IWGP Heavyweight Championship (original version)

The original version of IWGP Heavyweight Championship (IWGPヘビー級王座, IWGP hebī-kyū ōza) was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) professional wrestling promotion. "IWGP" is the initialism of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix.

This article is about the original IWGP Heavyweight Championship. For other versions, see IWGP Heavyweight Championship (disambiguation).
IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Details
PromotionNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)
Date establishedJune 2, 1983
Date retiredMay 11, 1987
Other name(s)
IWGP Championship
Statistics
First champion(s)Hulk Hogan
Final champion(s)Antonio Inoki
Most reignsAntonio Inoki
(2 reigns)
Longest reignAntonio Inoki
(701 days)
Shortest reignAntonio Inoki
(326 days)
Oldest championAntonio Inoki
(43 years, 3 months)
Youngest championHulk Hogan
(29 years, 9 months)

The title was introduced in 1983 for the winner of the IWGP League 1983. Subsequently, the championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year. The 1987–2021 IWGP Heavyweight Championship debuted in 1987 (replacing this version) and was defended regularly; the original IWGP belt was kept in use until 1997.

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