The GHC Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling heavyweight championship owned by the Pro Wrestling NOAH (NOAH) promotion. "GHC" is the acronym of NOAH's governing body, the Global Honored Crown. The title was created on April 15, 2001 when Mitsuharu Misawa defeated Yoshihiro Takayama in a 16-man tournament final. Though its name implies a particular weight class, it has been held by junior heavyweights in the past, including Yoshinari Ogawa and former GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Naomichi Marufuji. All GHC Heavyweight Title matches and contract signings were overseen and introduced by GHC title commissioner Joe Higuchi until October 2010 when Higuchi died, at which time he was replaced by Harley Race.
Overview
Throughout the history of the championship, the title as vacant one, due to the reigning champion Jun Akiyama was forced to forced to relinquish the title due to herniated discs in his back. Then it was held a decision match to determine the new champion.
Overall, there have been a total of 17 recognized champions, who have had a combined 29 official reigns. Title changes happen at NOAH-promoted events or tours. Mitsuharu Misawa, Jun Akiyama, Takeshi Morishima, Naomichi Marufuji, Go Shiozaki and Takashi Sugiura are tied with the record for most reigns, with 3. At 735 days, Kenta Kobashi's reign is the longest in the title's history. Sugiura, with a combined 3 reigns, holds the record for most days as champion at 784. Yoshihiro Takayama's reign holds the record for shortest reign at 16 days. With 14 successful defenses, Sugiura's first reign had the most during a single reign. Over his 3 reigns, Sugiura successfully defended the title 17 times, the most of any champion. With zero, Takayama's only reign, Morishima's third reign and Marufuji's third reign are all tied for least successful defenses. Go Shiozaki became the first freelancer to win the championship after defeating Takashi Sugiura on May 28, 2016. Eddie Edwards is the current champion in his first reign, after defeating Katsuhiko Nakajima on August 26, 2017, at NOAH's Summer Navigation tour to win the title. Edwards became the first gaijin to hold the GHC Heavyweight Championship.
Tournament
NOAH held a 16-man tournament to crown the first champion, held over its month-long, 18-event Navigation for the Victory GHC tour. The tour was held from March 18 through April 15, 2001.
| First round | Second round | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||||||||
| Mar. 18 | Mitsuharu Misawa | Pin | ||||||||||||||||
| Tokyo | Akitoshi Saito | 12:26 | ||||||||||||||||
| Apr. 4 | Mitsuharu Misawa | Pin | ||||||||||||||||
| Okayama | Yoshinari Ogawa | 19:44 | ||||||||||||||||
| Mar. 21 | Masao Inoue | Pin | ||||||||||||||||
| Sagamihara | Yoshinari Ogawa | 14:18 | ||||||||||||||||
| Apr. 11 | Mitsuharu Misawa | Pin | ||||||||||||||||
| Hiroshima | Jun Akiyama | 15:05† | ||||||||||||||||
| Apr. 1 | Jun Akiyama | Pin | ||||||||||||||||
| Fukuoka | Takao Omori | 22:49 | ||||||||||||||||
| Apr. 8 | Jun Akiyama | Pin | ||||||||||||||||
| Tokyo | Takeshi Rikio | 4:02 | ||||||||||||||||
| Apr. 2 | Takeshi Morishima | Pin | ||||||||||||||||
| Beppu | Takeshi Rikio | 14:33 | ||||||||||||||||
| Apr. 15 | Mitsuharu Misawa | Pin | ||||||||||||||||
| Tokyo | Yoshihiro Takayama | 21:12 | ||||||||||||||||
| Mar. 22 | Jun Izumida | Pin | ||||||||||||||||
| Tokyo | Yoshihiro Takayama | 8:22 | ||||||||||||||||
| Apr. 3 | Yoshihiro Takayama | Pin | ||||||||||||||||
| Uwajima | Kentaro Shiga | 7:16 | ||||||||||||||||
| Mar. 30 | Scorpio | Pin | ||||||||||||||||
| Kumamoto | Kentaro Shiga | 13:06 | ||||||||||||||||
| Apr. 12 | Yoshihiro Takayama | DQ | ||||||||||||||||
| Osaka | Vader | 9:24 | ||||||||||||||||
| Mar. 25 | Akira Taue | Pin | ||||||||||||||||
| Kyoto | Vader | 10:40 | ||||||||||||||||
| Apr. 6 | Vader | Pin | ||||||||||||||||
| Ishikawa | Daisuke Ikeda | 7:15 | ||||||||||||||||
| Mar. 29 | Tamon Honda | Pin | ||||||||||||||||
| Kagoshima | Daisuke Ikeda | 15:16 | ||||||||||||||||
† Akiyama and Misawa were both counted out, but the match was restarted.
