The Contentious Ten 12.14.09: The Top Ten Cruiserweight Champions

So a few people in the comments last week said I was a little WWE centered in regards to my Top Ten “Super Teams.” However, the fact of the matter is it was WWE centered, because WWE has a greater tendency to stick two former champions together as a team than WCW was or TNA does. I actually provided a full list of teams that met my qualifications for the list, and well over half of them were WWE teams.

As far as painting myself into a corner as one commenter suggested, I had to paint myself into a corner last otherwise my list would have looked like this post:

No DX, Mega Powers, Mega Maniacs, Studd & Bundy, Twin Towers, Booker T & Sting, Hercules & Tama, Barbarian & Ax, Lex Luger & B Brian Blair, Haku & Joey Maggs, Cactus Jack & Sgt Buddy Lee Parker, Bunkhouse Buck & Reggie White, Kevin Greene & Randy Savage, Ed Alanzo & Stevie Ray, Bid Dick Dudley & Dusty Rhodes? Come on. Your list sucks in comparision.

Posted By: Iceman King Parsons’ Ghost (Guest) on December 07, 2009 at 01:35 AM

Or this one:

Hey, you forgot Beaver Clevage & Z-Gangsta, Mick Foley & Ray Stevens, Sting & Rick Rude, Vader & Tim Horner, Steve Williams & Riki Choshu, Steven Regal & Bushwacker Luke, Wild Bill Irwin & Steve McMicheal, Rick Steiner & Norman the Lunatic, Misawa & Lex Luger, Arn Anderson & Marty Jannetty, Tully Blanchard & Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase & Randy Savage, Giant Baba & Andre the Giant, Haku & The Warlord, Hercules & The Super Invader, Rhyno & Dancin’ Stevie, Booker T & Ahmed Johnson, Rockin’ Robin & Little Mr. T, Bunkhouse Buck & Jerry Sags, Scott Hall & Jeff Jarrett, Well Done.

Posted By: !!!!!Cena Rulz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Guest) on December 08, 2009 at 11:34 PM

I’d also like add that you forgot Bastion Booger & Bam Bam Bigelow, The 1-2-3 Kid & Bob “Spark Plug” Holly, DDP & Jay Leno, Al Snow & Perry Saturn, Head & Moppy, Savio Vega & Hakushi, and The Brooklyn Brawler & Iron Mike Sharpe.

The fact is if I didn’t create criteria for some of these lists there would be too many choices, too much to research, and people would still complain. What constitutes a “Super Team” (a concept I invented for the sake of a column)? Certainly not most of the joke teams in these posts. The concept was completely subjective, so I set up some major ground rules so I could actually write about it.

For those of you still wondering why Diesel and Shawn Michaels didn’t make the list is they won the tag belts in 95, more than six months before Michaels was his first World Title. In regards to Shawn and Austin, Austin hadn’t even been Intercontinental Champion, much less WWF Champion when they won the belts.

So, if last week was too WWE centered, I’ll balance it out this week as I look at The Top Ten Cruiserweight Champions. The criterion here is that all of the wrestlers on this list have had to have been the WCW/WWE Cruiserweight Champion. I am not counting the WWF or WCW Light-Heavyweight Titles as expectable substitutes. Those belts sucked.

The Top Ten Cruiserweight Champions

Honorable Mentions

Matt Hardy: Hardy wasn’t exactly a Cruiserweight, but he did a good job carrying the belt. His reign was one of the few times the Cruiserweight Title seemed important in WWE.

Tajiri: Tajiri held the Cruiserweight Title several times during his time in WWE, and was technically the last WCW Cruiserweight Champion. Tajiri was a good champion, but the title always seemed to be placed on the backburner whenever he was champion.

Jamie Noble: Noble enjoyed a fairly lengthy, if uneventful WWE Cruiserweight Title reign. Like most of the other WWE Cruiserweight Champions his reign seemed to lack any significance. However, at least WWE played up the money he was making as champion.

