IC25's New Article: WWE Should Really "Lighten Up"

[IrishCanadian25]

As seen on Wrestlezone.com:

http://www.wrestlezone.com/editorials/article/wwe-should-really-lighten-up-113707
​

Pick a soapbox, any soapbox! Step right up and wage your complaint about professional wrestling's product, despite the fact that we all continue to a) watch, b) stay interested, and c) discuss it. When I look at the Wrestlezone Forums now-a-days, so many threads take a position of complaint. Here's the short list of discussions I've seen - more than once - as of late:

Bring back the attidue era. Bring back the TV-14 rating. Unify all of the titles. Turn Cena heel. Turn Punk face. Turn Edge face. Turn Orton heel. Bring back McMahon. Make Shane the GM. Make HHH the GM. WWE should buy TNA. TNA is better than WWE. WWE is better than TNA. Have fewer pay-per-views.

It's enough to make your head spin. But the last one is interesting. Several posters on the forums, as well as a number of the other columnists on these pages, have extolled the virtues of going back to 4-6 pay-per-views per year instead of the 12-13 we have now. You can trace it back to the mid-90's; WWF had Wrestlemania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble. Quarterly PPV's. They added King of the Ring in the early Summer to allow Wrestlemania to be a blow-off event while building something for SummerSlam. Then WCW started adding more PPV's, even getting up to one a month. WWF responded with the "In Your House" series, and eventually, both companies settled on 12 per year. That meant 24 in all.

It was (I believe) Mark Madden who recently said that it's no longer about the PPV's, but about the social aspect of the event. Professional Wrestling fans seem to come together like no other sports or entertainment fans in the world. Except soccer. Only we usually won't shank each other after a match.

But let's see here - UFC 108 took place on January 2nd, 2010. UFC 124 will occur on December 11th, 2010. That's 17 "UFC's," all but 4 have been on PPV. That's 13 pay-per-view events for WWE's TRUE competition, the Ultimate Fighting Championship. So why aren't fans of Mixed Martial Arts telling the UFC to do fewer PPV's? Even with Strikeforce and other competing MMA companies out there?

Simple - UFC has carved a strong niche because they have done what boxing USED TO DO. They mastered the art of the weight class. And don't forget, weight classes are an amateur wrestling invention. Perhaps the world is most interested in Brock Lesnar and the UFC Heavyweight Championship, but when George St. Pierre fights Josh Koscheck for the Welterweight crown in a few months, I promise you the buy rates will be significant.

Pro wrestling has ALWAYS been about the big dudes and the high impact. But seeing the success the UFC has had with just its Light Heavyweight Division, AND the success WCW once had with its Cruiserweight Division, it makes you ask - why hasn't the WWE re-created a weight class below the heavyweights?

For my money, there are SO MANY viable athletes who would not only fit into, but benefit from, a weight class system for 220-lbs and under. Evan Bourne, Rey Mysterio, Justin Gabriel, Kaval, Daniel Bryan, Primo, Tyson Kidd, Yoshi Tatsu, Zack Ryder, Chavo Guerrero, Caylen Croft, and Curt Hawkins are all 220-lbs or under, and a few others are REALLY close. So many of them are toiling in mid-card obscurity, getting pops for their one-big move (Shooting Star Press, anyone?) and then being squashed by the big guys. Only Mysterio has managed to bust out of that mold, though one could argue for Bryan as well.

