The is a

women's professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a dramatic enactment of wrestling as a spectator sport. As is the norm for this sport, women's professional wrestling is organized by wrestling federations called Professional wrestling promotion, promotions. Some prom ...

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

owned by the

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...

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 is defended on shows promoted by NJPW in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, with talent from NJPW's sister promotion

World Wonder Ring Stardom , is a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' or women's professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo, Japan. Stardom was founded in September 2010 by former All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) co-producer Ross ...

featuring as its primary contenders. The inaugural champion was Kairi. The reigning champion is

Sareee is a Japanese professional wrestler. She primarily performs in Japan as a freelancer under the ring name Sareee, and is signed to the American promotion Sukeban (professional wrestling), Sukeban under the ring name Sareee Bomb and is the reignin ...

, who is in her first reign.

History

Ever since

(NJPW) was founded in 1972, the company had never had a women's championship. On July 29, 2022, it was announced by

Takaaki Kidani is a Japanese video game developer and entrepreneur born in Kanazawa, Japan. He is the founder, CEO and president of Bushiroad. Kidani has also served as the chairman of New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He continues to be involved with NJPW throug ...

, owner of

and former chairman of NJPW through parent company

Bushiroad is a Japanese entertainment company, producer of collectible card games and trading cards, and publisher of mobile apps and games, which was founded in 2007 by Takaaki Kidani and is headquartered in Tokyo. Bushiroad created and owns various med ...

, that Stardom's roster would compete for NJPW's first-ever women's championship, the IWGP Women's Championship, at the co-promoted event

Historic X-Over Historic X-Over (pronounced: Historic Crossover) was a professional wrestling event co-promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom). It took place on November 20, 2022, at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan. Pr ...

, set to take place on November 20. The title is promoted as being managed by the IWGP Championship Committee, NJPW's

kayfabe In professional wrestling, kayfabe (pronounced ) is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants. The term has evolved to become a code word ...

governing body. On August 23 at the press conference for Historic X-Over, the dates and venues for the inaugural tournament were announced. The tournament featured seven wrestlers, with four Stardom wrestlers and three foreign wrestlers participating in the tournament with the finals taking place on November 20. On August 27, four representatives from certain stables of Stardom (referred to by the promotion as "units") were decided to compete in the four available slots. The representatives were Giulia (

Donna Del Mondo was a professional wrestling stable in the World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion. Founded by Giulia, the stable finally consisted of Mai Sakurai, Maika and Thekla. It was often known by Giulia's catchphrase ''arrivederci'' ("goodbye" in Italia ...

Mayu Iwatani (born February 19, 1993) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Dream Star Fighting Marigold, where she is the current Marigold Super Fly Champion in her first reign. She is best known for her tenure with World Wonder Ring Sta ...

(

Stars A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by self-gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night; their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of ...

Starlight Kid is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom where she is the leader of Neo Genesis. Kid is the current Wonder of Stardom Champion in her first reign, as well as the current Artist of Stardom Champion in her ...

(

Oedo Tai (Stylized OEDotai, also known as "Oedo Corps" in Japanese) was a villainous professional wrestling stable mainly performing in the Japanese professional wrestling promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom and the Japanese independent scene between 20 ...

), and

Utami Hayashishita is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is signed to Dream Star Fighting Marigold where she is the current Marigold World Champion. She is best known for her time in World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is the former leader of Queen's Quest. ...

(

Queen's Quest was a professional wrestling stable which mainly performed in the Japanese professional wrestling promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom and the Professional wrestling in Japan, Japanese independent scene between 2016 and 2024. History Formation ...

). The representatives either picked themselves or appointed another unit member to furtherly compete for the title. On November 20, at Historic X-Over, Kairi became the inaugural champion after defeating Iwatani in the finals. The title was defended for the first time on January 4, 2023, where Kairi retained the title over

Tam Nakano , better known by her ring name is a Japanese singer, former idol, dancer, and retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her time in World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she was the leader of the Cosmic Angels stable. Nakano began her ca ...

during the first night of

Wrestle Kingdom 17 Wrestle Kingdom 17 was a two-day professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event co-produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah) promotions. The first day of the event took place on January 4, 2023, at the Tokyo Do ...

Inaugural championship tournament (2022)

Belt design

The design of the IWGP Women's Championship belt was inspired by the design of the second-generation

IWGP Heavyweight Championship The was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the . The title was introduced on June 12, 1987, in the final of an IW ...

, which was presented to the former champion

Shinya Hashimoto was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter and actor. Along with Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh, Hashimoto was dubbed one of the " Three Musketeers" that began competing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in the mid-1980s and dominated the p ...

during his 489 days reign in 1996.

Reigns

As of , , there have been five reigns between five champions. Kairi was the inaugural champion.

Syuri , better known simply as , is a Japanese professional wrestler, shoot boxer, kickboxer and mixed martial artist. She is signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is the leader of God's Eye as well as the current IWGP Women's Champion in ...

is the oldest champion at 36 years old, while

is the youngest at 29. Iwatani's reign is the longest at 735 days, while

's reign is the shortest at 55 days.

is the reigning champion in her first reign. She won the title by defeating

at The Conversion on June 21, 2025.

References

External links