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KOPW (professional wrestling championship)

From Wikipedia, in a visual modern way
KOPW
KOPW 2023.png
KOPW torphy 1.png
Details
PromotionNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)
Date establishedJuly 28, 2020
Current champion(s)Shingo Takagi
Date wonApril 25, 2022
This article is about the KOPW championship. For the NJPW event, see King of Pro-Wrestling.

KOPW is a championship created and promoted by the Japanese professional wrestling promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).

KOPW follows a non-traditional formula: it has no title belt, and 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.

Discover more about KOPW (professional wrestling championship) related topics

Professional wrestling championship

Professional wrestling championship

A championship or title in professional wrestling is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations. Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in predetermined rivalries. These narratives create feuds between the various competitors, which cast them as villains and heroes. The bookers in a company will place the title on the most accomplished performer, or whom they believe will generate fan interest in terms of event attendance and television viewership.

Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans an archipelago of 14,125 islands covering 377,975 square kilometers (145,937 sq mi); the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Tokyo is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto.

Professional wrestling promotion

Professional wrestling promotion

A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within the convention of the show, the company is a sports governing body which sanctions wrestling matches and gives authority to the championships and is responsible for maintaining the divisions and their rankings. In truth, the company serves as a touring theatre troupe, as well as event promotion body for its own events.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling

New Japan Pro-Wrestling

New Japan Pro-Wrestling Co., Ltd. (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares of the company. Naoki Sugabayashi has served as the promotion's Chairman since September 2013, while Takami Ohbari has served as the president of the promotion since October 2020.

Kazuchika Okada

Kazuchika Okada

Kazuchika Okada is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he is current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion in his record-setting second reign. Okada is a five-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion where his fourth reign with the championship is the longest in history at 720 days. He also holds the record for most successful title defenses with 12.

Toru Yano

Toru Yano

Toru Yano , is a Japanese professional wrestler, trained by and currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the KOPW 2020 and the provisional KOPW 2021. He is a four time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion. He is also a three-time IWGP Tag Team Champion and two-time GHC Tag Team Champion.

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 will be presented to the first provisional champion of 2023, to be determined at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in the New Japan Rumble on January 4, 2023 in Tokyo, with the last four competitors remaining wrestle in a four-way match at New Year Dash!!.

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]

Discover more about History related topics

Kazuchika Okada

Kazuchika Okada

Kazuchika Okada is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he is current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion in his record-setting second reign. Okada is a five-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion where his fourth reign with the championship is the longest in history at 720 days. He also holds the record for most successful title defenses with 12.

Tokyo

Tokyo

Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital and most populous city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 million residents as of 2018; the city proper has a population of 13.99 million people. Located at the head of Tokyo Bay, the prefecture forms part of the Kantō region on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. Tokyo serves as Japan's economic center and is the seat of both the Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan.

Meiji Jingu Stadium

Meiji Jingu Stadium

The Meiji Jingu Stadium is a baseball stadium in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. It opened in 1926 and holds 37,933 spectators. Property of the Meiji Shrine, it is the home field of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows professional baseball team. It also hosts college baseball, including the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League and the Tohto University Baseball League.

Summer Struggle in Jingu

Summer Struggle in Jingu

Summer Struggle in Jingu was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on August 29, 2020, in Tokyo, Japan at Meiji Jingu Stadium.

Yujiro Takahashi

Yujiro Takahashi

Yujiro Takahashi , is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of Bullet Club and its sub-group House of Torture.

Toru Yano

Toru Yano

Toru Yano , is a Japanese professional wrestler, trained by and currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the KOPW 2020 and the provisional KOPW 2021. He is a four time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion. He is also a three-time IWGP Tag Team Champion and two-time GHC Tag Team Champion.

