Am I the only one who thinks Balor should return as a cruiserweight?

[wrestler36]

I know on the surface it sounds like it would be a very big demotion for him, but there is a lot of potential. There's not a real standout star in the 205 division and in short order, the roster can be filled with Balor, Itami, Aries. Now all of a sudden, you have some bigger names and the division seems more legit. Neville has been repackaged and he's a pretty badass heel I'm not a Balor hater, but when he debuted for the championship and looks much smaller than Rollins, who himself is a smaller to medium sized heavyweight, it seemed a little off to me.

 

[Azane]

The divisions already overbloated enough, having so many competitors fighting for a couple match slots.

WWE is in desperate need for Main Event talent, while it has too many cruiserweights.

While having a former World Champion would bolster the division, the Cruiserweights would be outshined by him and it would hurt them more than help them.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think it'd be kinda cool to see him in the Cruiserweight Division a few years down the road after the division's credibility has been built up a lot more. As of right now, I think it's catching on slowly but steadily based on the improved fan reactions. Akira Tozawa is already getting good responses during his matches, Neville's doing really well as a heel, Jack Gallagher is catching on nicely, Rich Swann is getting better responses, Noam Dar comes off as a good "creepy" sort of heel, Brian Kendrick is fun as the sort of manipulative douche, I think there's a lot of untapped potential in Cedric Alexander as he's a lot of fun in the ring but he needs some sort of character I think and Austin Aries is reportedly set to join the CW Division before long and might feud with Neville over the title.

So yeah, all in all, I think the Cruiserweight Division is starting to gain some momentum and that's due almost entirely to 205 Live. Balor made his bones in New Japan as a Junior Heavyweight, so it's not as if it's something that I can really see as being beneath him, but I think it's too soon. Again, maybe a few years down the line, we could see guys like Balor, Enzo, Gable and a few others come along.

 

[OYDK]

Cruiserweight wrestling is for small people who WWE doesn't see a reason for putting a ton of investment in and basically have no chance of ever becoming a main event player. Except Austin Aries. I love that guy. Anyway, there's a reason why people like Zayn, Balor, and Styles won't be CW's despite more or less meeting the criteria and that's because WWE sees some sort of monetary value in them. And yeah, I want to see the CW division succeed as much as anybody else, if for no other reason than because it makes Raw more enjoyable, but not at the expense of great talent.

All they have to do is actually put some time into the people they already have. Throwing a bunch of guys on the screen with little to no character development is why the division lacks legitimacy. They have some good talent down there. Put some time into them.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

I'm not a fan of the cruiserweight division for the reason being that Daniel Bryan and CM Punk pretty much destroyed any chance of realistic weight divisions in WWE. I get that some got to that point before the two of them including Rey Mysterio, even though his title and main event run was basically the Eddie Guerrero tribute tour. But regardless of what happened before Punk and Bryan, the two of them shattered that glass ceiling of what a WWE main eventer could look like.

Years ago around 2007 or so I could see a case being made for a cruiserweight division, but now with guys like AJ Styles and Finn Balor himself main eventing there is simply no need for it to exist when guys just as small as the ones in the division itself have gone on to do incredible things like main event WrestleMania and win the World title there no less. I only see the cruiserweight division as extra marketing I guess because of their show on the network. Finn Balor after winning 3 huge matches in his first month, one being a fatal fourway against other heavyweights and a clean victory over Roman Reigns, wouldn't be a believable fit for the cruiserweight division.

It's like seeing someone you know be the head chef at multiple 5 star world renowned restaurants and he takes a break and comes back to making sandwiches at subway. You know he's better than that and you question why he is in that situation. The same would be true for Balor. He has been shown to hang with the main event level talent and even beat them so how would we react if he's put in a division of small guys and has to try and sell a beatdown or a loss from one of them?

