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The NEVER Openweight Championship (NEVER無差別級王座, NEVER Musabetsu-kyū Ōza) is a secondary singles championship in 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. The project was officially announced on July 12, 2010, and held its first event on August 24, 2010. On October 5, 2012, NJPW announced that NEVER was going to get its own championship, the NEVER Openweight Championship, the promotion's sixth active title.

The title was originally scheduled to be defended exclusively at NEVER events, but this plan was quickly changed and since its foundation, the title has been defended on the undercards of NJPW events. Together, the NEVER Openweight, IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships also form what has been called the "New Japan Triple Crown" (新日本トリプルクラウン, Shin Nihon Toripuru Kuraun). Though named an "openweight" championship, NJPW has also categorized the title as a heavyweight title. The title's openweight nature means that both heavyweight and junior heavyweight wrestlers are eligible to challenge for it.

Overview[]

Championship tournament[]

On October 5, 2012, over two years after the founding of NEVER, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the creation of the project's first championship, the NEVER Openweight Championship. The title was originally created with the idea of using it to "elevate younger wrestlers". The first champion was to be determined in a sixteen-man single-elimination tournament, which was set to take place November 15 and 19, 2012. The title and the tournament were announced by New Japan president Naoki Sugabayashi and NEVER regular Tetsuya Naito, who was scheduled to enter the tournament, but was forced to pull out after suffering a knee injury. Much like regular NEVER events, the tournament also featured wrestlers not signed to New Japan; freelancer Daisuke Sasaki; Hiro Tonai, Kengo Mashimo, Ryuichi Sekine, Shiori Asahi and Taishi Takizawa from Kaientai Dojo, and Masato Tanaka from Pro Wrestling Zero1. The entire first round of the tournament took place on November 15 and saw Shiori Asahi, Yoshi-Hashi, Taishi Takizawa, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomohiro Ishii, Kengo Mashimo, Karl Anderson and Masato Tanaka advance. The rest of the tournament took place four days later. During the second round, Kengo Mashimo defeated Ryusuke Taguchi, Karl Anderson defeated Shiori Asahi, Masato Tanaka defeated Taishi Takizawa, Tomohiro Ishii defeated Yoshi-Hashi. The semifinals saw Anderson defeat Mashimo and Tanaka defeat Ishii. In the finals of the tournament, Tanaka, the 39-year-old, who, despite officially being affiliated with Pro Wrestling ZERO1, had worked for NJPW regularly since August 2009, defeated Anderson to become the inaugural NEVER Openweight Champion. Though the title was originally designed to be defended at NEVER events, NJPW has not held a single NEVER event since the championship tournament.

  First round
(November 15)
Second round
(November 19)
Semifinals
(November 19)
Finals
(November 19)
                             
 Karl Anderson Pin  
 Yujiro Takahashi 11:12  
   Karl Anderson Pin  
 
   Shiori Asahi 03:59  
 Hiromu Takahashi Pin
 Shiori Asahi 06:14  
   Karl Anderson Pin  
   Kengo Mashimo 06:14  
 Ryusuke Taguchi Pin  
 Hiro Tonai 08:19  
   Ryusuke Taguchi Sub
 
   Kengo Mashimo 07:54  
 BUSHI Pin
 Kengo Mashimo 08:02  
   Karl Anderson Pin
   Masato Tanaka 15:12
 Kushida Pin  
 Masato Tanaka 13:02  
   Masato Tanaka Pin
 
   Taishi Takizawa 04:28  
 Captain New Japan Pin
 Taishi Takizawa 07:22  
   Masato Tanaka Pin
   Tomohiro Ishii 10:47  
 Tomohiro Ishii Pin  
 Daisuke Sasaki 08:39  
   Tomohiro Ishii Pin
 
   Yoshi-Hashi 06:57  
 Yoshi-Hashi Pin
 Ryuichi Sekine 07:14  


Failed concept and transition to tough nature[]

Since its inception the original concept of title having younger workers wrestle for the title has also not been realized with all six holders of the title having been in their thirties or forties. Instead, through the likes of Katsuyori Shibata, Togi Makabe, and Tomohiro Ishii, the NEVER Openweight Championship became known for its "gritty" title matches. Though named an "openweight" championship, NJPW has also categorized the title as one of the promotion's four heavyweight titles, alongside the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship and the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Subsequently, NJPW ranked the title in the second tier, behind both the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships and alongside the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.

Karl Anderson controversy[]

In October 2022, NJPW announced that reigning champion Karl Anderson was scheduled to defend the title against Hikuleo on November 5. On October 10, Anderson returned to WWE following his appearance on the episode of WWE's Monday Night Raw. On October 20, Anderson posted a video on his Twitter page, indicating that he would not be making his advertised commitment, with his tag team partner Doc Gallows not approving his appearance. Despite comments from Gallows, Anderson's expressed his approval to defend the title, but due to both featuring for a WWE event in Saudi Arabia on November 5, Anderson was unable to attend the title match, in direct conflict with Anderson’s prior commitment with NJPW President and CEO Takami Obari being reportedly unhappy over Anderson's decision to not commit his its schduled title defense against Hikuleo. Over the following days, NJPW would attempt to negotiate with Anderson, for a title defense, leading on October 26, NJPW announcing should Anderson decide to renege on his scheduled title match against Hikuleo, he would be forced to vacate the NEVER Openweight Championship and return the title belt to NJPW immediately afterwards. Over the following days, NJPW attempted to negotiate with Anderson, for a title defense, leading on December 14, for Anderson successfully defending the title against Hikuleo. Afterwards, Tonga quickly confronted Anderson, before he could issue a challenge to a rematch, he lay out with a Gunstun before Anderson, named him as his opponent for Wrestle Kingdom 17. On January 4, 2023, at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Tokyo Dome, Anderson lost the NEVER Openweight Championship back to Tama Tonga, marking his last appearance for the promotion and bringing back the title back to NJPW.

