WEW_World_Heavyweight_Championship

WEW Heavyweight Championship

WEW Heavyweight Championship

Professional wrestling championship

Not to be confused with WWE Championship or WLW Heavyweight Championship.

The WEW Heavyweight Championship (Japanese: WEWヘビー級王座, Hepburn: WEW Hebī-kyū Ōza) was a professional wrestling championship, originally created in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) as the WEW Singles Championship (WEWシングル王座, WEW Shinguru Ōza), later being renamed as the WEW World Heavyweight Championship.[1][2] After FMW closed in 2002, the title became the WEW Heavyweight Championship in the World Entertainment Wrestling promotion, although carrying a new lineage.

Quick Facts Details, Promotion ...

History

In May 1995, Atsushi Onita went into retirement and sold Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling to ring announcer Shoichi Arai. Under Arai, the company underwent changes that would phase out the deathmatch style that popularized FMW in the early 90s. Arai enlisted Kodo Fuyuki to bring in a more "sports entertainment" look and feel for the promotion. In 1999, this resulted in the creation of the World Entertainment Wrestling (WEW) governing body for new championship titles. Fuyuki had originally intended to rename the entire promotion to complete the reorientation from hardcore (FMW) to entertainment wrestling (WEW), but this plan was stopped by Arai. Eventually, both sides agreed on a new set of titles to replace the old FMW titles. As a result, from 1999 until the end of FMW in 2002, the WEW Singles Championship was the promotion's main singles title.

Later, Fuyuki founded his own promotion (also called World Entertainment Wrestling) where the title was taken over, renamed WEW Heavyweight Championship and given a new lineage. The last champion for a long time was Kintaro Kanemura, who won the title in August 2002. When WEW folded in May 2003, the title was also declared vacant, before being reactivated in September 2006 at Kanemura's Apache Pro-Wrestling Army.[3]

In 2018, two years after Apache Army closed its doors, the title was revived in Pro-Wrestling A-Team, an offshoot founded by Tomohiko Hashimoto.

Takeover the Independent Tournament

The "Takeover the Independent Tournament" was a sixteen-man single-elimination tournament held by Apache Army between July 25, 2012 and September 21, 2012.

 
First RoundQuarter-FinalsSemi-FinalsFinal
 
              
 
July 25, 2012
 
 
Tetsuhiro KurodaTKO
 
August 28, 2012
 
Kintaro Kanemura7:12
 
Tetsuhiro KurodaPin
 
July 25, 2012
 
Manjimaru10:56
 
ManjimaruPin
 
September 21, 2012
 
Tomohiko Hashimoto4:33
 
Tetsuhiro KurodaPin
 
July 25, 2012
 
Arashi4:20
 
ArashiPin
 
August 28, 2012
 
Shota0:44
 
ArashiTKO
 
July 25, 2012
 
Kazushi Miyamoto11:27
 
Kazushi MiyamotoPin
 
September 21, 2012
 
Kotaro Nasu5:52
 
Tetsuhiro KurodaSub
 
July 25, 2012
 
Takeshi Minamino13:57
 
Takeshi MinaminoPin
 
August 28, 2012
 
Shoichi Ishimiya5:52
 
Takeshi MinaminoPin
 
July 25, 2012
 
Masato Shibata5:42
 
Masato ShibataDQ
 
September 21, 2012
 
Rikiya Fudo8:06
 
Takeshi MinaminoPin
 
July 25, 2012
 
HIROKI8:40
 
HirokiPin
 
August 28, 2012
 
Daisaku Shimoda13:18
 
Hiroki[lower-alpha 1]Pin
 
July 25, 2012
 
Keita Yano16:40
 
Keita YanoPin
 
 
Kengo Nishimura11:19
 

Reigns

Current Champion Dylan James

As of May 23, 2024, between the two lineages, there have been 30 recognized reigns between 17 champions and two vacancies (there are 2 reigns that are not recognized by FMW). Kodo Fuyuki was the inaugural WEW Singles Champion; Kintaro Kanemura was the inaugural WEW Heavyweight Champion. Kanemura has the most reigns at six and has the longest combined reign at 1,331 days (1,335 days recognized by FMW). He also has the shortest reign at 2 days. Tomohiro Ishii's reign is the longest at 959 days. Kim Duk is the oldest champion when he won it at 70 years old, while Masato Tanaka is the youngest champion at 26 years old.

