The Open The Owarai Gate Championship is/was a singles championship in Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling. It is a comedy title (Owarai means comedy in Japanese) where the winners were determined by audience reaction after matches regardless of how it ended, so the champion could lose the match and still retain the title or vice versa. The title was introduced June 2007 when Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa became the first champion. The title was inactive and reportedly deactivated as of summer 2018 but is still listed as a championship on Dragon Gate’s official website. However, it was reactivated in June 2023.
As of 10/5/2023 there have been 33Open The Owarai Gate Champions. This does not include one interim reign. They are listed below in order of reign, which reign it was (some held it multiple times), length of reign and number of successful defenses.
1-Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa. 1st reign. Length: 6/10/2007-10/8/2007. Successful defenses: 7.
2-CIMA. 1st reign. Length 10/8/2007-10/17/2007. Successful defenses: None.
3-Jackson Florida. 1st reign. Length: 10/17/2007-1/19/2008. Successful defenses: 1.
4-Masaaki Mochizuki. 1st reign. Length: 1/19/2008-2/2/2008. Successful defenses: None.
5-Jackson Florida. 2nd reign. Length: 2/2/2008-7/11/2008. Successful defenses: 5.
6-Johnson Florida. 1st reign. Length: 7/11/2018-7/21/2018. Successful defenses: None.
7-Ichikawa (Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa). 2nd reign. Length: 7/21/2008-8/16/2008. Successful defenses: None.
8-Jackson Florida. 3rd reign. Length: 8/16/2008-3/16/2009. Successful defenses: 4.
9-Ichikawa. 3rd reign. Length: 3/16/2009-3/20/2009. Successful defenses: None.
10-Kinta Tamaoka. 1st reign. Length: 3/20/2009. Successful defenses: None. Vacated title immediately as he was a referee.
11-Ichikawa. 4th reign. Length: 3/29/2009-4/4/2009. Successful defenses: None.
12-Anthony W. Mori. 1st reign. Length: 4/4/2009-5/15/2009. Successful defenses: 1.
13-Kikutaro. 1st reign. Length: 5/15/2009-4/10/2011. Successful defenses: 3.
14-Don Fujii. 1st reign. Length: 4/10/2011-8/21/2011. Successful defenses: 1.
15-Ichikawa. 5th reign. Length: 8/21/2011-11/5/2011. Successful defenses: 3. Lost title to CIMA on 9/24/2011 but CIMA refused title and Ichikawa retained as a result. This is not considered a successful defense.
16-Rich Swann. 1st reign. Length: 11/5/2011-12/25/2011. Successful defenses: None. Title declared vacant on 12/25/2011 after title belt stolen by Naoki Tanisaki and mailed back to Japan.
17-Kenichiro Arai. 1st reign. Length: 8/2/2012-12/20/2012. Successful defenses: 1.
18-Kikutaro. 2nd reign. Length: 12/20/2012-3/7/2013. Successful defenses: 2.
19-Jimmy Ryo Saito (Ryo Saito). 1st reign. Length: 3/7/2013-11/13/2014. Successful defenses: 7.
20-Jimmy Kanda (Yasushi Kanda). 1st reign. Length: 11/13/2014-2/14/2015. Successful defenses: 1.
21-Yosuke 💟 Santamaria (Yosuke Watanabe). 1st reign. Length: 2/14/2015-3/29/2015. Successful defenses: 2.
22-Akira Tozawa. 1st reign. Length: 3/29/2015-11/14/2015. Successful defenses: 1.
23-Ichikawa. 6th reign. Length: 11/14/2015-11/23/2015. Successful defenses: 2.
24-Masato Yoshino. 1st reign. Length: 11/23/2015-4/3/2016. Successful defenses: None. Stripped of title on 4/3/2016 due to no defenses in 3+ months.
25-CIMA. 2nd reign. Length: 4/10/2016-4/17/2016. Successful defenses: 1. Gave up title to Ichikawa after defense on 4/17/2016. Ichikawa not recognized as official champion.
26-Masato Yoshino. 2nd reign. Length: 5/26/2016. Successful defenses: None. Returned title to Ichikawa immediately. Ichikawa not recognized as official champion.
27-Masaaki Mochizuki. 1st reign. Length: 7/16/2016. Successful defenses: None. Transferred title to Ichikawa immediately.
28-Ichikawa. 7th reign. Length: 7/16/2016-11/19/2017. Successful defenses: 1.
29-CIMA. 3rd reign. Length: 11/19/2017-11/26/2017. Successful defenses: None. Vacated title on 11/26/2017.
30-Ryo Saito. 2nd reign. Length: 11/26/2017-3/6/2018. Successful defenses: 1.
31-Shingo Takagi. 1st reign. Length: 3/6/2018-5/6/2018. Successful defenses: None. Vacated title on 5/6/2018. Title became inactive.
Interim Champion-Ichikawa. Length: 6/2/2023-7/8/2023. Title reactivated on 6/2/2023 with Ichikawa named interim champion.
32-Kikutaro. 3rd reign. Length: 7/8/2023-10/5/2023. Successful defenses: None.
33-Lingerie Muto. 1st reign. Length: 10/5/2023-Present (Current Champion). Successful defenses: 1. Next defense: TBA.
