List of WWF Light Heavyweight Champions

X-Pac was the final WWF Light Heavyweight Champion.

The WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling cruiserweight championship operated by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Only wrestlers that weighed less than 220 pounds (100 kg), called cruiserweights in professional wrestling, were allowed to challenge for the title. From 1981 to 1995, the WWF had a business partnership with the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA), a Mexican lucha libre-based promotion, which resulted in the creation of the Light Heavyweight Championship for the UWA. When the UWA ceased operations in 1995, the WWF lent the title to the Japanese New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion; however, the WWF ended their partnership with NJPW in 1997. As a result of the WWF owning the trademarks to the championship, NJPW returned the title to the WWF. One month later, the WWF began operating the title in the United States.[1] World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and its assets were acquired by the WWF in March 2001, which included the copyrights to their championships.[2] The WCW Cruiserweight Championship, a counterpart to the Light Heavyweight Championship, was one of these titles. After acquiring WCW, the WWF used the Cruiserweight Title, among other WCW championships, during The Invasion storyline, which featured former WCW wrestlers feuding with original WWF wrestlers before WCW's purchase. After The Invasion narrative ended in December 2001, the WWF replaced the Light Heavyweight Title with the Cruiserweight Championship, which had the WWF acronym added to its name.[3] World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the successor of the WWF, operated the Cruiserweight Championship until 2007, when the title was deactivated.[4]

Title reigns were determined by professional wrestling matches that involved wrestlers in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines or were awarded the title due to scripted circumstances. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or heroes as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a match or series of matches for the championship.[5] The title was won in Japan, Mexico, and 11 American states. The first champion to be recognized by the UWA was Perro Aguayo, who won the title in a tournament final in March 1981. Shinjiro Otani was the final champion recognized by the UWA before the title was returned to the WWF; he had won the title in August 1997. Although his reign is unrecognized by the WWF, Ultimo Dragon is the only wrestler to hold a WWF championship and a WCW championship at the same time before WWF's purchase of WCW. The first champion recognized by the WWF was Taka Michinoku, who won the title in a tournament final on December 7, 1997. After winning the championship in August 2001, X-Pac was the final wrestler to have held the title before it was replaced by the Cruiserweight Championship. Aguayo and Villano III held the title the most times, with eight. At 826 days, Villano III's reign from 1984 to 1986 was the longest in the title's history. Aguayo's reign in 1981 is the shortest reign, at eight days. Overall, there were 45 title reigns.

Title history

Key
Reign The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed
# Indicates what number the reign is
Event The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the titles were won
— Used for vacated reigns so as not to count it as an official reign

Recognition by the UWA/NJPW

# Wrestlers Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes
1 Perro Aguayo 1 March 26, 1981 183 Shimizu, Japan House show Aguayo defeated Gran Hamada in a tournament final for the title.
2 Fishman 1 September 25, 1981 15 Los Angeles, CA House show
3 Perro Aguayo 2 October 10, 1981 8 Los Angeles, CA House show
4 Chris Adams 1 October 18, 1981 56 Mexico City, Mexico House show
5 Perro Aguayo 3 December 13, 1981 129 Mexico City, Mexico House show
6 Gran Hamada 1 April 21, 1982 130 Tokyo, Japan House show
7 Perro Aguayo 4 August 29, 1982 203 Mexico City, Mexico House show
8 Villano III 1 March 20, 1983 140 Mexico City, Mexico House show
9 Perro Aguayo 5 August 7, 1983 254 Mexico City, Mexico House show
10 Gran Hamada 2 April 17, 1984 33 Tokyo, Japan House show
11 Villano III 2 May 20, 1984 826 Mexico City, Mexico House show
12 Fishman 2 August 24, 1986 122 Mexico City, Mexico House show
13 Perro Aguayo 6 December 24, 1986 130 Mexico City, Mexico House show
— Vacated — May 3, 1987 — — — The UWA forced Aguayo to relinquish the championship after a title defense against Villano III ended in controversy.[6]
14 Villano III 3 June 17, 1987 109 Mexico City, Mexico House show Villano III defeated Perro Aguayo in a rematch for the title.
15 Rambo 1 October 4, 1987 281 Mexico City, Mexico House show
16 Villano III 4 July 11, 1988 399 Mexico City, Mexico House show
17 Sangre Chicana 1 August 14, 1989 62 Mexico City, Mexico House show
18 Perro Aguayo 7 October 15, 1989 49 Mexico City, Mexico House show
19 Sangre Chicana 2 December 3, 1989 175 Mexico City, Mexico House show
20 Villano III 5 May 27, 1990 280 Naucalpan, Mexico House show [7]
21 Pegasus Kid 1 March 3, 1991 560 Naucalpan, Mexico House show
22 Villano III 6 September 13, 1992 110 Naucalpan, Mexico House show
23 El Signo 1 January 1, 1993 563 Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico House show
24 Villano III 7 July 18, 1994 167 Puebla, Mexico House show
— Vacated — January 1995 — — — After Villano III signed a contract with the PROMELL promotion, he was forced to vacate the championship by the UWA.
25 Aero Flash 1 June 16, 1995 282 Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico House show Aero Flash won the title in a tournament final.
26 The Great Sasuke 1 March 24, 1996 90 Shirakawa, Japan House show
27 El Samurai 1 June 22, 1996 43 Naruko, Japan House show
28 The Great Sasuke 2 August 4, 1996 68 Tokyo, Japan House show Championship becomes part of the J-Crown
29 Último Dragón 1 October 11, 1996 85 Osaka, Japan House show
30 Jushin Thunder Liger 1 January 4, 1997 183 Tokyo, Japan Wrestling World
31 El Samurai 2 July 6, 1997 35 Sapporo, Japan House show
32 Shinjiro Otani 1 August 10, 1997 87 Nagoya, Japan House show On November 5, 1997, the J-Crown was vacated. Otani returned five of the belts except the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Otani was the final wrestler in the UWA to hold the title before it was returned to the WWF.

