GHC Heavyweight Championship

GHC Heavyweight Championship
Current championship design
Details
PromotionCyberFight
BrandPro Wrestling Noah
Date establishedApril 15, 2001
Current champion(s)Ozawa
Date wonJanuary 1, 2025
Statistics
First champion(s)Mitsuharu Misawa
Most reignsGo Shiozaki (5 reigns)
Longest reignKenta Kobashi (735 days)
Shortest reignYoshihiro Takayama (16 days)
Oldest championKeiji Mutoh (58 years, 1 month, 20 days)
Youngest championKaito Kiyomiya (22 years, 4 months, 26 days)
Heaviest championTakeshi Morishima (145 kg)
Lightest championKenta (81 kg)

The Global Honored Crown (GHC) Heavyweight Championship (Japanese: GHCヘビー級王座, Hepburn: GHC Hebī-kyū Ōza) is the professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created and promoted by Pro Wrestling Noah, which was merged with Japanese promotion DDT to form CyberFight in 2020.[1] It is one of CyberFight's two top men's world titles, alongside the KO-D Openweight Championship in DDT Pro-Wrestling.[2] The title was also defended on Impact Wrestling which has a working relationship with Pro Wrestling Noah. It was created on April 15, 2001 when Mitsuharu Misawa defeated Yoshihiro Takayama in a 16-man tournament final.[3] Though its name implies a particular weight class, it has been periodically held by junior heavyweights, including Yoshinari Ogawa, Kenta, Naomichi Marufuji, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kenoh. The current champion is Ozawa, who is in his first reign. He defeated Kaito Kiyomiya at The New Year 2025 on January 1, 2025, in Tokyo, Japan.

History

Inaugural and three-time champion Mitsuharu Misawa

Noah held a 16-man tournament to crown the first champion, held over its month-long, 18-event Navigation for the Victory GHC tour. The tour was held from March 18 through April 15, 2001.[3]

First round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
            
Mar. 18 Mitsuharu Misawa Pin
Tokyo Akitoshi Saito 12:26
Apr. 4 Mitsuharu Misawa Pin
Okayama Yoshinari Ogawa 19:44
Mar. 21 Masao Inoue Pin
Sagamihara Yoshinari Ogawa 14:18
Apr. 11 Mitsuharu Misawa Pin
Hiroshima Jun Akiyama 15:05†
Apr. 1 Jun Akiyama Pin
Fukuoka Takao Omori 22:49
Apr. 8 Jun Akiyama Pin
Tokyo Takeshi Rikio 4:02
Apr. 2 Takeshi Morishima Pin
Beppu Takeshi Rikio 14:33
Apr. 15 Mitsuharu Misawa Pin
Tokyo Yoshihiro Takayama 21:12
Mar. 22 Jun Izumida Pin
Tokyo Yoshihiro Takayama 8:22
Apr. 3 Yoshihiro Takayama Pin
Uwajima Kentaro Shiga 7:16
Mar. 30 Scorpio Pin
Kumamoto Kentaro Shiga 13:06
Apr. 12 Yoshihiro Takayama DQ
Osaka Vader 9:24
Mar. 25 Akira Taue Pin
Kyoto Vader 10:40
Apr. 6 Vader Pin
Ishikawa Daisuke Ikeda 7:15
Mar. 29 Tamon Honda Pin
Kagoshima Daisuke Ikeda 15:16

† Akiyama and Misawa were originally both counted out, but the match was restarted.

Reigns

As of January 16, 2025, there have been a total of 45 reigns shared between 24 different champions.

