokyo | 1 | 141 | 5[27] | Tanaka defeated Kaz Hayashi in the finals of an eight-man tournament to become the inaugural champion. | [23][24] |
| 2 | Andy Wu | September 23, 2015 | 2nd Anniversary | Osaka | 1 | 109 | 3[28] | [27] | |
| 3 | Hiroshi Yamato | January 10, 2016 | Sunrise | Tokyo | 1 | 58 | 1[29] | [28][30] | |
| — | Vacated | March 8, 2016 | — | — | — | — | — | Yamato was stripped of the title after suffering a neck injury. | [31] |
| 4 | Kotaro Suzuki | March 13, 2016 | Trans Magic | Tokyo | 1 | 151 | 5[32] | Suzuki defeated Minoru Tanaka in the finals of a four-man tournament to win the vacant title. | [33][34] |
| 5 | Yusuke Kodama | August 11, 2016 | Puroresu Love in Yokohama | Yokohama | 1 | 120 | 3[35] | [32] | |
| 6 | Mazada | December 9, 2016 | Shining Winter | Tokyo | 1 | 101 | 1[36] | [35] | |
| 7 | Seiki Yoshioka | March 20, 2017 | Trans Magic | Tokyo | 1 | 30 | 0[37] | [36] | |
| 8 | Andy Wu | April 19, 2017 | Cherry Blossom | Tokyo | 2 | 15 | 0[38] | [37][39] | |
| 9 | Mazada | May 4, 2017 | Triumph | Tokyo | 2 | 73 | 1[40] | [38][41] | |
| 10 | Andy Wu | July 16, 2017 | Symbol | Osaka | 3 | 48 | 0[42] | [40] | |
| 11 | Seiki Yoshioka | September 2, 2017 | 2017 Puroresu Love in Yokohama | Yokohama | 2 | 284 | 4[43] | [42] | |
| 12 | Yusuke Kodama | June 13, 2018 | 2018 Outbreak | Tokyo | 2 | 311 | 4 | [44] | |
| 13 | Andy Wu | April 20, 2019 | Tour 2019 Cherry Blossom | Aga | 4 | 134 | 1 | [45] | |
| 14 | El Hijo del Pantera | September 1, 2019 | Puroresu Love in Yokohama 2019 | Yokohama | 1 | 116 | 2 | [46] | |
| 15 | Seiki Yoshioka | December 26, 2019 | W-1 WRESTLE-1 Tour 2019 Shining Winter | Tokyo | 3 | 97 | 1 | [47] | |
| — | Deactivated | April 1, 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | Deactivated when Wrestle-1 closed. | |
Combined reigns
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined defenses |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yusuke Kodama | 2 | 7 | 431 |
| 2 | Seiki Yoshioka | 3 | 5 | 427 |
| 3 | Andy Wu | 4 | 4 | 307 |
| 4 | Mazada | 2 | 2 | 174 |
| 5 | Kotaro Suzuki | 1 | 5 | 151 |
| 6 | Minoru Tanaka | 1 | 5 | 141 |
| 7 | El Hijo del Pantera | 1 | 2 | 116 |
| 8 | Hiroshi Yamato | 1 | 1 | 58 |