10 Weirdest Ways To Create A Wrestling Championship

6. They Never Dance With The Girl That Brought Them To The Party

The Japanese Heavyweight Championship was created by Rikidozan in 1954 after winning a single match so that, as the only star of his JWA promotion, he'd have gold to hold when he went to the ring. The championship was made defunct in 1958 when he won a proper wrestling title, the NWA International Heavyweight Championship. The title belt itself was kept and later repurposed by Genichiro Tenryu (protege of Giant Baba, protege of Rikidozan) as the J-1 Heavyweight Championship, and for the exact same reason: to have a title - any title - to hold on his way to the ring until he won a real one: in this case, the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He, too, would use the winning of a single match as justification to award himself this placeholder championship. In other words, the Japanese Heavyweight Championship and the J-1 Heavyweight Championship were just like girls getting strung along by the high school quarterback until he could persuade the head cheerleader to go to prom with him. Men can be so cruel.