J-Crowned: The J-Crown edition

On August 5th, 1996, The Great Sasuke defeated Último Dragón in the final match of a once-in-a-lifetime tournament in which eight Junior Heavyweight champions, representing titles originating in Japan, Mexico and The United States clashed to crown a true champion of champions. The winner of the tournament would claim all eight championships, the collective name given to the prize being The J-Crown. The J-Crown did not last long, only going on to be held by five wrestlers in total, with the belts worn and defended together for little more than a year before being disbanded and returned to their companies of origin; in the context of the long history of professional wrestling, the J-Crown came and went in the blink of an eye.

If the J-Crown is to be thought of as a moment in time, the aim of this book is to look at where each of those titles came from and show you where they went. In some cases this means traversing a path back over fifty years before the tournament and looking at the full twenty-five years since; in other cases it means catching a glimpse at a title that was around for less than five years either side of the J-Crown, all with the aim of showing the influence of those championships and their holders, hopefully helping to underline just how remarkable an achievement winning the J-Crown really was.

This book intends to celebrate the J-Crown tournament by honoring those who paved the way to and from what still stands as the greatest point of convergence in pro-wrestling history with their blood, sweat and tears.