BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship

The BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship (BJW認定デスマッチヘビー級王座, BJW nintei desumacchi hebī-kyū ōza) is the top title contested for in the Japanese promotion Big Japan Pro Wrestling. As its name suggests, it is exclusively defended in deathmatches. It was first created in 1998 when The Great Pogo defeated Mitsuhiro Matsunaga in a tournament final.[1] There have been a total of 20 recognized champions who have had a combined 42 official reigns. The current champion is Takumi who is in his first reign.

BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship
Ryuji Ito with the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship belt in August 2015
Details
PromotionBig Japan Pro Wrestling
Date establishedAugust 9, 1998
Current champion(s)Takumi Tsukamoto
Date wonJanuary 2, 2021

Inaugural tournament

A single elimination tournament was set up to crown the inaugural champion which took place between June 8 and August 9, 1998.[2]

Quarterfinals Semifinals Final
         
Mitsuhiro Matsunaga Pin
Jason the Terrible 14:29
Mitsuhiro Matsunaga Pin
Shadow Winger 10:21
Shadow Winger Pin
Shoji Nakamaki 7:29
Mitsuhiro Matsunaga Pin
The Great Pogo 8:36
The Great Pogo Pin
Kung Fu Lee 9:23
The Great Pogo Pin
Shadow WX 15:02
Shadow WX Pin
Tomoaki Honma 16:22

Title history
Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
Defenses Number of successful defenses
(NLT) Championship change took place "no later than" the date listed
+ Current reign is changing daily
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign DaysDefenses
1 The Great Pogo August 9, 1998 Big Japan Fighter Declaration 1998 Kawasaki, Japan 1 140 Defeated Mitsuhiro Matsunaga in a glass and fire coffin cremation deathmatch tournament final. [1]
2 Mitsuhiro Matsunaga August 23, 1998 Big Japan Fighter Declaration 1998 Osaka, Japan 1 310 This was a glass and fire coffin cremation deathmatch. [1]
3 Shadow WX September 23, 1998 BJ Hard Core Tokyo, Japan 1 1091 This was a 3-way board alligator deathmatch. [1]
4 Abdullah the Butcher January 10, 1999 House show Fukuoka, Japan 1 490 This was a lumberjack deathmatch. [1]
5 Shadow WX February 28, 1999 House show Tokyo, Japan 2 911 This was a barbed wire board deathmatch. [1]
6 Ryuji Yamakawa May 30, 1999 House show Osaka, Japan 1 721 This was a no rope barbed wire death pallet coffin and fire deathmatch. [1]
7 Shadow WX August 10, 1999 House show Osaka, Japan 3 1162 This was a no rope barbed wire fire deathmatch. [1]
8 Ryuji Yamakawa December 4, 1999 House show Yokohama, Japan 2 290 This was a four corner lighttubes board deathmatch. [1]
9 Tomoaki Honma January 2, 2000 New Year Great Series 2000 Tokyo, Japan 1 1821 This was a 5-inch spike nail and barbed wire double board quarterfinal deathmatch in the BJ Grand Prix 2000 tournament. [3]
10 Zandig July 2, 2000 BJ Hardcore Series II 2000 Tokyo, Japan 1 1442 This was a lemon, salt and mustard deathmatch. [4]
11 Tomoaki Honma November 23, 2000 Wonder BJ 2000 Series Yokohama, Japan 2 [lower-alpha 1]2 This was a lemon, salt and mustard deathmatch. [5]
— Vacated February 2001 (NLT) — — — —— Due to continued no-shows, Honma was stripped of the title before he left the company. [1]
12 Zandig May 4, 2001 North Wave 2001 Sapporo, Japan 2 1071 Defeated Kintaro Kanemura in a CZW Caribbean-style barbed wire, lighttubes, lighttubes board and barbed wire chess board deathmatch to win the vacant title. [1][6]
13 Mitsuhiro Matsunaga August 19, 2001 Universe 2001 Yokohama, Japan 2 1050 This was a 200 lighttubes and thumbtack and glass board deathmatch. [7]
14 Zandig December 2, 2001 Ante-Up 2001 Yokohama, Japan 3 [lower-alpha 2]0 This was an exploding glass, lighttubes and thumbtacks deathmatch. [8]
— Vacated 2002 (NLT) — — — —— When Combat Zone Wrestling and BJW parted ways, Zandig left the company with the title belt. The belt was used in CZW as the new CZW Deathmatch Championship belt. BJW vacated the title in 2002. In 2003, the title belt was returned to Japan and a tournament was held to crown a new champion. [1][9]
15 Kintaro Kanemura March 30, 2003 Harder Than Hardcore IV Yokohama, Japan 1 1471 Defeated Shadow WX in a lighttubes and glass deathmatch to win the vacant title. [10]
16 Ryuji Ito August 24, 2003 HTH5 Series 2003 Yokohama, Japan 1 8506 This was a steel cage match. [11]
17 Abdullah Kobayashi December 21, 2005 House show Yokohama, Japan 1 1000 This was a scaffold match. [1]
18 Takashi Sasaki March 31, 2006 House show Tokyo, Japan 1 1631 This was a lighttubes and bed of nails deathmatch. [1]
19 Ryuji Ito September 10, 2006 House show Yokohama, Japan 2 40 This was a lighttubes, bunkhouse, double hell, super high ladder, and barbed wire Hell deathmatch. [1]
— Vacated September 14, 2006 — — — —— Vacated due to a wrist injury. [1]
20 Takashi Sasaki December 3, 2006 House show Yokohama, Japan 2 2662 Defeated "Black Angel" Jaki Numazawa in a lighttubes shrine deathmatch to win the vacant title. [1]
21 "Black Angel" Jaki Numazawa August 26, 2007 Pro-Wrestling Summit in Ariake Tokyo, Japan 1 1101 [12]
22 Ryuji Ito December 14, 2007 House show Yokohama, Japan 3 1421 This was a four corner cross of D match. [1]
23 Shadow WX May 4, 2008 Katsura Special 14 Koshigaya, Japan 4 2293 This was a fluorescent lighttube boards and weapons deathmatch. [1]
24 Yuko Miyamoto December 19, 2008 House show Yokohama, Japan 1 5014 [1]
25 Ryuji Ito May 4, 2010 BJW 15th Anniversary Show Yokohama, Japan 4 5936 This was a 200 fluorescent lighttubes cage deathmatch. [1]
26 Abdullah Kobayashi December 18, 2011 Big Japan Death Vegas 2011 Yokohama, Japan 2 3817 This was a Game of Death deathmatch. [1]
27 Shuji Ishikawa January 2, 2013 House show Tokyo, Japan 1 3064 This was a glass board and new year deathmatch. [1]
28 Isami Kodaka November 4, 2013 Big Japan Death Vegas 2013 Yokohama, Japan 1 2024 This was a culture of death match. [1]
29 Ryuji Ito May 25, 2014 Death Market 21 Nagoya, Japan 5 210 This was a two out of three falls match. [1]
30 Yuko Miyamoto June 15, 2014 House show Hiroshima, Japan 2 3245 [1]
31 Abdullah Kobayashi May 5, 2015 Endless Survivor 2015 Yokohama, Japan 2 760 [1]
32 Ryuji Ito July 20, 2015 Ryōgokutan 2015 Tokyo, Japan 6 3705 [1]
33 Kankuro Hoshino July 24, 2016 Ryōgokutan 2016 Tokyo, Japan 1 1473 [1]
34 Abdullah Kobayashi December 18, 2016 Big Japan Death Vegas 2016 Yokohama, Japan 4 1380 [1]
35 Masaya Takahashi May 5, 2017 Endless Survivor 2017 Yokohama, Japan 1 1062 This was a spike nails & 150 lighttubes deathmatch. [1]
36 Masashi Takeda August 19, 2017 Death Mania V Nagoya, Japan 1 4499 [1]
37 Masaya Takahashi November 11, 2018 Ryōgokutan 2018 Tokyo, Japan 2 1753 [1]
38 Isami Kodaka May 5, 2019 Endless Survivor 2019 Yokohama, Japan 2 2274 [1]
39 Abdullah Kobayashi December 18, 2019 Big Japan Pro Wrestling 25th Anniversary Memorial Yokohama, Japan 5 891 [1]
40 Ryuji Ito March 16, 2020 BJW Dai Nippon Pro-Wrestling 25th Anniversary ~ Stardust Superstars Yokohama, Japan 7 1650 [1]
41 Minoru Fujita August 28, 2020 Last Buntai at BJW Yokohama, Japan 1 1283 [1]
42 Takumi Tsukamoto January 2, 2021 BJW 2021 New Year Tokyo, Japan 1 38+0 [1]

