Strong Women's Championship
The Strong Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling promotion. The creation of the championship was announced by NJPW on April 27, 2023. The title is exclusively featured on NJPW's Strong brand and is usually defended at NJPW Strong branded shows in America. The inaugural champion was Willow Nightingale. Syuri is the reigning champion in her first reign. She won the title by defeating Saya Kamitani in a Winner Takes All match, in which Syuri's IWGP Women's Championship was also on the line, at Wrestle Kingdom 20 in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2026.
History
In 2022, New Japan Pro-Wrestling established a women's division. On July 29 of that year, the promotion created the IWGP Women's Championship, the first women's title in the company's history, which was first held by Kairi. The championship was created to be the top title of NJPW's women's division and was intended to be defended on NJPW events in Japan and on events promoted by NJPW's Japanese sister company World Wonder Ring Stardom, a joshi puroresu promotion.On April 27, 2023, NJPW announced the creation of the Strong Women's Championship, the top women's championship of the promotion's American subsidiary Strong Live. The promotion additionally announced a four-woman single-elimination tournament to determine the inaugural champion to be held at Resurgence on May 21, in Long Beach, California. The tournament featured representatives from NJPW's partners All Elite Wrestling, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, and Stardom. The tournament participants were former IWGP Women's Champion Mercedes Moné, Momo Kohgo, Stephanie Vaquer, and Willow Nightingale. At Resurgence, Nightingale became the inaugural champion by defeating Moné in the finals.
Inaugural championship tournament (2023)
The first defense of the title was Nightingale's successful defense against Emi Sakura on the June 2, 2023 episode of AEW Rampage.Reigns
As of ,, there have been seven reigns between seven different champions. Willow Nightingale was the inaugural champion. Syuri is the oldest champion at 36 years old, while AZM the youngest at 22 years old. Mercedes Moné's reign is the longest at 313 days, while Nightingale's reign is the shortest at 45 days.Syuri is the current champion in her first reign. She won the title by defeating Saya Kamitani in a Winner Takes All match, in which Syuri's IWGP Women's Championship was also on the line, at Wrestle Kingdom 20 in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2026.