Ranking all 7 gaijin IWGP Heavyweight Champions from worst to best

#5. Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion

Current WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar has been somewhat habituated of winning world championships throughout his entire career, whether it is in the Pro Wrestling industry or in the world of Mixed Martial Arts.

After his initial departure from the WWE in 2004, Lesnar jumped ship to New Japan Pro Wrestling the following year and 'The Beast Incarnate' was pushed right off the bat by the NJPW management, as Lesnar won the IWGP Heavyweight Title in his debut match for the company.

Alberto Del Rio returning to WWE?

Lesnar's IWGP Heavyweight Title win certainly came in as a very historic moment, given the fact that he captured the belt in a triple threat match against Kazuyuki Fujita and Masahiro Chono in the legendary Tokyo Dome arena.

Following his win, Lesnar went on to defend the title against both Shinsuke Nakamura and Giant Bernard, before eventually vacating the belt due to apparent visa issues. However, Lesnar did have two successful title defences under his name and maybe his title reign wasn't as bad as people claim it to be.

About the author

Soumik Datta is a professional wrestling journalist who has been following the business for more than a decade.

In 2017, Soumik joined the Sportskeeda Wrestling team and is best known for his work with the WWE team. He has previously contributed to the Sportskeeda AEW, MMA, and the football team where he specifically covered the Major League Soccer.

In 2024, Soumik crossed 50 million reads for Sportskeeda WWE. While working under Sportskeeda MMA, he interviewed prominent UFC fighters, including Justin Gaethje, Sean O'Malley, and Cory Sandhagen, among others. He is also being followed by John Cena on X (formerly Twitter).

Apart from his love for professional wrestling, Soumik also watches Football and has been a lifelong follower of Liverpool FC and Mohun Bagan. He has also been following the Indian Super League and remains the only content creator to have traveled across India to watch 7 ISL Matches in 7 Days, a video which currently sits at 26K views on his YouTube channel. His channel currently amasses over 120K views.

As aforementioned, Soumik also likes to make content for his YouTube channel and travel to various places either with family, friends, or solo, or go on road trips.

(Go SUBSCRIBE to his channel while you're at it): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfkg4VnUC7sLNc5jEzVYgOQ

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @Thesoumikdatta9

Follow his Sportskeeda profile for wrestling news and content and subscribe to his YouTube channel.

Know More

Edited by Anirban Banerjee