The WWE Cruiserweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment and was originally a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) title. It was challenged by cruiserweights at a maximum weight of 225lbs. After the WWE Brand Extension, it was the only title to be exclusive to the SmackDown! brand during its entire tenure.
The Cruiserweight Championship is recognized as formerly being the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship; a title that was considered separate from the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship at the time by WCW.
In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) purchased World Championship Wrestling. Soon after, "The Invasion" took place, in which The Alliance was ultimately dismantled. Following WWE Survivor Series 2001, the title was renamed the WWF Cruiserweight Championship, replacing the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship.
On September 28, 2007, the title was vacated after the final champion, Hornswoggle, was stripped of the championship by SmackDown! General manager, Vickie Guerrero. Hornswoggle had won the championship in a Cruiserweight Open at WWE The Great American Bash 2007. The last ever match contested for the title occurred on the August 31st episode of SmackDown, when Hornswoggle defended the title against Jamie Noble.
After a six month absence, on March 3, 2008, WWE removed the championship from the active championship web page, where originally the title was listed as "vacant." Afterward, the title was removed from the active titles list on WWE's title histories web page to the defunct championship list. In this way, the title was quietly retired.
In 2016 with the success of the WWE Cruiserweight Championship and the 2016 Brand Extension, the Cruiserweight Championship and Division was announced to be returning to WWE Raw. On September 14, 2016, Triple H announced at the WWE Cruiserweight Classic that the winner of the tournament would also become the new Cruiserweight Champion. T.J. Perkins became the first new Cruiserweight Champion.
Videos[]
- WCW Cruiserweight Championship's WWE Debut - July 5, 2001
- Chavo Guerrero vs Jacqueline SmackDown, May 4, 2004
- The Cruiserweight Championship becomes Defunct - September 25, 2007
- New WWE Cruiserweight Championship Title Revealed at CWC - 2016
- Cruiserweight Championship's New Look - January 25 2020
Championship Lineage[]
WCW Light Heavyweight Championship[]
- Brian Pillman - October 27, 1991 - WCW Halloween Havoc 1991
- Jushin Thunder Liger - December 25, 1991 - Live Event
- Brian Pillman 2 - February 29, 1992 - WCW SuperBrawl 2
- Scotty Flamingo - June 20, 1992 - WCW Beach Blast 1992
- Brad Armstrong - July 5, 1992 - Live Event
Vacated - September 2, 1992
WCW Cruiserweight Championship[]
- Shinjiro Otani - March 20, 1996 - New Japan Pro Wrestling
- Dean Malenko - May 18, 1996 - WCW WorldWide
- Rey Misterio, Jr. - July 8, 1996 - WCW Monday Nitro
- Dean Malenko 2 - October 27, 1996 - WCW Halloween Havoc 1996
- Ultimo Dragon - December 29, 1996 - Starrcade 1996
- Dean Malenko 3 - January 21, 1997 - WCW Clash of the Champions
- Syxx - February 23, 1997 - WCW SuperBrawl 7
- Chris Jericho - June 28, 1997 - Untelevised webcast (Saturday Nitro)
- Alex Wright - July 28, 1997 - WCW Monday Nitro
- Chris Jericho 2 - August 16, 1997 - WCW Saturday Night
- Eddie Guerrero - September 14, 1997 - WCW Fall Brawl 1997
- Rey Misterio, Jr. 2 - October 26, 1997 - WCW Halloween Havoc 1997
- Eddie Guerrero 2 - November 10, 1997 - WCW Monday Nitro
- Ultimo Dragon 2 - December 29, 1997 - WCW Monday Nitro
- Juventud Guerrera 1 - January 8, 1998 - WCW Thunder
- Rey Misterio, Jr. 3 - January 15, 1998 - WCW Thunder
- Chris Jericho 3 - January 24, 1998 - WCW Souled Out
- Dean Malenko 4 - May 17, 1998 - WCW Slamboree 1998
Vacated — June 11, 1998
- Chris Jericho 4 - June 14, 1998 - WCW The Great American Bash 1998
- Juventud Guerrera 2 - August 8, 1998 - - WCW Road Wild 1998
- Billy Kidman - September 14, 1998 - - WCW Monday Nitro
- Juventud Guerrera 3 - November 16, 1998 - WCW Monday Nitro
- Billy Kidman 2 - November 22, 1998 - WCW World War 3
