10 Most Prestigious Wrestling Titles Of All Time
3. IWGP Heavyweight Title
New Japan Pro Wrestling enjoyed a not insignificant commercial advantage over All Japan Pro Wrestling in the nineties, but the Triple Crown Title matches were the critical darlings.
That's not to damn the NJPW heavyweight scene with faint praise; the Three Musketeers of Shinya Hashimoto, Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono wrestled an assembly of awesome matches together in their own right. That said, they were again outclassed by their peers following the creation of Pro Wrestling NOAH at the turn of the millennium.
The IWGP heavyweight title, like New Japan itself, emerged as the foremost puroresu title in history at the turn of this current decade. The company's commercial and critical second dawn, remarkably, remains in full swing from its 2011 origins.
The title has only been bestowed upon the absolute best, preserving its now-mythical aura in the process. It hasn't been used as vehicle to get somebody over. New Japan resisted the temptation to do that when they reset Tetsuya Naito's would-be ascent to the throne in 2014. He hadn't connected with fans in the manner he had prior to his knee injury. New Japan scrapped their grand plans for him because they felt he would tarnish its top prize by association.
Happily, Naito proved himself to the office after his 2015 heel turn, discovering the personality missing from his otherwise awe-inspiring ring game. Only then, as an accepted headliner, was he given a run with the title in 2016, the match quality of which is as intoxicating as it is restrained and cerebral.