NXT Cruiserweight Championship

The NXT Cruiserweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on the 205 Live and NXT brands. Unveiled on September 14, 2016 as the award for the inaugural Cruiserweight Classic, it was contested in WWE's Cruiserweight division by wrestlers at a maximum weight of 205lbs. The championship shared its name with the previous Cruiserweight Championship in WWE that originated in World Championship Wrestling, however, it does not share the same title history.
==History==
The Cruiserweight Classic was a WWE Network series and tournament for cruiserweights. Tournament qualifying matches took place in various promotions of the independent circuit, including well known promotions such as Revolution Pro Wrestling, Progress Wrestling, and Evolve. Many cruiserweight wrestlers from around the world were given the chance to qualify for the 32-man tournament, which took place over four dates: June 23, July 13, August 26, and September 14, 2016.
The final of the Cruiserweight Classic came down to TJ Perkins and Gran Metalik. Before the final match, Triple H revealed that the winner would not only receive a trophy, but would also become WWE Cruiserweight Champion for the new cruiserweight division on the Raw brand. Perkins defeated Metalik to become the inaugural champion. Like the WWE Championship's side plates, the Cruiserweight title's side plates include removable round sections, allowing the holder's personal logo to be added to the championship belt; the default sections show silver and purple world maps with the WWE logo over them. During Neville's first reign, the color of the slash under the WWE logo on the center plate and default side plates were changed from purple to orange.
The Cruiserweight Championship was defended on Monday Night Raw before moving to 205 Live, a cruiserweight-exclusive show on the WWE Network that premiered on November 29, 2016. On the premiere episode, Rich Swann defeated The Brian Kendrick for the championship.
After previous WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore was released from WWE on January 23, 2018 due to assault allegations, the title was vacated. In response, it was announced that a general manager would be appointed for 205 Live and would address the championship; 205 Live was previously controlled by the Raw General Manager as 205 Live is part of the Raw brand. On the January 30 episode of 205 Live, Drake Maverick (formerly known as Rockstar Spud in Impact Wrestling) was appointed as the 205 Live General Manager. Maverick announced that there would be a 16-man single elimination tournament to crown a new WWE Cruiserweight Champion, with the finals to occur at WrestleMania 34. The tournament began that episode with Cedric Alexander and TJP advancing to the quarterfinals by defeating Gran Metalik and Tyler Bate, respectively. Over the next couple of weeks, Kalisto, Roderick Strong, Mark Andrews, Drew Gulak, Buddy Murphy, and Mustafa Ali also advanced to the quarterfinals with wins over Lince Dorado, Hideo Itami, Akira Tozawa, Tony Nese, Ariya Daivari, and Gentleman Jack Gallagher, respectively. The first two quarterfinal matches occurred on the February 27 episode with Alexander and Strong advancing to the semifinals by defeating TJP and Kalisto, respectively. The finals were held at the WrestleMania 34 Kickoff Show, with Alexander beating Ali to win the vacant belt. He would lost the title to Buddy Murphy at WWE Super Show-Down in October.
On October 9, 2019 the championship was renamed the NXT Cruiserweight Championship and began being defended on both 205 Live and NXT. By the end of 2019, Angel Garza had won the belt from Lio Rush.
At the WWE Network Exclusive WWE Worlds Collide in 2020, Jordan Devlin became the new NXT Cruiserweight Champion after beating Angel Garza, Isaiah "Swerve" Scott and Travis Banks in a Fatal-4-Way match. However, in March 2020, he was mandated to follow strict guidlines following the COVID-19 Pandemic. This meant that a round robin tournament was set to crown another champion. El Hijo del Fantasma won the tournament and would later unmask and take the name Santos Escobar. In March 2021, Jordan Devlin made his return to the US to set up a title unification match with Santos Escobar to prove who's the real NXT Cruiserweight Champion. As their match grew closer, WWE offical Shawn Michaels insisted that they settle the score in a Ladder match. At NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver Night 2, Escobar defeated Devlin in a ladder match to become the undisputed NXT Cruiserweight Champion.
On the January 4, 2022 episode of NXT the championship was unified with the NXT North American Championship when NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes defeated NXT Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong to unify the championships.
== Reigns ==
The inaugural champion was T.J. Perkins. The oldest champion is The Brian Kendrick, winning the title at 37 years old, while the youngest champion is Lio Rush when he won it at 24. Neville and Enzo Amore have the most reigns at two. Neville also has the longest reign at 197 days (196 days as recognized by WWE), while Akira Tozawa has the shortest reign at 6 days (5 days as recognized by WWE). Neville also has the longest combined reign at 232 days (231 days as recognized by WWE).
==Tournaments==
*2016 WWE Cruiserweight Championship Inaugural Tournament
*2018 Cruiserweight Championship Tournament
*2020 Cruiserweight Championship Tournament
==Belt history==
WWE_Cruiserweight_Championship_2016.png|September 14, 2016-March 1, 2017
New Cruiserweight Championship.png|March 1, 2017-January 25, 2020
===Custom Designs===
Rich Swann Cruiserweight Championship sideplates.png|With Rich Swann custom side plates
Neville WWE Cruiserweight Championship sideplates.png|With Neville custom side plates
Akira-Tozawa-Cruiserweight-Champion-Sideplates-699440975.png|With Akira Tozawa custom side plates
==External links==
* Profile
Category:Singles championships
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment championships
Category:Cruiserweight wrestling championships
Category:Cruiserweight championships