WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship |
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Details |
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Promotion |
WWWF/WWF |
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Date established |
December 18, 1978 |
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Date retired |
December 31, 1989 |
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Other name(s) |
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- WWWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship (1978–1979)
- WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship (1979–1989)
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Statistics |
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First champion(s) |
Antonio Inoki |
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Final champion(s) |
Antonio Inoki |
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Most reigns |
Antonio Inoki (2) |
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Longest reign |
Antonio Inoki (3780 days) |
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Shortest reign |
Shota Chochishvili (31 days) |
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The WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and later in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It was created on December 18, 1978, and awarded to NJPW mainstay Antonio Inoki by Vincent J. McMahon, upon Inoki's arrival in America. The title was known for being contested in matches billed as shoot wrestling fights. The WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship was contested solely in NJPW after the promotion became unaffiliated with the WWF in 1985.
During the thirtieth anniversary of Inoki's career, NJPW created the "Greatest 18 Club", a hall of fame. NJPW then created a new title, the Greatest 18 Championship, which was intended to complement the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The Greatest 18 Championship was represented by the former Martial Arts Championship and was awarded to Riki Choshu in 1990. Choshu lost the title to The Great Muta in 1992. Muta retired the title on September 23 of that year, in order to focus on his IWGP Heavyweight Championship title defenses. The title was subsequently officially retired by NJPW.
Title history
Key
No. |
Overall reign number |
Reign |
Reign number for the specific champion |
Days |
Number of days held |
External links
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World | |
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Other | |
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