WWE Cruiserweight Championship

WWE Cruiserweight Champion, Cedric Alexander

The WWE Cruiserweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the Raw brand. It is defended on *205 Live* and the cruiserweight-exclusive *205 Live*. Unveiled on September 14, 2016, as the award for the Cruiserweight Classic, which was won by TJ Perkins, it is contested in WWE's cruiserweight division by wrestlers at a maximum weight of 205 lb (93 kg). The current champion is Cedric Alexander, who is in his first reign.

The title is distinct from the previous WWE Cruiserweight Championship that originated in World Championship Wrestling and was retired in 2007. Although the two titles share the same name, they do 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.

In addition to Monday Night Raw, the Cruiserweight Championship is defended on 205 Live, a cruiserweight-exclusive show on the WWE Networkthat 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, and the title was vacated, 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.[13] 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 final two quarterfinal matches took place on the March 6 episode where Gulak and Ali defeated Andrews and Murphy in their respective matches. The semifinal matches took place on the March 13 and March 20 episodes where Alexander and Ali defeated Strong and Gulak in their respective matches. The final match aired during the WrestleMania 34 pre-show with Alexander defeating Ali.

## Reigns

As of July 2, 2018, there have been ten reigns between eight champions and one vacancy. The inaugural champion was TJ Perkins. The oldest champion is The Brian Kendrick, winning the title at 37 years old, while the youngest champion is Rich Swann when he won it at 25. Neville and Enzo Amore have the most reigns at two. Neville also has the longest reign at 197 days, while Akira Tozawa has the shortest reign at six days. Neville also has the longest combined reign at 232 days (233 days as recognized by WWE).

The title is currently held by Cedric Alexander, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Mustafa Ali in the finals of a 16-man tournament on the WrestleMania 34 pre-show.