There are a handful of things WWE could do to make the Light Heavyweight / Cruiserweight division not only relevant, but a major draw for its high number of PPV's:

Treat the title like a REAL World's Championship. "World Cruiserweight Champion."
Don't make these guys an ariel side show. Let the wrestlers wrestle (Bryan) and let the flyers fly (Kidd, Bourne).
Don't let them just jerk the curtain. Put them on mid-show. Give them a main event on Raw or a B-PPV.
Don't treat the C-Weight division as a junior spot or as a springboard to the heavyweights. Make it its own entity.
Use this division to attract the solid TNA workers away. Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Amazing Red, etc. Just like WCW.
Don't make it a freak show. Don't put the belt on a woman or a leprechaun.
Run a Cruiserweight season of NXT. I'd tune in to that before I'd EVER watch Diva's NXT.
While there may never be 5 weight classes in professional wrestling - a sport forever dominated by the "big men," I think there's a clear market for a 2nd weight class in the WWE. You just need to do it right. That way, maybe there's more of a draw for the 12-13 PPV's per year. Instead of looking at what TNA is doing...pay attention to Dana White's masterpeice.

Chris Fitzpatrick

"IrishCanadian25"

Wrestlezone Forums

 

[Arkham Noir]

I was wondering who beat me in making this a thread ,lol.

Your so right its not even funny. In the early 90's WWE broke the traditional template of a "Superstar" and started going with the smaller guys, largely due to the fact that the got smacked with that steroid trial. But like almost everybody in life, the change was short lived and they reverted back to their original ways.

There needs to be a seperation in weight classes, if for nothing more than vareity. As great as guys like Triple H, John Cena, and Randy Orton are at investing someone's attention in a match and selling pay-per-views, matches by these guys have never really been all that special. The guys who steal shows and provide the best matches are more often than not the "smaller guys".( I say "smaller" because in reality these guys are still pretty big). Obviously there are some exception that people will not hesitate to point out (The Undertaker) but Shawn Micheals, Kurt Angle, Daniel Bryan, Eddie Guerrero,even the TNA guys like the Pope and AJ styles (and countless others), these guys would have fit into a lighter weight class and will show up the bigger guys in a heart beat.

The variations that having another weight class would also grant more breathing room with the old complaint of having the same guys in the main event all the time facing each other. One of the best things about Cena's recent feud with Nexus is the fact that Sheamus/Orton (which has been done before) isn't the main aspect of the show and doesn't feel stale. Imagine if there was a constant switch up between the Heavyweights and the light heavyweights? Nothing would feel forced on you because there is actually something else going on. Storylines could last longer and we would have different guys main eventing pay-per-views every month.

Which bring up the other part of the article. Less pay-per-views would be awesome. Not only would it give them more time to build storylines, but I think it would genrate more buy rates.Having more of a build would genrate more intrest in the match and if Orton and Cena spend two or three months building up a story with each other than everyones going to be dying to see these two face off and will pay money for the confrontation when it finally takes place. That and we won't have to see them face off in three matches in a row to build a story. Throw in the fact that at the next pay-per-view you could have Daniel Bryan main event against [insert lightweight contender here] that was building during the Cena/orton feud and people will actually care about the pay-per-view match.

The only down side to more time between pay-per-views would be that the writers would most likely get lazy. I remeber last year before Royal Rumble I think it was, they had something like 5 weeks to prepare for the pay-per-view and still didn't do anything until two weeks before the event.

That's my take anyways.

 

[harrythem]

I think the big draw the UFC has that the WWE, or TNA, doesn't is the size of the pool it can draw from. By that I mean there are, going by the new UFC game, over 1000 different fighters they can include on a card which leads to untold variable matches. UFC hasn't been going nearly as long as the wrestling ppv's have and, with the overall lack of talent available to the wrestling world, there is very little chance to give wrestling fans the match that they haven't seen in one form or another, that UFC can.

Deffo agree with the cruiserweight idea though, as that's about the only area that WWE could build up, or re-package, certain talent and result in fresh matches and feuds. It might not boost the buys or ratings that much higher but, on the flip side, it'd surely give some variety to the action we see on TV as well as some top quality action.

