Ranking All Non-Japanese IWGP Heavyweight Champions
The IWGP Heavyweight Championship is the most prestigious title in all of Japan. While Shingo Takagi is the current champion, the belt has been held by numerous Japanese superstars in the past. Kazhuchika Okada holds the record for the most days as champion whereas Hiroshi Tanahashi has the most number of regions at eight.
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Foreigners becoming world champions in Japan is a rare phenomenon and there have been only 10 instances of 'gaijin' wrestlers holding the gold. That list includes famous names like Brock Lesnar and AJ Styles while also having surprising inclusions like Salman Hashimikov and Scott Norton. Additionally, Kurt Angle and Hulk Hogan have also been champions but are not recognized by NJPW as being part of the original lineage.
11 Salman Hashimikov
A virtual unknown among current pro-wrestling fans, Salman Hashimikov is a former World and European Champion in freestyle wrestling. He had a five-year stint at New Japan Pro Wrestling and trained under NJPW founder Antonio Inoki.
Inoki was a fan of 'shoot style' professional wrestlers and was captivated by Hashimikov's abilities. At a time when the Soviet Union was still a thing, Hashimikov became the first true 'Russian' in the business. In 1989, Hashimikov beat Vader to become the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, a reign that lasted just 48 days.
He lost the belt to Riki Choshu in his first title defense and later had his only taste of a major North American wrestling event when he participated at WCW's Starrcade in 1990.
10 Bob Sapp
Another recipient of Antonio Inkoi's fascination with legitimate tough guys, Bob Sapp was a big draw in the Japanese mixed martial arts scene, becoming a star in the K-1 promotion. This led to Inoki inviting him to NJPW as part of his MMA contingent. Sapp eventually won the IWGP World Title from the legendary Kensuke Sasaki in 2004.
Sapp still holds the record for being the only African-American to hold the title and even retained the gold against a young Shinsuke Nakamura. However, NJPW booker Inoki's interest in Sapp was dependent on his K-1 performances and after he was decisively beaten by Kazukyuki Fujita in an MMA fight, the IWGP title was vacated.
9 Hulk Hogan
It is surprising to note that Hulk Hogan, not Antonio Inoki who was the first World Champion in NJPW. The first version of the IWGP World Championship was created to be awarded to the winner of the IWGP League, a 10-man round-robin tournament that evolved into the current G1 Climax.
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The 1983 IWGP League had participants from promotions all over the world and included the likes of Andre the Giant and Mexican legend El Canek, in addition to Hogan and Inoki. Hogan won the title which was to be defended only a year later against the winner of the 1984 version of the IWGP League.
Inoki won the League the next year and beat Hogan for the belt. NJPW does not recognize this championship as part of the lineage of the current World Title, but it is definitely part of Hogan's championship collection.
8 Kurt Angle
Technically, Kurt Angle was never the IWGP Heavyweight Champion - but he did win the physical belt. In 2006, NJPW stripped Champion Brock Lesnar of the IWGP Heavyweight Title after he failed to show up for title defenses.
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However, things got murkier when NJPW founder Antonio Inoki left the promotion and formed the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF). IGF continued to recognize Lesnar as the IWGP Champion and he defended the title against TNA World Champion Kurt Angle on the very first IGF show.
Angle beat Lesnar for the belt and defended the title on TNA television against the likes of Samoa Joe. NJPW came to terms with Angle's reign, but the belt was renamed the IWGP 3rd Belt Championship. After successfully defending the belt against Yuji Nagata at WrestleKingdom 2, Angle lost the belt to the NJPW recognized World Champion Shinsuke Nakamura in a unification match.
7 Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar's professional career was in limbo in 2005 as he failed to cement a spot in the NFL due to injury after leaving the WWE at the height of his powers. After rejecting a return to the WWE, Lesnar joined NJPW and won the IWGP Heavyweight Title in his very first match.
