Hiroshi Tanahashi (26 years, 5 months and 10 days)
Youngest champion
Shinsuke Nakamura (24 years, 10 months and 11 days)
The IWGP U-30 Openweight Championship was a professional wrestling openweight championship in New Japan Pro-Wrestling for younger wrestlers who were under the age of 30. It was proposed as part of a tournament called the G2 U-30 Climax by Hiroshi Tanahashi, who ended up winning the tournament in April 2003. The U-30 Openweight Championship became officially recognized as an IWGP title in November 2004.
Only two champions between three reigns were ever crowned over its three year existence, the inaugural and two time champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Shinsuke Nakamura.
As his 30th birthday began to approach (which would then make him ineligible to be the champion), Tanahashi vacated the title on June 7, 2006, to focus on the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and soon afterwards the U-30 Openweight Championship was de-emphasized and soon deactivated.
Title history
Key
No.
Overall reign number
Reign
Reign number for the specific champion
Days
Number of days held
Defenses
Number of successful defenses
No.
Champion
Championship change
Reign statistics
Notes
Ref.
Date
Event
Location
Reign
Days
Defenses
1
Hiroshi Tanahashi
April 23, 2003
Strong Energy 2003
Hiroshima, Japan
1
622
12
Defeated Shinya Makabe (who ironically was already 30 years old) in the finals of the G2 U-30 Climax tournament to become inaugural champion at the age of 26.
^Kreikenbohm, Philip (April 23, 2003). "NJPW Strong Energy 2003 - Tag 5 - TV-Show @ Sun Plaza in Hiroshima, Japan". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
^Kreikenbohm, Philip (January 4, 2005). "NJPW Toukon Festival - Wrestling World 2005 - TV-Show @ Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
^Kreikenbohm, Philip (June 18, 2005). "NJPW Best Of The Super Junior XII - Tag 12 - TV-Show @ Kyoto City Gymnasium in Kyoto, Japan". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
External links
New Japan Pro-Wrestling: IWGP U-30 Open Weight Championship