X

Ultimo Dragon

Ultimo Dragon may seem like an inappropriate pick for number ten considering wrestlers like Jamie Noble, Tajiri, and Matt Hardy only made the list as Honorable Mentions. Really, the only reason Dragon (who only held the title for a combined 31 days) makes the list is due to the fact that he brought significant international prestige to the title. He was paired up with heel manager Sunny Onoo and immediately began challenging for the Cruiserweight Title, wrestling Rey Mysterio at Hog Wild in a losing effort. He briefly left WCW and won the J-Crown, a unification of the British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Title, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title, the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title, NWA World Welterweight Title, the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title, the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Title, the WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title, and the WWF Light Heavyweight Title. Dragon also held the NWA Middleweight Title and the WAR Six-Man Title. He defeated Rey Mysterio (who had lost the Cruiserweight Title) at World War 3, and went on to defeat Dean Malenko for the Cruiserweight Title at Starrcade. As Cruiserweight Champion he and Onoo would make their way to the ring brandishing all his belts. Not long after winning the Cruiserweight Title, Dragon lost the J-Crown and lost the Cruiserweight Title a few weeks later to Dean Malenko. While his time with all eleven titles was short lived he remains the only man to have held eleven titles at the same time. He was also the first man to unify the WWF Light-Heavyweight Title (as WWF had lost track of the title) with the WCW Cruiserweight Title. He would have another very brief Cruiserweight Title reign, but the main reason he makes the list is the impressive image of him with all of those belts.

IX

Juventud Guerrera

Juvi, as he became known was the go-to transitional Cruiserweight Champion for WCW, holding the title three times for a combined length of 50 days. He defeated Ultimo Dragon in January 1998 on the debut episode of WCW Thunder to capture the title, but lost the belt to Rey Mysterio a few days later. Mysterio would lose the belt to Chris Jericho and sustain an injury. As a result Guerrera challenged Jericho to a match for the title, but the only way Jericho would agree was if he put his mask on the line. Juventud lost the match and his mask, and Jericho began referring to him as “Quasi-tud,” due to his “hideous looks.” Guerrera, however, would get the last laugh on Jericho when he defeated him for the Cruiserweight Title several months later at Road Wild. He managed to hang onto the belt for more than a month and defend the title against Silver King at Fall Bawl, but lost it to Billy Kidman the night after. He would win the title back two months later, but lost it back to Kidman at World War 3. Guerrera suffered an injury and started doing commentary on Thunder. It was there that he started parodying The Rock, by copying his phrases and referring to himself as “The Juice,” but he wouldn’t hold the Cruiserweight Title again until he was in WWE. In the meantime, he held the Tag Titles with Rey Mysterio and was fired from WCW for being arrested for running around an Australian hotel screaming, naked and high on PCP (among other things).

He joined WWE in 2005 along with Super Crazy and Psicosis (Psychosis) as a member of the Juan Deer riding Mexicools. In October he won a cruiserweight battle royal to earn a shot at Nunzio’s Cruiserweight Title. At No Mercy he defeated Nunzio with the Juvi Driver to capture the title, and frequently defended the title on Velocity for over a month. He briefly lost the title back to Nunzio in Rome, but won it back a week later. After another, nearly month long title reign Guerrera lost the title to Kid Kash at Armageddon. Reportedly, Guerrera had been very difficult to work with, had a bad attitude and had injured Paul London with a botched 450 Splash. As a final act of defiance to the restrictions WWE had been putting on the cruiserweights, Juventud, in his rematch with Kash unleashed a bevy of high-flying moves, including the banned 450 Splash. He was fired shortly after.

VIII

Eddie Guerrero

Eddie Guerrero would go onto to levels that very few probably ever thought he would reach, but he really started to make his way in WCW, first as a United States Champion and then as a Cruiserweight Champion. Guerrero was a plucky baby-face during his US Title run, but after losing that title to Dean Malenko in 1997 he got frustrated and turned heel. A few months later he began feuding with Chris Jericho who was the Cruiserweight Champion. He lost a title match against him at a Clash of the Champions show, but demanded at received a rematch at Fall Brawl and won the title. Guerrero immediately began an intense feud with Rey Mysterio, which led to a match at Halloween Havoc where Mysterio’s mask and Guerrero title were on the line. Mysterio defeated Guerrero, but Guerrero would win the title back a few weeks later and successfully defended it against Mysterio at World War 3. A month later at Starrcade Guerrero defeated his old rival Dean Malenko to retain the title, but lost the belt the next night on Nitro to Ultimo Dragon.

Guerrero’s two, relatively short title reigns may not seem like enough to justify his place on this list. However, his time with belt was extremely well spent and he had several classic matches with Mysterio. The quality of these matches, I feel, is enough to have earned him a place on this list.