Title history[]

# Wrestler Reign Date Location Length Defenses Notes
1 Masato Tanaka 1 November 19, 2012 Tokyo 314 Days 4 Tanaka defeated Karl Anderson in the finals of a sixteen-man tournament to become the inaugural champion.
2 Tetsuya Naito 1 September 29, 2013 Kobe 135 Days 2 Naito's Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate was also on the line.
3 Tomohiro Ishii 1 February 11, 2014 Osaka 138 Days 4
4 Yujiro Takahashi 1 June 29, 2014 Tokyo 106 Days 1
5 Tomohiro Ishii 2 October 13, 2014 Tokyo 83 Days 1
6 Togi Makabe 1 January 4, 2015 Tokyo 41 Days 0
Vacated February 14, 2015 The title was vacated due to Makabe being sidelined with influenza.
7 Tomohiro Ishii 3 February 14, 2015 Sendai 74 Days 0 Ishii defeated Tomoaki Honma to win the vacant title.
8 Togi Makabe 2 April 29, 2015 Mashiki 166 Days 2
9 Tomohiro Ishii 4 October 12, 2015 Tokyo 84 Days 1
10 Katsuyori Shibata 1 January 4, 2016 Tokyo 120 Days 3
11 Yuji Nagata 1 May 3, 2016 Fukuoka 47 Days 0
12 Katsuyori Shibata 2 June 19, 2016 Osaka 139 Days 3
13 EVIL 1 November 05, 2016 Osaka 10 Days 0
14 Katsuyori Shibata 3 November 15, 2016 Singapore 50 Days 0
15 Hirooki Goto 1 January 04, 2017 Tokyo 113 Days 3
16 Minoru Suzuki 1 April 27, 2017 Hiroshima 252 Days 4
17 Hirooki Goto 2 January 4, 2018 Tokyo 156 Days 3 This was a Hair vs. Hair match.
18 Michael Elgin 1 June 9, 2018 Osaka 8 Days 0 This was a three-way match also including Taichi.
19 Hirooki Goto 3 June 17, 2018 Tokyo 92 Days 1
20 Taichi 1 September 17, 2018 Beppu 47 Days 0
21 Hirooki Goto 4 November 3, 2018 Osaka 36 Days 0
22 Kota Ibushi 1 December 9, 2018 Iwate 26 Days 0
23 Will Ospreay 1 January 4, 2019 Tokyo 92 Days 1
24 Jeff Cobb 1 April 6, 2019 New York City, New York 27 Days 0 This was a "Winner takes all" match also for the ROH World Television Championship.
25 Taichi 2 May 3, 2019 Fukuoka 37 Days 0
26 Tomohiro Ishii 5 June 9, 2019 Osaka 83 Days 0
27 KENTA 1 August 31, 2019 London, England 127 Days 2
28 Hirooki Goto 5 January 5, 2020 Tokyo 27 Days 0
29 Shingo Takagi 1 February 1, 2020 Sapporo 210 Days 3
30 Minoru Suzuki 2 August 29, 2020 Tokyo 70 Days 0
31 Shingo Takagi 2 November 7, 2020 Tokyo 84 Days 1
32 Hiroshi Tanahashi 1 January 30, 2021 Nagoya 93 Days 1
33 Jay White 1 May 3, 2021 Fukuoka 194 Days 1
34 Tomohiro Ishii 6 November 13, 2021 San Jose, CA 52 Days 0
35 EVIL 2 January 4, 2022 Tokyo 117 Days 2
36 Tama Tonga 1 May 1, 2022 Fukuoka 42 Days 0
37 Karl Anderson 1 June 12, 2022 Osaka 206 Days 2
38 Tama Tonga 2 January 4, 2022 Tokyo 199 Days 1
39 David Finlay 1 May 3, 2023 Fukuoka 159 Days 1
40 Tama Tonga 3 October 9, 2023 Tokyo 19 Days 0
41 Shingo Takagi 3 October 28, 2023 Las Vegas, Nevada 68 Days 1
42 Tama Tonga 4 January 4, 2024 Tokyo 16 Days 0
43 EVIL 3 January 20, 2023 Nagoya 59+ 1 This was a Lumberjack Deathmatch.

Combined reigns[]

Indicates the current champion
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns
Combined
defenses
Combined
days
1 Tomohiro Ishii 6 7 513
2 Hirooki Goto 5 426
3 Shingo Takagi 3 5 362
4 Minoru Suzuki 2 4 322
5 Masato Tanaka 1 314
6 Katsuyori Shibata 3 6 309
7 Tama Tonga 4 1 276
8 Togi Makabe 2 2 207
9 Karl Anderson 1 206
10 Jay White 1 194
11 EVIL 3 3 186+
12 David Finlay 1 1 159
13 Tetsuya Naito 2 135
14 KENTA 1 127
15 Yujiro Takahashi 1 1 106
16 Hiroshi Tanahashi 93
17 Will Ospreay 92
18 Taichi 2 0 84
19 Yuji Nagata 1 0 47
20 Jeff Cobb 27
21 Kota Ibushi 26
22 Michael Elgin 8

Gallery[]

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