Good article though, got the old grey matter working.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

It's a good point, and we all know a ton of people on here have been pining for the Cruiserweight title to come back. A lot of people continuously say Vince will never bring it back because he likes big guys blah blah. But not too long ago TNA's best aspect was their cruiserweight division. This was before they started getting A LOT of WWE cast outs. And if they truly make the belt on the level of the other World Titles then it could definitely generate some really good shows and variety. As IC said, the nice thing about this Cena/Nexus thing is it gives us something different in the main event that isn't just the title. It makes a rather lackluster feud in Orton/Sheamus not seem so lackluster because it's not focused on so hard. But there's definitely some things that would NEED to happen for it to work.

First - promote it on the same level as the WHC and WWE Titles. Not just by adding the word "World" to the belt. I'm talking about having a cruiserweight who happens to have a mid card belt like the US Title get into a feud with the World Cruiserweight Champion and lose. Not just once either. The belt must be put over.

Second - I think this is one of the few instances where some history should be forgotten. Most people complain that the WWE writes off some old storylines, but they should never, EVER mention that Hornswoggle was the last person to hold the belt. Or ever held it.

Third - It definitely has to be a cross branded belt. There's no way it would get enough exposure on one show. But I think this is a gimme anyways as you have too many good cruiserweights on different shows.

Fourth - Being a major title it HAS to main event some shows as well as PPV's. If you really build up feuds well, with cruiserweights that are really over, this should not be an issue really. While I'm not a fan, I think this belt would be served best by starting out with someone like Rey Mysterio. He's already way over and in the main event picture already.

Fifth - Be patient. This is going to take time to bring a belt back from the dead to the main event picture. Just look at my first point. The belt needs to be put over as a major belt in the first place.

Anyways, those are just my thoughts.

 

[oldschool123]

Personally I think the article is way off.

The reason the UFC can effectively do 12 PPVs a year without the product suffering or the fans complaining is that in UFC it is just a couple of guys trying to kill each other.

Wrestling is fake so to make up for what it lacks in "real" violence they have to have interesting story lines that catch peoples attention and make them want to buy a PPV. It is difficult to build a good feud up in 3 or 4 weeks which is why we tend to see the same guys fight over and over again on PPV and people don't want to pay that much money to see a match they already paid to see a month earlier.

 

[VinnieSunshine]

I am so glad that your wrote this article. Within the last year I have believed that WWE should do a light heavyweight division. Just like you said IC, with the guys that WWE has now, it'd be so easy to reboot that division. Its a shame right now that we gotta see Kaval get buried each week on Smackdown, and I watch RAW and see Bryan, who JUST had 2 great matches with Miz, get squashed by Sheamus. TNA started right when they had the X-Division be a main focus.

There are 2 problems with this...

1) as long as McMahon is in charge, the smaller guys will always be left behind.
2) they dont make extreme gimmick matches like TNA did.

My hope is that, now that Triple H has been placed in the offices and we have seen him pushing the younger guys, that he can continue to get into McMahon's ear and push for these guys. If you have guys like Jericho and Mysterio in the fold to help them, the division can flow smoothly.

 

[LizardKing]

I think you nailed it, in regards to the cruiserweight thing. There are so many wrestlers who could benefit from being put into this division and put on great matches. I'd love to see a world cruiserwight division that actually has significance to it's title. You HAVE to break your roster into different sections of significance if you want to highlight multiple guys, theres really no use having such a high payroll if you cant utulize everyone.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

Yep something that isn't always at the forefront of your mind, but give it a little thought and it's obvious that your right. Is anybody else worried that bourne and other aren't going to be given a time to shine....well...ever at this rate. We all know what people like him, kaval, bryan can do but the biggest traversty is their jobbing just cos nobody can think what better to do with them. And naturally WWE aren't solely to blame, what beautiful is both top companies have the numbers and talent to make it happen very well, although in TNA's case it really ought to be what the X division was for until it was used improperly.

OK ready for this....

Eligible TNA superstars...AJ styles (maybe whilst holding his T.V.title), Kazarian, amazing red, MCMG (both), generation me (both), kaz hiyoshi, shark boy, Kendrick, shannon moore (not quite neal, hes about 230), lethal obviously dont know how i missed that one, suicide and maybe eric young, hes on the fringe.

