WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship

The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship was a world heavyweight championship in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and later in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). It was created on December 18, 1978, and awarded to NJPW mainstay Antonio Inoki by Vincent J. McMahon, upon Inoki's arrival to the promotion. The title was known for being contested in matches billed as shoot wrestling fights. The WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship was contested only in NJPW after the promotion became unaffiliated with the WWF in 1985.

During the thirtieth anniversary of Inoki's career, NJPW created the "Greatest 18 Club", a hall of fame. NJPW then created a new title, the Greatest 18 Championship, which was intended to complement the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The Greatest 18 Championship was represented by the former Martial Arts Championship and was awarded to Riki Choshu in 1990. Choshu lost the title to The Great Muta in 1992. Muta retired the title on September 23, in order to focus on his IWGP Heavyweight Championship title defenses. The title was subsequently officially retired by NJPW.

Title history

#	Wrestler	Reigns	Date	Days Held	Location	Event	Notes
1	Antonio Inoki	1	December 18, 1978	3780	New York, NY	House Show	Awarded by Vincent J. McMahon
2	Shota Chochishvili	1	April 24, 1989	31	Tokyo, Japan	House Show	Fifth round knockout
3	Antonio Inoki	2	May 25, 1989	220	Osaka, Japan	House Show
—	Deactivated	—	December 31, 1989	—	—	—	Inoki was the final champion after NJPW abandoned the title on December 31, 1989

Combined reigns

Rank	Champion	No. of reigns	Combined days
1	Antonio Inoki	2	4000
2	Shota Chochishvili	1	31

References

External links

Former championships in WWE

World	World Martial Arts Heavyweight (reigns) (1978–1989) WCW/World (reigns) (2001) ECW World/ECW (reigns) (2006–2010) World Heavyweight (reigns) (2002–2013)

Secondary	United States Heavyweight (reigns) (1963–1975) North American Heavyweight (reigns) (1979–1981) International Heavyweight (reigns) (1959–1985) Canadian (reigns) (1985–1986) European (reigns) (1997–2002)

Tag Team	United States Tag Team (reigns) (1963–1967) International Tag Team (reigns) (1969–1971, 1985) Women's Tag Team (reigns) (1983–1989) Intercontinental Tag Team (reigns) (1991) WCW Tag Team (reigns) (2001) World Tag Team (reigns) (1971–2010)

Divisional	Junior Heavyweight (reigns) (1965–1972, 1978 –1985) Light Heavyweight (reigns) (1997–2001) Cruiserweight (reigns) (2001–2007) Women's (reigns) (1956–2010) Divas (reigns) (2008–2016)

Other	Million Dollar (reigns) (1989–1992, 1995–1996, 2010) Hardcore (reigns) (1998–2002)

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Championships

Active

Heavyweight	IWGP Heavyweight (reigns) IWGP Intercontinental (reigns) IWGP Tag Team (reigns)

Junior heavyweight	IWGP Junior Heavyweight (reigns) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team (reigns)

NEVER	NEVER Openweight (reigns) NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team (reigns)

Inactive

Tournaments

Active	Best of the Super Juniors G1 Climax New Japan Cup Super J-Cup Super Jr. Tag Tournament World Tag League

Inactive	Young Lion Cup (1985–2005)

Miscellaneous

Partnerships

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