By Brian Argabright
This has already been a week of title changes in pro wrestling and we are barely halfway through the week.
Monday night, The Hurt Business’ Bobby Lashley defeated The Miz via submission to win his first WWE Championship. The former mixed martial artist was a former TNA/Impact World Champion before returning to the WWE in 2018.
With his win, the WWE Championship, WWE World Championship, WWE Raw Women’s Championship and WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship – the four major singles titles in the company – are now held by people of color. Lashley joins Sasha Banks (Smackdown Women’s Champion), Asuka (Raw Women’s Champion) and Roman Reigns (World Champion) in that group.
But Lashley’s title win wasn’t the biggest news of the week. That honor went to the New Japan Pro Wrestling promotion, which announced that its IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental championships would be unified to create the NJPW World Championship.
It marks a new beginning for the company under current champion Kota Ibushi, who holds both titles, but it marks the end of the official lineage for both belts.
The Intercontinental Championship was created in 2011 as a way to promote the company outside of the United States. Many of its former holders were international stars such as current WWE manager MVP, who was the inaugural champion; La Sombra, who now competes as Andrade in the WWE; AEW’s Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho, and former Impact and Ring of Honor standout Michael Elgin.
The IWGP Heavyweight Championship was created in 1987, but is considered one of the most prestigious titles in professional wrestling. The list of former champions is like a who’s who of the business including legends like Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Chosu, Vader and the Great Muta and current stars like Shinsuke Nakamura, Brock Lesnar, Hiroshi Tanahashi, A.J. Styles, Kenny Omega, Tetsuya Naito, and the man who many consider the best wrestler in the world today, Kazuchika Okada.
The two titles will be defended one last time Thursday by Ibushi against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado, but the new championship will be presented to Ibushi April 4 at Sakura Genesis, where Ibushi is expected to defend the new title.
