Panther defeat El Satánico to become the first new titleholder. In June 1992, many wrestlers left CMLL to join the newly formed Asistencia Asesoría y Administración ("Assistance, Assessment, and Administration"; AAA), which significantly affected CMLL's middleweight championships. The Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling Commission allowed AAA to assume control of the Mexican National Middleweight Championship as the reigning champion Octagón had joined AAA. Meanwhile, the CMLL World Middleweight Championship was vacated after the departure of the champion, Blue Panther. CMLL held a 16-man battle royal match to reduce the field to two finalists. El Dandy and Negro Casas survived the match, and a week later El Dandy defeated Casas to become the second CMLL World Middleweight Champion. The championship has not been vacant since then. The exodus from CMLL to AAA also meant that CMLL lost control of the Mexican National Middleweight Championship as then-reigning champion Octagón was among the wrestlers that left the promotion. The Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling Commission allowed AAA to take control of the Mexican National Middleweight Championship at that point in time. On August 12, 2010, CMLL returned the NWA World Middleweight Championship to the NWA, but immediately replaced it with the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship to keep two "world" level championships in the middleweight division. On May 3, 2010, Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Negro Casas to win the CMLL World Middleweight Championship. The match took place in Fukuoka, Japan, which was the first time the championship changed hands outside of Mexico and also marked the first time a non-Mexican wrestler held the championship. Reigns Soberano Jr. is the current champion, having won the title on December 12, 2021 at CMLL Super Viernes. This is Soberano Jr.'s first reign as middleweight champion; he is the 20th overall champion. Dragón Rojo Jr. is the wrestler who has held the championship the longest, a total of . El Dandy holds the record for most CMLL World Middleweight Championship reigns with three and is one of only three wrestlers to hold the title more than once, the others being Negro Casas and Emilio Charles Jr. El Dandy also held the record for the shortest reignhis second lasted only 63 days. Rules The official definition of the middleweight division in Mexico is from to . In the 20th century, CMLL was generally consistent and strict about enforcing the actual weight limits, but in the 21st century the