The light heavyweight division which contested the championship had proved popular with fans, but its viability suffered as a result of WCW's creative decisions; in 1992,
Bill Watts became the head
booker, and implemented storyline changes in WCW's product which stymied the division's style. WCW would later introduce a similar title as the
WCW Cruiserweight Championship; the two titles are now considered to share the same lineage by the wrestling promotion
WWE, which purchased WCW's assets in 2001.
Overview Creation The WCW Light Heavyweight Championship was created in 1991, with the inaugural champion decided though a single-elimination tournament held over several weeks. Seven wrestlers were used for the tournament—three quarter final matches, one of whom entered at the semi-final stages. The first two quarter finals were broadcast on
WorldWide in August 1991, and saw
The York Foundation's
Richard Morton defeat
Johnny Rich, and
Badstreet defeat
Joey Maggs. The next month, WCW's
Main Event featured the last quarter final, in which
Mike Graham triumphed over another York Foundation member in
Terrance Taylor. Both of the semi-final matches were held at September's
Clash of the Champions XVI event in
Augusta, Georgia; Morton defeated Graham in a
heel finish which depicted him using several illegal advantages to win. In the other leg of the tournament, Badstreet was defeated by the newly-entering
Brian Pillman with a
body press from the top rope.
Inaugural championship tournament Defending the title , pictured in 2015|alt=A man in a red and white bodysuit with an elaborate horned mask looks off to one side Pillman's reign as champion continued until December 1991, when he began to feud with masked Japanese wrestler
Jushin Thunder Liger, who defeated Pillman for the championship at a
house show held in
Atlanta, Georgia on December 25, 1991. before being defeated by
Scotty Flamingo in
Mobile, Alabama, during the June 20
Beach Blast pay-per-view. Flamingo's brief reign was ended by Brad Armstrong during a house show; the match was filmed out-of-sequence with several other televised championship matches, which meant Flamingo would tape a defense against Scott Sandlin despite having already lost the championship, while Armstrong recorded a match against
Tracy Smothers that would air as a title defense despite being shot before his win was officially acknowledged. In 1996, WCW once again held a tournament to crown a champion for the weight class, this time under the title
WCW Cruiserweight Championship. The first champion under this new lineage was
Shinjiro Otani, who defeated
Chris Benoit in the tournament final. After the acquisition of WCW's assets by rival company
WWE, both title lineages were considered to be related, and WWE refers to the holders of the Light Heavyweight Championship as former Cruiserweight Champions. ==Reigns==