The Young Lions Cup was a professional wrestling championship contested for in the American professional wrestling promotion Chikara.

History

A tournament is held every year to determine the champion. Originally, experience level was the primary basis for eligibility in the tournament, as the first tournament was only open to those who have wrestled under 50 professional matches. The primary basis for eligibility was later changed to age, making the tournament open only to wrestlers who are 25 years old or younger. The winner of the Young Lions Cup can defend the cup as an actual title until the following tournament, and Young Lions Cup tournament winners are not allowed to compete in the tournament again once they win it. The original rules also once stated that previous holders of the cup are not allowed to compete for the title once they are no longer champion, but this rule was 'changed' in 2008. Fire Ant was granted a rematch after losing the cup to Vin Gerard, and Director of Fun Leonard F. Chikarason claimed that the rules were now amended, stating that previous holders of the cup could challenge for the cup again any time they wanted until the next Young Lions Cup tournament. However, on February 1, 2010, new Director of Fun Dieter VonSteigerwalt reverted the rule change and announced that former champions could no longer challenge for the cup or enter the annual tournaments. Though Chikara's one-year hiatus ended in May 2014, the title was never mentioned for a prolonged period. On September 18, it was announced that an eleventh tournament would be done and hosted by Chikara's sister promotion, Wrestling is Fun! (WiF!), from October 11 to November 1. The finals of the tournament took place on December 6 at Tomorrow Never Dies and saw Heidi Lovelace become the first female holder of the title. The title has been deactivated following the closure of Chikara in June, 2020. There have been a total of 28 cup winners over a total of 16 cups, some of them winning the same cup on more than one occasion and three vacancies. The first holder was Hallowicked and the last one was Ricky South until the closure of the promotion.

Title history

{| class="wikitable sortable" width=100% style="text-align:center;" !width=2%|No. !width=15%|Wrestler: !width=2%|Cup: !width=10%|Date: !width=3%|Days held: !width=10%|Location: !width=6%|Successful defenses !width=63%|Notes: !width=3%|Ref. !1 !2 !3 !4 !5 !6 !7 !8 !9 !10 !11 !12 !13 !14 !15 !16 !17 !18 Won the championship as The Estonian ThunderFrog but defended it as Super ThunderFrog at F1RST Wrestling Wrestlepalooza VIII against Space Monkey and Wildcat. !19 !20 !21 !22 !23 !24 Won the championship as Ophidian but defended it as The Whisper against Tony Deppen at CHIKARA National Pro Wrestling Day 2018. !25 !26 !27 !28

Cup reigns

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center" !Rank !Wrestler !No. of cup !Combined defenses !Combined days !1 !2 !3 !4 !5 !6 !7 !8 !rowspan=2|9 !11 !12 !13 !14 !15 !16 !17 !18 !rowspan=2|19 !21 !22 !23 !24 !25 !26 !27 !28