The IWGP Women's Championship (IWGP女子王座 IWGP Joshi Ōza) is a women's world professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro Wrestling promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix. The title was announced on July 29, 2022, with the first champion being crowned on November 20, 2022.
The title became NJPW's eighth active championship and the first to be promoted by a male professional wrestling promotion in Japan. The title is meant to be defended exclusively on NJPW's shows in Japan and internationally. The championship is contested by the wrestlers of NJPW's sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom) and is the first title of its kind in the history of NJPW.
Overview[]
Background[]
On July 29, 2022, at a press conference, Bushiroad President Takaaki Kidani announced the creation of the IWGP Women's Championship, the first women's title in the promotion's history and the first to be promoted by male professional wrestling promotion in Japan. It was also announced that the title would be contested by the wrestlers of New Japan Pro Wrestling's sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom exclusively on NJPW's shows in Japan and internationally, with the inaugural champion being crowned on November 20, 2022 at Historic X-Over a co-produced by NJPW and Stardom. Despite being exclusive to NJPW, Stardom opened the possibility of the title being defended in one of their most important events. The title's name carried the acronym IWGP, which is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix used on NJPW's championship titles. During the same day, Stardom made it clear that the World of Stardom ("Red Belt") and the Wonder of Stardom Championships ("White Belt") would remain the promotion's top titles for Stardom events. The growing public response to the creation of the title surprised Kidani, who apologized for the lack of explanation on the status of the new title. Mayu Iwatani noted how the new title had the exact same concept as the SWA World Championship, which had been established by Stardom during their three-day European tour in conjunction with the Stardom World Association (SWA) (スターダム・ワールド・アソシエーション, Sutādamu Wārudo Asoshiēshon). Japan has typically kept their promotions gender specific, with NJPW focusing only on promoting male talent, and other joshi promotions such as Stardom focus on women's wrestling.
The title is part of a global expansion plan in the women's professional wrestling market, which NJPW's parent company made, following the acquisition of Stardom in October 2019 in the years prior to the announcement. Plans had been made to increase focus on production and advertising to build the popularity of the promotion and increase their female fanbase, including the appearance of Stardom wrestlers in NJPW's main event such as Wrestle Kingdom 15 in Tokyo Dome and Wrestle Kingdom 16, while also being influenced by their American partner All Elite Wrestling (AEW), whom also have a women's division. Former NJPW wrestler and AEW's Executive Vice President Kenny Omega had previously pitched the idea to NJPW to promote a women's division, but it was rebuffed, citing that it was not part of the promotion's identity.
Inaugural tournament[]
The first champion was announced to be crowned in a tournament, starting on October 2 at Royal Quest II and ending on November 20 at Historic X-Over, with the title being scheduled to defend the title at NJPW's premier event Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Tokyo Dome. On August 27, 2022, four representatives from certain stables of Stardom decided to compete in the four available slots. The representatives were Himeka, Mayu Iwatani, Momo Watanabe, and Utami Hayashishita. On September 23, KAIRI was announced as the mysterious international competitor to take part in the tournament. KAIRI went on to defeat Mayu Iwatani in the finals to become the inaugural IWGP Women's Champion.
| Round 1 Royal Quest II (October 2) IWGP Women's Championship First Round (October 22) | Semi-Finals Goddesses of Stardom Tag League 2022 Night 1 (October 23) | Finals Historic X-Over (November 20) | ||||||||||||
| Mayu Iwatani | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Momo Watanabe | 12:32 | |||||||||||||
| Mayu Iwatani | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Stardom | ||||||||||||||
| Utami Hayashishita | 14:51 | |||||||||||||
| Utami Hayashishita | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Himeka | 11:41 | |||||||||||||
| Mayu Iwatani | 25:28 | |||||||||||||
| KAIRI | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Jazzy Gabert | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Ava White | 10:33 | |||||||||||||
| Jazzy Gabert | 12:24 | |||||||||||||
| International | ||||||||||||||
| KAIRI | Pin | |||||||||||||
Establishment[]
Since it's establishment the title was compared to the World of Stardom Championship, as well as the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and the SWA World Championship. In a post on Twitter, Stardom made it clear that the World of Stardom ("Red Belt") and the Wonder of Stardom Championships ("White Belt") would remain the promotion's top titles for Stardom events. However, the title would be NJPW's top women's title. The title got a quick and positive response, often shadowing the now inactive SWA World Championship.
On December 2, 2022, Wrestling Observer Newsletter journalist Dave Meltzer revealted that the original plan was for Mayu Iwatani becoming the inaugural champion. However, Meltzer revealted at the time leading to the match, Iwatani requesting a contract renegotiation due to an increase in U.S. bookings, which would have resulted had Iwatani won the title. Due to both parties not reaching a deal, the plan was shifted to KAIRI becoming the inaugural champion as both women were in the plans for the tournament finals.
The first title defense saw KAIRI defending the title against Tam Nakano at NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 17, with the debuting Mercedes Mone being its second challenger. The first international title defense saw KAIRI defending the title against Mone in the United States at Battle in the Valley in San Jose, California, where Mone defeated KAIRI to win the championship. Mayu Iwatani eventually became the champion after she defeated Mone at Stardom's All Star Grand Queendom. Since the establishment of the Strong Women's Championship, the title began often being less defended internationally, with the current Mayu Iwatani affirming in an interview that she wanted to make something different due to, in her opinion, not having a distinction between the IWGP Women's Championship and the Strong Women's Championship, with Iwatani affirming her desire to have more title defenses.
On October 10, in a joint conference was held between NJPW and their sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom), it was announced that Stardom would not be featured at Wrestle Kingdom and instead would host their own show on the same date at Tokyo Dome City Hall, with the main event featuring a title match for the IWGP Women's Championship. The event saw Iwatani defending the title against Syuri in the main event of the show. A year later, Iwatani defended the title at Wrestle Kingdom 19 against AZM.
Belt Design[]
On August 23, NJPW announced more detail regarding the title. The title belt was made similar to the second version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship used in the 1990s to symbolize NJPW's "Golden Age" period, in an attempt to appease modern and older wrestling fans. According to then-Stardom's CEO Rossy Ogawa, the production cost of the title was more expensive than those of other Stardom titles, due to the recent depreciation of the yen.
Title history[]
| # | Wrestler | Reign | Date | Location | Length | Defenses | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KAIRI | 1 | November 20, 2022 | Tokyo | 90 Days | 1 | Defeated Mayu Iwatani in a tournament final to become the inaugural champion. |
| 2 | Mercedes Moné | 1 | February 18, 2023 | San Jose, California | 64 Days | 1 | |
| 3 | Mayu Iwatani | 1 | April 23, 2023 | Yokohama | 638+ | 9 |
Combined reigns[]
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined defenses |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mayu Iwatani † | 1 | 9 | 638+ |
| 2 | KAIRI | 1 | 90 | |
| 3 | Mercedes Moné | 64 |
Gallery[]
