During its short tenure, it was the promotion's only championship with a weight limit, wherein only wrestlers 205 lb (93 kg) and under—designated as cruiserweights—could compete for the title.

Many cruiserweight wrestlers from around the world were given the chance to qualify for the 32-man single-elimination tournament, which took place over four dates: June 23, July 13, August 26, and September 14.

[2] After then-champion Enzo Amore was released from WWE on January 23, 2018, and the title was vacated,[10][11] it was announced that a general manager would be appointed for 205 Live and would address the championship.

Maverick announced that there would be a 16-man single elimination tournament to crown a new WWE Cruiserweight Champion, with the finals to occur on the WrestleMania 34 Kickoff pre-show.

[16] On October 18, 2019, Drake Maverick – who himself was drafted to SmackDown but remained as the General Manager of 205 Live – announced that following the 2019 WWE Draft, he had made a talent exchange agreement with NXT General Manager William Regal, whereby NXT's cruiserweight wrestlers could also wrestle on 205 Live.

[17][18] With Jordan Devlin's win at Worlds Collide on January 25, 2020, the title also became shared with the NXT UK brand.

[19] Due to the COVID-19 lockdown in Ireland, reigning champion Jordan Devlin was unable to travel outside of his home country and defend the title.

[22] After the travel ban was lifted, Devlin made his return to the U.S. on the March 17, 2021, episode of NXT and confronted Escobar over who the real champion was.

Escobar then challenged Devlin to a match at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver to determine the undisputed NXT Cruiserweight Champion.

[25] Although the championship was established exclusively for cruiserweight wrestlers, this ruling was lifted once for a match at NXT WarGames on December 5, 2021.

[29][30][31] A round-robin tournament began on April 15, 2020, to determine the interim NXT Cruiserweight Champion after Jordan Devlin was deemed unable to defend the title due to COVID-19 pandemic-related travel restrictions.

[42] Although Maverick was released from WWE on April 15,[43] he confirmed via Twitter that he would still be competing in the tournament; at the time, he had stated they would be his last matches in the company.

When the championship was introduced, the irregularly shaped center plate of the belt largely featured a globe with the WWE logo over the top of it.

In what became a prominent feature of WWE's championship belts, the side plates featured removable center sections, allowing the holder's personal logo to be added to the championship belt; the default side plates showed silver and purple world maps with the WWE logo over them.