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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[]

Championship Lineage[]

WCW Light Heavyweight Championship[]

Vacated - September 2, 1992

WCW Cruiserweight Championship[]

Vacated — June 11, 1998

Vacated — October 4, 1999

Vacated - January 18, 2000

Vacated — April 10, 2000

WWE Cruiserweight Championship 2002 - 2007[]

Deactivated — September 25, 2007

WWE Cruiserweight Championship 2016 - 2019[]

VACATED - Enzo Amore was released by WWE, January 23 2018

NXT Cruiserweight Championship (2019 to 2022)[]

Renamed NXT Cruiserweight Championship in September 2019

Title Retired - January 4 2022

See Also[]

WWE, WCW, WWE Cruiserweight Classic

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