10 Longest Reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champions Ever

7. Antonio Inoki - 325 Days

Antonio Inoki IWGP Champion
njpwworld.com

Being the president of a promotion tends to do one a lot of good when it comes to holding championships, and for all the compliments and respect thrown his way, Antonio Inoki knows this better than most. Inoki founded New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1972 after he left Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance and he headlined the first show in March that year against Karl Gotch.

It would be another 15 years before Antonio Inoki became the first man to hold the IWGP Heavyweight Championship however, defeating Masa Saito in a tournament final on 12 June of that year. Inoki held the title for 325 days and defended it on four occasions, defeating Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow, Dick Murdoch, and Riki Choshu with his match against Steve Williams ending in a double count-out.

Inoki vacated the title after fracturing his left foot in May 1988 and if you're thinking that the IWGP title has been vacated a lot throughout its history you would be right. In fact the first three reigns all ended when the title was vacated, and a champion wasn't defeated with the belt on the line until May 1989, almost two years after its creation.

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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.