Recognition by the WWF

# Wrestlers Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes
33 Taka Michinoku 1 December 7, 1997 315 Springfield, MA In Your House: D-Generation X Michinoku defeated Brian Christopher in a tournament final to win the title.
34 Christian 1 October 18, 1998 30 Chicago, IL Judgment Day: In Your House
35 Duane Gill / Gillberg 1 November 17, 1998 453 Columbus, OH Raw is War
36 Essa Rios 1 February 13, 2000 29 Austin, TX Sunday Night Heat
37 Dean Malenko 1 March 13, 2000 35 East Rutherford, NJ Raw is War
38 Scotty 2 Hotty 1 April 17, 2000 8 State College, PA Raw is War
39 Dean Malenko 2 April 25, 2000 322 Charlotte, NC SmackDown! This title change aired on tape delay.
40 Crash Holly 1 March 13, 2001 47 Anaheim, CA Sunday Night Heat
41 Jerry Lynn 1 April 29, 2001 37 Chicago, IL Sunday Night Heat
42 Jeff Hardy 1 June 5, 2001 20 Grand Forks, ND SmackDown! This title change aired on tape delay.
43 X-Pac 1 June 25, 2001 42 New York City, NY Raw is War
44 Tajiri 1 August 6, 2001 13 Anaheim, CA Raw is War
45 X-Pac 2 August 19, 2001 91 San Jose, CA SummerSlam X-Pac was the final wrestler to hold the title. A title unification match at Survivor Series between WCW Cruiserweight Champion Tajiri and WWF Light Heavyweight Champion X-Pac was canceled because X-Pac was injured; shortly thereafter the Light Heavyweight Championship became inactive, and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship was rebranded as a WWF title.

List of top combined reigns

Rank Wrestler No. of reigns Combined days
1Villano III72,031
2Perro Aguayo7956
3El Signo1563
4The Pegasus Kid1560
5Gillberg1453
6Dean Malenko2357
7Taka Michinoku1315
8Aero Flash1282
9Rambo1281
10Sangre Chicana2237
11Jushin Thunder Liger1183
12Gran Hamada2163
13The Great Sasuke2158
14Fishman2137
15X-Pac2133
16Shinjiro Otani187
17Último Dragón185
18El Samurai278
19Chris Adams156
20Crash Holly147
21Jerry Lynn137
22Christian130
23Essa Rios129
24Jeff Hardy120
25Tajiri113
26Scotty 2 Hotty18

See also

References

General
Specific
  1. ↑ "WWF Light Heavyweight Championship History". Wrestling Title Histories by Royal Duncan and Gary Will. Solie.org. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
  2. ↑ "WWE Entertainment, Inc. acquires WCW from Turner Broadcasting". World Wrestling Entertainment Corporate. 2001-03-23. Retrieved 2008-05-24.
  3. ↑ "WWF LightHeavyweight Championship at WWE.com". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-12-01. The title was abandoned in 2001 when WWE finally put the WCW/ECW Alliance out of business. WWE then adopted the WCW Cruiserweight Championship as its version of the Cruiserweight Championship.
  4. ↑ "WWE Cruiserweight Championship Reigns". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
  5. ↑ Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  6. ↑ Centinela, Teddy (May 3, 2015). "En un día como hoy… 1987: Perro Aguayo casi pierde la vida en el ring… Última función de El Toreo antes de la muerte de Francisco Flores". SuperLuchas Magazine (in Spanish). Retrieved July 1, 2015.
  7. ↑ Centinela, Teddy (May 27, 2015). "En un día como hoy… 1990: Fallece Guillermo Hernández “Lobo Negro”… Villano III recupera el título WWF". SuperLuchas Magazine (in Spanish). Retrieved July 1, 2015.

External links

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