WEW Singles Championship

More information No., Reign ...
More information No., Champion ...

WEW Heavyweight Championship

More information No., Reign ...
More information No., Champion ...

Combined reigns

As of May 23, 2024.

More information † ...
More information Rank, Champion ...

Footnotes

  1. Hiroki's Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship was also on the line in the match.

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "WEW Single Title [FMW] (Japan)". Wrestling-Titles.com.
  2. [2]
    "WEW Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com.
  3. [3]
    "WEW Heavyweight/Singles Title". purolove.com (in German). Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  4. [4]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (November 23, 1999). "FMW 10th Anniversary Show Entertainment Wrestling Special Live". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  5. [5]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (January 5, 2000). "FMW New Year Generation 2000 - Day 1". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  6. [6]
    "WEW Championship (FMW)" WEW選手権 (FMW). wrestling-titles.com (in Japanese). Puroresu Dojo. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  7. [7]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (May 5, 2000). "FMW Golden Series 2000 - Day 8: Backdraft". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  8. [8]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (April 1, 2001). "FMW Fighting Creation 2001 - Day 2". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  9. [9]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (May 22, 2001). "FMW Neo FMW 2001 - Day 2". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  10. [10]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (August 11, 2001). "FMW Super Dynamism 2001 - Day 6". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  11. [11]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (January 6, 2002). "FMW Pay Per View". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  12. [12]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (August 23, 2002). "WEW - TV-Show @ Differ Ariake in Tokyo, Japan". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  13. [13]
    "WEW Heavyweight Championship" WEWヘビー級選手権. wrestling-titles.com (in Japanese). Puroresu Dojo. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  14. [14]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (September 24, 2006). "Apache Pro 3rd Anniversary". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  15. [15]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (June 24, 2007). "Apache Pro Challenge". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  16. [16]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (July 29, 2007). "NJPW Lock Up". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  17. [17]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (September 23, 2007). "Apache Pro Apache". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  18. [18]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (July 12, 2008). "Lock Up - TV-Show @ Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, Japan". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  19. [19]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (February 26, 2011). "Apache Pro - Event @ Shin-Kiba 1st RING in Tokyo, Japan". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  20. [20]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (May 27, 2011). "Apache Pro - Event @ Shin-Kiba 1st RING in Tokyo, Japan". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  21. [21]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (April 26, 2012). "Tetsuhiro Kuroda defeated Arashi". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  22. [22]
    Kreikenbohm, Philip (September 21, 2012). "Apache Pro". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  23. [23]
    "WEW Heavyweight Championship" WEWヘビー級選手権. Syu-Kaku Kombu (in Japanese). October 24, 2022. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  24. [24]
    Saalbach, Axel. "Apache Pro @ Tokyo". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  25. [25]
    Saalbach, Axel. "Apache Pro @ Osaka". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  26. [26]
    Saalbach, Axel. "Apache Pro @ Osaka". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  27. [27]
    Saalbach, Axel. "Apache Pro Final Show ~ Final Gong". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  28. [28]
    Saalbach, Axel. "A-Team 1st Anniversary Show". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  29. [29]
    Saalbach, Axel. "A-Team @ Tokyo". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  30. [30]
    Saalbach, Axel. "A-Team @ Tokyo". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  31. [31]
    Saalbach, Axel. "A-Team @ Tokyo". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  32. [32]
    Saalbach, Axel. "A-Team @ Tokyo". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  33. [33]
    Saalbach, Axel. "A-Team 2020 Final ~ Vol. 2". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  34. [34]
    Saalbach, Axel. "A-Team @ Tokyo". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  35. [35]
    Saalbach, Axel. "A-Team @ Tokyo". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article WEW_World_Heavyweight_Championship, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.