The IWGP Intercontinental Championship was a secondary singles championship in New Japan Pro Wrestling. The title was created as part of a US tour & partnership with independent promotion Jersey All Pro Wrestling in 2010. It was first awarded in May 2011 when MVP won a tournament to become the inaugural champion. In early 2021 the title was unified with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to become the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship after having been defended simultaneously with the title since 2020.
There were 27 IWGP Intercontinental Champions. They are listed below in order of reign, which reign it was (some won the title multiple times), length and number of successful defenses.
1-MVP. 1st reign. Length: 5/15/2011-10/10/2011. Successful defenses: 2.
2-Masato Tanaka. 1st reign. Length: 10/11/2011-2/12/2012. Successful defenses: 3.
3-Hirooki Goto. 1st reign. Length: 2/12/2012-7/22/2012. Successful defenses: 2.
4-Shinsuke Nakamura. 1st reign. Length: 7/22/2012-5/31/2013. Successful defenses: 8.
5-La Sombra. 1st reign. Length: 5/31/2013-7/20/2013. Successful defenses: 1. Won title in a 2 of 3 Falls match.
6-Shinsuke Nakamura. 2nd reign. Length: 7/20/2013-1/4/2014. Successful defenses: 2.
7-Hiroshi Tanahashi. 1st reign. Length: 1/4/2014-4/6/2014. Successful defenses: 1.
8-Shinsuke Nakamura. 3rd reign. Length: 4/6/2014-6/21/2014. Successful defenses: 1.
9-Bad Luck Fale. 1st reign. Length: 6/21/2014-9/21/2014. Successful defenses: None.
10-Shinsuke Nakamura. 4th reign. Length: 9/21/2014-5/3/2015. Successful defenses: 3.
11-Hirooki Goto. 2nd reign. Length: 5/3/2015-9/27/2015. Successful defenses: 1.
12-Shinsuke Nakamura. 5th reign. Length: 9/27/2015-1/25/2016. Successful defenses: 2. Vacated title on 1/25/2016 due to signing with WWE.
13-Kenny Omega. 1st reign. Length: 2/14/2016-6/19/2016. Successful defenses: 1.
14-Michael Elgin. 1st reign. Length: 6/19/2064-9/25/2016. Successful defenses: 1. Won title in a ladder match.
15-Tetsuya Naito. 1st reign. Length: 9/25/2016-6/11/2017. Successful defenses: 4.
16-Hiroshi Tanahashi. 2nd reign. Length: 6/11/2017-1/27/2018. Successful defenses: 4.
17-Minoru Suzuki. 1st reign. Length: 1/27/2018-4/29/2018. Successful defenses: 1.
18-Tetsuya Naito. 2nd reign. Length: 4/29/2018-6/9/2018. Successful defenses: None.
19-Chris Jericho. 1st reign. Length: 6/9/2018-1/4/2019. Successful defenses: 1.
20-Tetsuya Naito. 3rd reign. Length: 1/4/2019-4/6/2019. Successful defenses: 1. Won title on a No DQ match.
21-Kota Ibushi. 1st reign. Length: 4/6/2019-6/9/2019. Successful defenses: 1.
22-Tetsuya Naito. 4th reign. Length: 6/9/2019-9/22/2019. Successful defenses: None.
23-Jay White. 1st reign. Length: 9/22/2019-1/4/2020. Successful defenses: 1.
24-Tetsuya Naito. 5th reign. Length: 1/4/2020-7/12/2020. Successful defenses: 2. Title defended simultaneously with IWGP Heavyweight Championship beginning here.
25-EVIL. 1st reign. Length: 7/12/2020-8/29/2020. Successful defenses: 1.
26-Tetsuya Naito. 6th reign. Length: 8/29/2020-1/4/2021. Successful defenses: 1.
27-Kota Ibushi. 2nd reign. Length: 1/4/2021-3/4/2021. Successful defenses: 4. Title unified with IWGP Heavyweight Championship on 3/4/2021 to create IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
