10 Longest Reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champions Ever
1. Shinya Hashimoto - 489 Days
His name may not have as much international cache as his fellow Three Musketeers Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh, but Shinya Hashimoto is as dominant a competitor as New Japan Pro Wrestling has ever seen. Hashimoto is a three-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, no man can better his average of 350 days and seven defences as champion and no other champion has held the belt for more than a year on two separate occasions.
Hashimoto's longest title reign was also his last one, beginning with a win over Nobuhiko Takada in April 1996 and ending with a loss to Kensuke Sasaki in August 1997. 489 days passed in between title changes, making Hashimoto's final reign almost three months longer than the second lengthiest in title history.
Hashimoto defended the title on seven occasions over those 16 months, defeating Satoshi Kojima, Ric Flair, Riki Choshu, Kazuo Yamazaki, Naoya Ogawa, Keiji Mutoh, and Hiroyoshi Tenzan before falling to Sasuki at Final Power Hall in Yokohama. Hashimoto's second longest reign lasted 367 days and would have been good enough for sixth on this list had multiple reigns been allowed.
To put all of that into context, between May 1994 and August 1997, Shinya Hashimoto was IWGP Heavyweight Champion for all but one calendar year of that time. It is clear that NJPW values long title reigns a whole lot more than WWE does, and the results are clear. The title feels a whole lot more prestigious for it, and every single championship win comes with the feeling that it has been truly earned.
Even so the chances of someone passing Hashimoto's 489 days are slim to say the least. Still, Okada is only 29 years old...