El Desperado (wrestler)

El Desperado (wrestler)

Kyosuke Mikami is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working under the ring name El Desperado . He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former two time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and a four time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Desperado was a part of the Suzuki-gun stable from 2014 till the faction's disbandment in 2022. Mikami was trained by the NJPW dojo and worked for NJPW for two years as a Young Lion. In 2012 he traveled to Mexico for a learning excursion, working for NJPW's Mexican affiliate Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) as the masked character Namajague, a Spanish translation of Namahage, a Japanese folk demon. While in CMLL he won his first professional wrestling title alongside Okumura, the CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship, in March 2013. After being unmasked due to losing a match and briefly working without one, Mikami returned to NJPW in January 2014 and was repackaged under another mask as El Desperado.

Satoshi Kojima

Satoshi Kojima

Satoshi Kojima is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but makes appearances for Pro Wrestling Noah. Considered to be one of the greatest Japanese professional wrestlers of the 21st century and of all-time, he was the first wrestler to hold NJPW's IWGP Heavyweight Championship and All Japan Pro Wrestling's Triple Crown Championship simultaneously, the fourth to win the three major heavyweight championships in Japan with the Triple Crown Heavyweight, IWGP Heavyweight, and Noah's GHC Heavyweight Championship, and one of three wrestlers to hold the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Triple Crown Championship, and NWA World Heavyweight Championship, and is an overall seven-time world champion in major professional wrestling promotions. Since 2022, he also wrestles for Pro Wrestling Noah.

Sanada (wrestler)

Sanada (wrestler)

Seiya Sanada , better known by his mononymous ring name Sanada, is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).

Twitter

Twitter

Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post or reply to texts, images and videos known as "tweets". Registered users can tweet, like, 'retweet' tweets and direct message (DM), while unregistered users only have the ability to view public tweets. Users interact with Twitter through browser or mobile frontend software, or programmatically via its APIs.

Jado & Gedo

Jado & Gedo

Jado & Gedo were a professional wrestling tag team that currently work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where they are also the head bookers. One of the most accomplished tag teams in puroresu, the team has won numerous tag team titles and six-man tag team titles in over seven promotions.

Reigns

As of March 3, 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 Days Defenses
— Toru Yano August 29, 2020 Summer Struggle in Jingu Tokyo, Japan 1 116 2 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 2 201 2 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 41 0 This was a 22-man New Japan Ranbo with handcuffs. [10]
— Toru Yano September 4, 2021 Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome Tokorozawa, Japan 3 111 1 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 58 0 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 48 0 This was a Dog Cage match.
— Taichi April 9, 2022 Hyper Battle '22 Tokyo, Japan 1 16 0 This was a No-rope ring-out match. [14]
— Shingo Takagi April 25, 2022 Golden Fight Series 2022 Hiroshima, Japan 1 238 4 This was a 30-count pinfall match. [15]
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.
— Shingo Takagi January 5, 2023 New Year Dash!! 2023 Tokyo, Japan 2 57+ 1 Defeated Great-O-Khan, Sho and Toru Yano in a four-way match to become the first provisional 2023 champion.

Discover more about Reigns related topics

Toru Yano

Toru Yano

Toru Yano , is a Japanese professional wrestler, trained by and currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the KOPW 2020 and the provisional KOPW 2021. He is a four time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion. He is also a three-time IWGP Tag Team Champion and two-time GHC Tag Team Champion.

Summer Struggle in Jingu

Summer Struggle in Jingu

Summer Struggle in Jingu was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on August 29, 2020, in Tokyo, Japan at Meiji Jingu Stadium.

Tokyo

Tokyo

Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital and most populous city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 million residents as of 2018; the city proper has a population of 13.99 million people. Located at the head of Tokyo Bay, the prefecture forms part of the Kantō region on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. Tokyo serves as Japan's economic center and is the seat of both the Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan.

Kazuchika Okada

Kazuchika Okada

Kazuchika Okada is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he is current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion in his record-setting second reign. Okada is a five-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion where his fourth reign with the championship is the longest in history at 720 days. He also holds the record for most successful title defenses with 12.