Rigght, eligible WWE superstars....tyson kidd, yoshi tatsu (now I really want it I love this guy), evan bourne (oh yeah), justin gabriel, zach ryder, primo, i think thats all of RAW
SackdownTAKE THIS) CM Punk who is just on the fringe, cody rhodes, kaval, joey mercury, one or maybe both or the dudebusters, rey mysterio, nearly forgot him as well wow, maybe JTG, and thers probably more but I can;t be bothered searching their weights any longer.

Right, If you set the boundary at 220, there is a hell of a lot of guys I'm sure you can agree but some of these guys above are 220-230 and if you then set the bar at 230 you let some big names in....CM Punk, eric young and others. Naturally some of these (punk and mysterio may dip into the division to win the title if they already have a title to solidify top flight status) won't oftern compete in that division but if llike me, this news and actualy statistics is enough to have you positively slathering at the mouth with possibilities then well I really hope someone in the know reads this thread.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I've thought in the past of what wrestling might look like in America if a major company legitimately devoted huge amounts of time and energy into establishing weight divisions. Not only that, but made each division seem to be and give the viewers the impression that each is important as the others.

In some ways, Vince McMahon is a wrestling traditionalist and the general layout of the WWE since it became his has remained the same as it did in his father's day. Vince does have high quality performers of all shapes and sizes on his roster but fans in general have responded more to the larger guys than the smaller ones. For the most part, that seems to have been a constant philosophy through pro wrestling history in America. Trying to go to a format in which wrestlers are categorized into weight divisions might be a big risk in Vince's mind, and maybe it really is a big risk.

Personally, I don't really see much of a problem with the WWE doing this on a trial basis. Give it a few weeks, a month or two maybe and just see what the response is. If the fans don't respond all that well to it, just ditch the format and go back to the more traditional route. It sounds simple but the problem is that Vince McMahon is a control freak and if he attempted to do this and failed, it would be viewed in his mind as showing some sort of weakness. You'll notice that past attempts and failed efforts such as the XFL or the WBF are NEVER mentioned or referenced in any way on WWE television by any WWE personnel.

 

[Ferbian]

I must admit for a second or two I had a problem making out what the thread was about IC. However, I certainly got it now.

I've always said that the lightweight division and the cruiserweight division should stay how it is. Dead. And that's not because of the fact that I'm against the division as a whole. But because we simply do not have a way of showcasing them properly. We have, approximately 5 people in the available weight class. If we want to include more, WWE has to start asking for people to drop in weight. Or to increase the weight-classes, which would automatically kill some of it off.

High Flying which is the premiere thing that the cruiserweight division showcased, or at least showcased in the WWE, is what made it popular. High Flying, while still presented in today's wrestling product, is severely lacking to the ways of which it was showcased back in 2004-2005. Back then we had the likes of Gregory Helms, Tajiri, a healthier Rey Mysterio and many more high flying, up and going talents to showcase the division. The problem is, we don't have that now. The division will be lacking severely in WWE if the talents aren't brought in.

And, besides I don't feel that we should be all up and adding divisions to an already somewhat lacking WWE product, just for the sake of helping a Pay Per View product (At least that's how I believe you're seeing it, successful cruiserweight division equals higher Pay Per View incomes?). The problem with this is that, we've already got a product that is lacking, which could help the Pay Per View buys just as well - The Tag Team Division. Tag team wrestling has always been popular in one way or another. But it's severely lacking now as well. Why add more when you can fix what we already have?

Besides, the cruiserweight division is something of the past. I don't have the statistics to prove it, or to help my case. But I do believe that the cruiserweight division, while popular never generated half the things that made it work keeping around. The cruiserweight division was never truly a drawing point. Rather than an exciting part of the mid-card material if anything. Which is hardly what should be drawing the buys, or drawing the ratings. The main event, with a great supporting mid-card should be drawing the buys and ratings.

