����� First of all, the Light Heavyweight Title sucks. It is worthless and has no place in the WWF. The Cruiserweight Title in the WCW has its place (or at least it did, I really couldn't say anymore, I don't watch that horrible show), but the Light Heavyweight (what is a light heavyweight anyway, either you're a light-weight or a heavy-weight, you can't be both) Title has no purpose. The Million Dollar Belt had more use. Then why am I wasting my time writing about it? One reason is my near-obsessive need to be thorough (oh, you didn't notice?). The other reason is I would like to take this opportunity to write about how stupid the Light Heavyweight Title is.
On November 17th, 1998 Duane Gill beat Christian for the Light Heavyweight Championship with the help of the J.O.B. Squad. This is ancient history, but believe or not, the man who would become Gillberg (which was a hilarious jab at their then-competitors top draw and his extensive wrestling repertoire) went on to hold the belt for the next 14 months. Okay "hold" is a bit of an exaggeration, since he never fought during that year, I'm sure the belt was being held elsewhere while Gillberg worked a car wash. In any case, during an in-house show, which was later shown on Heat, Papi Chulo, who had been jobbing in a tag team with Taka Michinoku, was re-introduced as Essa Rios, with a fiery new look, an exciting high-wire style, and most importantly, a fiery redhead valet who could mimick his high-wire style. Essa answered an open challenge ("Who's next?") from Gillberg, beat him handily, and won the title.
A month later, Dean Malenko, the Radical, met Essa for the title on Heat, and beat him. I suppose the WWF didn't think much of Rios. Actually, since they handed Malenko such a worthless title, they probably didn't think much of Dean either. Surprisingly, Essa Rios didn't immediately dissolve to the background, he even fought Eddie Guerrero in a PPV match. However, this was all to showcase Lita, who was promptly seperated from Chulo, and then he dissolved to the background.
Too Cool was picking up speed when Grandmaster Sexay became injured. So to keep their momentum going, Scotty 2 Hotty fought Dean Malenko as a singles performer and won the Light Heavyweight Title on April 14th, marking the first time this title has been used to sustain, rather than prevent momentum.
A week and a half later, on the April 25th episode of Heat, Dean Malenko re-gained his title with the help of the injured Eddie Guerrero (you can see him on the far left of the picture). This is the last time the title would change hands all year, meaning Malenko has held the belt for 8 months in a row, 9 out of 10 months of the year. Impressive, right? Wrong. Gillberg held it for longer, but at least Malenko has had to defend his title. But to whom? There are hardly any lightweights in the WWF, that's why the title is worthless. Let's break down the contenders: Taka and Funaki of Kaientai (impressive), the Hardy Boyz (who would not waste their time fighting as singles for a worthless belt), Scotty (again, a tag teamer), Essa Rios (Kaientai are more impressive), Christian is too heavy now (he proved such when he worked out in a chicken suit to get a shot at Malenko), Crash Holly (who fought Malenko several times) and the women of the WWF. Jackie, Ivory and Lita have all fought Dean for his belt (and I wouldn't be too surprised if this current storyline ends with Lita beating Dean, she's just too hurt right now), but at this point, the women's division is more impressive. Winning this belt is a hindrance, because then you have to defend it against an endless succession of jobbers who have no hope in putting you over.