VII

Syxx/X-Pac

Regardless of if you call him Syxx, X-Pac, Syxx-pac, or even the 1-2-3 Kid, Sean Waltman is a divisive wrestler. Despite his relatively small stature Waltman got in with the right people and managed to make quite a name for himself in the WWF as the 1-2-3 Kid. Then, in 1996 Waltman signed with WCW where his Clique buddies Hall and Nash were tearing up the wrestling world as members of the nWo. Waltman almost immediately joined the faction and was dubbed Syxx, as a play on the 1-2-3 Kid name. Syxx’s first feud was with Eddie Guerrero over the United States Title, but ultimately Syxx lost the feud in a ladder match at Souled Out. However, he rebounded the next month at SuperBrawl VII where he defeated Dean Malenko for his first Cruiserweight Title. Waltman had always been a high-flyer and was a logical fit for the cruiserweight division. Syxx made several title defenses on Nitro against guys like Rey Mysterio, Chavo Guerrero, and Juventud Guerrera, but not a single one on pay per view. However, he was one of the longer reigning Cruiserweight Champions holding the title for just more than four months. The fact that he was an nWo member gave a sense of importance to the championship since the faction was the center of WCW’s main storyline. He lost his title to Chris Jericho, ending his, at the time record setting, long title reign. After losing the title he feuded with Ric Flair, but injured his neck in October. The injury led to his release, and eventually to his return to the WWF as X-Pac in 1998. X-Pac was brought in as a member of D-generation X and was incredibly popular. I thought, at the time that his return would be the shot in the arm the poorly run Light-Heavyweight division needed, but X-Pac never once challenged for the Light-Heavyweight Title. Whether this was something he pushed for or something management decided I don’t know, but he could have really helped the light-heavyweight division.

By 2001 X-Pac turned heel and was legitimately one of the most hated wrestlers in American pro-wrestling. It wasn’t the good kind of hate either, it was the “God, I hate watching this guy, I wish he would fall off a cliff” kind of hate that came to be known as X-Pac heat. It was during this time that X-Pac finally threw his hat into the Light-Heavyweight division. I believe (although I have no proof) that Waltman was aware of the huge influx of talent coming and wanted to distinguish himself with some gold, so he wormed his way into the division he should have been in the whole time. He went on to defeat Jeff Hardy for the Light-Heavyweight Title in late June just as the Invasion angle was beginning. A few weeks later X-Pac defeated the WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman to unify the two promotions lightweight titles. He would lose and win back his WWF title to Tajiri, but managed to hang onto the Cruiserweight Title for more than two months (one of the longest title reigns during the invasion storyline). Ultimately X-Pac lost his Cruiserweight Title to Billy Kidman and sustained an injury that put him on the shelf for several months. During that time WWF dropped the Light-Heavyweight Title and assumed control of the Cruiserweight Title.

X-Pac would return briefly as a member of the resurrected nWo, but parted ways with the WWF a short time later. As Syxx-Pac he would win TNA’s X-Division Title making him the only wrestler to have held the WWF, WCW, and TNA versions of the lightweight titles. X-Pac’s long WCW title reign, and the fact that he unified the WWF and WCW Titles is enough to earn him a spot on this list.

VI

Chavo Guerrero Jr.

I have a confession to make; I don’t mind the fact that Hornswoggle humiliates Chavo Guerrero every week, because I always skip past it. I don’t skip past it because I’m sad to see Chavo reduced to comic fodder, but because I have never enjoyed watching Chavo wrestle. I find him to be incredibly boring in and out of the ring, and the only time I find him bearable is when he’s paired up with someone interesting. However, I didn’t want to let my personal bias get in the way too much. So here he is at number six. The only time I really liked Chavo was during his early days in WCW when he lost his mind due to the pressure put on him by his uncle Eddie and he started obsessing on his hobby-horse Pepe.

Guerrero would go through several gimmick changes but didn’t win his first Cruiserweight Title until 2000 when he was a part of the Misfits In Action as Lieutenant Loco. He defeated the champion Daffney (one of three women to hold the belt) and Disco Inferno for the title in a triangle match. His title reign was short lived, as he lost the belt to Lance Storm about a month later. It would be several months before he got another significant opportunity at the belt, but in December he defeated Mike Sanders for the belt and feuded with Shane Helms for several months before losing it to him at Greed.

