KOPW (professional wrestling championship)

KOPW (an abbreviation for King of Pro-Wrestling) is an openweight championship created and promoted by the Japanese professional wrestling promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).

This article is about the King of Pro-Wrestling (KOPW) championship. For the NJPW event, see King of Pro-Wrestling.
KOPW
KOPW championship belt and trophy
Details
PromotionNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)
Date establishedJuly 28, 2020
Current champion(s)Sho
Date wonSeptember 24, 2023
Statistics
First champion(s)Toru Yano
Most reignsToru Yano (4)
Longest reignShingo Takagi
(1st reign, 238 days)
Shortest reignTaichi
(16 days)
Oldest championMinoru Suzuki (53 years, 202 days)
Youngest championChase Owens
(31 years, 140 days)
Heaviest championToru Yano
(254 lb (115 kg))
Lightest championChase Owens
(205 lb (93 kg))

KOPW follows a non-traditional formula: Originally a trophy, it now has a title belt. Only one wrestler per year is recognized as champion. A "provisional champion" is first determined; during the year, the provisional champion must defend his provisional title. The provisional champion at the end of the year is officially recognized as the year's official champion and wins the KOPW Trophy. Furthermore, in contrast with NJPW's heavy focus on traditional matches, the title matches are exclusively focused on non-regular stipulations. Each of the wrestlers involved in a title match proposes a stipulation, and fans vote to select which is followed.

The title was created by professional wrestler Kazuchika Okada, who introduced it during a press conference on July 28, 2020. Toru Yano became the first provisional champion on August 29, 2020, and the first official champion after a final title defense on December 23, 2020.

Concept

The title is inactive at the beginning of a new year. At some later point, a provisional champion is determined, who is not recognized by NJPW as an actual champion. During the rest of the year, the provisional champion must defend the title against contenders; if he fails, a new provisional champion is crowned, and must similarly defend the title against new contenders. At some point close to the end of the year, a final title match takes place; the winner of the match becomes recognized as that year's KOPW, and is awarded the KOPW Trophy.[1]

While NJPW has historically focused heavily on traditional matches (either classic singles or tag team matches without special stipulations), KOPW matches will focus exclusively on non-regular stipulations such as matches with more than two individual competitors at the same time, two out of three falls matches, ladder matches, or steel cage matches. Each of the matches' participants can propose a stipulation, and the fans vote to select which stipulation the match will follow.[2][3][4]

Despite its unique concept, KOPW is recognized as an actual championship (rather than a tournament or other non-conventional accolade) by NJPW. The name of the title changes based on the year, with the 2020 version of the title being named KOPW 2020.[2] It is "reset" every year, and the process is repeated until a new champion is crowned.[2]

On December 22, 2022, NJPW revealed a championship belt to replace the trophy, which had been broken and vandalized multiple times. The belt was presented to Shingo Takagi, the first provisional champion of 2023, in the New Japan Rumble on January 5, 2023 in Tokyo at New Year Dash!! 2023.

History

Creation

At Sengoku Lord in Nagoya on July 25, 2020, professional wrestler Kazuchika Okada teased "a controversial announcement."[1] On July 28, during a press conference in Tokyo, NJPW chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced the creation of a new title following an idea by Okada; Okada then proceeded to introduce the title and its concept, also announcing KOPW 2021 for the following year.[2][3][4] Comparing it to other NJPW titles, Okada claimed that KOPW "exists on the edge of New Japan."[2]

KOPW 2020

In the same conference he introduced the title, Okada announced that from August 26 onwards during the Summer Struggle tour, eight men will compete in four first-round singles matches. The four winners then competed in a four-way match to determine the inaugural provisional KOPW 2020 on August 29 at the Meiji Jingu Stadium in Tokyo, during the Summer Struggle in Jingu event.

On August 6, 2020, Okada himself and Yujiro Takahashi were announced as the first two entrants in the tournament.[5] Eventually, the eight match-ups were announced: Okada vs. Takahashi, Toru Yano vs. Bushi, El Desperado vs. Satoshi Kojima, and Sanada vs. Sho. Fans voted for the stipulations online on the social networking service Twitter; the polls closed on August 24, with over 170,000 fan votes cast. As Sanada and Sho had both picked submission match as their wanted stipulation, no vote was needed for their match.[6]

In the first round, El Desperado defeated Kojima by disqualification in a No finisher match, Yano defeated Bushi in a Two-count Pinfalls match, Sanada defeated Sho in their Submission match, and finally Okada defeated Takahashi, who had teamed up with Jado & Gedo, in a 1 vs 3 handicap match.[7]

At Summer Struggle in Jingu, Yano won the four-way match by pinning Okada to become the inaugural provisional champion.[8]

Reigns

As of October 25, 2023.

Note that this list follows the title's history, including provisional champions; however, only the person winning the final title defense of the year is actually recognized as champion.

