Taka Michinoku was the first WWE Light Heavyweight Champion.
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Prior to the title's inception, WWE presented special attraction bouts including two contests pitting Taka against fellow Japanese star The Great Sasuke.
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Taka and Sasuke battled at the In Your House: Canadian Stampede pay-per-view event and the following night on Raw.
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Another special attraction contest was Taka facing off with a very young Tajiri.
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Taka became champion after winning an eight-man tournament that took place mostly on Raw during November and December 1997.
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Along the way, Taka defeated future stars like Devon Storm, who became Crowbar in WCW and formed unique tandems with David Flair and Daffney.
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While Taka advanced, so did Brian Christopher, who competed against grapplers like Flash Flanagan.
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Another of Taka's opponents was Aguila, a lucha libre star who became known as both Papi Chulo and Essa Rios in WWE.
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In the tournament's semifinals, Brian Christopher defeated future tag team partner Scott Taylor. Later, the two grapplers became the dancing duo Too Cool.
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Taka and Christopher met in the finals at the D-Generation X: In Your House pay-per-view event.
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Taka defeated "Too Sexy" to become the first-ever Light Heavyweight Champion.
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Taka held the title for an impressive 10-month reign.
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At 1998's No Way Out event, which was then called No Way Out of Texas, Taka successfully defended the Light Heavyweight Championship against the high-flying Pantera.
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During his reign, Taka betrayed his fans and aligned himself with the villainous Kaientai.
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In his first televised WWE match, Christian challenged Taka for the Light Heavyweight Championship.
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In a major shocker, Christian won the title and went on to achieve many other accolades during his WWE career.
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In an even bigger shocker, the often unsuccessful Duane Gill defeated Christian for the Light Heavyweight Title.
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During his reign, Gill morphed into Gillberg, an absurd parody of WCW's Goldberg.
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Previously known as Aguila and Papi Chulo, Essa Rios won the Light Heavyweight Title in his first match going by that name.
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Rios was responsible for bringing Lita to WWE, and the pair would finish off their opponents with twin moonsaults.
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Perhaps the greatest Light Heavyweight Champion, Dean Malenko made an immediate impact upon his WWE debut in 2000.
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Known as the James Bond of WWE, Malenko was as adept with women as he was in the ring.
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Malenko was one of only two competitors to hold the title on two occasions.
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At Backlash 2000, Malenko battled Scotty 2 Hotty in what many consider the best-ever Light Heavyweight Championship Match.
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Malenko's 10-and-a-half-month long reign was finally ended by the energetic Crash Holly.
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Former ECW Champion Jerry Lynn, looking to make an immediate impact in WWE, challenged Crash Holly for the title in his debut match.
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Lynn, a tremendously skilled wrestler, held the title for slightly more than one month.
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Lynn was defeated for the Light Heavyweight Championship by Jeff Hardy, who failed to hold on to the title for a full three weeks.
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Hardy was defeated for the title by ring veteran X-Pac.
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X-Pac was the other Superstar to win the championship on two occasions.
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After WWE's acquisition of WCW, X-Pac defeated Billy Kidman for the Cruiserweight Championship while holding the Light Heavyweight Title.
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The very next week on Raw, X-Pac lost the Light Heavyweight Title to Tajiri.
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X-Pac unified the titles once again by defeating Tajiri at SummerSlam. X-Pac later lost the Cruiserweight Title and was set to unify the championships again, but the bout was canceled and the Light Heavyweight Title was never seen again.