Fernández requested permission to take it abroad, citing interest in returning it to its original format and reputation by stating that he was "going to keep representing and showcasing the title with the best of [his] abilities [and that he wanted] to keep elevating this championship back to its old roots.

[2][3] On July 8, 2017, Fernández successfully retained the title over Aero Boy in a Cleveland Knights Championship Wrestling (CKCW) card held at Ohio.

Fernández's successor, Ángel Cotto, continued the trend by defending the title at Chicago as part of IWC's Halloween In Your Face event, retaining against Julio "Vértigo" Rivera by getting himself disqualified.

[6] On November 12, 2018, the actual belt made an appearance (as the "Puerto Rico Middleweight Championship") in a video announcing his arrival to IWA Florida, itself a spinoff of WWC's longstanding competition, the International Wrestling Association (IWA-PR).

On December 7, 2018, the WWC World Junior Heavyweight Championship made its first physical appearance (though it was partially obscured) in WWL as part of Cotto's promotional skit for Black Xmas, where he felt short in his attempt to accomplish an extra-official unification.