History[]
The WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was first created in 1981 as part of a business partnership between the WWF and Universal Wrestling Association (UWA). It was initially won in a New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) round robin tournament by Perro Aguayo. The championship was contested in UWA events until the promotion closed in 1995.
In 1996, the championship was included as part of a multi-championship belt dubbed the J-Crown Championship which was initially won by The Great Sasuke.
Eventually the WWF decided to re-start their Light Heavyweight division and requested that Shinjiro Otani return the championship to the company. They reset the lineage of the belt and consider any pre-1997 WWF Light Heavyweight champions to be unofficial. They held an 8-man tournament to crown a new inaugural champion.
1997 tournament[]
| Quarterfinals (RAW is WAR) |
Semifinals (RAW is WAR) |
Finals (D-Generation X: In Your House) | |||||||||||
| Nov. 3 | Águila | Pin | |||||||||||
| Hershey | Super Loco | 5:12 | |||||||||||
| Nov. 252 | Águila | Pin | |||||||||||
| Roanoke | Taka Michinoku | 6:19 | |||||||||||
| Nov. 10 | Taka Michinoku | Pin | |||||||||||
| Ottawa | Devon Storm | 5:00 | |||||||||||
| Dec. 7 | Taka Michinoku | Pin | |||||||||||
| Springfield | Brian Christopher | 12:00 | |||||||||||
| Nov. 111 | Eric Shelley | Pin | |||||||||||
| Cornwall | Scott Taylor | 5:27 | |||||||||||
| Nov. 252 | Scott Taylor | Forf3 | |||||||||||
| Roanoke | Brian Christopher | ||||||||||||
| Nov. 24 | Brian Christopher | Pin | |||||||||||
| Fayetteville | Flash Flanagan | 3:30 | |||||||||||
Notes:
1 This match aired on November 17.
2 These matches aired on December 1.
3 Christopher won by forfeit after Kane chokeslammed Taylor before Christopher made his way to the ring, leaving Taylor unable to compete.
Title deactivation[]
In March 2001, the WWF purchased World Championship Wrestling. Following the conclusion of the Invasion angle at the 2001 Survivor Series Pay Per View event, the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was quietly abandoned in favor of the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. The WCW Cruiserweight Championship was rebranded as the WWF Cruiserweight Championship and later the WWE Cruiserweight Championship and was defended until November 2007.
Past Designs[]
See also[]
- World Wrestling Federation
- Champion history - History of the wrestlers who have held the belt.
- Title matches - Matches in which the title was defended.
- Champion gallery - A Gallery of the Champions.