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 Days Defenses
1 Mitsuharu Misawa April 15, 2001 Navigation for the Victory Tokyo, Japan 1 103 1 Defeated Yoshihiro Takayama in a tournament final. [3]
2 Jun Akiyama July 27, 2001 Accomplish Our First Navigation Tokyo, Japan 1 254 3 [4]
3 Yoshinari Ogawa April 7, 2002 Come and Watch in Ariake Tokyo, Japan 1 153 2 [5]
4 Yoshihiro Takayama September 7, 2002 Navigation Over the Date Line Osaka, Japan 1 16 0 [6]
5 Mitsuharu Misawa September 23, 2002 Great Voyage Tokyo, Japan 2 159 1 [7]
6 Kenta Kobashi March 1, 2003 Navigate for Evolution Tokyo, Japan 1 735 13 [8][9]
7 Takeshi Rikio March 5, 2005 Navigate for Evolution Tokyo, Japan 1 245 3 [8][10]
8 Akira Taue November 5, 2005 Third Great Voyage Tokyo, Japan 1 78 1 [11]
9 Jun Akiyama January 22, 2006 First Navigation Tokyo, Japan 2 230 2 [12]
10 Naomichi Marufuji September 9, 2006 Great Voyage Tokyo, Japan 1 92 2 [13]
11 Mitsuharu Misawa December 10, 2006 Great Voyage Tokyo, Japan 3 448 7 [14]
12 Takeshi Morishima March 2, 2008 Second Navigation Tokyo, Japan 1 188 2
13 Kensuke Sasaki September 6, 2008 Shiny Navigation Tokyo, Japan 1 176 2
14 Jun Akiyama March 1, 2009 Second Navigation Tokyo, Japan 3 105 1
— Vacated June 14, 2009 — — — — — Vacated due to Akiyama suffering an ongoing spinal injury.
15 Go Shiozaki June 14, 2009 Southern Navigation Fukuoka, Japan 1 175 1 Defeated Takeshi Rikio to win the vacant title. [15][16]
16 Takashi Sugiura December 6, 2009 Winter Navigation Tokyo, Japan 1 581 14
17 Go Shiozaki July 10, 2011 Great Voyage Tokyo, Japan 2 196 3
18 Takeshi Morishima January 22, 2012 Great Voyage 2012 in Osaka Osaka, Japan 2 371 8
19 Kenta January 27, 2013 Great Voyage 2013 in Osaka Osaka, Japan 1 343 9
20 Takeshi Morishima January 5, 2014 New Year Navigation 2014 Tokyo, Japan 3 34 0
21 Yuji Nagata February 8, 2014 The Second Navigation 2014 Tokyo, Japan 1 147 4 [17]
22 Naomichi Marufuji July 5, 2014 Great Voyage 2014 in Tokyo Vol. 2 Tokyo, Japan 2 253 6 [18]
23 Minoru Suzuki March 15, 2015 Great Voyage 2015 in Tokyo Tokyo, Japan 1 283 4 On August 9, 2015, Suzuki successfully defended the title against Mio Shirai at a Pro Wrestling Wave event. The defense was not recognized by Noah, who officially only recognize four of his five defenses. [19]
24 Naomichi Marufuji December 23, 2015 Destiny 2015 Tokyo, Japan 3 39 0 [20]
25 Takashi Sugiura January 31, 2016 Great Voyage 2016 in Yokohama Yokohama, Japan 2 118 1 [21]
26 Go Shiozaki May 28, 2016 Great Voyage 2016 in Osaka Osaka, Japan 3 63 1 [22]
27 Takashi Sugiura July 30, 2016 10th NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League Tokyo, Japan 3 85 2 This was a lumberjack match. [23]
28 Katsuhiko Nakajima October 23, 2016 Great Voyage 2016 in Yokohama Vol. 2 Yokohama, Japan 1 307 7 [24]
29 Eddie Edwards August 26, 2017 Summer Navigation 2017 Vol. 2 Tokyo, Japan 1 118 2 [25]
30 Kenoh December 22, 2017 Winter Navigation 2017 Tokyo, Japan 1 79 2 [26]
31 Takashi Sugiura March 11, 2018 Great Voyage 2018 in Yokohama Yokohama, Japan 4 280 6 [27]
32 Kaito Kiyomiya December 16, 2018 Great Voyage in Yokohama Vol. 2 Yokohama, Japan 1 384 6 [28]
33 Go Shiozaki January 4, 2020 New Sunrise Tokyo, Japan 4 405 6 [29]
34 Keiji Mutoh February 12, 2021 Destination 2021 Tokyo, Japan 1 114 2 [30]
35 Naomichi Marufuji June 6, 2021 CyberFight Festival 2021 Saitama, Japan 4 126 2 [31]
36 Katsuhiko Nakajima October 10, 2021 Grand Square 2021 in Osaka Osaka, Japan 2 136 4 [32]
37 Kazuyuki Fujita February 23, 2022 Gain Control 2022 in Nagoya Nagoya, Japan 1 63 1 [33]
— Vacated April 27, 2022 — — — — — Vacated due to Fujita having tested positive for COVID-19. [34]
38 Go Shiozaki April 30, 2022 Majestic 2022 Tokyo, Japan 5 43 0 Defeated Kaito Kiyomiya to win the vacant title. [35]
39 Satoshi Kojima June 12, 2022 CyberFight Festival 2022 Saitama, Japan 1 34 0 [36]
40 Kenoh July 16, 2022 Destination 2022 Tokyo, Japan 2 71 0 [37]
41 Kaito Kiyomiya September 25, 2022 Grand Ship in Nagoya 2022 Nagoya, Japan 2 175 4 [38]
42 Jake Lee March 19, 2023 Great Voyage in Yokohama 2023 Yokohama, Japan 1 223 4 [39]
43 Kenoh October 28, 2023 Demolition Stage In Fukuoka Fukuoka, Japan 3 99 2 [40]
44 Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. February 4, 2024 Cross Over in Sendai 2024 Sendai, Japan 1 90 1 [41]
45 Kaito Kiyomiya May 4, 2024 Wrestle Magic Tokyo, Japan 3 242 7 [42]
46 Ozawa January 1, 2025 The New Year 2025 Tokyo, Japan 1 15+ 0 [43]

Combined reigns

As of January 16, 2025.

Four-time champion Takashi Sugiura holds the records for longest combined reign (1,064 days), most defenses in one reign (14), and most combined defenses (23)
† Indicates the current champion
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns 		Combined
defenses 		Combined days
1 Takashi Sugiura 4 23 1,064
2 Go Shiozaki 5 11 882
3 Kaito Kiyomiya 3 17 801
4 Kenta Kobashi 1 13 735
5 Mitsuharu Misawa 3 9 710
6 Takeshi Morishima 3 10 593
7 Jun Akiyama 3 6 589
8 Naomichi Marufuji 4 10 510
9 Katsuhiko Nakajima 2 11 443
10 Kenta 1 9 343
11 Minoru Suzuki 1 4 283
12 Kenoh 3 4 249
13 Takeshi Rikio 1 3 245
14 Jake Lee 1 4 223
15 Kensuke Sasaki 1 2 176
16 Yoshinari Ogawa 1 2 153
17 Yuji Nagata 1 4 147
18 Eddie Edwards 1 2 118
19 Keiji Mutoh 1 2 114
20 Hijo del de Dr. Wagner Jr. 1 1 90
21 Akira Taue 1 1 78
22 Kazuyuki Fujita 1 1 63
23 Satoshi Kojima 1 0 34
24 Yoshihiro Takayama 1 0 16
25 Ozawa † 1 0 15+

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