The WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was a

professional wrestling championship A championship or title in professional wrestling is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations. Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in predetermined rivalri ...

in the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

(WWF, now WWE) promotion. The title was challenged by light heavyweights at a maximum weight of 215 lbs (before deactivation, the weight limit was changed to 220Ibs). It was created on March 26, 1981 for the

Universal Wrestling Association The Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) was a Mexican ''Lucha Libre'' or professional wrestling promotion based in Naucalpan, Mexico State that operated from 1975 until 1995. The name of the actual promotion was Lucha Libre Internacional (LLI) ...

(UWA) in a partnership between the WWF and UWA. On 16 June 1995, the title moved to

Michinoku Pro Wrestling (originally known as North Eastern Wrestling) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded by The Great Sasuke on October 1, 1992. It was the first independent wrestling promotion in Japan to not base its operations in Tokyo, but rather ...

, but due to WWF's ownership of the title, it was returned to the WWF in 1997, the year in which WWE recognizes as the beginning of the championship's lineage. The inaugural champion in UWA was

Perro Aguayo Pedro Aguayo Damián (18 January 1946 — 3 July 2019) better known as "(El) Perro Aguayo" (Aguayo the dog) and El Can de Nochistlan (The Nochistlan Dog) was a Mexican wrestler through the 1970s to the 1990s. Aguayo was the first person ever ...

, however, the WWE considers the inaugural champion to be

Taka Michinoku (born October 26, 1973), better known by his ring name (with his first name usually stylized in all capital letters), is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. Michinoku is known in North America for his work for the ...

, with his reign beginning on December 7, 1997. It was retired on March 8, 2002 with

X-Pac Sean Michael Waltman (born July 13, 1972) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE under a legends contract. He is best known for his appearances for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) under the ring names 1–2–3 ...

as the final champion.

History

1997 tournament

Notes:
¹
²
³
⁴

Title deactivation

In March 2001, the WWF purchased World Championship Wrestling. Following the conclusion of the

Invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

angle at the 2001 Survivor Series pay-per-view, the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was abandoned in favor of the

WCW Cruiserweight Championship World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nationa ...

(a unification match at Survivor Series was cancelled due to X-Pac's injury). The Light Heavyweight Championship was defended by

at house shows until March 8, 2002, when WWF finally deactivated the title. Simultaneously, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship was rebranded as the WWF Cruiserweight Championship. It would become the WWE Cruiserweight Championship in accordance with the company's name change in May 2002, and it would be defended until September 2007.

Reigns

The WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was first introduced in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in a tournament which ended with

defeating

Gran Hamada , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler, the first to adopt the high-flying Mexican lucha libre style. He has wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the Universal Wrestling Federation, Michinoku Pro and All Japan Pro ...

to become the first recognized champion. It then migrated to the US West Coast before transitioning to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and then later being defended once again in

by way of the Michinoku Pro Wrestling promotion. The title would later become popularized and widely defended within the confines of the World Wrestling Federation in 1997, when a tournament was held in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to crown a champion. Before the tournament, the title was previously considered a part of the much venerated

J-Crown The J-Crown (also known as J-Crown Octuple Unified Championship) was formed originally by New Japan Pro-Wrestling as a way of unifying eight junior heavyweight and cruiserweight titles from several different organizations. The J-Crown tournament ...

References

External links