Will Kazumasa Yoshida Ever Defend His BJW World Strong Heavyweight Title?

By: Lewis Carlan 

On April 29th, Kazumasa Yoshida accomplished his biggest feat to date as a pro-wrestler when he defeated Daimonji So to win the Big Japan Pro-Wrestling World Strong Heavyweight Championship. There were over 1200 fans on hand at BJW Big Japan 31 Beyond The Survivor inside Yokohama Budokan to witness Yoshida win the biggest title of his career.

It was a joyous moment for Yoshida as not only did he win the biggest championship within BJW, he ended the Yosomono faction’s strangle hold on the title and promotion. All of BJW seemed to celebrate the Yoshida championship victory as the BJW World Strong Heavyweight title was no longer in possession of an outsider.

Every month BJW holds a big event at the famed Korakuen Hall. Normally, the BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion will defend their title within the confines of Korakuen Hall at this monthly event.

When BJW announced their May 25th event at Korakuen Hall, fans were waiting to see who Yoshida would be facing in his first title defense. It had been customary that new BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion defend the title within one month after they win it.

When fans looked at the match line up for the May 25th event, they found out that Yoshida would not be defending the title but would participate in a six man bout instead. This, no doubt, created a level of disappointment for BJW fans which was apparent as less than 400 fans attended the Korakuen Hall event.

In the events that followed, Yoshida has participated in tag team encounters with no clear indication when he will put his BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship on the line against a challenger. In fact, since winning the title, Yoshida has competed in only one singles bout which was a non-title victory over Koshiro Asakura on May 18th.

Giving Yoshida the benefit of the doubt, fans waited for the match announcements for the June 26th Korakuen Hall event. Surely, Yoshida would be defending his title two months after winning it. Fans had to deal with more disappointment and maybe even some confusion as Yoshida was confirmed for yet another six man tag team bout.

Photo Credit: Big Japan Pro-Wrestling

So two months will come to pass on June 26th and there will no BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship defense by Yoshida.

BJW has a goal they remind everyone of often on social media which is to have an attendance of 1,000 fans at a Korakuen Hall event.  This won’t have a chance of happening unless the top championship in BJW is defended on the card. 

In addition to the fans, BJW competitors are now questioning Yoshida and his reluctance to nominate and/or face his first challenger. Rising star Koshiro Asakura questioned Yoshida’s sense of responsibility as champion following a tag team bout on May 31st. Asakura informed Yoshida that the title belt is not a piece of jewelry and winning it is not the end of the story. Koshiro Asakura is 100% correct. Yoshida didn’t like to hear that but it needed to be heard by the champion.

When Monthly Puroresu spoke with Yoshida a few weeks ago, he was asked how he planned on leading BJW as its top champion. Yoshida responded by saying he hadn’t give it much thought which was a peculiar answer.

While other champions including Daimonji So, Yuya Aoki & Daichi Hashimoto all defended the title the following month after winning it, the question remains:

Will Kazumasa Yoshida ever defend his BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship?