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The GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship (GHCジュニアヘビー級王座, GHC Junia Hebī-kyū Ōza) is the top singles junior heavyweight championship in th Pro Wrestling NOAH (NOAH) promotion. "GHC" is the acronym of Noah's governing body, the Global Honored Crown. The title was introduced on June 24, 2001, at a NOAH show. Only wrestlers under the junior heavyweight weight-limit may hold the championship. NOAH currently controls two junior heavyweight championships: the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship and the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The weight-limit for the tag team title is 100 kg (220 lb); it is assumed that this title has the same weight-limit. The title has been defended outside Japan several times, mainly in the USA but also in Europe. All GHC Junior Heavyweight Title matches and contract signings were overseen and introduced by NOAH title commissioner Joe Higuchi until his death in October 2010 and he was replaced by Harley Race.

Overall, there have been 36 reigns shared among 19 wrestlers. Title changes happen mostly at NOAH-promoted tours, as it has only changed hands at non-NOAH events or tours three times. The inaugural champion was Yoshinobu Kanemaru, who defeated Juventud Guerrera on June 24, 2001, in the finals of a tournament. Kanemaru holds the record of most reigns, with 7. At 405 days, Taiji Ishimori's first reign is the longest in the title's history. Kanemaru, with a combined 7 reigns, holds the record for most days as champion at 1,876. Ricky Marvin and Makoto Hashi's only reigns holds the record for shortest reign at one day. With 10 successful defenses, Ishimori's first reign. Over Kanemaru's 7 reigns, Kanemaru successfully defended the title 28 times, the most of any champion. With zero, Hashi's first reign, Kotaro Suzuki's first reign under the ring name "Mushiking Terry", Katsuhiko Nakajima's first and second reign, Marvin's only reign are all tied for least successful defenses.

Tournament[]

NOAH held a 12-man tournament to crown the first champion, held over its month-long, 11-event Navigation for the Bright Destination tour. The tour was held from June 9 through June 24, 2001.

  First round Second round Semifinals Final
                                     
    June 16  Path Finder 12:15  
June 9  Path Finder Pin     Miyagi  Yoshinobu Kanemaru Pin    
  June 23  Yoshinobu Kanemaru Pin  
Tokyo   Kenta Kobayashi 8:27    
  Tokyo Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 13:34    
June 21  Tsuyoshi Kikuchi Pin
   
  Toyama  BJ Whitmer 7:12  
    June 24  Yoshinobu Kanemaru Pin
  Aichi  Juventud Guerrera 17:17
  June 17  Makoto Hashi 15:02    
Oyama  Naomichi Marufuji Pin    
  June 23  Naomichi Marufuji 19:02
June 15  Satoru Asako Pin  
  Tokyo  Juventud Guerrera Pin  
Niigata  Matt Murphy 11:21     June 20 Satoru Asako 11:04
 
    Tokyo  Juventud Guerrera Pin  

Title History[]

