AJPW Triple Crown Champion Kento Miyahara Sets A Goal Of 18 Successful Title Defenses Across Japan

By: Lewis Carlan

On June 18th, the current AJPW Triple Crown Champion Kento Miyahara, who is in his seventh reign, successfully defended his title for the seventh time against the challenge of Hideki Suzuki.

Miyahara is tied with Toshiaki Kawada with most ever successful AJPW Triple Crown Title defenses in one reign with ten. Miyahara tied Kawada for the most successful title defenses during his fourth reign as AJPW’s top champion.

Now, Miyahara isn’t looking to break the record but completely shatter it. While he is only four successful title defenses away from claiming the record all to himself, Miyahara wants much more and he wants to do it nationwide in Japan. Six of his previous title defense have occurred within Tokyo.

As reported by Tokyo Sports, Miyahara, during a post match interview, set a goal of eighteen successful title defenses for himself and wants to hold AJPW Triple Crown Championship bouts all over Japan.

From Kento Miyahara:

“It’s easier for me to push forward when I have a clear number in mind. That’s why I made a point of stating it explicitly today. I want to rewrite my own history. I may be number one, but I’m not the only one—it’s just a ‘tied record.’ I can’t accept that, no matter how great my opponent is. I won’t be able to rest easy if things stay this way. 18 times! I mean, it’s a really great number. It kind of sounds like an ace, doesn’t it?” That number also encompasses another ambition: “I’m going to energize the whole country from here on out. First up is Kobe, but after that, I’ll hold title defense matches all over the country. To do that nationwide, I’ll need about 18 title defenses, right?”

Photo Credit: All Japan Pro-Wrestling

Miyahara has declared that he will make his eight defense of the AJPW Triple Crown Title on July 28th at Kobe Sambo Hall in Hyogo. As of this writing, a challenger for that bout has not yet been confirmed.

Kento Miyahara remains one of the greatest pro-wrestlers ever to compete for AJPW. While achieving the eleven more wins to reach eighteen successful AJPW Triple Crown Title defenses seems like a difficult task, Miyahara is almost half way there and seems very determined to reach his goal.

Put it this way, Miyahara is only eleven Shutdown Suplexes away from achieving his target. Should he make it to eighteen, there could be a very good argument made that he is THE single greatest competitor in the history of AJPW and not one of them.

(All English quote translations via Deepl.com)