- Rey Misterio, Jr. 4 - March 15, 1999 - WCW Monday Nitro
- Psychosis 1 - April 19, 1999 - WCW Monday Nitro
- Rey Misterio, Jr. 5 - April 26, 1999 - WCW Monday Nitro
- Lenny Lane - August 19, 1999 - WCW Thunder
Vacated — October 4, 1999
- Psychosis 2 - October 4, 1999 - WCW Monday Nitro
- Disco Inferno - October 4 1999 - WCW Monday Nitro
- Evan Karagias - November 21, 1999 - WCW Mayhem 1999
- Madusa - December 19, 1999 - Starrcade 1999
- Oklahoma - January 16, 2000 - WCW Souled Out 2000
Vacated - January 18, 2000
- The Artist - February 20, 2000 - WCW SuperBrawl 2000
- Billy Kidman - March 30, 2000 - Live Event
- The Artist 2 - March 31, 2000 - Live Event
Vacated — April 10, 2000
- Chris Candido - April 16, 2000 - WCW Spring Stampede 2000
- Crowbar and Daffney - May 15, 2000 - WCW Monday Nitro (co-champions)
- Daffney - May 22, 2000 - WCW Monday Nitro
- Lieutenant Loco - June 6, 2000 - WCW Thunder
- Lance Storm - July 31, 2000 - WCW Monday Nitro
- Elix Skipper - August 14, 2000 - WCW Monday Nitro
- Mike Sanders - October 2, 2000 - WCW Monday Nitro
- Chavo Guerrero, Jr. 2 - December 4, 2000 - WCW Thunder
- Shane Helms - March 18, 2001 - WCW Greed 2001
- Billy Kidman 4 - July 5, 2001 - WWE SmackDown
- X-Pac 2 - July 30, 2001 - WWE Raw - Unified with the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship
- Billy Kidman 5 - October 11, 2001 - WWE SmackDown
- Tajiri - October 22, 2001 - WWE Raw
WWE Cruiserweight Championship 2002 - 2007[]
- Billy Kidman 6 - April 4, 2002 - WWE SmackDown
- Tajiri 2 - April 21, 2002 - WWE Backlash 2002
- The Hurricane 2 - May 16, 2002 - WWE SmackDown
- Jamie Noble - June 23, 2002 - WWE King of the Ring
- Billy Kidman 7 - November 17, 2002 - WWE Survivor Series 2002
- Matt Hardy - February 23, 2003 - WWE No Way Out 2003
- Rey Mysterio 6 - June 5, 2003 - WWE SmackDown
- Tajiri 3 - September 25, 2003 - WWE SmackDown
- Rey Mysterio 7 - January 1, 2003 - WWE SmackDown
- Chavo Guerrero 3 - February 15, 2004 - WWE No Way Out 2004
- Jacqueline - May 6, 2004 - WWE SmackDown
- Chavo Guerrero 4 - May 16, 2004- WWE Judgment Day 2004
- Chavo Classic - May 20, 2004 - WWE SmackDown
- Rey Mysterio 8 - June 17, 2004 - WWE SmackDown
- Spike Dudley - July 29, 2004 - WWE SmackDown
- Funaki - December 12, 2004 - WWE Armageddon 2004
- Chavo Guerrero 5 - February 20, 2005 - WWE No Way Out 2005
- Paul London - March 29, 2005 - WWE SmackDown
- Nunzio - August 6, 2005 - WWE Velocity
- Juventud 4 - October 9, 2005 - WWE No Mercy 2005
- Nunzio 2 - November 15, 2005 - Live Event
- Juventud 5 - November 25, 2005 - WWE SmackDown
- Kid Kash - December 18, 2005- WWE Armageddon 2005
- Gregory Helms 3 - January 29, 2006 - WWE Royal Rumble 2006
- Chavo Guerrero 6 - February 18, 2007 - WWE No Way Out 2007
- Hornswoggle - July 22, 2007 - WWE The Great American Bash 2007
Deactivated — September 25, 2007
WWE Cruiserweight Championship 2016 - 2019[]
- T.J. Perkins - September 14 2016 - WWE Cruiserweight Classic
- Brian Kendrick - October 30 2016 - WWE Hell in a Cell 2016
- Rich Swann - November 29 2016 - WWE 205 Live
- Neville - January 29 2017 - WWE Royal Rumble 2017
- Akira Tozawa - August 14, 2017 - WWE Raw
- Neville 2 - August 20 2017 - WWE SummerSlam 2017
- Enzo Amore - September 24 2017 - WWE No Mercy 2017
- Kalisto - October 9 2017 - WWE Raw
- Enzo Amore 2 - October 22 2017 - WWE TLC 2017
VACATED - Enzo Amore was released by WWE, January 23 2018
- Cedric Alexander - April 8 2018 - WWE WrestleMania 34 KickOff
- Buddy Murphy - October 6 2018 - WWE Super Show-Down 2018
- Tony Nese - April 7 2019 - WWE WrestleMania 35
- Drew Gulak - June 23 2019 - WWE Stomping Ground KickOff
NXT Cruiserweight Championship (2019 to 2022)[]
Renamed NXT Cruiserweight Championship in September 2019
- Lio Rush - October 9 2019 - NXT
- Angel Garza - December 11 2019 - NXT
- Jordan Devlin - January 25 2020 - Worlds Collide
- El Hijo del Fantasma - June 3 2020 - NXT (Interim Champion)
- Kushida - April 13, 2021 - NXT
- Roderick Strong - September 21, 2021 - NXT 2.0
- Carmelo Hayes - January 4 2022 - NXT New Year's Evil
- On January 4 2022 the Cruiserweight Championship was unified into the NXT North American Championship.
Title Retired - January 4 2022