WWE unsuccessfully sued to prevent Lesnar from wrestling for another promotion, but The Beast went on to retain his title against the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura, Albert, and Akebono in Japan, raising the profile of the IWGP Championship.
However, he refused to return to NJPW in 2007 and the promotion stripped Lesnar of the championship. Lesnar continued to hold the physical belt before losing it to Kurt Angle at an IGF show.
6 Scott Norton
During the mid-'90s, Scott Norton split his time between WCW and NJPW, becoming a part of the nWo and nWo Japan. Despite being a mid-carder in WCW, Norton was treated as the top foreign heel in Japan and captured the IWGP Heavyweight Championship by defeating Yuji Nagata.
Norton even appeared on WCW TV with the IWGP Championship, but it did nothing to elevate his status in the US. He eventually decided to focus solely on NJPW and, in 2001, won the IWGP Title for a second time, becoming one of the few foreign wrestlers to have multiple reigns with the belt.
5 Will Ospreay
Will Ospreay has had stints in ROH and various independent promotions, but he recently relocated to Japan to make NJPW his priority. Ospreay joined Kazhuchika Okada's Chaos stable in 2016 and became a star in the junior heavyweight division before making the jump to the heavyweight division.
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He shockingly beat Kota Ibushi to win the IWGP World Title earlier this year and successfully retained the gold against Shingo Takagi. However, a neck injury sidelined Ospreay at the worst possible time, forcing him to relinquish the title a few months back. Ospreay may have spent just 46 days as the champ, but expect him to remain a top player in NJPW once he is back.
4 Jay White
The first-ever New Japan Grandslam Champion, New Zealander Jay White has captured all available singles titles in NJPW. White is the current leader of the Bullet Club and is expected to be on the world title hunt for many years to come.
White beat Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the world title in 2019 but lost the belt in his very first title defense to Kazhuchika Okada. White has beaten every one of note in NJPW and while he hasn't been able to regain the world title, he is the current NEVER Open Heavyweight Champion. He hasn't yet won a title at the company's premier event - WrestleKingdom, but that might change in the coming years.
3 AJ Styles
After leaving TNA in 2014, AJ Styles signed a contract with NJPW while still working on the American independent circuit. During his two years in Japan, Styles won the IWGP Heavyweight Title twice, beating the two franchise players in NJPW - Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi. In fact, Styles won the IWGP Title in his very first NJPW match after signing a full contract.
AJ also became the leader of the Bullet Club and remained so until his decision to sign with the WWE became public knowledge hours after WrestleKingdom 10 in 2016. The following night, teammate Kenny Omega delivered a One-Winged Angel to Styles and took over the leadership of the faction, ushering in a new era.
2 Kenny Omega
A naturalized Japanese citizen, Kenny Omega's stint as the leader of the Bullet Club revitalized interest in NJPW outside Japan. After great angles with the likes of Finn Balor, Ryusuke Taguchi, Chris Jericho, and especially Kota Ibushi and Kazuchika Okada, Omega did not even need the IWGP Heavyweight Title to cement his legacy in the country.
However, he did win the big one at the 2018 Dominion event where he finally beat Okada in what has become the pre-eminent wrestling rivalry of the last decade. Omega successfully defended the title against the likes of Ibushi, Cody, and Ishi before losing the belt to another great rival, Hiroshi Tanahashi at WrestleKingdom 13.
1 Big Van Vader
The only legitimate rival to Kenny Omega's claim as the 'greatest foreign wrestler in NJPW history, Big Van Vader terrorized opponents during the late '80s and the early '90s in Japan. In 1987, The superheavyweight became one of the few foreigners to defeat NJPW founder Antonio Inoki and the outcome of the match resulted in a riot at the Sumo Hall which saw NJPW getting banned from holding events there for two years.
Vader holds many records in NJPW - he was the first foreigner to become the official IWGP Heavyweight Champion and is the only foreigner to have won the title on three separate occasions. Not to mention that infamous match against Stan Hansen where Vader finished the contest despite having his eye pop out of its socket.
