GHC Heavyweight Championship History

The Global Honored Crown (GHC) Heavyweight Championship is the top singles title in NOAH. It was created on April 15, 2001 when Mitsuharu Misawa defeated Yoshihiro Takayama in a 16-man tournament final. Though its name implies a particular weight class, it has been held by junior heavyweights in the past, including Yoshinari Ogawa and former GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Naomichi Marufuji. All GHC Heavyweight Title matches and contract signings were overseen and introduced by GHC title commissioner Joe Higuchi until October 2010 when Higuchi died, at which time he was replaced by Harley Race.

To this date there have been 17 GHC Heavyweight Champions.They are listed below in order of reign along with which reign it was (some won it multiple times), length of reign and number of successful defenses. All records are based on the official records from NOAH’s official English-language website, noah-usa.cc, and NOAH’s official Japanese language website, noah.co.jp.
1-Mitsuharu Misawa. 1st reign. Length: 4/15/2001-7/27/2001. Successful defenses: 1.

2-Jun Akiyama. 1st reign. Length: 7/27/2001-4/7/2002. Successful defenses: 3.

3-Yoshinari Ogawa. 1st reign. Length: 4/7/2002-9/7/2002. Successful defenses: 2.

4-Yoshihiro Takayama. 1st reign. Length: 9/7/2002-9/23/2002. Successful defenses: None.

5-Mitsuharu Misawa. 2nd reign. Length: 9/23/2002-3/1/2003. Successful defenses: 1.

6-Kenta Kobashi. 1st reign. Length: 3/1/2003-3/5/2005. Successful defenses: 13.

7-Takeshi Rikioh. 1st reign. Length: 3/5/2005-11/5/2005. Successful defenses: 3.

8-Akira Taue. 1st reign. Length: 11/5/2005-1/22/2006. Successful defenses: 1.

9-Jun Akiyama. 2nd reign. Length: 1/22/2006-9/9/2006. Successful defenses: 2.

10-Naomichi Marufuji. 1st reign. Length: 9/9/2006-12/10/2006. Successful defenses: 2.

11-Mitsuharu Misawa. 3rd reign. Length: 12/10/2006-3/2/2008. Successful defenses: 7.

12-Takeshi Morishima. 1st reign. Length: 3/2/2008-9/6/2008. Successful defenses: 2.

13-Kensuke Sasaki. 1st reign. Length: 9/6/2008-3/1/2009. Successful defenses: 2.

14-Jun Akiyama. 2nd reign. Length: 3/1/2009-6/14/2009. Successful defenses: 1. Vacated title on 6/14/2009 due to injury.

15-Go Shiozaki. 1st reign. Length: 6/14/2009-12/6/2009. Successful defenses: 1.

16-Takashi Sugiura. 1st reign. Length: 12/6/2009-7/10/2011. Successful defenses: 14.

17-Go Shiozaki. 2nd reign. Length: 7/10/2011-Present (Current Champion). Successful defenses: 1. Next defense: 9/23/2011 vs. Yoshihiro Takayama.