J-Crown

Unified professional wrestling championship

The J Crown, also known as the J Crown Octuple Unified Championship, was a professional wrestling championship promoted by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), formed via the unification of eight junior heavyweight and other lower weight class titles from several different organizations. The J Crown Tournament that crowned the inaugural champion was held in August 1996.

The J Crown was the unification of eight different championship belts from multiple different countries, including ones from Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The inaugural champion was The Great Sasuke. The J Crown was defended for just over a year. While Último Dragón was champion, the titles appeared on World Championship Wrestling programming, as Dragón also held the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Dragón additionally held the NWA World Middleweight Championship concurrently with the J Crown. When Liger was champion, he lost the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship to Yuji Yasuraoka on June 6, 1997, in Tokyo, Japan. Liger, however, continued to defend the J Crown with seven titles instead of eight. As part of their introduction of a new WWF Light Heavyweight Championship, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) demanded that the then current champion Shinjiro Otani return the belt. Otani returned the championship to the WWF and subsequently dissolved the J Crown on November 5, 1997, by vacating all of the remaining component titles except for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, with the other belts being restored to their home promotions.