Chavo Guerrero’s contract was bought by WWF in the purchase of WCW, and actually gained some traction in WWE as a trained for Tough Enough and then even more when he formed Los Guerreros with his uncle Eddie. After a lot of success Eddie became a main event level talent and Chavo grew jealous of him and turned on him. Shortly after Chavo’s father Chavo Sr. or Chavo Classic joined him in his fight. Chavo won the WWE Cruiserweight Title from Rey Mysterio at No Way Out 2004, the same night his uncle won the WWE Title. He then successfully defended the title in a cruiserweight invitational at WrestleMania XX (the last time the title would be defended at a WrestleMania) and defended the title for another month before losing the title to Jacqueline. A little more than a week later Chavo won the belt back at Judgment Day with one arm tied behind his back (although his father actually untied it), but on the following SmackDown Chavo lost the title to his father in a triple threat match also involving Spike Dudley. A few months later Chavo suffered a concussion as the result of a botched Shooting Star Press from Billy Kidman. Several months later at No Way Out 2005 Guerrero won the Cruiserweight Title again in a gauntlet match eliminating Paul London. Just over a month later Guerrero suffered another head injury and was the first man eliminated in a battle royal for the title. Chavo would then be drafted to the Raw brand and changed his name to Kerwin White (the first ever blatantly stereotypical “white-guy” gimmick). After the death of his uncle Eddie the gimmick was dropped and Guerrero began wrestling under his real name again. After being an ally to World Champion Rey Mysterio for several months Chavo turned on him and feuded with him for several months until he defeated him in an “I Quit” Match. A few months later Chavo made it three for four at No Way Out winning the Cruiserweight Title in yet another cruiserweight invitational, last pinning Jimmy Wang Yang. Guerrero defended the title for several months, including a match against Yang at Vengeance: Night of Champions. Then, in a final cruiserweight invitational he lost the title for a final time when Hornswoggle pinned Jamie Noble. Hornswoggle’s reign marked a pathetic end to the previously prestigious title.

Although I know that the death of the cruiserweight division has nothing to do with Chavo or his level of talent, it always felt to me like WWE slapped the belt around his waist when they needed a guy to simply hold the belt. Whenever he won the title it felt to me like it was WWE’s way of getting the title out of the way for a while. Of course WWE hardly cared about the title anyway, so the fact that they put it on Chavo so many times indicates that they thought he was probably one of the best guys to get the title over. It’s too bad WWE gave him so little to work with.

V

Shane/Gregory/Hurricane Helms

Gregory Helms is the only man to have won the Crusierweight Championship under three different names. Unlike many of the other wrestlers on this list Helms achieved his highest level of success in the cruiserweight division during his time in WWE. Helms entered WCW in 1999 as Shane Helms as part of the six-man team/boy band “3-Count.” After a year and a half of teaming with Evan Karagias and Shannon Moore 3-Count splintered and Helms earned a shot Chavo Guerrero’s Cruiserweight Title. The two met in January 2001 at Sin, but Helms was unable to win the belt. However, Helms bounced back and won a Cruiserweight Battle Royal at SuperBrawl for a shot at the title. Helms got his shot the last WCW pay per view Greed, and defeated Guerrero for his first Cruiserweight Title, utilizing his Vertebreaker. Days later WCW was sold to WWE, and Helm’s contract was picked up in the deal. As a result Helms technically held the Cruiserweight Title for over 100 days without having to defend it. Despite the long reign Helms (now known as Gregory Helms) lost the title to Billy Kidman in his first match in WWE. Shortly after Helms’s gimmick changed and he became a superhero known as The Hurricane. As the Hurricane he saw a significant upswing in his popularity notwithstanding the fact that WWE banned his impressive Vertebreaker move. After several months of playing comic relief Hurricane defeated Tajiri and Billy Kidman to capture the Cruiserweight Title for a second time. It was during this reign that WWE finally replaced the WCW version of the belt with its own version. Hurricane would only hang onto the title for a little over a month before losing the belt to former WCW rival Jamie Nobel. Shortly after his loss he was traded to the Raw brand, and had some success in the Tag Team division, but was kept away from the Cruiserweight Title.

