The IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship (IWGP USヘビー級王座, IWGP US hebī-kyū ōza) was a professional wrestlingchampionship 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).[4] The final champion was Will Ospreay, who was in his second reign at the time of the title's deactivation. On December 11, 2023, the title was replaced by the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship.
History
Background
On May 12, 2017, during the third night of the War of the Worlds tour, co-produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Ring of Honor (ROH), NJPW United States Ambassador George Carroll announced the creation of the IWGP United States Championship.[1][5] The following day, NJPW revealed the title's official name as the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.[6] The title is part of an American expansion plan which NJPW had made public in the months before the announcement. Plans had been made to run extended tours in the United States with California as the base, starting in 2018.[7] The plan was a direct response to WWE taking four wrestlers from NJPW in January 2016.[8]Tetsuya Naito noted how the new title had the same concept as the IWGP Intercontinental Championship,[9] which had been established during NJPW's May 2011 United States tour, promoted in conjunction with Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW).[10] NJPW chairman Naoki Sugabayashi stated that he wanted the title to be defended at future NJPW events in the United States as well as events held by ROH.[11] The title has often been defended in non-disqualification/hardcore matches, including at Wrestle Kingdom 12, on night one of Wrestle Kingdom 14, and on night two of Wrestle Kingdom 16.
Belt design
The title belt was made red to distinguish it from the black IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt and the white IWGP Intercontinental Championship belt.[11] It featured five plates; the American flag in the center plate with the words "UNITED STATES" imprinted over the flag, and "IWGP" imprinted on top and "CHAMPION" on the bottom. The first set side plates also featured the American flag with the words "UNITED STATES CHAMPION" imprinted over the flags, and the second set featured half the world globe on one and the other half on the other.
When Will Ospreay rebranded the title as the "IWGP United Kingdom Heavyweight Championship", he debuted a custom belt that was essentially the same design and still on red leather, but with the flags replaced with the Union Jack flag in the center and side plates, and replacing all the "UNITED STATES" imprinted words with "UNITED KINGDOM"; the second set of side plates retained the halves of the world globe.[12][13] Despite Ospreay's claim on the new name, the title was still listed under its United States name by NJPW.
The first champion would be crowned in a single-elimination tournament on the weekend of July 1 and 2, 2017, during NJPW's G1 Special in USA shows in Long Beach, California.[1][5]Jay Lethal was the first participant announced for the tournament on May 12.[1][5] On May 18, Hangman Page was officially added to the tournament.[14] The other six participants as well as the bracket of the tournament, confirmed as a single-elimination tournament, were revealed on June 12.[15][16]Kenny Omega went on to defeat Tomohiro Ishii in the final to become the inaugural champion.[17]
Since its creation, the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship was defended in both Japan and the United States with the first Japanese defense taking place on September 24, 2017, at Destruction in Kobe and the first stateside defense taking place on October 15, 2017, at Global Wars: Chicago.[19][20] After it had been announced in November 2017 that former WWE wrestler Chris Jericho would be challenging for the title at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome, Omega stated that the title had already surpassed the IWGP Intercontinental Championship as the number two championship in NJPW.[21] However, the promotion ranked the title in the second tier, behind both the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships and alongside the NEVER Openweight Championship.[22]
Throughout 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented then champion Jon Moxley from traveling to Japan for NJPW events while keeping his commitments with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), with whom he is also contracted. His AEW contract also prevented him from appearing at NJPW's American events. This resulted in the championship not being defended from February 2020 to February 2021, when an arrangement was made between the two promotions to allow Moxley to appear on NJPW's American television show Strong in a title defense.[23]
With AEW and New Japan forming a working relationship, Jon Moxley was permitted to defend the title on AEW's flagship television program, AEW Dynamite. In May 2021, the title was defended in AEW for the first time, with Moxley defeating Yuji Nagata in his fourth title defense. At July 2021's AEW Fyter Fest Night 1 event, Moxley retained the championship for his record-setting fifth defense against Impact Wrestling'sKarl Anderson. The following week on Night 2 of the event, Lance Archer defeated Moxley for the championship in a Texas Death Match for his second reign.
Retirement
At the 2023Power Struggle, after Ospreay had defended the title against Shota Umino in the main event, Bullet Club leader David Finlay destroyed both the U.S. belt and Ospreay's custom belt with a mallet after attacking Ospreay and Umino's former mentor, Jon Moxley, and a three-way match was scheduled for three men at Wrestle Kingdom 18.[24] For the bout, although it was initially listed as for the U.S./U.K. championship, NJPW chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced at a press conference on November 6, 2023, that a new championship would replace the U.S./U.K. championship.[25] On December 11, 2023, this title would be named the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship.
Reigns
Two-time and final champion Will Ospreay, shown here with the original belt (right) and his custom-made rebranded IWGP United Kingdom Heavyweight Championship (left).
There were 18 reigns shared among 10 wrestlers with three vacancies up until the title's deactivation on December 11, 2023. Kenny Omega was the inaugural champion. Juice Robinson and Hiroshi Tanahashi are tied for the record of most reigns with three. Tanahashi also was the first Japanese wrestler to win the title, was the oldest champion when he won it at 45 years old, and his third reign in the shortest at 13 days. Jay White was the youngest champion at 25 years old. Jon Moxley holds two records with the title: his second reign is the longest reign at 564 days with five successful defenses, and he is the only wrestler to have held the title for a consecutive year.
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