Title History
| # | Wrestler | Reign | Date | Location | Length | Defenses | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mitsuharu Misawa | 1 | April 15, 2001 | Tokyo | 103 Days | 1 | Defeated Yoshihiro Takayama in a tournament final to become the first champion. |
| 2 | Jun Akiyama | 1 | July 27, 2001 | Tokyo | 254 Days | 3 | |
| 3 | Yoshinari Ogawa | 1 | April 7, 2002 | Tokyo | 153 Days | 2 | |
| 4 | Yoshihiro Takayama | 1 | September 7, 2002 | Osaka | 16 Days | 0 | |
| 5 | Mitsuharu Misawa | 2 | September 23, 2002 | Tokyo | 159 Days | 1 | |
| 6 | Kenta Kobashi | 1 | March 1, 2003 | Tokyo | 735 Days | 13 | |
| 7 | Takeshi Rikio | 1 | March 5, 2005 | Tokyo | 245 Days | 3 | |
| 8 | Akira Taue | 1 | November 5, 2005 | Tokyo | 78 Days | 1 | |
| 9 | Jun Akiyama | 2 | January 22, 2006 | Tokyo | 230 Days | 2 | |
| 10 | Naomichi Marufuji | 1 | September 9, 2006 | Tokyo | 92 Days | 2 | |
| 11 | Mitsuharu Misawa | 3 | December 10, 2006 | Tokyo | 448 Days | 7 | |
| 12 | Takeshi Morishima | 1 | March 2, 2008 | Tokyo | 188 Days | 2 | |
| 13 | Kensuke Sasaki | 1 | September 6, 2008 | Tokyo | 176 Days | 2 | |
| 14 | Jun Akiyama | 3 | March 1, 2009 | Tokyo | 105 Days | 1 | |
| — | Vacated | — | June 14, 2009 | — | — | — | Vacated the title due to herniated discs in his back. |
| 15 | Go Shiozaki | 1 | June 14, 2009 | Fukuoka | 175 Days | 1 | Defeated Takeshi Rikio for the vacant title. |
| 16 | Takashi Sugiura | 1 | December 6, 2009 | Tokyo | 581 Days | 14 | |
| 17 | Go Shiozaki | 2 | July 10, 2011 | Tokyo | 196 Days | 3 | |
| 18 | Takeshi Morishima | 2 | January 22, 2012 | Osaka | 371 Days | 8 | |
| 19 | KENTA | 1 | January 27, 2013 | Osaka | 343 Days | 9 | |
| 20 | Takeshi Morishima | 3 | January 5, 2014 | Tokyo | 34 Days | 0 | |
| 21 | Yuji Nagata | 1 | February 8, 2014 | Tokyo | 147 Days | 4 | |
| 22 | Naomichi Marufuji | 2 | July 5, 2014 | Tokyo | 253 Days | 6 | |
| 23 | Minoru Suzuki | 1 | March 15, 2015 | Tokyo | 283 Days | 4¹ | On August 9, 2015, Suzuki successfully defended the title against Mio Shirai at a Pro Wrestling Wave event. The defense was not recognized by NOAH, so officially, Suzuki successfully defended the title 4 times instead of 5. |
| 24 | Naomichi Marufuji | 3 | December 23, 2015 | Tokyo | 39 Days | 0 | |
| 25 | Takashi Sugiura | 2 | January 31, 2016 | Yokohama | 118 Days | 1 | |
| 26 | Go Shiozaki | 3 | May 28, 2016 | Osaka | 63 Days | 1 | |
| 27 | Takashi Sugiura | 3 | July 30, 2016 | Tokyo | 85 Days | 2 | This was a lumberjack match. |
| 28 | Katsuhiko Nakajima | 1 | October 23, 2016 | Yokohama | 307 Days | 7 | |
| 29 | Eddie Edwards | 1 | August 26, 2017 | Tokyo | 2428+ | 0 |
Gallery
