WEW Heavyweight Championship
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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. After FMW closed in 2002, the title became the WEW Heavyweight Championship in the World Entertainment Wrestling promotion, although carrying a new lineage.
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.
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 Round | Quarter-Finals | Semi-Finals | Final | |||||||||||
| July 25, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Tetsuhiro Kuroda | TKO | |||||||||||||
| August 28, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Kintaro Kanemura | 7:12 | |||||||||||||
| Tetsuhiro Kuroda | Pin | |||||||||||||
| July 25, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Manjimaru | 10:56 | |||||||||||||
| Manjimaru | Pin | |||||||||||||
| September 21, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Tomohiko Hashimoto | 4:33 | |||||||||||||
| Tetsuhiro Kuroda | Pin | |||||||||||||
| July 25, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Arashi | 4:20 | |||||||||||||
| Arashi | Pin | |||||||||||||
| August 28, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Shota | 0:44 | |||||||||||||
| Arashi | TKO | |||||||||||||
| July 25, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Kazushi Miyamoto | 11:27 | |||||||||||||
| Kazushi Miyamoto | Pin | |||||||||||||
| September 21, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Kotaro Nasu | 5:52 | |||||||||||||
| Tetsuhiro Kuroda | Sub | |||||||||||||
| July 25, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Takeshi Minamino | 13:57 | |||||||||||||
| Takeshi Minamino | Pin | |||||||||||||
| August 28, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Shoichi Ishimiya | 5:52 | |||||||||||||
| Takeshi Minamino | Pin | |||||||||||||
| July 25, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Masato Shibata | 5:42 | |||||||||||||
| Masato Shibata | DQ | |||||||||||||
| September 21, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Rikiya Fudo | 8:06 | |||||||||||||
| Takeshi Minamino | Pin | |||||||||||||
| July 25, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| HIROKI | 8:40 | |||||||||||||
| Hiroki | Pin | |||||||||||||
| August 28, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Daisaku Shimoda | 13:18 | |||||||||||||
| Hiroki | Pin | |||||||||||||
| July 25, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Keita Yano | 16:40 | |||||||||||||
| Keita Yano | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Kengo Nishimura | 11:19 | |||||||||||||
Reigns
As of April 17, 2026, 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
| No. | Overall reign number |
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Days recog. | Number of days held recognized by the promotion |
| † | Championship change is unrecognized by the promotion |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. | ||||
| Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) | |||||||||
| 1 | Kodo Fuyuki | September 24, 1999 | Making of a New Legend III | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 60 | 60 | As commissioner of FMW, Kodo Fuyuki created the WEW Singles Championship and declared himself the first champion. | |
| 2 | Masato Tanaka | November 23, 1999 | FMW 10th Anniversary Show | Yokohama, Japan | 1 | 43 | 43 | This was a Loser Leaves FMW 13,000 Volt Thunderbolt Cage Deathmatch. | |
| 3 | Tetsuhiro Kuroda | January 5, 2000 | New Year Generation | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 117 | 117 | ||
| — | Vacated | May 1, 2000 | — | — | — | — | — | On March 27, 2000, at Winning Road, Kuroda's second title defense against Kodo Fuyuki ended in a no contest decision after an intervention by Masato Tanaka and ECW. Dissatisfied with the decision, Kuroda decided to vacate the title on May 1. | |
| 4 | Kodo Fuyuki | May 5, 2000 | Golden Series: Backdraft | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 331 | 331 | Defeated Tetsuhiro Kuroda to win the vacant title. | |
| 5 | Tetsuhiro Kuroda | April 1, 2001 | Fighting Creation | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 51 | 51 | ||
| 6 | Hayabusa | May 22, 2001 | Neo FMW | Sapporo, Japan | 1 | 81 | 81 | This was a Barbed Wire Double Hell Landmine Deathmatch with Kodo Fuyuki as special guest referee. | |
| 7 | Kintaro Kanemura | August 11, 2001 | Super Dynamism: Back Draft 2001 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 25 | 148 | ||
| † | Hayabusa | September 5, 2001 | Flashover: That's Entertainment Wrestling Show #6 | Sapporo, Japan | 1 | 4 | — | Defeated Kintaro Kanemura, but FMW President Yoshida awarded the title back to Kanemura four days later, claiming Hayabusa used an illegal move to win. | |
| † | Kintaro Kanemura | September 9, 2001 | Flashover | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 119 | — | Kanemura was awarded the title back; FMW only recognizes Kanemura's uninterrupted reign as 7th champion. | |
| 8 | Kodo Fuyuki | January 6, 2002 | New Year Generation | Tokyo, Japan | 3 | 40 | 40 | ||