# Wrestler Reign Date Location Length Defenses Notes
1 Yoshinobu Kanemaru 1 June 24, 2001 Nagoya 117 Days 2 Defeated Juventud Guerrera in tournament finals.
2 Tatsuhito Takaiwa 1 October 19, 2001 Yokohama 51 Days 1
3 Naomichi Marufuji 1 December 9, 2001 Tokyo 119 Days 1
4 Makoto Hashi 1 April 7, 2002 Tokyo <1 Day 0
Vacated April 8, 2002 Hashi refused the title after winning by referee stoppage due to Marufuji injuring his knee.
5 Yoshinobu Kanemaru 2 May 26, 2002 Sapporo 308 Days 3 Defeated KENTA in a tournament final to win the vacant title.
6 Michael Modest 1 March 30, 2003 Fukuoka 166 Days 2
7 Takashi Sugiura 1 September 12, 2003 Tokyo 114 Days 2
8 Jushin Thunder Liger 1 January 4, 2004 Tokyo 188 Days 5
9 Yoshinobu Kanemaru 3 July 10, 2004 Tokyo 373 Days 5
10 KENTA 1 July 18, 2005 Tokyo 321 Days 6
11 Takashi Sugiura 2 June 4, 2006 Sapporo 202 Days 1
12 Tatsuhito Takaiwa 2 December 23, 2006 Tokyo 126 Days 2
13 Mushiking Terry 1 April 28, 2007 Tokyo 182 Days 0
14 Yoshinobu Kanemaru 4 October 27, 2007 Tokyo 323 Days 5
15 Bryan Danielson 1 September 14, 2008 Tokyo 29 Days 1
16 KENTA 2 October 13, 2008 Hiroshima 121 Days 3
17 Katsuhiko Nakajima 1 February 11, 2009 Tokyo 18 Days 0
18 KENTA 3 March 1, 2009 Tokyo 243 Days 3
Vacated Vacated due to a knee injury.
19 Yoshinobu Kanemaru 5 October 31, 2009 Tokyo 400 Days 6 Defeated Jushin Thunder Liger in the finals of the Junior Heavyweight League to win the vacant title.
20 Kotaro Suzuki 2 December 5, 2010 Tokyo 292 Days 7 Previously known as Mushiking Terry.
21 Katsuhiko Nakajima 2 September 23, 2011 Tokyo 9 Days 0
Vacated October 2, 2011 Nakajima was forced to vacate the title after undergoing surgery for acute appendicitis.
22 Ricky Marvin 1 October 16, 2011 Tokyo <1 Day 0 Defeated Satoshi Kajiwara to win the vacant title.
Vacated October 16, 2011 Marvin vacated the title, declaring that he wanted to earn it by defeating Katsuhiko Nakajima.
23 Katsuhiko Nakajima 3 November 27, 2011 Tokyo 164 Days 4 Defeated Ricky Marvin to win the vacant title.
24 Yoshinobu Kanemaru 6 May 9, 2012 Tokyo 143 Days 3
25 Shuji Kondo 1 September 29, 2012 Tokyo 120 Days 3
26 Taiji Ishimori 1 January 27, 2013 Osaka 405 Days 10
27 Daisuke Harada 1 March 8, 2014 Tokyo 273 Days 7
28 Atsushi Kotoge 1 December 6, 2014 Tokyo 99 Days 1
29 Taichi 1 March 15, 2015 Tokyo 283 Days 4
30 Taiji Ishimori 2 December 23, 2015 Tokyo 63 Days 1
31 Yoshinobu Kanemaru 7 December 23, 2015 Tokyo 212 Days 4
32 Atsushi Kotoge 2 September 23, 2016 Tokyo 94 Days 3
Vacated December 26, 2016 Title vacated due to Kotoge moving to the heavyweight division.
33 Hajime Ohara 1 January 7, 2017 Tokyo 140 Days 2 Defeated Taiji Ishimori in a decision match to win the vacant championship.
34 HAYATA 1 May 27, 2017 Osaka 29 Days 0
35 Taiji Ishimori 3 June 25, 2017 Fukushima 98 Days 1
36 Daisuke Harada 2 October 1, 2017 Yokohama 394 Days 6
37 Kotaro Suzuki 3 October 30, 2018 Tokyo 47 Days 2
38 Daisuke Harada 3 December 16, 2018 Yokohama 84 Days 1
38 Minoru Tanaka 1 March 10, 2019 Yokohama 147 Days 1
39 HAYATA 2 June 4, 2019 Tokyo 106 Days 3
40 Yoshinari Ogawa 1 January 4, 2020 Tokyo 154 Days 1
41 Kotaro Suzuki 4 April 19, 2020 Kanagawa 203 Days 5
42 Daisuke Harada 4 November 8, 2020 Tokyo 96 Days 2
43 Seiki Yoshioka 1 February 12, 2021 Tokyo 30 Days 0
44 Atsushi Kotoge 3 March 14, 2021 Fukuoka 105 Days 2
45 HAYATA 3 June 27, 2021 Tokyo 197 Days 8
46 Daisuke Harada 5 Janaury 10, 2022 Yokohama 62 Days 2
47 Eita 1 March 13, 2022 Yokohama 47 Days 0
48 HAYATA 4 April 29, 2022 Tokyo 184 Days 6
49 Ninja Mack 1 October 30, 2022 Tokyo 11 Days 0 The title change was unplanned as HAYATA legitimately dislocated his shoulder, prompting the referee to stop the match and award the championship to Mack.
50 Dante Leon 1 November 10, 2022 Tokyo 43 Days 0
51 AMAKUSA 1 December 23, 2022 Tokyo 114 Days 3
52 HAYATA 5 April 16, 2023 Sendai 203 Days 4
53 Daga 1 November 5, 2023 Niigata 135+ 1

Combined reigns[]

As of March 19, 2024.

Indicates the current champion
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns
Combined
defenses
Combined days
1 Yoshinobu Kanemaru 7 28 1,876
2 Daisuke Harada 5 18 909
3 HAYATA 21 766
4 KENTA 3 12 685
5 Taiji Ishimori 12 566
6 Mushiking Terry/Kotaro Suzuki 4 14 521
7 Takashi Sugiura 2 3 316
8 Atsushi Kotoge 3 6 298
9 Taichi 1 4 283
10 Katsuhiko Nakajima 3 191
11 Jushin Thunder Liger 1 5 188
12 Tatsuhito Takaiwa 2 3 177
13 Michael Modest 1 2 166
14 Minoru Tanaka 1 147
15 Hajime Ohara 2 140
16 Shuji Kondo 3 120
17 Naomichi Marufuji 1 119
24 AMAKUSA 3 114
18 Yoshinari Ogawa 1 106
19 Eita 0 47
20 Dante Leon 43
21 Daga 135+
22 Seiki Yoshioka 30
23 Bryan Danielson 1 29
24 Ninja Mack 0 12
25 Makoto Hashi 0 <1
26 Ricky Marvin

Gallery[]

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