10 Longest Reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champions Ever

2. Hiroshi Tanahashi - 404 Days

Hiroshi Tanahashi
NJPW

The 'Once in a Century Talent', the 'Ace of the Universe', 'Mr. Tokyo Dome', New Japan's version of John Cena, Hiroshi Tanahashi has been called a number of things throughout his career but the quality of his matches and the importance he has had to New Japan Pro Wrestling cannot be overstated. No man has won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship more times than Tana, and no man deserves that honour more than the (now former) Ace.

Tanahashi's longest reign clocked in at an astounding 404 days and was his fifth run with the top title in NJPW. Tanahashi won the strap by defeating Satoshi Kojima at Wrestle Kingdom V in 2011 and held it all the way until he was shockingly defeated by Okada at The New Beginning in February 2012. That match sparked off what many believe is the greatest rivalry in modern pro wrestling.

No man has defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship successfully on more occasions than Hiroshi Tanahashi. He has done so on 28 occasions, 11 of which came during his 404 day run as champion between 2011 and 2012. Kojima, Nagata (twice), Shinsuke Nakamura (twice), Charlie Haas, Hirooki Goto, Giant Bernard, Tetsuya Naito, Toru Yano, and Minoru Suzuki all fell by the wayside before the brash young Rainmaker stepped up to knock the champion off his perch.

Does Tanahashi have one more IWGP Heavyweight Championship reign in him? Never say never.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.