I'm breaking this down into two different lists. Calendar year and title year which runs from the Anniversary Show in March to whatever is the final defense before it (typically New Beginning) in the next calendar year.
CALENDAR YEAR
- 2021 – 7
- 2022 – 8
- 2023 – 8
- 2024 – 13
TITLE YEAR
- Year 1 – 10
- Year 2 – 8
- Year 3 – 7
- Year 4 (Ongoing) – 13 (ZSJ vs Goto will be 14)
Year 4 doubled the amount of title matches from the previous. Now let's look at title defenses themselves.
DEFENSES*
- 1 – Kota Ibushi vs El Desperado
- 2 – Kota Ibushi (c) vs Will Ospreay
- 3 – Will Ospreay (c) vs Shingo Takagi
- 4 – Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi
- 5 – Shingo Takagi (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
- 6 – Shingo Takagi (c) vs EVIL
- 7 – Shingo Takagi (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr.
- 8 – Shingo Takagi (c) vs Kazuchika Okada
- 9 – Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Will Ospreay
- 10 – Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Tetsuya Naito
- 11 – Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr.
- 12 – Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Tetsuya Naito
- 13 – Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Jay White
- 14 – Jay White (c) vs Kazuchika Okada vs Adam Page vs Adam Cole
- 15 – Jay White (c) vs Tama Tonga
- 16 – Jay White (c) vs Kazuchika Okada
- 17 – Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Shingo Takagi
- 18 – Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
- 19 – Kazuchika Okada (c) vs SANADA
- 20 – SANADA (c) vs Hiromu Takahashi
- 21 – SANADA (c) vs Yota Tsuji
- 22 – SANADA (c) vs Jack Perry
- 23 -SANADA (c) vs EVIL
- 24 – SANADA (c) vs Tetsuya Naito
- 25 – Tetsuya Naito (c) vs SANADA
- 26 – Tetsuya Naito (c) vs Yota Tsuji
- 27 – Tetsuya Naito (c) vs Jon Moxley
- 28 – Jon Moxley (c) vs Powerhouse Hobbs
- 29 – Jon Moxley (c) vs Ren Narita
- 30 – Jon Moxley (c) vs Shota Umino
- 31 – Jon Moxley (c) vs EVIL
- 32 – Jon Moxley (c) vs Tetsuya Naito
- 33 – Tetsuya Naito (c) vs Great-O-Khan
- 34 – Tetsuya Naito (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr.
- 35 – Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs SANADA
- 36 – Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs Shingo Takagi
- 37 – Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs Shota Umino
- 38 – Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs Ricochet
RECORDS (Number in parenthesis is record before winning it for the first time.)
- Kazuchika Okada 8-4 (0-1)
- Jon Moxley 5-1 (0-0)
- Zack Sabre Jr. 5-2 (0-2)
- SANADA 5-3 (0-0)
- Tetsuya Naito 5-4 (0-2)
- Shingo Takagi 4-4 (0-1)
- Jay White 3-1 (0-0)
- Will Ospreay 2-1 (0-0)
-
Kota Ibushi 1-1 (0-0)
-
El Desperado 0-1
-
Adam Page 0-1
-
Adam Cole 0-1
-
Tama Tonga 0-1
-
Hiromu Takahashi 0-1
-
Jack Perry 0-1
-
Powerhouse Hobbs 0-1
-
Ren Narita 0-1
-
Great-O-Khan 0-1
-
Ricochet 0-1
-
Hiroshi Tanahashi 0-2
-
Yota Tsuji 0-2
-
Shota Umino 0-2
-
EVIL 0-3
Now, how does this relate to Goto? Because this is a fresh start. Goto is 0-8 for the old championship. He's 0-0 for the new championship. He has no shame to carry into his next title match, and that's why he's winning!
Goto aside. The Records are very interesting. the 0-1s are split 50/50 between NJPW talent and outsiders. 0-2 Club is what you need to pay attention to. ZSJ, Naito, and EVIL used to be in it before either winning or sinking further. The 0-2 Club seems to keep to 3-4 members at a time and fun fact, all three of Shingo's successful title defenses ended up in the 0-2 Club together (ZSJ, Tanahashi, and EVIL). Okada was responsible for putting three in the 0-2 Club himself (ZSJ, Naito, Tanahashi). Also worth pointing out, since losing the championship, SANADA and Shingo have had two unsuccessful title challenges trying to reclaim it.
Other tidbits. I write/am writing the history of the world title as it happens for better record keeping. I usually do an annual year end recap however I missed it in 2024/Year 3 because I was preparing to move across the country from Florida to Pennsylvania. I do have most of Year 3 typed out, it's just that I got stuck on SANADA vs Naito which is a 25 year story to type out. Should've just linked the NJPW promo video and let it be. I will also miss posting in 2025/Year 4 because life is hectic as hell and I'm also attempting to build my shitty website (https://www.grapstimely.com/) which will serve as a place to write about wrestling overall and where I will eventually rerelease the annual recaps with some editing and the new ones going forward.
by T3Deliciouz