J-Crown

Unified professional wrestling championship

J-Crown

Details
Promotion| New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Date established| August 5, 1996
Date retired| November 5, 1997
| Statistics

First champion| The Great Sasuke
Final champion| Shinjiro Otani
Longest reign| Jushin Thunder Liger (183 days)
Shortest reign| El Samurai (35 days)
Oldest champion| Jushin Thunder Liger
(32 years, 218 days)
Youngest champion| Shinjiro Otani
(25 years, 76 days)
Heaviest champion| Shinjiro Otani (236 lb (107 kg))
Lightest champion| The Great Sasuke (180 lb (82 kg))

The J-Crown, also known as the J-Crown Octuple Unified Championship (Japanese: ジュニア8冠王座, Hepburn: Junia 8 kan'ōza; English: Junior 8-Crown Champion), was a unified, multi-promotional professional wrestling championship initially created by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It was formed via the unification of eight (later seven) junior heavyweight and other lower-weight class titles from several different organizations. The J-Crown Tournament that crowned the inaugural champion was held in August 1996.

## History

[edit]

The J-Crown was the unification of eight different championship belts from multiple different countries, including ones from Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[1] The tournament to crown the first champion was held over four nights, from August 2 to August 5, 1996, the same dates that New Japan Pro-Wrestling's annual G1 Climax event took place, promoting two major tournaments on one tour.[1] Jushin Thunder Liger is credited with coming up with the idea for the J-Crown.[1] The inaugural champion was The Great Sasuke.[1] The J-Crown was defended for just over a year.

While Último Dragón was champion, the titles appeared on World Championship Wrestling programming, as Dragón also held the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.[1] Dragón additionally held the NWA World Middleweight Championship concurrently with the J-Crown.[1] When Liger was champion, he lost the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship to Yuji Yasuraoka on June 6, 1997, in Tokyo, Japan. Liger, however, continued to defend the J-Crown with seven titles instead of eight.

As part of their introduction of a new WWF Light Heavyweight Championship, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) demanded that the then-current champion Shinjiro Otani return the belt. Otani returned the championship to the WWF and subsequently dissolved the J-Crown on November 5, 1997, by vacating all of the remaining component titles except for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, with the other belts being restored to their home promotions.

## Championships

[edit]

Title  | Promotion  | Champion

|
|

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship | New Japan Pro-Wrestling | The Great Sasuke
MPW British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship | Michinoku Pro Wrestling | Jushin Thunder Liger
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship | National Wrestling Alliance \- Wrestle Yume Factory | Masayoshi Motegi
NWA World Welterweight Championship | Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre | Negro Casas
UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship | Universal Wrestling Association \- New Japan Pro-Wrestling | Shinjiro Otani
WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship | Wrestle Association R | Último Dragón
WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship | World Wrestling Association \- Federación Universal de Lucha Libre | Gran Hamada
WWF Light Heavyweight Championship | Universal Wrestling Association \- Michinoku Pro Wrestling | El Samurai

## Later incorporated

[edit]

Title  | Promotion  | Champion

|
|

NWA World Middleweight Championship | Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre | Corazón de León
WCW World Cruiserweight Championship | World Championship Wrestling | Dean Malenko

## Inaugural championship tournament (1996)

[edit]

> Every match was a title match, the final was for all 8 championships.

| Quarterfinals | | | Semifinals | | | Finals |

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

|  |  |  | | |  |  |  | | |  |  |  |
| Masayoshi Motegi | Pin | | |
| The Great Sasuke | 11:50 |
| | The Great Sasuke | Pin |
|  |
| | | El Samurai | 16:25 |
| Gran Hamada | Pin |

| El Samurai | 12:38 |
| | The Great Sasuke | Pin |
|  |
| | | Último Dragón | 13:56 |
| Jushin Thunder Liger | Pin | |

| Último Dragón | 2:38 |
| | Último Dragón | Pin |
|  |
| | | Shinjiro Otani | 16:04 |
| Negro Casas | Pin |

| Shinjiro Otani | 11:34 |

## Title history

[edit]

Key  No.  | Overall reign number

|

Reign  | Reign number for the specific champion
Days  | Number of days held
No. | Champion  | Championship change  | Reign statistics  | Notes  | Ref.

