The WNC Championship was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

owned by the

Wrestling New Classic was a Japanese '' puroresu'' or professional wrestling promotion, founded in April 2012 by Yoshihiro Tajiri. WNC was the follow-up promotion to Smash, which folded in March 2012. History On April 5, 2012, Tajiri held a press conference to a ...

(WNC)

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. The title was a spiritual successor to the

Smash Championship The Smash Championship was a professional wrestling championship, owned and promoted by the Japanese Smash promotion. Championship reigns were determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors were involved in scripted rivalrie ...

, the top title of WNC's predecessor, Smash. The championship was first announced at a press conference on September 28, 2012, when it was announced that a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

to determine the inaugural champion would take place from October 26 to December 27. In storyline, the championship belt was donated to WNC by the final Smash Champion

Dave Finlay David Finlay Jr. (born 31 January 1958) is an Irish retired professional wrestler currently signed to WWE as a trainer/assistant coach. He is known for his work with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the ring name Fit Finlay from 1995 to ...

, who was also named the head of the WNC Championship Committee, which decides matches for the title. Like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won as a result of a scripted match. There were five reigns shared among five wrestlers.

History

Championship tournament

Akira Nogami in the ring (September 2011)

On September 28, 2012, Tajiri, the founder of

(WNC), announced the creation of the WNC Championship, with an eight-man

starting on October 26 in

Korakuen Hall is a famous sports arena in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, which has hosted many notable boxing, professional wrestling, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and Lethwei matches. History On April 16, 1962, the Korakuen Hall was officially opened with ...

. The eight participants were announced as Tajiri, Akira,

Hajime Ohara is a Japanese professional wrestler. Ohara worked for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in Mexico for several years as part of his training, mixing the ''lucha libre'' style of Mexico with the Japanese Puroresu style of wrestling. In Japan, ...

, StarBuck, Carlito,

Tommy Dreamer Thomas James Laughlin (born February 13, 1971), is an American professional wrestler and promoter better known by the ring name Tommy Dreamer. He is signed to Impact Wrestling and is the owner and promoter of the House of Hardcore (HOH) promo ...

and two unnamed participants labeled only as "1st Future" and "2nd Future". On October 3, Tajiri and WNC president Tsutomu Takashima decided the first round matchups via random draw. Three days later, another random draw picked

Yusuke Kodama is a Japanese professional wrestler and currently wrestlers for All Japan Pro Wrestling as a freelancer. Kodama is best known for his time with Wrestle-1 (W-1), where he is a former two time UWA World Trios Champion, two time Wrestle-1 Cruiser ...

and Adam Angel out of a group of six younger WNC wrestlers to take the "Future" spots in the tournament. The first three first round matches took place on October 26 and saw Akira defeat Adam Angel, Hajime Ohara defeat the inaugural Smash Champion StarBuck and Tajiri defeat Carlito. The final first round match took place on November 26 and saw Tommy Dreamer defeat Yusuke Kodama to advance. In the semifinals two days later, Akira defeated Tommy Dreamer, while Tajiri defeated Hajime Ohara, setting up a final match between the two veterans. On December 27, Akira defeated Tajiri to become the inaugural WNC Champion.

History

Championship tournament

Title history

See also

References

External links