Every Major Wrestling World Title - Ranked From Least To Most Prestigious
9. Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (All Japan Pro Wrestling)
The Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship literally, instantly multiplied in prestige when Jumbo Tsuruta unified the Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF), NWA United National and NWA International Heavyweight Championships in 1989. Throughout the 1990s, the man who supplanted him as Ace, Mitsuharu Misawa, elevated it to incredible heights; his stranglehold over the belts portrayed them as something very difficult to obtain. His in-ring genius reinforced that notion.
Misawa wore a stoic expression to reflect that inflexible hold. Completely unflappable, he boasted an immensely powerful, tiered repertoire calibrated to counter everything his opponents threw at him. Only in the rarest of circumstances did Misawa relinquish his crown(s); it required a career performance to best him, as demonstrated through three year-plus reigns out of five. When Misawa relinquished All Japan Pro Wrestling altogether, to form Pro Wrestling NOAH, everything diminished: television presence, crowd numbers, star talent, and, naturally the lustre of the prize. Great talents did go on to hold it in those wilderness years, but it wasn't the same. All Japan was barren.
The only echo back to its once-awesome aura is literal; Joe Doering's not-bad-at-all Stan Hansen tribute act endeared him to a diminished but loyal public, as the rest of his main event peers also earned plaudits over the last year or so for a much-improved in-ring output.