Strong Openweight Championship
The Strong Openweight Championship is a professional wrestling world championship owned and promoted by the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling. It is exclusively featured on NJPW's Strong brand and is defended at NJPW Strong branded shows in America. The reigning champion is Tomohiro Ishii, who is in his first reign. He won the title on April 11, 2025, by defeating Gabe Kidd at Windy City Riot in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
The title was officially announced on April 2, 2021, and the inaugural champion was Tom Lawlor. It was primarily featured on NJPW's American television program NJPW Strong, which includes American wrestlers, as well as on programming by NJPW partner American promotions All Elite Wrestling and Ring of Honor. When the title is jointly held with the AEW Continental Championship and ROH World Championship, the three titles together make up the American Triple Crown Championship, also referred to as the Continental Crown; as of 2024, this has only happened once.
History
The title was officially announced on April 2, 2021. Initially, the title was exclusively featured on NJPW's American television program NJPW Strong, which includes a distinct roster of American wrestlers.On November 11, 2023, NJPW's American partner promotion AEW announced a tournament called the Continental Classic, with the winner becoming the first AEW Continental Champion. Eddie Kingston, who held the ROH World Championship and the Strong Openweight Championship, announced that he would be putting his championships on the line in the tournament and that the tournament's winner would be an American Triple Crown Champion. At AEW's Worlds End event, Kingston defeated Jon Moxley in the Continental Classic final, retaining the Strong Openweight and ROH World championships and becoming the first Continental Crown Champion. Kingston would lose the AEW Continental Championship to Kazuchika Okada on the March 20, 2024, episode of AEW Dynamite, thus losing his recognition as Triple Crown Champion.
Inaugural tournament
Reigns
As of October 13, 2025, there have been eight reigns between seven champions. Tom Lawlor was the inaugural champion. Tomohiro Ishii is the oldest, when he won it at 49 years old, while Gabe Kidd is the youngest champion at 27 years old. Lawlor's reign is the longest at 387 days while Hikuleo's reign is the shortest at 18 days.Tomohiro Ishii is the reigning champion in his first reign. He defeated previous champion Gabe Kidd for the title in a 30-minute iron man match, which Ishii won 2–1 in sudden death overtime at Windy City Riot on April 11, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.