| WCW Women's Cruiserweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The WCW Women's Cruiserweight Championship belt | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | World Championship Wrestling GAEA Japan | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | April 7, 1997 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date retired | April 3, 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
The World Championship Wrestling (WCW) Women's Cruiserweight Championship was a singleswomen's professional wrestling championship inWorld Championship Wrestling for smaller women. It was created as a joint venture between WCW andGAEA Japan. The weight limit for the women's cruiserweight division was 130lb (as announced on WCW television). The first champion was crowned in a four-woman tournament that began on an episode ofWCW Monday Nitro on March 31, 1997 and concluded on April 7, 1997.[1] Since the tournament final was only shown onWCW Main Event, and the results were never mentioned on WCW television again, it is speculated that the title was created solely to be used by the GAEA promotion in Japan.[2] In fact, the title was defended and changed hands twice in Japan before being abandoned in early 1998.
After it was retired, the rights to the WCW Women's Cruiserweight Championship, inactive since 1999, are currently owned by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) through its acquisition of the selected assets of WCW in 2001.[3]
On April 7, 1997, atMain Event,Toshie Uematsu became the inaugural champion by defeatingMalia Hosaka in the finals of four-womansingle-elimination tournament.[2] The championship was short-lived, as it was deactivated on April 3, 1998, asGAEA Japan and WCW ended their relationship.
| Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
| 1 | Toshie Uematsu | ||||||||
| 4 | Meiko Satomura | ||||||||
| Toshie Uematsu | |||||||||
| Malia Hosaka | |||||||||
| 3 | Malia Hosaka | ||||||||
| 2 | Sonoko Kato | ||||||||
Over the championship's 11-month history, there have only been three reigns between three champions.Toshie Uematsu was the inaugural champion. Sugar Sato's reign is the longest at 195 days, as well as being the final champion, whileYoshiko Tamura's reign is the shortest at 63 days. Uematsu is the oldest champion at 22 years old, while Tamura is the youngest at 21 years old.
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| 1 | Toshie Uematsu | April 7, 1997 | Main Event | Huntsville, AL | 1 | 103 | DefeatedMalia Hosaka in the finals of a four-womansingle-elimination tournament to become the inaugural champion. | [2] |
| 2 | Yoshiko Tamura | July 19, 1997 | The Dream and Future ~ 2nd Jr. All Stars | Yokohama,Japan | 1 | 63 | [4] | |
| 3 | Sugar Sato | September 20, 1997 | Double Destiny | Kawasaki,Japan | 1 | 195 | ||
| — | Deactivated | April 3, 1998 | Full Bloom | Yamaguchi,Japan | — | — | The championship was deactivated due to WCW andGAEA ending their relationship. | |