In late 2005 Helms turned heel on his tag team partner Rosey and shed the Hurricane gimmick claiming he was tired of amusing the crowd and being a loser as a result. A few months later at the Royal Rumble, Kid Kash defended the Cruiserweight Championship in an Open Invitational. Despite being a Raw Superstar, Helms entered the match, won the title and moved back to SmackDown. Helms’s sense of entitlement and arrogance rubbed SmackDown General Manager Teddy Long the wrong way and he forced Helms into another Invitational Match at No Way Out. Helms retained the belt and embarked on the longest Cruiserweight Title reign in history. Long made him defend the belt frequently until he suffered a broken nose. He took a little more than a month off to recover, but was able to keep the title due to a clause in his contract. Helms continued to feud with the other cruiserweights, but the division was rapidly becoming an afterthought, and by the fall of 2006 he was involved in an exciting feud with (the no longer cruiserweight) Matt Hardy. Several months later at No Way Out 2007 Helms was forced to defend the title once again in an Invitational Gauntlet Match. That night Helms was unable to defeat the entire cruiserweight division and lost the title to Chavo Guerrero. Shortly after Helms sustained a severe neck injury and was out for over a year. In the meantime the Cruiserweight Title was phased out.

Helms takes the number five spot because of his over a year long plus title reign. His reign was really the last shining moment of the cruiserweight division. However, I would argue that the length of his reign was more the product of WWE’s lack of caring about the cruiserweight division than their desire to put Helms over as an unstoppable champion.

IV

Billy Kidman

Billy Kidman probably wouldn’t have had much of a career if it hadn’t been for WCW’s Cruiserweight Title. Kidman started out in WCW as a pretty basic jobber, until Raven took him under his wing and made him a jobber with a gimmick. Unfortunately his gimmick was being a heroin addict. However, it was during this period that WCW saw some real potential in him, and when the group disbanded Kidman was immediately thrust into the Cruiserweight Title hunt, and defeated Juventud Guerrera for it on September 19, 1998. Kidman enjoyed a two month long title reign and defended the belt frequently. He lost the title back to Guerrera, but won it back days later at World War 3 with his incredible Shooting Star Press, kicking off Kidman’s most successful Cruiserweight Title reign. At Starrcade he defeated Guerrera, and Rey Mysterio in a triple threat match. Immediately after the match Eddie Guerrero challenged him to a match for the title. Kidman accepted and defeated Guerrero as well. A month later, at Souled Out, Kidman defeated Mysterio, Guerrera, and Psychosis in a Fatal Four-Way. Kidman’s highly successful reign continued through SuperBrawl IX where he defeated Chavo Guerrero, and through Uncensored where he defeated Mikey Whipwreck. The next night on Nitro, however, Rey Mysterio finally defeated him for the title, ending one of the most successful Cruiserweight Title reigns in WCW history. His reign was so successful that Kidman quickly saw his stock in WCW rise. Unfortunately for him, while his star was rising WCW’s was falling fast. He would have one more reign with the Cruiserweight Title, defeating Prince Iaukea at a house show and losing back to him the next night, but by then poor booking choices had wrecked the value of the title. During his remaining time in WCW he feuded with major stars, including Hulk Hogan, and won the Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles on the final Nitro.

After WWE purchased WCW Kidman was given the first shot at Gregory Helms’s “WCW” Cruiserweight Title on an episode of SmackDown and was victorious. His fourth reign was short lived as he lost the title less than a month later to WWF Light-Heavyweight Champion X-Pac in a unification match. Kidman would get his revenge on X-Pac a few months later when he defeated him for the Cruiserweight Title, but lost the belt two weeks later to Tajiri who would be the last official WCW Cruiserweight Champion. During this period Kidman was sidelined with an injury. In his return match on April 2, 2002 he defeated Tajiri and captured his sixth Cruiserweight Title, however, he would lose the belt back to him three weeks later at Backlash. Seven months later he upended Jamie Noble for the title at Survivor Series and had a fairly uneventful three month long title reign before losing the belt to Matt Hardy.

In total Kidman had seven reigns as Cruiserweight Champion, but it was only his second reign that was really significant and it was great enough to help him rank fourth on my list.

