WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship
Encyclopedia
The WWWF Junior Heavyweight Championship is a former championship recognized by the World (Wide) Wrestling Federation
and New Japan Pro Wrestling
for wrestlers of smaller size. The title existed from 1967 through 1985.
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
and New Japan Pro Wrestling
New Japan Pro Wrestling
is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded by Antonio Inoki in June 1972 and owned by Yuke's since 2005, when Inoki sold the promotion. Naoki Sugabayashi is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from 2007. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it...
for wrestlers of smaller size. The title existed from 1967 through 1985.
Title history
| # | Wrestler | Reigns | Date | Days held | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johnny De Fazio Johnny De Fazio Johnny De Fazio, known to fans as Jumping Johnny De Fazio, is a former professional wrestler from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was a fan favorite and was popular in the 1960s and 1970s. He wrestled for the old Studio Wrestling program on WIIC-TV in Pittsburgh, hosted by Bill Cardille... |
1 | 1967 | |||
| 2 | Bradley Lowe | 1 | ||||
| 3 | Jonny De Fazio | 2 | ||||
| 4 | Jackie Nicholas | 2 | New England | |||
| 5 | Jonny De Fazio | 3 | ||||
| 6 | Jackie Nicholas | 3 | ||||
| 7 | Johnny De Fazio | 4 | ||||
| - | Vacated | - | 1972 | - | - | De Fazio vacated the title in 1972 upon retirement. |
| 8 | Carlos Jose Estrada | 1 | January 20, 1978 | Uniondale, New York Uniondale, New York Uniondale is a hamlet as well as a suburb of New York City in Nassau County, New York, United States, on Long Island, in the Town of Hempstead. The population was 24,759 at the 2010 United States Census.-Geography:... |
Defeated Tony Garea Anthony Garcia Anthony "Tony" Garcia is a retired New Zealand professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Tony Garea, who wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance and the World Wrestling Federation , spending thirty-two of his thirty-five year career in the promotion... for the title. |
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| 9 | Tatsumi Fujinami Tatsumi Fujinami is a Japanese professional wrestler who is famous for his gimmick as "The Dragon." He is the one who is credited for inventing the Dragon Sleeper and the Dragon Suplex... |
1 | January 23, 1978 | New York City, New York New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... |
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| 10 | Ryuma Go | 1 | October 2, 1979 | Osaka, Japan Osaka is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe... |
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| 11 | Tatsumi Fujinami | 2 | October 4, 1979 | Tokyo, Japan Tokyo , ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family... |
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| - | Vacated | - | December 1981 | - | - | Vacated when Fujinami entered the heavyweight division. |
| 12 | Tiger Mask Satoru Sayama is a Japanese professional wrestler, best known as the original Tiger Mask. He's wrestled under his real name as well as the names Sammy Lee, and masked Super Tiger, Tiger King, Tiger Mask and The Mask of Tiger... |
1 | January 1, 1982 | Tokyo, Japan | Defeated Dynamite Kid for the vacant title, then vacated the title in April 1982 due to injury. | |
| 13 | Black Tiger Black Tiger (professional wrestling) Black Tiger has been the persona used by five different professional wrestlers in New Japan Pro Wrestling as opponents of the four incarnations of Tiger Mask. The character is drawn from the original Japanese Tiger Mask anime... (original, Mark Rocco Mark Rocco Mark Hussey is a retired English professional wrestler who competed for All-Star Wrestling as Mark "Rollerball" Rocco and as the original masked Black Tiger in New Japan Pro Wrestling during the 1970s and 80s... ) |
1 | May 6, 1982 | Fukuoka, Japan Fukuoka, Fukuoka is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan.Voted number 14 in a 2010 poll of the World's Most Livable Cities, Fukuoka is praised for its green spaces in a metropolitan setting. It is the most populous city in Kyushu, followed by... |
Defeated Gran Hamada Gran Hamada , better known by his ring name , is Japanese professional wrestler, the first to adopt the high-flying Mexican lucha libre style. He has wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling, the Universal Wrestling Federation, Michinoku Pro, and All Japan Pro Wrestling, and was the founder of Universal Lucha Libre... for the vacant title. |
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| 14 | Tiger Mask | 2 | May 26, 1982 | Osaka, Japan | ||
| - | Vacated | - | April 3, 1983 | - | - | Vacated after Tiger Mask was injured by the Dynamite Kid in a tag team match on April 1. On the same night, Dynamite Kid and Kuniaki Kobayashi Kuniaki Kobayashi Kuniaki Kobayashi is a retired Japanese Junior Heavyweight professional wrestler. He wrestled numerous acclaimed matches against the first two Tiger Masks: Satoru Sayama and Mitsuharu Misawa.-New Japan Pro Wrestling :... fought for the title and no winner was declared. |
| 15 | Tiger Mask | 3 | June 13, 1983 | Mexico City, Mexico Mexico City Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole... |
Defeated Fishman for the title, then he vacated the title on August 12, 1983 when he retired. | |
| 16 | Dynamite Kid Dynamite Kid Thomas Wilton Billington , best known by the ring name Dynamite Kid, is a retired British professional wrestler who competed in the World Wrestling Federation, Stampede Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling in the mid- to late-1980s... |
1 | February 7, 1984 | Tokyo, Japan | Won a triangular match by defeating both Davey Boy Smith Davey Boy Smith Davey Boy Smith was a British professional wrestler, better known as "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, who was born in Golborne in North West England, United Kingdom. Smith is known for his appearances with Stampede Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling... on February 3, 1984 in Sapporo, Japan and The Cobra on February 7, 1984 in Tokyo. He vacated the title in November 1984 when he and Smith jumped to All-Japan Pro Wrestling. |
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| 17 | The Cobra | 1 | December 28, 1984 | New York City, New York | Defeated Black Tiger for the vacant title. | |
| 18 | Hiro Saito Hiro Saito Hiroyuki Saito is a professional wrestler best known by the shortened name of .-Career:Hiro debuted in 1978 in New Japan Pro Wrestling. In May 1985, he defeated The Cobra to win the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship only to lose back to him 2 months later... |
1 | May 20, 1985 | Hiroshima, Japan Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M... |
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| 19 | The Cobra | 2 | July 28, 1985 | Osaka, Japan | ||
| - | Vacated | - | October 31, 1985 | - | - | Vacated when New Japan and the WWF split. Shiro Koshinaka Shiro Koshinaka is a Japanese professional wrestler who has competed in All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Wrestle Association "R" during the 1980s and 1990s... defeats The Cobra on June 28, 1986 in Tokyo to become the first IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling junior heavweight 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 introduced on February 6, 1986 at a NJPW show.... . |