As I said in the beginning I wasn't a fan of the cruiserweight division at all because of the reasons I stated. A lot I read wanted it back because of the great matches all the small guys could give. Problem is you have guys like AJ and Sami on the main roster having even better matches and not being the bathroom break of the show like I feel the cruiserweights have become. The Cruiserweight Classic was outstanding and I would love for it stay a yearly thing and have wrestlers from all around the world and even some on the main roster like Balor and whoever compete in it once. Heck throw some other guys in it that don't meet the weight cut but have segments like Matt Hardy back in the day cutting weight to make it. I would enjoy that a lot more than this division we have now.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

If the cruiserweight division was build like it was the first time WWE Experimented with it after the invasion, then i would say, why not. Back then that how smaller guys got their start to becoming main players on the main rosters. You look at some of the guys that had success from the original version of the cruiserweight division. Kidman, Hurricane, Chavo Jr., tajiri, kendrick, paul london, matt hardy & rey mysterio just to name those guys. They use the cruiserweights back then to make fans notice who these guys we're before putting them in bigger program.

Now, the division is more of a novelty division then anything else and i don'T see what benefit balor would get from making is return in this division.

Personally, i would like to see him come back and go for a midcard title so that you could introduce him properly and not make some of the fans feel like you shoving down their throat like they did the first time around. The guy as a lot of talent but he really need to learn how to cut an entertaining promo as himself because the little bit i've seen of him on NXT and his first month on the main roster, he couldn'T cut a entertaining promo to save his life. it was like watching paint dry and it made him feel like a mid card talent barely above apollo crews and he's deserve better then that.

So i know they are desperate for main event talent but i think the better approach with balor would be to ease him in to the main roster and take a year to tell his story and his quest to get the universal title back. Patience is what'S best for business in this case but since he's on raw, and the writers seem to really like imagination or patience on that show, i guess they will just rush is return, have him wrestles lesnar for the universal title and beat him clean on his first try.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

So, you want to repackage almost sure main event star and put him in the division who nobody takes seriously and you have new champion every week?

Yeah, bad idea. Although he would bring some prestige to cruiserweights it would be huge step down for Balor.

 

[radec]

When people talk about how having a Cruiserweight Division at this point is ridiculous because of how small guys have been integrated in the main event scene in recent years AND how everybody does flippy moves now, there is truth to that. BUT, what the Cruiserweight Classic and the Junior Heavyweight Division in NJPW showed us, a Cruiserweight Division can still work. However as we all know, it's been a failure since it arrived on Raw. And while adding Balor is good, it'd be a demotion for him. He was the first Universal Champion, and he should be inserted in the Universal title picture once he comes back. If anyone should be put in the Cruiserweight Division, it should be Xavier Woods, he can add some life there, and it'd be good for the division AND him.

 

[Dagger Dias]

That's an extremely terrible idea. Why would you take Finn Balor who was the very first Universal Champion and demote him from the main event of the flagship brand, to the division that very few care about at this point? When Finn returns he should get a Universal Championship rematch and hopefully remain towards the top of the card afterwards. I would hate to see him come back as a cruiserweight division member. The division will never be a big deal due to how inferior WWE presents it as. Why would you have Finn be stuck with the cruiserweights when he could be the one of top faces of Raw? Finn doesn't deserve that and you know it.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

This shouldn't happen and hopefully won't happen. They need stars on Raw right now, specifically main event faces.

Balor beat Roman Reigns clean on his first match on Raw. Then he beat Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship on his first PPV in the company. Then he gets injured but eventually returns to a huge pop. So his reward is getting demoted to the one division that very, very few people care about?

This just isn't a good idea, no matter how you look at it.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Too soon. Maybe in time. Give him a chance to fail first liike Neville. The only things interesting about him so far are his ring entrance and the fact that he is a little man in a big man's world. Don't take that away from him just yet.

 

[TempestH]

I'm not a fan of the cruiserweight division for the reason being that Daniel Bryan and CM Punk pretty much destroyed any chance of realistic weight divisions in WWE. I get that some got to that point before the two of them including Rey Mysterio, even though his title and main event run was basically the Eddie Guerrero tribute tour. But regardless of what happened before Punk and Bryan, the two of them shattered that glass ceiling of what a WWE main eventer could look like.

Years ago around 2007 or so I could see a case being made for a cruiserweight division, but now with guys like AJ Styles and Finn Balor himself main eventing there is simply no need for it to exist when guys just as small as the ones in the division itself have gone on to do incredible things like main event WrestleMania and win the World title there no less. I only see the cruiserweight division as extra marketing I guess because of their show on the network. Finn Balor after winning 3 huge matches in his first month, one being a fatal fourway against other heavyweights and a clean victory over Roman Reigns, wouldn't be a believable fit for the cruiserweight division.

