10 Greatest WWE Cruiserweight Wrestlers Ever

10. Taka Michinoku

As the first recognised WWE Light Heavyweight Champion, Taka Michinoku will always be able to claim a piece of company history. For a good few years, the Japanese star pretty much was the light heavyweight roster for the company, putting on quality matches against mostly forgotten opponents and winning crowds over with his inventive offence and charisma.

Perhaps his best run in WWE came after this: partnering with Funaki to form Kaientai. Much of their comedy business has not aged well, but there’s no denying the star quality of the two athletes, who managed to get a pretty questionable gimmick over through sheer force of will. They were a quality tag team, too, during a golden age for the format.

Now 46, Michinoku continues to wrestle on occasion, and is in remarkably good shape. WWE often fails to utilise Japanese talent properly (see: Nakamura, Shinsuke), but Michinoku showed out every time he was given the opportunity to do so. Great runs with a midcard belt, impressive matches with the likes of Triple H, and a popular gimmick, with an even better run once he left the company - not a half-bad career.