Of all the happenings last week in the World Wrestling Federation, one of the most surprising to me was the resurgence of Gillberg and the Light Heavyweight Championship. Making his first Federation appearance in five months, Gillberg issued an open challenge, which was answered by Essa Rios, who won the title in dominating fashion.

Newer fans may not realize that the history of the Light Heavyweight Championship dates back more than two years, and includes many superstars now making names for themselves on a grander scale. Here's a brief history of the World Wrestling Federation Light Heavyweight Championship.

The seeds for the division were planted at the July 1997 "Canadian Stampede" Pay-Per-View. At that event, a lightweight star from Japan named the Great Sasuke took on Taka Michinoku, last seen doing his impression of a dart at this year's Royal Rumble. After a thrilling match that night and the following night on RAW, Federation officials started debating the merits of a Light Heavyweight Championship.

It was decided that a tournament would be held, with the two finalists facing off at the December 1997 "DeGeneration X" Pay-Per-View. One interesting semifinal match pitted Brian Christopher against Scott Taylor. Today, those men are known as Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty Too Hotty, Too Cool. Yes, it was during the light heavyweight tournament and the ensuing battles that these two first decided to join forces.

The tournament finals at the Pay-Per-View pitted Christopher against Taka. A Michinoku Driver later, Taka was the first-ever Light Heavyweight Champion!

For the next 10 months, Taka defended the belt against all comers, including Christopher, Papi Chulo and Pantera. His reign was highlighted by a stunning defense against Aguila at WrestleMania XIV, which was also the first event at which Christopher and Taylor ever teamed up (there's your WWF.com random fact of the day!).

At the October 1998 "Judgment Day" Pay-Per-View, Taka defended his title against Christian, in what was Christian's first World Wrestling Federation match. In stunning fashion, Christian was able to reverse the Michinoku Driver attempt into a small package and snare the title!

Christian's reign lasted just over one month, as he would lose the title to Duane Gill the day after the 1998 Survivor Series in what many consider a huge upset. But the most surprising part of the whole situation was the fact that Gill -- later re-invented as Gillberg -- would go on to hold that title for 15 months, the longest Federation title reign since 1988 (when the Honky Tonk Man held the Intercontinental Championship for 18 months)!

Despite the length of his reign, Gillberg competed very sporadically during that time. In fact, he has been seen just once on Federation programming since WrestleMania XV, and that was when he was fed to Triple H on an episode of SmackDown! Many assumed that the Light Heavyweight Championship had been retired.

But apparently not. Essa Rios is the new man in town, and he's already a champion. The Light Heavyweight Championship is back, and with it comes the high-flying, big-impact competitions which are a mainstay of the division.