{"id":109489,"date":"2022-02-05T11:30:17","date_gmt":"2022-02-05T16:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=109489"},"modified":"2022-02-05T11:29:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T16:29:00","slug":"beginners-guide-ajpw-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/02\/05\/beginners-guide-ajpw-champions\/","title":{"rendered":"Beginner’s Guide to AJPW: The Champions"},"content":{"rendered":"

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW)<\/strong> has been one of the biggest wrestling promotions in the last few decades. In fact, the promotion is celebrating 50 years in business this year. With this celebration, we thought it would be appropriate to cover the current champions in AJPW. Learn more in this Beginner’s Guide for All Japan Pro Wrestling.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Guide to Champions in AJPW<\/strong><\/h2>\n

These are the current champions of All Japan Pro Wrestling as of February 5, 2022.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"AJPW<\/p>\n

AJPW Six-Man Tag Team Championship<\/b><\/h3>\n

Current Champions: (Yoshitatsu, Seigo Tachibana, and Takayuki Ueki)<\/b><\/p>\n

The AJ<\/span>PW Six-Man Tag Team Championship is one of the newest championships of All Japan Pro Wrestling, the first champion being crowned at the end of 2020. Since its creation, the Six-Man Tag Team Championship felt like just an extra title in AJPW, given its sporadic history. Even the current AJPW six-man tag champions are completely broken up as Seigo Tachibana<\/strong> and Takayuki Ueki<\/strong> recently on Yoshitatsu<\/strong>\u00a0following the return of KAZMA Sakamoto<\/strong>. It’s likely this belt might be vacant sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

\"Yusuke<\/p>\n

All Asia Tag Team Championship<\/b><\/h3>\n

Current Champions: Total Eclipse (Hokuto Omori and Yusuke Kodama)<\/b><\/p>\n

The All Asia Tag Team Championship is considered the second tag team championship for All Japan Pro Wrestling. While not established as a junior heavyweight tag title, it is often a title that usually has junior talent holding it. Furthermore, the Jr. Tag Battle of Glory<\/strong><\/em><\/a> has been used to crown #1 contenders for the championship. The All Asia Tag Team Championship is also among the oldest in wrestling, even predating AJPW in 1955. One of the most famous matches for championship history was Kenta Kobashi<\/strong> and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi<\/strong> vs. Doug Furnas<\/strong> and Dan Kroffat<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The current champions are Total Eclipse’s<\/strong> Hokuto Omori<\/strong> and Yusuke Kodama<\/strong>. Omori and Kodama defeated El Lindaman<\/strong> and T-Hawk<\/strong> to capture the titles and have had one successful title defense since then. The upcoming challengers are Takato Nakano<\/strong> and Masato Kamino<\/strong> of the BASARA <\/strong>promotion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"SUGI<\/p>\n

World Junior Heavyweight Championship<\/b><\/h3>\n

Current Champion: SUGI<\/b><\/p>\n

The World Junior Heavyweight Championship is the top prize of All Japan Pro Wrestling’s junior heavyweight division. This title boasts a lineage of legends. It was held by greats such as Yoshinari Ogawa<\/strong>, Masanobu Fuchi<\/strong>, Kaz Hayashi<\/strong>, the late Atsushi Aoki,<\/strong> and even the modern-day Koji Iwamoto<\/strong>. It’s a championship, that since the departure of Iwamoto, has become borderline chaotic.<\/span><\/p>\n

The championship changed hands sporadically in 2021 with six new champions in AJPW, four of them not having one defense as champion as well. Since Koji Iwamoto left the junior scene, and AJPW as a whole, SUGI<\/strong> has taken up the mantle as the top star of the junior division. He defeated Super Crazy<\/a> to start his second run as World Junior Heavyweight Champion. In this reign, he has had two successful title defenses, defeating Rising HAYATO<\/strong> and, most recently, Andy Wu<\/strong>. His upcoming challenger is Hikaru Sato<\/strong>. AJPW has the Jr. Battle of Glory <\/em><\/strong>tournament to crown a contender for this championship.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Shigehiro<\/p>\n

GAORA TV Championship<\/b><\/h3>\n

Current Champion: Shigehiro Irie<\/b><\/p>\n

The GAORA TV Championship is named after the TV station GAORA<\/strong>. This championship could be considered forgotten for most of its run since the early 2010s, often feeling like an afterthought. Its second-most successful champion was former booker Jun Akiyama<\/strong>. Ever since Akiyama lost the championship, it saw a sort of renewed interest, most notably in the deathmatch scene.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yoshitatsu ended up becoming one of the most successful champions in the championship’s history before losing it in a TLC Match against <\/span>Jun Kasai<\/strong>. This started a deathmatch phase for the championship in 2021, with Shigehiro Irie<\/strong> ending that phase when he captured the championship in October 2021, defeating former champion Shuji Ishikawa<\/strong> in a brutal match. Irie has had one successful title defense so far. The GAORA TV and AJPW Six-Man Tag Team Championships are the only titles in AJPW that don’t have tournaments to crown contenders. Irie’s next challenger is Isami Kodaka<\/b> later in the Excite Series<\/strong><\/em><\/a> tour.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>