10 Longest Reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champions Ever

5. Kazuchika Okada - 391 Days

Wrestle Kingdom Kazuchika Okada
njpwworld.com

Sometimes it feels as though Kazuchika Okada is a true veteran who has been around for ages, but then reality comes crashing in and you are reminded of the current IWGP Heavyweight Champion is still only 29 years old. Okada is a four-time champion and his current reign is already over the 245 day mark with no end in sight, at least until Kenny Omega can hit that One Winged Angel.

Okada's longest reign to date clocks in at a mammoth 391 days, lasting from April 2013 all the way until May 2014 and bookended by reigns by Hiroshi Tanahashi and AJ Styles. Okada won the 2014 New Japan Cup to earn the shot at Tanahashi and defended the title on an impressive eight occasions before falling to the Bullet Club numbers game at Wrestling Dontaku 2014.

With the title around his waist, Okada defeated Minoru Suzuki, Prince Devitt, Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima, Tanahashi, Karl Anderson, Tetsuya Naito, and Hirooki Goto. It seemed as though he was going to hold the title forever until AJ mimicked Lesnar in winning the title in his first match in the company. More than two years would pass before Okada got his hands on the title again, but since 5 July 2015, The Rainmaker has held the strap for all but 70 days of that time.

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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.