{"id":21633,"date":"2018-07-07T11:40:48","date_gmt":"2018-07-07T15:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=21633"},"modified":"2018-07-07T11:40:48","modified_gmt":"2018-07-07T15:40:48","slug":"kenny-omega-vs-cody-rhodes-historic-match-up-only-8th-time-two-gaijin-have-fought-for-iwgp-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2018\/07\/07\/kenny-omega-vs-cody-rhodes-historic-match-up-only-8th-time-two-gaijin-have-fought-for-iwgp-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenny Omega vs. Cody Rhodes Historic Match-Up, Only 8th Time Two Gaijin Have Fought For IWGP Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tonight’s main event of Kenny Omega<\/strong> defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Cody Rhodes<\/strong> (which has the added stipulation of full leadership of Bullet Club<\/strong><\/a>) is more than a grand finale for the “Bullet Club is Fine” storyline of the past year. It’s only the 8th time in the history of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship that two\u00a0gaijin<\/em> (or foreign talent) have competed over the title itself. The last time it happened was in May of 2006, when then IWGP Champion Brock Lesnar<\/strong> defended his title against Giant Bernard<\/strong> (aka WWE’s Prince Albert<\/strong> and WWE Performance Center head trainer Matt Bloom<\/strong>). While it’s not entirely surprising, considering that the bulk of the IWGP Champions (55 of 66) are homegrown Japanese talents, but considering that the 11 non-Japanese IWGP Heavyweight Champions didn’t defend against more may be. Here’s a look at the other seven\u00a0gaijin\u00a0<\/em>match-ups for New Japan’s biggest prize.<\/p>\n

May 3, 2006 – Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Giant Bernard<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"\"
Photo: NJPW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Following his departure from the WWE the first time, Brock Lesnar ended up in NJPW (during arguably New Japan’s lowest point), where he defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuyuki Fujita<\/strong> and Masa Chono<\/strong> in a triple threat to win the title at\u00a0NJPW Toukon Souzou New Chapter<\/strong> <\/em>at the Tokyo Dome. Lesnar held the belt for 280 days and during the 2006 New Japan Cup<\/strong><\/em>, he defended against Giant Bernard. While Bernard may have been a midcard guy with the WWE, he was a Superstar in NJPW, where he was a 2x IWGP Tag Team Champion, as well as part of the dominant tag team Bad Intentions<\/strong> with a pre-Bullet Club Karl Anderson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

November 9, 1998 – Scott Norton (c) vs. Lodi;\u00a0<\/strong>November 2, 1998 – Scott Norton (c) vs. Van Hammer<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Technically these weren’t NJPW booked matches as WCW’s Scott Norton<\/strong> – a member of nWo Japan<\/strong> as well as the WCW branch – had both of these title defences on WCW booked episodes of\u00a0Monday Nitro<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>on back to back weeks. He faced two members of Raven’s Flock, Lodi<\/strong> and Van Hammer<\/strong>, in successive title defenses.<\/p>\n