Strong Women's Championship

The Strong Women's Championship (Japanese: STRONG女子王座, Hepburn: STRONG Joshi Ōza) is a women's professional wrestling world championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. The creation of the championship was announced by NJPW on April 27, 2023.[1] The title is exclusively featured on NJPW's American internet television program NJPW Strong Live, which features a distinct roster of American and other foreign wrestlers. The inaugural champion was Willow Nightingale, who defeated Mercedes Moné in a tournament final at Resurgence to win the championship. The current champion is Giulia who defeated Nightingale at the second night of NJPW Independence Day.[2]

Strong Women's Championship
The Strong Women's Championship belt
Details
PromotionNew Japan Pro-Wrestling
Date establishedApril 27, 2023[1]
Current champion(s)Giulia
Date wonJuly 5, 2023[2]
Other name(s)
  • NJPW Strong Women's Championship
Statistics
First champion(s)Willow Nightingale
Longest reignGiulia
(112+ days)
Shortest reignWillow Nightingale
(45 days)
Oldest championGiulia
(29 years, 134 days)
Youngest championWillow Nightingale
(29 years, 116 days)

History

In 2022, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) established a women's division. On July 29 of that year, the promotion created the IWGP Women's Championship, the first women's title in the company's history,[3][4] which was first held by Kairi.[5] The championship was created to be the top title of NJPW's women's division and was intended to be defended on NJPW events in Japan and on events promoted by NJPW's Japanese sister company World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom), a joshi puroresu promotion.

The inaugural Strong Women's Champion Willow Nightingale

On April 27, 2023, NJPW announced the creation of the Strong Women's Championship, the top women's championship of the promotion's American subsidiary Strong Live. The promotion additionally announced a four-woman single-elimination tournament to determine the inaugural champion to be held at Resurgence on May 21, in Long Beach, California.[1] The tournament will feature representatives from NJPW's partners All Elite Wrestling (AEW), Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), and Stardom.[1] The tournament participants are the former IWGP Women's Champion Mercedes Moné (NJPW), Momo Kohgo (Stardom), Stephanie Vaquer (CMLL), and Willow Nightingale (AEW).[1] At Resurgence, Nightingale became the inaugural champion by defeating Moné in the finals.[6]

Inaugural tournament
Semi-finals
Resurgence
(May 21) 		Finals
Resurgence
(May 21)
      
Mercedes Moné Pin
Stephanie Vaquer 11:55
Mercedes Moné 9:34
Willow Nightingale Pin
Momo Kohgo Pin
Willow Nightingale 9:37

The first defense of the title was Nightingale's successful defence against Emi Sakura on the 2nd June 2023 edition of AEW Rampage (taped on the May 31, 2023).[7]

Reigns

As of October 25, 2023, there have been two reigns, as Giulia and Willow Nightingale are the only two champions. Nightingale became the inaugural champion by defeating Mercedes Moné in the finals of a four-woman single-elimination tournament at Resurgence on May 21, 2023, at Long Beach, California. Giulia then defeated Nightingale at the second night of NJPW Independence Day to end her reign. Giulia has the longest reign at 112+ days, while Nightingale has the shortest at 45 days.

Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
Defenses Number of successful defenses
+ Current reign is changing daily
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign DaysDefenses
1 Willow Nightingale May 21, 2023 Resurgence Long Beach, CA 1 452 Defeated Mercedes Moné in the finals of a four-woman single-elimination tournament to become the inaugural champion. [6]
2 Giulia July 5, 2023 NJPW Independence Day
Night 2		 Tokyo, Japan 1 112+4 [2]

References
  1. "AEW, CMLL, STARDOM, NJPW in one night tournament for STRONG Women's gold! 【NJoA】". New Japan Pro Wrestling. April 28, 2023. Archived from the original on May 5, 2023. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  2. Lambert, Jeremy (July 5, 2023). "Giulia Wins NJPW Strong Women's Title At NJPW Strong Independence Day". Fightful. Archived from the original on July 5, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  3. Renner, Ethan (July 29, 2022). "NJPW & STARDOM creating IWGP Women's Championship The title will primarily be defended on NJPW events". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  4. Solowrestling (2021-04-03). "NJPW anuncia la creación del Campeonato STRONG Openweight". solowrestling.mundodeportivo.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved 2021-04-24.
  5. Rose, Bryan (November 20, 2022). "First IWGP Women's Champion crowned at NJPW/Stardom Historic X-Over". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  6. Fritts, Chris (May 21, 2023). "NJPW Resurgence live results: Strong Women's title tournament Will Ospreay vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi is also set for the show". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  7. Powell, Jason (June 2, 2023). "AEW Rampage results (6/2): Powell's review of Championship Friday with El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Komander vs. Dralistico for the AAA Mega Championship, Willow Nightingale vs. Emi Sakura for the NJPW Strong Women's Title, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Action Andretti for the NJPW TV Title, Katsuyori Shibata vs. Lee Moriarty for the ROH Pure Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on June 9, 2023. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
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