8. Jushin Liger - Sole WCW Light Heavyweight Title
The Title Change: Jushin Thunder Liger is an absolute legend in Japanese wrestling and American fans also know him quite well from his various stints in domestic promotions. Most American fans initially remember him from his encounters with Brian Pillman in the early 90s and their classic match at Superbrawl I. Yet, do you remember that Liger also entered that match as the reigning WCW Light Heavyweight Champion? That belt was the predecessor to the WCW Cruiserweight Title and only had a handful of champions in the few years it was active. Liger being champion has probably been overlooked in history as Liger beat the previous inaugural Light Heavyweight champion, Pillman, on an untelevised Atlanta house show on Christmas Day, 1991. Clips from that match (and boyyou could tell from the camera work this wasnt a televised match) were aired on WCW television in order to hype the upcoming encounter between Pillman and Liger at Superbrawl. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd83BKjhio8 The Aftermath: Liger held the title from December 25th,1991 until losing the belt back to Pillman at Superbrawl on February 29th,1992. Yet, there were no more televised domestic defenses of that title during Ligers short reign so the return title match with Pillman was Ligers only televised defense of that belt. After dropping the title back to Flyin Brian, Liger would appear a few more times for WCW during that stint before heading back to Japan to continue his extraordinary career.