Overall, I don't really believe that the cruiserweight division being revived would accomplish anything. So, let it stay dead.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

The difference between UFC ppvs and WWE ppvs is that in WWE you see the same guys wrestling every ppv, sometimes even the same matchups! Whereas in UFC you will only see brock 2 or 3 times a year at best, you won't see GSP on the same card, they recently were able to build a card around Urijah Faber (GO AGGIES) and they have the talent to spread out their main event matches. The WWE tried doing that with the brand split, but not surprisingly the big ones outsold the brand split PPVs every time. Another thing about UFC over WWE is that you don't see the same guys every week as well, the market is just too saturated to justify spending an extra 50 bucks a month on a PPV that is repetitive and built poorly. UFC hype goes on for months for big matches like Lesnar Velasquez so by time it comes i'm definitely ready to see it! In 3 short weeks am i supposed to be so excited for Orton Barrett that I will pay big money for it? Now say the angle was 3 months before we actually see them square off, that gives time for some MAJOR things to happen and this is where WWE can shine since they can build stories and add new dimensions to it, something UFC can't. When a PPV is months apart you can build stories, have injuries if you want, build a real bad guy good guy tale. If i'm just going to see variations of Orton Barrett for the next 3 weeks, what's the real value in spending 50 to see it again. If WWE wants to up the PPVs fine, then drop the price to add value to the consumer. Over saturating the market and raising prices is not going to bring in more buys.


As for the cruiserweights, they should at LEAST have this as it can be something is added to PPVs to make them unique. Let's be honest, it's not prudent to have guys pulling off major spots every week on raw and at house shows as it just increases the likelihood of injury exponentially. Cruiserweight matches can be a great way to diversify PPVs from the usual stuff we see every week. I'm all for a different division in which some smaller guys can shine as well. I always TNA had it right with the X Division and Ultimate X as it is something different and a good enough match up that I havent seen on TV already may be enough to get me to order a PPV.

 

[The Pagan]

I must admit for a second or two I had a problem making out what the thread was about IC. However, I certainly got it now.

I've always said that the lightweight division and the cruiserweight division should stay how it is. Dead. And that's not because of the fact that I'm against the division as a whole. But because we simply do not have a way of showcasing them properly. We have, approximately 5 people in the available weight class. If we want to include more, WWE has to start asking for people to drop in weight. Or to increase the weight-classes, which would automatically kill some of it off.

High Flying which is the premiere thing that the cruiserweight division showcased, or at least showcased in the WWE, is what made it popular. High Flying, while still presented in today's wrestling product, is severely lacking to the ways of which it was showcased back in 2004-2005. Back then we had the likes of Gregory Helms, Tajiri, a healthier Rey Mysterio and many more high flying, up and going talents to showcase the division. The problem is, we don't have that now. The division will be lacking severely in WWE if the talents aren't brought in.

And, besides I don't feel that we should be all up and adding divisions to an already somewhat lacking WWE product, just for the sake of helping a Pay Per View product (At least that's how I believe you're seeing it, successful cruiserweight division equals higher Pay Per View incomes?). The problem with this is that, we've already got a product that is lacking, which could help the Pay Per View buys just as well - The Tag Team Division. Tag team wrestling has always been popular in one way or another. But it's severely lacking now as well. Why add more when you can fix what we already have?

Besides, the cruiserweight division is something of the past. I don't have the statistics to prove it, or to help my case. But I do believe that the cruiserweight division, while popular never generated half the things that made it work keeping around. The cruiserweight division was never truly a drawing point. Rather than an exciting part of the mid-card material if anything. Which is hardly what should be drawing the buys, or drawing the ratings. The main event, with a great supporting mid-card should be drawing the buys and ratings.