El Desperado (wrestler)

El Desperado (wrestler)

Kyosuke Mikami is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working under the ring name El Desperado . He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former two time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and a four time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Desperado was a part of the Suzuki-gun stable from 2014 till the faction's disbandment in 2022. Mikami was trained by the NJPW dojo and worked for NJPW for two years as a Young Lion. In 2012 he traveled to Mexico for a learning excursion, working for NJPW's Mexican affiliate Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) as the masked character Namajague, a Spanish translation of Namahage, a Japanese folk demon. While in CMLL he won his first professional wrestling title alongside Okumura, the CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship, in March 2013. After being unmasked due to losing a match and briefly working without one, Mikami returned to NJPW in January 2014 and was repackaged under another mask as El Desperado.

List of New Japan Pro-Wrestling tournaments

List of New Japan Pro-Wrestling tournaments

New Japan Pro-Wrestling had held a variety of professional wrestling tournaments competed for by wrestlers that are a part of their roster.

Bad Luck Fale

Bad Luck Fale

Simi Taitoko Fale is a Tongan-New Zealand professional wrestler and former rugby union player. He currently works for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as Bad Luck Fale . In NJPW, he is a three-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion, a one-time IWGP Tag Team Champion and a one-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion. His name translates to "house" in Tongan, which suits his wrestling persona as an immovable force.

Chase Owens

Chase Owens

Chase Owens is an American professional wrestler currently signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of Bullet Club. He is a former IWGP Tag Team Champion with Bad Luck Fale and KOPW trophy winner.

Combined reigns

As of March 3, 2023.

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 Yano II 4 5 476
2 Shingo Takagi † I 2 5 295+
3 Minoru Suzuki — 1 0 58
4 Chase Owens — 1 0 41
5 Taichi — 1 0 16

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Toru Yano

Toru Yano

Toru Yano , is a Japanese professional wrestler, trained by and currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the KOPW 2020 and the provisional KOPW 2021. He is a four time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion. He is also a three-time IWGP Tag Team Champion and two-time GHC Tag Team Champion.

Shingo Takagi

Shingo Takagi

Shin Takagi , known by his ring name Shingo Takagi, is a Japanese professional wrestler and former bodybuilder, currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the provisional KOPW 2023 champion in his second reign and is a member of the Los Ingobernables de Japón stable.

Minoru Suzuki

Minoru Suzuki

Minoru Suzuki is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as a freelancer. In NJPW, Suzuki is currently in his first reign as the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion with El Desperado and Ren Narita. He has also held the IWGP Intercontinental Championship as well as twice holding the NEVER Openweight Championship.

Chase Owens

Chase Owens

Chase Owens is an American professional wrestler currently signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of Bullet Club. He is a former IWGP Tag Team Champion with Bad Luck Fale and KOPW trophy winner.

Taichi (wrestler)

Taichi (wrestler)

Taichiro Maki is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Taichi , shortened from his previous ring name Taichi Ishikari . He is currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).

Source: "KOPW (professional wrestling championship)", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, February 24th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KOPW_(professional_wrestling_championship).

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Further Reading

Hiroshi Tanahashi

Minoru Suzuki

Tetsuya Naito

Kazuchika Okada

Toru Yano

Chaos (professional wrestling)

Sanada (wrestler)

Bad Luck Fale

Tomohiro Ishii

Evil (wrestler)

Los Ingobernables de Japon

Wrestle Kingdom 11

Sakura Genesis 2017

Jay White

Great-O-Khan

Wrestle Kingdom 14

Summer Struggle in Jingu

Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome
References
  1. ^ a b "Unique new title announced by NJPW's Kazuchika Okada; fans to vote for match stipulations". sportskeeda. July 28, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "SUMMER STRUGGLE in JINGU press conference". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. July 28, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c "KOPW 2020 title announced in special press conference". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. July 28, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c 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. ^ "2022.03.09 Hyper Battle '22 | New Japan Pro-Wrestling". NJPW. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  15. ^ Currier, Joseph (April 25, 2022). "KOPW 2022 title changes hands at NJPW Golden Fight Series". f4wonline.com. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
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