In 1996, World Championship Wrestling established its influential Cruiserweight Division, showcasing smaller and lighter opponents like Rey Mysterio Jr., Chris Jericho, and Eddie Guerrero delivering fast-paced, exciting matches on the midcard and below. The following year, rival promotion WWE followed suit, establishing its own Light Heavyweight Division — and a championship to go with it— albeit to far less success.
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Because of that as well as the company’s later adoption of WCW’s Cruiserweight Title, the Light Heavyweight Championship is a bit of a forgotten title in WWE history. Let’s take a look at everything fans should know about it, including its surprisingly long history.
10 Originally Created For Mexico’s UWA
While it was introduced to WWE television in 1997, the Light Heavyweight Championship was actually created 16 years prior and was never contested in a WWE ring. In the early 1980s, WWE — back then known as WWF — had a working relationship with the Mexican promotion Universal Wrestling Association, leading to the establishment of the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship. The inaugural champion was determined in a five-man round robin tournament held in New Japan Pro-Wrestling in late March of 1981, with lucha libre legend Perro Aguayo winning the belt.
9 Moved On To Michinoku Pro
After 14 years and 25 champions, in mid-1995 the Light Heavyweight Championship ended up in Japan’s Michinoku Pro Wrestling, which was founded a few years prior by future WWE Light Heavyweight Division competitor The Great Sasuke. There, the belt would be held not only by Sasuke, but another masked standout in the Japanese scene, El Samurai. As part of a working relationship with WWE, Michinoku Pro was able to bring in WWE stars while WWE eventually signed some of Michinoku Pro’s talent.
8 Part Of The J-Crown Championship
In 1996, New Japan Pro-Wrestling brought together eight different cruiserweight style championships from various promotions — including the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship — to create a unified title called the J-Crown. In August of 1996, Great Sasuke won a tournament featuring an impressive array of competitors that included Jushin Thunder Liger, Ultimo Dragon, Negro Casas, and Shinjiro Otani to become the first J-Crown Champion.
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The J-Crown lasted a little over the year, and was defended in a variety of promotions including WCW, resulting in a strange little quirk wherein Ultimo Dragon defended a WWE championship at Starrcade ‘96.
7 Perro Aguayo & Villano III Both Have The Most Reigns
During the Universal Wrestling Association Era, various notable stars held the Light Heavyweight Championship, including Fishman, Pegasus Kid (a.k.a. Chris Benoit), and Gran Hamada, who pioneered the Japanese hybrid style known as lucharesu. This 14-year period also included two wrestlers who held the title the most number of times, both tying at seven reigns each. The first to make it to seven in 1989 was Perro Aguayo, a top heel in his heyday who was one of the iconic El Santo’s biggest rivals. Following Aguayo in 1994 was Villano III, one of the five masked sons (all named Villano) of non-masked legend Ray Mendoza, several of whom went on to wrestle in WCW’s cruiserweight division.
6 Officially Adopted By WWE In 1997
Following the success of WCW’s Cruiserweight division, WWE established its Light Heavyweight Division in November of 1997, necessitating the break-up of the J-Crown, which had already lost one of its titles over the summer. Now officially in WWE, the inaugural champion was once again decided in a tournament that began in late November and concluded in early December at the pay-per-view In Your House: D-Generation X. Entrants included TAKA Michinoku, Super Loco (a.k.a. ECW’s Super Crazy), Devon Storm (a.k.a WCW’s Crowbar), and Scott Taylor (a.k.a. Scotty 2 Hotty).
5 TAKA Michinoku Was The First Champion In WWE
The finals of the Light Heavyweight Championship tournament came down to Brian Christopher and TAKA Michinoku, who had been signed to the promotion since the summer of 1997. In defeating Christopher, Michinoku became the first Light Heavyweight Champion to be actually acknowledged by WWE. Michinoku’s title run would be an impressive one, lasting 315 days and 11 televised title defenses against opponents including tournament entrants Scott Taylor and Aguila as well as his future Kai En Tai partners Funaki and Dick Togo.
4 Christian Won It In His Debut
A nine-time WWE tag team champion and multi-time world champion, Christian debuted in WWE at the September 1998 pay-per-view Breakdown: In Your House as an ally of Gangrel and eventual member of The Brood with Gangrel and Edge. However, Christian wouldn’t wrestle his first match until a month later when he challenged TAKA Michinoku for the Light Heavyweight Title at Judgment Day.
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After an eight-and-a-half-minute effort, Christian successfully dethroned Michinoku to become the new champion in his first televised match for WWE.
3 Gillberg Is The Longest Reigning Champion In WWE
Christian’s reign with the Light Heavyweight belt came to an end after only 30 days when he was defeated by perennial jobber Duane Gill in a short match on an episode of Raw in November of 1998. Gill’s reign would be the longest during WWE’s tenure with the title, lasting 448 days, during which he evolved into the Goldberg parody character Gillberg. However, Gillberg stopped defending the title on WWE television in December of 1998, bringing it back in February of 2000 when he dropped it to the aforementioned Essa Rios.
2 X-Pac Was Double Champion
In late March of 2001, WWE purchased rival WCW, gaining not only much of the company’s roster and its intellectual property — including its championships. As a result, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship became part of WWE television and was regularly defended on the show, including in several winner-take-all matches against the Light Heavyweight Championship. As a result, on several occasions X-Pac was able to become a double champion by holding both of the belts, including at SummerSlam 2001 when he beat Tajiri for the Light Heavyweight Title.
1 The Title Was Never Unified
WCW’s presence on WWE television was part of an epic (and ultimately flawed) invasion storyline, which came to a conclusion at Survivor Series in November of 2001. While unifying the dueling Light Heavyweight and the Cruiserweight belts seemed like an obvious choice, this unfortunately never came to fruition as Light Heavyweight Champion X-Pac suffered an injury. Once he recovered and returned to television, the Light Heavyweight belt was quietly put to bed while the Cruiserweight Title became officially WWE-branded.