III

Chris Jericho

Currently Chris Jericho loves to play up all of his accomplishments, but you never hear him talk about the greatness that was his four Cruiserweight Title reigns. Jericho’s runs at the top of WCW’s cruiserweight heap can be split into to two categories: the “I’m just so happy,” Chris “Lionheart” Jericho, and the cocky, arrogant, name-mispronouncing, prima-donna Chris Jericho. When Jericho entered WCW in August 1996 he was very nice young man who smiled a lot and loved his fans. Despite the fact that made his first appearance right as the anti-hero/cool bad guy nWo storyline was kicking off, and characters like his were considered too generic, Jericho managed to develop enough of a fan following. After nearly a year in WCW Jericho won his first Cruiserweight Championship from nWo member Syxx. This was a big win because it was a rare occurrence for anyone to get the better of an nWo member and not have to pay it back. Jericho’s reign would be fairly short because he lost the title a month later to Alex Wright. Wright’s reign would be even shorter as Jericho won the belt back a few weeks later. He dropped the title a month later to Eddie Guerrero.

After his loss Jericho underwent the transformation from smiley do-gooder to arrogant smart-ass. His heel turn was completed when he defeated Rey Mysterio for the Cruiserweight Title at Souled Out 1998 and then attacked his knee with ring tools.

Jericho then made a habit out of defeating opponents and taking trophies including Prince Iaukea’s grass skirt, Disco Inferno’s headband, and his prize possession Juventud Guerrera’s mask which he won at SuperBrawl VIII. It was at this point that Jericho began his first career-making feud with Dean Malenko. The impossibly arrogant Jericho tried to one-up Malenko at every turn while simultaneously refusing to wrestle him. On one episode of Nitro he famously pulled out a giant list and claimed to be “The Man of 1004 Holds,” (since Malenko was “The Man of 1000 Holds) only the list was a bunch of made up crap like the “Moss-Covered-Three-Handled-Family-Gredunza,” (this was before it was Perry Saturn’s move) and about 500 variants of Arm-bars.

Eventually, after weeks of stalling Jericho defended his title against Malenko at Uncensored, and was victorious. Malenko, left wrestling for a short while, and Jericho’s insults at Malenko grew increasingly agitating. Jericho had successfully become one of the genuinely most hated wrestlers in WCW where nearly all the heels were “cool bad-guys.” The fans were rabid for anyone to shut him up, but it seemed like no one could. As a result a cruiserweight battle Royal was held at Slamboree and the winner would receive at title shot…

After Slamboree Jericho was no longer champion but managed to get the title vacated. He met a returned Dean Malenko in the finals of the tournament to crown a new champion at The Great American Bash and won the title via disqualification when Malenko hit with a chair. Jericho’s managed to get Malenko suspended for his actions and his reign of obnoxiousness continued for several months. Even when he lost the title to Rey Mysterio, due to Malenko’s interference, he managed to petition to get the title returned to him and Mysterio’s win erased from the record books. Jericho would finally lose the title to Juventud Guerrera at Road Wild when Malenko was placed as the guest referee. Jericho would never hold the Cruiserweight Title again, but more than anyone else on this list Jericho made the most of his time with the belt to create a character that became a top-list superstar.

II

Rey Mysterio Jr.

I would imagine that most wrestling fans conjure up images of Rey Mysterio when they hear the term cruiserweight, because Mysterio embodies so many of the traits that defined cruiserweight wrestling in its WCW heyday. Whether he was champion or not Mysterio was the face (or his mask was the face) of the WCW Cruiserweight division and captured the title from Dean Malenko very quickly after his debut. He reigned for several months and had several successful title defense against wrestlers like Super Calo, and Ultimo Dragon. Eventually he’d lose the title back to Malenko. Mysterio’s run with the championship had made him popular enough to feud with Prince Iaukea for the Television Title. Eventually Mysterio found his way back to the cruiserweight division as started a feud with Eddie Guerrero over the title. Mysterio put his mask on the line at Halloween Havok 97 for a shot at Guerrero’s Cruiserweight Title, and won the match with a hurricanrana. Two weeks later he lost the belt back to Guerrero. Mysterio won the title for a third time in January defeating Juventud Guerrera, but lost the title to Chris Jericho a few days later at Souled Out. After their match Jericho attacked his knee with a wrench and Mysterio was out of action for six months before he retuned to defeat Jericho for the title with the help of Dean Malenko. Due to the outside interference the title was retuned to Jericho the next night. Mysterio then feuded with Eddie Guerrero’s Latino World Order, but eventually joined the stable and had a friendly feud with Billy Kidman over the Cruiserweight Title. During this period Mysterio lost a mask match at Superbrawl IX. After months of matches Mysterio finally recaptured the title, defeating Kidman in March 1999, and then teamed with Kidman to win the WCW Tag Titles. He briefly lost the Cruiserweight Title to Psychosis, but won it back the next week. Mysterio then joined several stables and after several months lost the Cruiserweight Title to Lenny Lane. For the rest of his tenure in WCW Mysterio would only occasionally challenge for the Cruiserweight Title, but was still involved in several significant storylines.

