Yuji Nagata Makes History With AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Win

All Japan Pro Wrestling have a new Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, after veteran Yuji Nagata defeated Kento Miyahara for his first run with the title.

Nagata defeated Miyahara in the main event of AJPW Excite Series at Korakuen Hall on February 19, and in winning becomes only the fifth man in history to hold all three of Japan’s major heavyweight championships, adding the Triple Crown to his two IWGP Heavyweight Championship reigns, and his one-time run with Pro Wrestling NOAH’s GHC Heavyweight Championship.

After defeating Miyahara, Kojima was interrupted by Shuji Ishikawa who came to the ring to issue a challenge, and it seems Nagata’s first challenger is set.

In victory, Nagata joins an exclusive club alongside Keiji Muto, Kensuke Sasaki, Yoshihiro Takayama, and Satoshi Kojima, with Kojima the first of the five to have held two titles at the same time when he reigned as combined IWGP and Triple Crown Champion in 2005.

Since its creation in 1989, only thirty men have held the Triple Crown, with the title originally comprising of the PWF World Heavyweight Championship, NWA United National Championship, and the NWA International Heavyweight Championship