| — | Deactivated | February 15, 2002 | — | — | — | — | — | Title deactivated when FMW closed. |
WEW Heavyweight Championship
| No. | Overall reign number |
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| World Entertainment Wrestling (WEW) | ||||||||
| 1 | Kintaro Kanemura | August 23, 2002 | Fuyuki Produce Sports Variety Show: Episode 1 Reform | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 255 | Defeated Tetsuhiro Kuroda to revive the title as the WEW Heavyweight Championship. WEW and all subsequent promotions to feature the title consider this reign to be the first of a new lineage. | |
| — | Deactivated | May 5, 2003 | — | — | — | — | WEW promoter Kodo Fuyuki passed away on March 19, 2003. On May 5, the promotion closed and the title was deactivated. | |
| Apache Pro-Wrestling Army | ||||||||
| 2 | Togi Makabe | September 24, 2006 | Apache Pro 3rd Anniversary Show | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 273 | Defeated Kintaro Kanemura in a Street Fight Barbed Wire Barricade Chain Deathmatch to re-establish the title. | |
| 3 | Kintaro Kanemura | June 24, 2007 | Challenge | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 35 | This was a street fight. | |
| 4 | Toru Yano | July 29, 2007 | Lock Up | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 56 | This was a New Japan Pro-Wrestling taped show. | |
| 5 | Mammoth Sasaki | September 23, 2007 | Apache | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 293 | ||
| 6 | Tomohiro Ishii | July 12, 2008 | Lock Up | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 959 | This was a New Japan Pro-Wrestling taped show. | |
| 7 | Kintaro Kanemura | February 26, 2011 | House show | Tokyo, Japan | 3 | 90 | ||
| 8 | Arashi | May 27, 2011 | House show | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 335 | ||
| 9 | Tetsuhiro Kuroda | April 26, 2012 | House show | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 90 | ||
| — | Vacated | July 25, 2012 | — | — | — | — | Kuroda vacated the title to enter the "Takeover the Independent" tournament. | |
| 10 | Tetsuhiro Kuroda | September 21, 2012 | House show | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 345 | Defeated Takeshi Minamino in the final of the 16-man "Takeover the Independent" tournament to win the vacant title. | |
| 11 | Kintaro Kanemura | September 1, 2013 | House show | Tokyo, Japan | 4 | 805 | This was a street fight. | |
| 12 | Tomohiko Hashimoto | November 15, 2015 | House show | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 98 | ||
| 13 | Koji Kanemoto | February 21, 2016 | House show | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 308 | ||
| 14 | Kintaro Kanemura | December 25, 2016 | Final Gong | Tokyo, Japan | 5 | 2 | ||
| — | Deactivated | December 27, 2016 | — | — | — | — | The title was retired when Kanemura retired and Apache Army closed. | |
| Pro-Wrestling A-Team[ja] | ||||||||
| 15 | Daisaku Shimoda | April 13, 2018 | A-Team 1st Anniversary Show | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 58 | Defeated The Blue Shark to re-establish the title. | |
| 16 | Kim Duk | June 10, 2018 | House show | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 223 | ||
| 17 | Daisaku Shimoda | January 19, 2019 | House show | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 274 | ||
| 18 | Gajo | October 20, 2019 | House show | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 56 | ||
| 19 | Tomohiko Hashimoto | December 15, 2019 | House show | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 343 | ||
| 20 | Super Tiger (II) | November 22, 2020 | 2020 Final: Vol. 2 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 616 | ||
| 21 | Tomohiko Hashimoto | July 31, 2022 | House show | Tokyo, Japan | 3 | 84 | ||
| 22 | Dylan James | October 23, 2022 | House show | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 910 | ||
| 23 | Super Tiger (II) | April 20, 2025 | House show | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 362+ |
Combined reigns
As of April 17, 2026.
| † | Indicates the current champion |
| Rank | Champion | No. of reigns | Combined days | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual | Recognized by FMW | |||
| 1 | Kintaro Kanemura | 6 | 1,331 | 1,335 |
| 2 | Tomohiro Ishii | 1 | 959 | |
| 3 | Super Tiger (II) | 1 | 616 | |
| 4 | Tetsuhiro Kuroda | 4 | 603 | |
| 5 | Tomohiko Hashimoto | 3 | 525 | |
| 6 | Kodo Fuyuki | 3 | 431 | |
| 7 | Dylan James † | 1 | 1,272+ | |
| 8 | Arashi | 1 | 335 | |
| 9 | Daisaku Shimoda | 2 | 332 | |
| 10 | Koji Kanemoto | 1 | 308 | |
| 11 | Mammoth Sasaki | 1 | 293 | |
| 12 | Togi Makabe | 1 | 273 | |
| 13 | Kim Duk | 1 | 223 | |
| 14 | Hayabusa | 1 | 85 | 81 |
| 15 | Toru Yano | 1 | 56 | |
| Gajo | 1 | 56 | ||
| 17 | Masato Tanaka | 1 | 43 |
Footnotes
See also
- FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship
- NWA United National Heavyweight Championship
- World Heavyweight Championship (Zero1)
- Wrestle-1 Championship
- KO-D Openweight Championship
- BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship
- BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship
- Legend Championship