About a year and a half after WCW folded a re-masked Mysterio signed with WWE, but it was about eight months before he took an active role in the cruiserweight division. He challenged Matt Hardy for the title at WrestleMania XIX, but came up short. A few months later, however, he defeated Hardy for his sixth official Cruiserweight Title reign. He held the title for several months before losing it to Tajiri. Mysterio was in limbo for several months, but in late 2003 defeated Jamie Noble to become the number one contender to the title. Then, in the first match WWE of 2004 he defeated Tajiri to capture the title. He would lose the title to Chavo Guerrero at No Way Out, but would defeat Chavo’s father (Chavo Classic) for the title a few months later. Then in July he lost the title for the final time to Spike Dudley.

Mysterio then moved on to a higher profile position in WWE. However, if it hadn’t been for the WCW Cruiserweight Title division it is very likely that he never would have made it in American wrestling. Along the way he brought a lot of prestige to a championship that ended up being a punch line for a lot of bad wrestling jokes. It was very difficult not to give him the number one spot. The only reason he doesn’t get it is because the number one guy was involved in the greatest cruiserweight storyline of all time.

I

Dean Malenko

Even though he wasn’t the flashiest of the cruiserweights Dean Malenko gets the top spot for two significant reasons. First he was truly successful as both a face and a heel, and second, regardless of his moral alignment every time he was Cruiserweight Champion, or even involved in the storyline immediately surrounding the belt it truly felt important. In the later years of WCW the cruiserweight division got pushed aside, and mocked. When it became a WWE Title it was pushed aside, mocked, and for large periods of time completely ignored. However, when Dean Malenko was at the forefront of the cruiserweight division he brought a degree of importance to it that just wasn’t as present when he wasn’t.

Dean Malenko’s journey with the Cruiserweight Title started shortly after the title was created in March of 1996. At first it seemed like it was going to go down the route that so many lightweight titles have and just be an “American” title contested in Japan or Mexico, as it was first won by Shinjiro Otani at a New Japan event. That all changed when Malenko defeated Otani a month and a few weeks later on an episode of WCW Worldwide. Suddenly, there was a tremendous increase in the presence of the cruiserweights on Nitro, and Malenko frequently defended the belt as a heel. The title made its pay per view debut with Malenko defeating Brad Armstrong at Slamboree, and at the subsequent two ppvs he defeated Rey Mysterio and Disco Inferno respectively. However as mentioned earlier his short feud with Mysterio elevated the youngster, and the night after Bash at the Beach Mysterio won the title. After feuding with Mysterio for several months Malenko took back the title at Halloween Havoc and reigned as champion for two months before losing the belt to Ultimo Dragon at Starrcade. Less than a month later Malenko regained the title, defeating Dragon at a Clash of the Champions. During his feud with Dragon, Malenko’s popularity increased and was regarded as a face. Less than a month after winning his third Cruiserweight Title he lost the belt to Syxx, and stepped out of the cruiserweight division for nearly the rest of the year. At Starrcade 97 Malenko challenged Eddie Guerrero for the Cruiserweight Title but lost the match. A few months later Malenko stared the feud with Chris Jericho that was the zenith for the Crusierweight Title. After being unable to defeat Jericho for the title Malenko “went home” for several months. During his time away Jericho constantly ridiculed him and his family. Then at Slamboree 1998 a cruiserweight battle royal was scheduled where the winner would meet Jericho for the title. The last two wrestlers were Juventud Guerrera and the relatively unknown Ciclope. The two men shook hands and Guerrera surprisingly leapt over the top rope and eliminated himself. Jericho was already in the ring when Ciclope reached up and removed his mask, revealing that it was Dean Malenko the whole time! The crowd exploded and Malenko defeated Jericho to win the belt. However, because of the deceptive nature of Malenko’s win, Jericho managed to get the title stripped from Malenko. The two met for the vacant title at the Great American Bash and Jericho won the title by disqualification. Malenko remained a thorn in Jericho’s side, and actually cost him the title on two occasions, but Malenko himself would never wrestle in any sort of consistent fashion for the Cruiserweight Title ever again.

You can watch the rest of the match here