Colors

 Provisional champion
Official champion
Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
Defenses Number of successful defenses
+ Current reign is changing daily
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign DaysDefenses
— Toru Yano August 29, 2020 Summer Struggle in Jingu Tokyo, Japan 1 1162 Defeated Kazuchika Okada, El Desperado and Sanada in a four-way match which acted as the final of an eight-man tournament to become the first provisional 2020 champion. [2][3][4]
1 Toru Yano December 23, 2020 Road to Tokyo Dome Tokyo, Japan I —— Defeated Bad Luck Fale in a Bodyslam or No Corner Pads match to become the official 2020 champion. [9]
— Toru Yano January 5, 2021 Wrestle Kingdom 15 in Tokyo Dome
Night 2		 Tokyo, Japan 2 2012 Defeated Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale and Bushi in a four-way match to become the first provisional 2021 champion.
— Chase Owens July 25, 2021 Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome Tokyo, Japan 1 410 This was a 22-man New Japan Ranbo with handcuffs. [10]
— Toru Yano September 4, 2021 Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome Tokorozawa, Japan 3 1111 This was a No disqualification "I quit" match. [11]
2 Toru Yano December 24, 2021 Road to Tokyo Dome Tokyo, Japan II —— Defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru in an End of Year Party Rules match to become the official 2021 champion. [12]
— Minoru Suzuki January 5, 2022 Wrestle Kingdom 16
Night 2		 Tokyo, Japan 1 580 Defeated Chase Owens, Cima and Toru Yano in a four-way match to become the first provisional 2022 champion. [13]
— Toru Yano February 20, 2022 New Years Golden Series
Night 4		 Sapporo, Japan 4 480 This was a Dog Cage match. [14]
— Taichi April 9, 2022 Hyper Battle '22 Tokyo, Japan 1 160 This was a No-rope ring-out match. [15]
— Shingo Takagi April 25, 2022 Golden Fight Series 2022 Hiroshima, Japan 1 2384 This was a 30-count pinfall match. [16]
3 Shingo Takagi December 19, 2022 JTO 50th Anniversary for TakaTaichi Together Tokyo, Japan I —— Defeated Taichi in a Last Man Standing Lumberjack match to become the official 2022 champion. [17]
— Shingo Takagi January 5, 2023 New Year Dash!! 2023 Tokyo, Japan 2 1142 Defeated Great-O-Khan, Sho and Toru Yano in a four-way match to become the first provisional 2023 champion. [18]
— Taichi April 29, 2023 Wrestling Satsuma No Kuni Kagoshima, Japan 2 1480 This was a Takagi-Style Triad match. [19]
— Sho September 24, 2023 Destruction in Kobe Kagoshima, Japan 1 31+0 [20]

Combined reigns

As of October 25, 2023.

Current champion, Sho.

Note that this includes both provisional and official champions.

† Indicates the current interim champion
Rank Wrestler No. of
titles		 No. of
int. reigns		 Combined
defenses		 Combined
days
1 Toru YanoII45476
2 Shingo TakagiI26352
3 Taichi—20164
4 Minoru Suzuki—1058
5 Chase Owens—1041
6 Sho †—1031+

References
  1. "Unique new title announced by NJPW's Kazuchika Okada; fans to vote for match stipulations". sportskeeda. July 28, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  2. "SUMMER STRUGGLE in JINGU press conference". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. July 28, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  3. "KOPW 2020 title announced in special press conference". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. July 28, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  4. Elizabeth, Claire (July 28, 2020). "KOPW 2020 Championship tournament, title matches begin filling Summer Struggle in Jingu card out". Cageside Seats. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  5. "New Japan KOPW Title Tournament Entrants Revealed". EWrestling. August 6, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  6. "KOPW 2020 polls close; matches decided!". NJPW. August 24, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  7. "New Japan Pro Wrestling Summer Struggle results: KOPW 2020 first round matches, and more!". CageSeats. August 26, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  8. "NJPW Summer Struggle In Jingu Live Results: Evil vs. Tetsuya Naito". Wrestling Observer Online. August 29, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  9. "Toru Yano Official KOPW2020 Winner". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. December 23, 2020. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  10. Renner, Ethan (July 25, 2021). "NJPW WRESTLE GRAND SLAM IN TOKYO DOME LIVE RESULTS: IWGP TITLE MATCH". f4wonline.com. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
  11. "2021.09.04 WRESTLE GRAND SLAM In MetLife Dome". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  12. "Road to Tokyo Dome Resulst". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. December 24, 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2021.
  13. Powell, Jason (January 5, 2022). "1/5 NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 results: Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Kenta vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP U.S. Championship, Tetsuya Naito vs. Jeff Cobb, Mayu Iwatani and Starlight Kid vs. Saya Kamitani and Tam Nakano, Sanada vs. Great-O-Khan". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  14. Lopez, Joshua (January 20, 2022). "NJPW New Years Golden Series Results 1/20/22". wrestlingheadlines.com. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  15. "2022.03.09 Hyper Battle '22 | New Japan Pro-Wrestling". NJPW. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  16. Currier, Joseph (April 25, 2022). "KOPW 2022 title changes hands at NJPW Golden Fight Series". f4wonline.com. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
  17. Daly, Wayne (December 19, 2022). "JTO Results: TAKATaichi 2 Together ~ 50th Anniversary Show – Tokyo, Japan (12/19)". wrestling-news.net. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  18. Middleton, Marc (January 5, 2023). "NJPW New Year Dash Results 1/5/2023". wrestlingheadlines.com. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  19. Fritts, Chick (April 29, 2023). "NJPW Wrestling Satsuma no Kuni live results: Two title matches. The KOPW and IWGP Tag titles are on the line". f4wonline.com. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  20. "DESTRUCTION in KOBE SUN. SEPTEMBER. 24. 2023". njpw1972.com. NJPW. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
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