Combined reigns

As of February 9, 2021.

Record seven-time, longest single and combined reigning champion Ryuji Ito
† Indicates the current champion
¤ The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest possible length is used.
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns		 Combined
defenses		 Combined days
1 Ryuji Ito7182,145
2 Yuko Miyamoto210825
3 Abdullah Kobayashi59784
4 Shadow WX47545
5 Masashi Takeda19449
6 Isami Kodaka28429
Takashi Sasaki23429
8 Shuji Ishikawa14306
9 Masaya Takahashi25281
Zandig33281¤
11 Tomoaki Honma23252¤
12 Kankuro Hoshino13147
Kintaro Kanemura11147
14 Mitsuhiro Matsunaga20136
15 Minoru Fujita13128
16 "Black Angel" Jaki Numazawa11110
17 Ryuji Yamakawa21101
18 Abdullah the Butcher1049
19 The Great Pogo1014
20 Takumi Tsukamoto †1038+

Footnotes
  1. The date of at least one of the title changes in this reign is uncertain, which means that the reign lasted between 70 and 97 days.
  2. The date of at least one of the title changes in this reign is uncertain, which means that the reign lasted between 30 and 394 days.

See also

References
  1. "BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship title history" (in German). PuroLove.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  2. "Big Japan Death Match Title Tournament 1998". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  3. "BJW BJ Great Series tour results" (in German). PuroLove.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  4. "BJW BJ Hardcore Series II tour results" (in German). PuroLove.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  5. "BJW Wonder BJ 2000 Series tour results" (in German). PuroLove.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  6. "BJW North Wave tour results" (in German). PuroLove.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  7. "BJW Universe tour results" (in German). PuroLove.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  8. "BJW Ante Up results" (in German). PuroLove.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  9. https://web.archive.org/web/20080430015155/http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/other/bjpwtit.htm
  10. "BJW Harder Than Hardcore IV tour results" (in German). PuroLove.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  11. "BJW HTH5 Series tour results" (in German). PuroLove.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  12. "Indy Summit results" (in German). PuroLove.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
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