J-Crown

The J-Crown (also known as J-Crown Octuple Unified Championship) was formed originally by New Japan Pro Wrestling as a way of unifying eight junior heavyweight and cruiserweight titles from several different organizations. The J-Crown tournament was held in August 1996.

History

The J-Crown was the unification of eight different championship belts from five different organizations, including ones from both Japan and Mexico. The tournament to crown the first champions was held over four nights, from August 2 to August 5, 1996, the same New Japan Pro Wrestling's annual G1 Climax event took place, promoting two major tournaments on one tour.Jushin Thunder Liger is credited with coming up with the idea for the J-Crown. The inaugural champion was The Great Sasuke.

The J-Crown was defended for just over a year. While Ultimo Dragon was champion, the titles appeared on World Championship Wrestling programming, as Dragon also held the WCW Cruiserweight Championship and the NWA World Middleweight Championship at the time. When Liger was champion, he lost the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship to Yuji Yasuraoka on June 6, 1997 in Tokyo, Japan. Liger, however, continued to defend the J-Crown with seven titles instead of eight.