Overall, I don't really believe that the cruiserweight division being revived would accomplish anything. So, let it stay dead.

I think the problem with the cruiserweight division before wasn't the wrestlers, but that WWE never did anything with them. They never really tried to do anything with it. Now TNA had an amazing division back in 2003ish with the X division. They made the lighter guys interesting. I don't think WWE has ever really tried to do so. They have the talent and could surely bring in more, but until they actually give a damn about showcasing these guys and their talent, it would be a mistake to bring back the division. I think if WWE could/would bring back a cruiserweight division and actually put some work into it, it could be great.

I agree that a good tag team division would probably be a better first step. There are so many guys sitting around doing nothing nowadays. I think if there were at least 4 legit tag teams on each show it would be enough to get the ball rolling. It seems that they are trying to do something right now, but I'm not sure if it will be enough. Dashing/McIntyre isn't really interesting to me. Henry/Bourne does nothing for me. Hart Dynasty was brought in to early IMO. The last tag team around that I was really interested in was JoMo/Miz. I think it would be interesting to see Nexus go after the tag belts, perhaps Gabriel/Otunga or even better if Barrett could force Otunga/Cena to go after the tag titles...I think the mixture would make for a very interesting tag team.

 

[Ferbian]

I think the problem with the cruiserweight division before wasn't the wrestlers, but that WWE never did anything with them. They never really tried to do anything with it. Now TNA had an amazing division back in 2003ish with the X division. They made the lighter guys interesting. I don't think WWE has ever really tried to do so. They have the talent and could surely bring in more, but until they actually give a damn about showcasing these guys and their talent, it would be a mistake to bring back the division. I think if WWE could/would bring back a cruiserweight division and actually put some work into it, it could be great.

Of course the problem wasn't about the wrestlers. But I am saying it will be the problem if we plan on rebuilding it. We don't have enough wrestlers in the weight class to do the cruiserweight division with enough people. Unless you plan on having a small division of rehashed feuds all around.

The fact that TNA has a successful division doesn't mean that WWE necessarily will. Nor that it would do anything for them in the long run. Some might say that it does give a nice change in pace in the first few months. But eventually the division will be just another one. And a boring one at that. Like I already said, we don't have half the workers we had back in the premiere time of the WWE cruiserweight division.

The cruiserweight division quite simply doesn't belong in WWE anymore. It's something of the past, something that we'll have to live with staying dead.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't UFC follow the same theory of only hyping the "top stars" on the card in commercials? Just curious..

As far as a cruiserweight division goes.. Eh. Yeah, pretty much "eh."

I think people really forget what the cruiserweight division started as. It wasn't a bunch of ass clowns doing flips for the sake of proving that they can do a backflip. It was guys who were smaller (or very much smaller) wrestling each other. They did the same moves. They did same match layout. Everything was the same, just with smaller people. It didn't change the fact that most of the guys who really stood out were larger than life. So, to compensate, they started doing a bunch of flips and contrived set spots to stand out. Only problem.. Well, as evident in TNA, a lot of smaller don't even try to show character. And sooner or later, people WILL become numb to that style.

There are always going to be tall dudes in wrestling. Pro wrestling has always and will continue to emphasize athestics over talent. Mainly because most people's first judgement on someone is how they look. If you were walking down the street and saw two people yelling at each other, one being 6'5" and ripped and the other being 5'6" and scrawny as can be, who would you would win the fight?

The predjudice of looks really comes out in the internet nerds. Case in point, if someone in the WWE is a whopping 6'8" and 300lbs, the guy suck by default to a lot of internet nerds because big men suck. However, get a guy who is 5'7" and $1.20.. Soaking wet and hold three bricks? That guy must be fucking amazing.

And can someone PLEASE define what "smaller" guys mean? Justin Gabriel is 6'1" and 220-ish lbs. Of course that guy is going to be smaller compared to Wade Barrett, who is 6'7" and 270lbs. But that is still pretty tall to me.