WWE Light Heavyweight Championship
The now-defunct WWE Light Heavyweight Championship has one of the shortest histories in WWE. It got its start in late 1997 when a tournament was held to crown the first-ever Light Heavyweight Champion. In the end, it was Taka Michinoku defeating Brian Christopher for the title. Over the next three years, the Light Heavyweight Championship changed hands 13 times, totaling 11 different champions, including Christian, Jeff Hardy, and X-Pac. 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.
Entire list of champions
| Champion | Won from | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| X-Pac | Tajiri | San Jose, CA, USA | |
| Tajiri | X-Pac | Anaheim, CA, USA | |
| X-Pac | Jeff Hardy | New York, NY, USA | |
| Jeff Hardy | Jerry Lynn | Grand Forks, ND, USA | |
| Jerry Lynn | Crash Holly | Chicago, IL, USA | |
| Crash Holly | Dean Malenko | Anaheim, CA, USA | |
| Dean Malenko | Scotty 2 Hotty | Charlotte, NC, USA | |
| Scotty 2 Hotty | Dean Malenko | State College, PA, USA | |
| Dean Malenko | Essa Rios | East Rutherford, NJ, USA | |
| Essa Rios | Gillberg | Austin, TX, USA | |
| Gillberg | Christian | Columbus, OH, USA | |
| Christian | Taka Michinoku | Chicago, IL, USA | |
| Taka Michinoku | n/a | Springfield, MA, USA |