It's like seeing someone you know be the head chef at multiple 5 star world renowned restaurants and he takes a break and comes back to making sandwiches at subway. You know he's better than that and you question why he is in that situation. The same would be true for Balor. He has been shown to hang with the main event level talent and even beat them so how would we react if he's put in a division of small guys and has to try and sell a beatdown or a loss from one of them?

As I said in the beginning I wasn't a fan of the cruiserweight division at all because of the reasons I stated. A lot I read wanted it back because of the great matches all the small guys could give. Problem is you have guys like AJ and Sami on the main roster having even better matches and not being the bathroom break of the show like I feel the cruiserweights have become. The Cruiserweight Classic was outstanding and I would love for it stay a yearly thing and have wrestlers from all around the world and even some on the main roster like Balor and whoever compete in it once. Heck throw some other guys in it that don't meet the weight cut but have segments like Matt Hardy back in the day cutting weight to make it. I would enjoy that a lot more than this division we have now.

Not every small guy is going to make it to that main event level. People like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan got that far because they had undeniable talent and stood out above the rest. I can't see anyone in the current division doing that. That's the drawback of WWE signing so many talented indy wrestlers. EVERYONE is good, so it's not special anymore.

 

[stingray11214]

The ONLY way I see this happening is if his recent injury is enough for Vince & Dunn to say "F him." Remember that Neville came in with fanfare before he got hurt as well. Guess where HE is? Now, Balor is a better wrestler than Neville is any day of the week and twice on Sunday. But, we are talking Vince & Dunn here. They get apoplectic when ANYONE they MAY consider to not have the "look" that they perceive a Champion to have. Balor may have the creativity and talent in spades. However, we all know what type of "look" Vince & Dunn fap over. And, nobody will confuse Balor's physique with that of Roman Reigns.

 

[ShinChan]

A spam answer: NO WAY, NO *BEEPING* WAY...!

I'm gonna counter with some questions. Should Seth Rollins go to Cruiserweight Division? Should Daniel Bryan have gone to Cruiserweight Division? Should CM Punk have gone to Cruiserweight Division?

The answer is mutual. NOOOOOO.

I know that Finn Balor is far away from what Bryan and Punk were. Even notnear to Rollins. But what I'm trying to say is that there is significant potential of Finn Balor succeeding as a main eventer and a star.

He isn't too good in the ring. I agree with that but Cruiserweights? His demon persona does a lot of good to him. An unique thing like that shouldn't be wasted by putting him in Cruiserweight Division.

Cruiserweight Division has better options in Tozawa, Perkins, Neville, Swann, Aries and Gallagher.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

The ONLY way I see this happening is if his recent injury is enough for Vince & Dunn to say "F him." Remember that Neville came in with fanfare before he got hurt as well. Guess where HE is? Now, Balor is a better wrestler than Neville is any day of the week and twice on Sunday. But, we are talking Vince & Dunn here. They get apoplectic when ANYONE they MAY consider to not have the "look" that they perceive a Champion to have. Balor may have the creativity and talent in spades. However, we all know what type of "look" Vince & Dunn fap over. And, nobody will confuse Balor's physique with that of Roman Reigns.

You can't compare the fanfare that Neville came in with to that of Balor. Neville flopped around for a long time before his injury, he barely made it to mid-card level before he went down. Finn was slingshotted to the top almost instantly. They had him beat Rusev, Cesaro, and KO in a fatal four way, AND Roman Reigns later on in the same night. Then he became the first Universal Champion at their second biggest show of the year. They went all in with him.

 

[ShinChan]

You can't compare the fanfare that Neville came in with to that of Balor. Neville flopped around for a long time before his injury, he barely made it to mid-card level before he went down. Finn was slingshotted to the top almost instantly. They had him beat Rusev, Cesaro, and KO in a fatal four way, AND Roman Reigns later on in the same night. Then he became the first Universal Champion at their second biggest show of the year. They went all in with him.

You make a good point.

I don't think that Neville was anywhere near a potential main eventer for Vince & Co. The highlight of his career before the the injury was the feud against Stardust along with Stephen Amell or losing in the finals of King of the ring tourney to Wade Barrett. That says a lot. Plus, Balor has the demon persona which immediately gets him over Neville at anytime for Vince. Vince ain't stupid enough to let go of a marketable and profitable persona like that.