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List of NEVER Openweight Champions

Current champion Henare

The NEVER Openweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. NEVER is an acronym of the terms "New Blood", "Evolution", "Valiantly", "Eternal", and "Radical" and was a NJPW-promoted series of events, which featured younger up-and-coming talent and outside wrestlers not signed to the promotion.[1][2] The project was officially announced on July 12, 2010,[2] and held its first event on August 24, 2010.[3]

There have been 43 reigns shared among 22 wrestlers with one vacancy. Masato Tanaka was the first champion in the title's history. He also holds the record for the longest reign in the title's history at 314 days during his only reign. Tomohiro Ishii has the most reigns, with six. Michael Elgin's only reign of 8 days is the shortest in the title's history. Minoru Suzuki is the oldest champion when he won it at 52 years old while Will Ospreay is the youngest champion at 25 years old.


The current champion is Henare, who is in his first reign. He defeated Shingo Takagi at New Japan Soul: Night 1 on June 16, 2024 in Sapporo, Japan.

Title history

Combined reigns

As of September 21, 2024.

Inaugural champion Masato Tanaka holds the record for longest reign at 314 days
Record six-time champion and longest combined reigning title holder at 514 days, Tomohiro Ishii.

See also

References

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External links