History of the IWGP Heavyweight title
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Antonio Inoki | 87/06/12 | Tokyo |
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Defeats Masa Saito in the final of '87 IWGP Tournament to be recognized as the first IWGP Heavyweight champion; vacant on 88/05/02 when Inoki breaks his foot.
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Tatsumi Fujinami | 88/05/08 | Tokyo |
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Defeats Big Van Vader; title held up on 88/05/27 after a no-contest match against Riki Choshu in Sendai.
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Tatsumi Fujinami [2] | 88/06/24 | Osaka |
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Wins rematch against Riki Choshu; vacates on 89/04/05 to raise the authority of the title, for which a one-night tournament at Tokyo Dome on 89/04/24 is held.
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Big Van Vader | 89/04/24 | Tokyo |
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Defeats Shin'ya Hashimoto in one-night 8-man tournament final with Lou Thesz as the special referee.
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Salman Hashimikov | 89/05/25 | Osaka |
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Riki Choshu | 89/07/12 | Osaka |
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Big Van Vader [2] | 89/08/10 | Tokyo |
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Riki Choshu [2] | 90/08/19 | Tokyo |
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Tatsumi Fujinami [3] | 90/12/26 | Hamamatsu |
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Big Van Vader [3] | 91/01/17 | Yokohama |
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Tatsumi Fujinami [4] | 91/03/04 | Hiroshima |
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Riki Choshu [3] | 92/01/04 | Tokyo |
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Great Muta (Keiji Mutoh) | 92/08/16 | Fukuoka |
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Shin'ya Hashimoto | 93/09/20 | Nagoya |
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Tatsumi Fujinami [5] | 94/04/04 | Hiroshima |
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Shin'ya Hashimoto [2] | 94/05/01 | Fukuoka |
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Keiji Mutoh [2] | 95/05/03 | Fukuoka |
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Nobuhiko Takada | 96/01/04 | Tokyo |
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Shin'ya Hashimoto [3] | 96/04/29 | Tokyo |
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Kensuke Sasaki | 97/08/31 | Yokohama |
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Tatsumi Fujinami [6] | 98/04/04 | Tokyo |
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Masahiro Chono | 98/08/08 | Osaka |
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Vacant on 98/09/21 after suffering a neck injury on 98/09/19 in Nagoya.
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Scott Norton | 98/09/23 | Yokohama |
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Defeats Yuji Nagata.
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Keiji Mutoh [3] | 99/01/04 | Tokyo |
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Gen'ichiro Tenryu | 99/12/10 | Osaka |
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Kensuke Sasaki [2] | 00/01/04 | Tokyo |
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Vacates the title on 00/10/09 after losing a non-title match to Toshiaki Kawada.
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Kensuke Sasaki [3] | 01/01/04 | Tokyo |
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Defeats Toshiaki Kawada in 6-man one-night tournament final.
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Scott Norton [2] | 01/03/17 | Nagoya |
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Kazuyuki Fujita | 01/04/09 | Tokyo |
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Vacates on 02/01/04 due to injury.
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Tadao Yasuda | 02/02/16 | Tokyo |
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Defeats Yuuji Nagata in 7-man tournament final.
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Yuuji Nagata | 02/04/05 | Tokyo |
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Yoshihiro Takayama | 03/05/02 | Tokyo |
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Reigning NWF Heavyweight champion, wins double title match.
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Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 03/11/03 | Yokohama |
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NWF Heavyweight Title not on line.
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Shinsuke Nakamura | 03/12/09 | Osaka |
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Unifies NWF Heavyweight Title on 04/01/05 after defeating Yoshihiro Takayama on 04/01/04 in Tokyo; vacates on 04/02/05 due to the injury from a match on 03/12/31.
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Hiroyoshi Tenzan [2] | 04/02/15 | Tokyo |
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Defeats Gen'ichiro Tenryu in one-night 8-man tournament final.
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Kensuke Sasaki [4] | 04/03/12 | Tokyo |
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Bob Sapp | 04/03/28 | Tokyo |
