The Strong Openweight Championship (STRONG無差別級王座 STRONG Musabetsu-kyū Ōza) is the top singles championship in the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion's American brand division New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America (NJoA) in the United States.
Named after the NJoA's flagship program NJPW Strong, the title was announced on April 3, 2021, with the inaugural champion crowned on April 23, at the finals of the 2021 New Japan Cup USA. The title is meant to be defended exclusively in the NJPW Strong television series and is the third openweight championship in the promotion, along with the NEVER Openweight Championship and the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. The title's openweight nature means that both heavyweight and junior heavyweight wrestlers are eligible to challenge for it.
During Eddie Kingston's reign, the title was defended on All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Ring of Honor (ROH) programming. As such, the title was also a component of what AEW promoted as the Continental Crown Championship. When held simultaneously with the AEW Continental Championship and the ROH World Championship, the wrestler would be recognized as the reigning Continental Crown Champion until losing one of the titles. As such, the wrestler could defend the title in all three promotions. However, since Kingston lost the AEW Continental Championship, the title became exclusive to the NJPW Strong programming.
Overview[]
Background[]
On April 3, 2021, during the Road to New Japan Cup USA 2021 tour, NJPW's sub-brand New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America announced the creation of the Strong Openweight Championship. The first champion would be crowned in a tournament on April 23 at the finals of the 2021 New Japan Cup USA. The title is part of an American expansion plan, which NJPW had made public in the years before the announcement. Plans had been made to run extended tours in the United States with California as the base, starting in 2018, as well the creation of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.
The championship is named after the NJoA's flagship program NJPW Strong, with the title being set to become the brand's exclusive and primary championship. The title's openweight nature means that both heavyweight and junior heavyweight wrestlers are eligible to challenge for it.
Inaugural tournament[]
On February 28, NJPW announced the the second edition of the tournament. In March, NJPW held various qualifying matches On February 28, NJPW announced the second edition of the tournament. In March, NJPW held various qualifying matches to determine the participants for the tournament, with the bracket being revealed on March 28. The tournament itself took part in April. The tournament matches were contested through NJPW's weekly television show, NJPW Strong series.
| Round 1 (April 9) |
Semifinals (April 16) |
Final (April 23) | |||||||||||
| Clark Connors | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Lio Rush | 9:57 | ||||||||||||
| Lio Rush | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Brody King | 7:38 | ||||||||||||
| Brody King | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Chris Dickinson | 10:42 | ||||||||||||
| Brody King | Sub | ||||||||||||
| Tom Lawlor | 20:05 | ||||||||||||
| Ren Narita | Sub | ||||||||||||
| Tom Lawlor | 13:19 | ||||||||||||
| Tom Lawlor | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Hikuleo | 8:58 | ||||||||||||
| Hikuleo | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Fred Rosser | 6:22 | ||||||||||||
Establishment[]
Since its creation, the Strong Openweight Championship has been positioned as top championship of NJPW's American sub-brand New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America with the first title defense taking place on May 28, 2021. Two years later, the title was defended in Japan in NJPW for the first time on May 3, 2023 at Wrestling Dontaku, with KENTA losing the title to Hikuleo, marking the first time the title had changed hands outside of United States. On the August 31 episode of AEW Dynamite, Eddie Kingston made his first successful title against Wheeler Yuta, marking the first time that title was defended outside of NJPW.
On November 11, 2023, the NJPW's American partner promotion AEW announced a tournament called the Continental Classic, with the winner becoming the first AEW Continental Champion. Eddie Kingston, who held the Strong Championship and the ROH World Championship, announced that he would be putting his championships on the line during the tournament and that the tournament's winner would be the AEW Continental Crown Champion. As part of the Triple Crown Championship, the Strong Openweight Championship is recognized by NJPW, AEW, and ROH, and is defended in all three promotions. Subsequently, the Strong Openweight Champion at the time of the next Continental Classic will automatically be entered into the tournament. At AEW's Worlds End event, Kingston defeated Jon Moxley in the Continental Classic final, retaining the Strong Openweight Championship 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 the Continental Crown Champion.
Belt Design[]
The belt design of the Strong Openweight Championship, features a black leather base with the front plate being a golden circular octagon followed by two golden ovals.
The front plate is sorrounded by forty-nine diamonds across the plate, except on the top banner. Above is the top banner with the text "NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING" written in silver, with a turquoise ruby stone in the middle of the banner. At the center of the center plate, there is the logo of NJoA's premiere show NJPW Strong in black and silver that has NJPW's logo over top of it in black and gold with a banner below the NJPW Strong logo that says "OPENWEIGHT CHAMPION" in a black rectangle, with the banner being written in gold, sorrounded by forty-five silver rays emanating from the front logo.
The the side plates are sorrounded by sorrounded by thirty-seven diamonds, with the center of the side plate featuring the logo of the promotion in black and silver sorrounded by forty-two silver rays emanating from the promotion's logo.
Title history[]
| # | Wrestler | Reign | Date | Location | Length | Defenses | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Lawlor | 1 | April 23, 2021 | Port Hueneme, California | 428 Days | 9 | Defeated Brody King in the finals of the 2021 New Japan Cup USA to become the inaugural champion. NJPW recognizes his reign as ending on June 25, 2022, when the following episode aired on tape delay. |
| 2 | Fred Rosser | 1 | June 25, 2022 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 238 Days | 7 | Aired on tape delay on June 25, 2022. |
| 3 | KENTA | 1 | February 18, 2022 | San Jose, California | 74 Days | 2 | |
| 4 | Hikuleo | 1 | May 3, 2023 | Fukuoka | 18 Days | 0 | |
| 5 | KENTA | 2 | May 21, 2023 | Long Beach, California | 45 Days | 0 | |
| 6 | Eddie Kingston | 1 | July 5, 2023 | Tokyo | 289+ | 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 Continental Crown. |
Combined reigns[]
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined defenses |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Lawlor | 1 | 9 | 428 |
| 2 | Eddie Kingston † | 11 | 289+ | |
| 3 | Fred Rosser | 7 | 238 | |
| 4 | KENTA | 2 | 2 | 119 |
| 5 | Hikuleo | 1 | 0 | 18 |