|
|
|
|
|

Date  | Event  | Location  | Reign  | Days
| New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW)
1  | The Great Sasuke | August 5, 1996 | G1 Climax 1996 Final  | Tokyo, Japan | 1  | 67  | Defeated Último Dragón in a tournament final to become the first champion.
This event was promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling.  |
2  | Último Dragón | October 11, 1996 | Osaka Crush Night  | Osaka, Japan | 1  | 85  | This event was promoted by Wrestle Association R.
During his reign, Último Dragón had already captured the NWA World Middleweight Championship from Corazón de León and then captured the WCW Cruiserweight Championship from Dean Malenko in WCW Starrcade, making him the most decorated wrestler in history as he was the active reigning and defending champion of 10 titles, a record which still stands.  |
3  | Jushin Thunder Liger | January 4, 1997 | Wrestling World 1997 | Tokyo, Japan | 1  | 183  | This event was promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Lost the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship to Yuji Yasuraoka on June 6, 1997, in Tokyo, Japan; from that point on, the J-Crown is represented by seven championship belts.  |
4  | El Samurai | July 6, 1997 | House show | Sapporo, Japan | 1  | 35  | This event was promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling.  |
5  | Shinjiro Otani | August 10, 1997 | House show | Nagoya, Japan | 1  | 87  | This event was promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling.  |
—  | Deactivated  | November 5, 1997 | —  | —  | —  | —  | The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) demanded that Shinjiro Otani vacate and return the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship to them immediately. On the same day Otani also vacated the remaining belts except for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, with the belts returning to their home promotions.  |

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f Clevett, Jason (November 4, 2004). "The legend of Jushin "Thunder" Liger". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2012-07-14. Retrieved 2010-03-04.

## External links

[edit]

* J-Crown Octuple Title Unification Tournament

* v
* t
* e

New Japan Pro-Wrestling

Championships|

| Active|

| Heavyweight|

* IWGP World Heavyweight (reigns)
* IWGP Global Heavyweight (reigns)
* IWGP Tag Team (reigns)

|

Junior heavyweight|

* IWGP Junior Heavyweight (reigns)
* IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team (reigns)

Openweight|

* NJPW World Television (reigns)
* NEVER Openweight (reigns)
* NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team (reigns)
* Strong Openweight (reigns)
* Strong Openweight Tag Team (reigns)

Women's|

* IWGP Women's Championship (reigns)
* Strong Women's Championship (reigns)

Former|

* Asia Heavyweight (reigns)
* Asia Tag Team (reigns)
* Greatest 18 Club (reigns)
* IWGP Heavyweight (reigns)
* IWGP Heavyweight (original version) (reigns)
* IWGP Intercontinental (reigns)
* IWGP Third Belt (reigns)
* IWGP U-30 Openweight (reigns)
* IWGP United States (reigns)
* KOPW (reigns)
* J-Crown (reigns)
* British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight
* NWA World Junior Heavyweight
* NWA World Welterweight
* UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight
* WAR International Junior Heavyweight
* WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight
* WWF Light Heavyweight
* NWA International Junior Heavyweight (reigns)
* NWA North American Tag Team (Los Angeles/Japan version) (reigns)
* NWA World Heavyweight (reigns)
* NWA World Tag Team (reigns)
* NWF Heavyweight (reigns)
* NWF North American (reigns)
* Real World (reigns)
* WCW International World Heavyweight (reigns)
* WWF International Heavyweight (reigns)
* WWF International Tag Team (reigns)
* WWF Junior Heavyweight (reigns)
* WWF North American Heavyweight (reigns)
* WWF World Heavyweight (reigns)
* WWF World Martial Arts (reigns)

Tournaments|

| Active|

* G1 Climax (winners)
* New Japan Cup (winners)
* Best of the Super Juniors (winners)
* World Tag League (winners)
* Super Junior Tag League (winners)
* Super J-Cup (winners)
* Young Lion Cup (winners)

|

Video games|

* Wrestle Kingdom
* Wrestle Kingdom 2
* Fire Pro Wrestling World

Partnerships|

| Current|

* All Elite Wrestling
* All Japan Pro Wrestling
* Big Japan Pro Wrestling
* Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
* DDT Pro-Wrestling
* Dragongate
* Ganbare☆Pro-Wrestling
* Kyushu Pro-Wrestling
* Major League Wrestling
* Pro Wrestling Noah
* Revolution Pro Wrestling
* Ring of Honor
* Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling
* World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana

|

Former|

* American Wrestling Association
* Border City Wrestling
* Catch Wrestling Association
* Full Impact Pro
* Game Changer Wrestling
* Global Force Wrestling
* International Wrestling Enterprise
* Jersey All Pro Wrestling
* K-1
* National Wrestling Alliance
* National Wrestling Federation
* Pride Fighting Championships
* Pro Wrestling Zero1
* The Crash Lucha Libre
* Toryumon Mexico
* Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
* UWF International
* Universal Wrestling Association
* United Wrestling Network
* Championship Wrestling from Hollywood
* WAR
* Westside Xtreme Wrestling
* World Championship Wrestling
* World Class Championship Wrestling
* World Wrestling Association
* World Wrestling Federation

Related companies|

| Owners|

* Amuse Inc. (5%)
* Bushiroad (85%)
* TV Asahi (10%)

|

Subsidiaries|

* World Wonder Ring Stardom

Personnel|

| Current|

* List of New Japan Pro-Wrestling personnel

|

Former|

* List of former New Japan Pro-Wrestling personnel

Miscellaneous|

* All In
* Asia-Pacific Federation of Wrestling
* Lion's Gate Project
* New Japan Pro-Wrestling World
* Major events
* List of NJoA events
* NJPW Strong
* List of episodes
* Special episodes
* Tiger Mask W
* United Japan Pro-Wrestling

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