Design Unveiled For IWGP Women's Championship

A new report from Tokyo Sports has given fans a sneak peek at the design for the soon-to-be-unveiled IWGP Women's Championship. 

According to fans on social media, the design closely resembles the second version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Stardom later confirmed via Twitter that the design is inspired by the classic belt worn by Shinya Hashimoto during his 489-day reign in the mid-1990s.

The tournament to crown the inaugural IWGP Women's Champion will kick off October 2 with quarterfinal matches — featuring international wrestlers — on Night 2 of NJPW's Royal Quest II event in London. Subsequently, other quarterfinal matches will take place at a Stardom event in Tachikawa on October 22, and the semifinals follow on October 23.  

NJPW has announced the tournament will culminate at the NJPWxStardom: Historic x-Over supercard event on November 20. The company also revealed the inaugural IWGP Women's Champion will make her first title defense at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in January 2023.

While the participants for the tourney have yet to be named, Stardom has teased that several "big foreign wrestlers" have agreed to participate in it. Fans have floated the possibility of AEW star Toni Storm entering the tourney, citing her run in Stardom between 2016 and 2018. 

The participants will be unveiled at a press conference on August 27, Stardom announced earlier this week.   

Prior to their November 20 supercard event, where the inaugural IWGP Women's Champion is crowned, the historic collaboration between NJPW and Stardom will also be on display at NJPW's Rumble on 44th Street event in New York City on October 28.