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List of NEVER Openweight Champions

Listing of professional wrestling champions for the NEVER Openweight Championship

List of NEVER Openweight Champions
Summary

Listing of professional wrestling champions for the NEVER Openweight Championship

The NEVER Openweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. NEVER is an acronym of the terms "New Blood", "Evolution", "Valiantly", "Eternal", and "Radical" and was a NJPW-promoted series of events, which featured younger up-and-coming talent and outside wrestlers not signed to the promotion. The project was officially announced on July 12, 2010,

As of , , there have been 50 reigns shared among 26 different wrestlers, with one vacancy. Masato Tanaka was the first champion in the title's history. He also holds the record for the longest reign in the title's history at days during his only reign. Tomohiro Ishii has the most reigns, with six. Michael Elgin's only reign of 8 days is the shortest in the title's history. Minoru Suzuki is the oldest champion when he won it at 52 years old while Will Ospreay is the youngest champion at 25 years old.

Aaron Wolf is the current champion, in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Evil at Wrestle Kingdom 20 in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2026.

Title history

Night 2 Night 1 Night 1

Combined reigns

As of , .

Five-time and longest combined reigning champion [[Shingo Takagi]].
Inaugural champion [[Masato Tanaka]] holds the record for longest reign at 314 days
Record six-time champion [[Tomohiro Ishii]].
†
Indicates the current champion
RankWrestlerNo. of
reignsCombined
defensesCombined
days
Kenta
†+

References

References

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  2. link. (July 12, 2010). [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]]
  3. "NEVER．1". [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]].
  4. link. [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]]
  5. "Destruction". [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]].
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  7. "Kizuna Road 2014". [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]].
  8. "King of Pro-Wrestling". [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]].
  9. link. [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]]
  10. link. (February 14, 2015). [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]]
  11. "The New Beginning in Sendai". [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]].
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  13. "King of Pro-Wrestling". [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]].
  14. link. [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]]
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  16. "Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall". [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]].
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  19. link. [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]]
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  22. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (June 9, 2018). "NJPW Dominion 6.9 In Osaka-Jo Hall". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  23. "30分越えの大激戦！ 後藤がエルガンに逆転勝利で、Never無差別級王座を奪還!!【6.17後楽園結果】".
  24. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (September 17, 2018). "NJPW Destruction In Beppu 2018". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  25. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (November 3, 2018). "NJPW Power Struggle 2018 ~ Super Junior Tag League 2018". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  26. "2018.12.09 WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2018 Night17 | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING".
  27. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (January 4, 2019). "NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 In Tokyo Dome". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  28. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (April 6, 2019). "ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  29. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (May 3, 2019). "NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2019 - Tag 1". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  30. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (June 9, 2019). "NJPW Dominion 6.9 In Osaka-Jo Hall". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  31. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (August 31, 2019). "NJPW Royal Quest". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  32. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (January 5, 2020). "NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 In Tokyo Dome - Tag 2". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  33. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (February 1, 2020). "NJPW The New Beginning In Sapporo 2020 - Tag 1". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  34. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (August 29, 2020). "NJPW Summer Struggle in Jingu". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  35. NJPW. "2020.08.29 D4DJ Groovy Mix Presents SUMMER STRUGGLE in JINGU {{!}} NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING".
  36. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (November 7, 2020). "NJPW Power Struggle 2020". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  37. "2020.11.07 POWER STRUGGLE {{!}} NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]].
  38. NJPW. "2021.01.30 THE NEW BEGINNING in NAGOYA {{!}} NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING".
  39. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (January 30, 2021). "NJPW The New Beginning In Nagoya - TV-Show @ Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  40. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (May 3, 2021). "NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2021 - Night 1 - TV-Show @ Fukuoka Convention Center in Fukuoka, Japan". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  41. Klyn, Parker. (November 13, 2021). "NJPW Battle In The Valley Live Results: NEVER Title Match". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online.
  42. Fritts, Chick. (January 4, 2022). "NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night One Live Results: Shingo Vs. Okada". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online.
  43. Kreikenbohm, Philip. (May 1, 2022). "NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2022 - TV-Show @ Fukuoka Dome in Fukuoka, Japan". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database.
  44. Fritts, Chick. (June 12, 2022). "NJPW Dominion live results: Six title matches, AEW interim World title eliminator Kazuchika Okada defends the IWGP title against Jay White in the main event, plus the AEW interim World title eliminator continues.". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online.
  45. Powell, Jason. (January 4, 2023). "NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 results: Powell's live report on Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega for the IWGP U.S. Championship, Kairi vs. Tam Nakano for the IWGP Women's Title, Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Desperado vs. Master Wato for the IWGP Jr. Hvt. Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net.
  46. Vetter, Chris. (May 3, 2023). "5/3 NJPW "Wrestling Dontaku 2023" results: Vetter's review of Sanada vs. Hiromu Takahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Tama Tonga vs. David Finlay for the Never Openweight Title Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, and Ren Narita vs. Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hiroshi Tanahashi for the Never Openweight Six-Man Titles, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jeff Cobb for the NJPW TV Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net.
  47. "DESTRUCTION in RYOGOKU MON. OCTOBER. 9. 2023". [[NJPW]].
  48. Rose, Bryan. (October 29, 2023). "Shingo Takagi wins NEVER Openweight title at NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed Notes from Saturday's NJPW event in Las Vegas.". f4wonline.com.
  49. Powell, Jason. (January 4, 2024). "NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 results: Powell's live review of Sanada vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP World Hvt. Championship, Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson, Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley vs. David Finlay for the IWGP Global Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net.
  50. Renner, Ethan. (January 20, 2024). "New champions crowned at NJPW The New Beginning in Nagoya Titles changed hands on Saturday's tour opener.". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online.
  51. Fritts, Chick. (April 6, 2024). "NJPW Sakura Genesis live results: Naito vs. Tsuji IWGP World title match". [[Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
  52. Fritts, Chick. (June 15, 2024). "New Japan Soul live results: IWGP Junior title steel cage match". [[Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online]].
  53. Michaels, Corey. (September 29, 2024). "NJPW Destruction in Kobe live results: Tetsuya Naito vs. Great-O-Khan". [[Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online]].
  54. Lambert, Jeremy. (January 4, 2025). "New NEVER Openweight Champion Crowned At NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19". [[Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online]].
  55. Michaels, Corey. (June 15, 2025). "NJPW Dominion live results: Goto vs. Shingo IWGP title match". [[Wrestling Observer Newsletter]].
  56. Thompson, Andrew. (October 13, 2025). "EVIL Becomes Four-Time NEVER Openweight Champion At NJPW King Of Pro-Wrestling". Fightful.
  57. Michaels, Corey. (January 3, 2026). "NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 live results: Hiroshi Tanahashi’s final match". [[Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online]].
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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