Return of the Cruiserweight Title?

[Afro-Ameri-Spawn]

It's been quite a while since the much coveted WWE cruiserweight title was whisked away from the spotlight with it's head hanging in shame and dishonor. But recent developments such as the return of Shane Helms as well as the repeated mention of him having been the longest reigning cruiserweight champion of all time and the recent dark match tryout for former TNA X-Division pioneer, Low-Ki, there seems to be a familiar pattern developing. The same pattern that the WWE used when it brought back the cruiserweight title before and infused the divison with a combination of holdovers, experienced signees, and self trained and developed cruiserweights from their developmental terriories.

And, as we all know, WWE still has some pretty good cruiserweights on the roster, there is alot of experienced talent out there in the indies, and the WWE has steadily developed some smaller high fliers who they continue to sign and train in FCW. You also have to take into account that there are many former WWE stars who have been waiting by the phone for the day that they division would return. So WWE is pretty set when this does happen.

So what's the question? Well with history seemingly repeating itself as it did when the WWE has brought the title into play, the question is will this be the course of action that WWE is planning. Or even should they be planning this? Would it get over if they brought it back with some new faces and a new infusion of skillsets?

What do YOU think?

 

[Shadowmancer]

Personally for me, if they were to bring back the Cruiserweight title. 2 things from my reaction to it.

1- I would be happy, why? Because it means that some talented people in the WWE get a chance to wrestle on TV and earn some more money.
2- I would be ecstatic, why? because cruisers can work and open shows well and set the pace for shows, pumping up the crowd. It is an almost perfect opening match-up, it worked for Nitro for how many years?

Now the way in which I would implement the cruiserweight championship is probably going to be different to what others will think should work. I have a small list to say what should be done and why it should be implemented in my way as well.

1. A true inter-brand champion, this means that the champ could come from any of the three shows. Why? because a cruiserweight division doesn't need to be huge to come up with interesting storylines for it, you can spread the cruisers as a way of providing opening talent to all three brands.
2. Have the Cruiserweight Champ be on-air on ECW every week, regardless of which brand he comes from. Why? because that means that He has the TV that can be used to develop his character so people will care about the champ. And the reason for ECW being the home of the Cruiserweight championship is because that is where it is possible to fit in this champ because RAW and Smackdown are the two A and 1-A shows. it gives a group of fans an incentive to watch for some. It is also the show with no real identity right now. being the home of the Cruiserweight championship will give it an element of personality.
3) A Tournament to crown the champ. Why? because Battle Royals don't show who the best wrestler the company thinks it is, and handing titles to people is cheap.
4) Bring in Foreign and Indy Talent as enhancement talent. Why? This also allows for the bringing in of foreign workers as a way of promoting guys over other wrestlers. Look at WCW, Pillman Vs. Liger. On the First episode of Nitro, it is memorable for numerous reasons, one being the foreign intangible as a threat to a familiar wrestler. great way to boost a faces image quickly, get him to play a patriot. This also allows the WWE to keep the Roster size small while making a tournament seem like a big thing. They did this with the Light Heavyweight Title, where Christopher Daniels competed. this also has an added benefit of helping Indy talent get better due to their opportunity to talk to experienced wrestlers higher up the card. This may just be an altruistic reading into what could happen though.

There are probably more ideas for what can be done and I will add them in later if I remember.

 

[Afro-Ameri-Spawn]

I like the idea of spreading the title around to all three brands. This would help to open the door to Smackdown and Raw talent exchanges and would eleiminate the need to have all of the cruiserweights on one brand. This would keep the status quo of having undersized guys on each brand that they use for jobbing and other stupid devices.

I also like the international idea. WWE has been looking to bring in more Mexican and other international stars to tap into these markets. This would enable them to do so without having to wait for the next great Japanese or mexican heavyweight. They could also work out a talent exchange deal internationally, much in the way that TNA has in Mexico and Japan. They could also play cut throat and sign the stars that TNA has agreed not to such as Alex Koslov and a few British stars here and there.

All in all, it should work out as WWE has a few great cruiserweights that are already on the roster to build on. They also have the temendously talented Stampede Kid in their developmental territory who this could be a big break for. The storylines, as Shads said, could be built up on ECW, but could break out all over all three brands and could lead to the title finally regaining some of it's legitimacy after the very shameful Hornswoggle debable. I'm still not sure what they were thinking with that one.

 

[Christian Battlez]

No, the title should not return. for most of its tenure in WWF/E its been a joke championship. plus RAW and SD! have enough titles, and ECW dont have enough talent to have two titles on the show.

It was a joke championship because its origins come from WCW and Vince likes to bury anything connected to that company's history due to his insatiable ego. I agree Raw and Smackdown have enough titles hence the idea of bringing the title to ECW and using talent from all 3 brands plus indy and foreign talent from all over the world. Guys like Jamie Noble,Paul London,Helms,Kendrick,Mysterio,Chavo would have something to fight over. I'd reccomend bringing back Super Crazy as well. If they were bringing back that title why ditch London and Crazy? That's the only thing that makes me wonder. Plus with Mysterio pretty much being solidified with the WHC now. I find it hard to believe its coming back. But I'd love to see it.

 

[My$terio_Fan]

I'm divided on this issue, personally. In one way I would love to see it back since I am a huge fan of great crusierweight action and think they are very talented. Also it would give all the smaller guys stuff to fight for so they don't just end up permenant jobbers.

The reasons why I wouldn't like it is because than it would probably lead to the end of some of the midcard pushes some of the crusierweights are getting(Bourne, Helms, Kendrick). I think if they had a "size limit" belt, creative wouldn't bother pushing a guy like Kendrick into the midcard they would just stick him in the CW division. But in the end, I would like the belt to come back just for the simple fact, that I enjoy that kind of competition and think it is highly entertaining.

 

[The Undercover Man]

I would'nt be at all surprised if WWE is thinking about bringing the Cruiserweight title back because as the OP said there are many talented wrestlers in the WWE that could still benefit from holding such a belt.

I think the WWE should be planning to bring the belt back, it would be an excellent idea because like i said earlier WWE has many talented wrestlers who would possibly benefit from holding the belt. The only reason i can't see WWE bringing this back is if they did'nt have enough Cruiserweights, but from what i have seen they have plenty and talented ones at that.

If WWE did bring the belt back i think it would get over immediately with the fans, it would mean a new type of match to look forward too and a new belt that the wrestlers could compete for. It also depends on the type of wrestlers that would be around the Cruiserweight, i mean we don't want people like Snitsky or Kane (if it was inter-brand) we want people like Kung Fu Naki and Evan Bourne entertaining the crowd. Personally i don't think we need a new faces in the WWE apart from maybe one or two in TNA or in FCW but apart from them recommendations i see nothing wrong with the current cruiserweights. They seem a very athletic group who will bring back a bit of excitement and enjoyment to the belt again after it had been lost with Hornswoggle winning it!

Different skillsets don't really matter from my point of view, my idea of the cruiserweight division was that it was based around "highflyers" who could wrestle like Rey Mysterio and possibly like Evan Bourne. So if we're talking about changing the skillsets i'm kind of neutral on that idea. Its better to have a highflying brand of wrestling then a boring and uneventful mess

 

[scsu01]

I think this should be the one title of them all to spread around to all three brands. There's a great group of guys who've got nothing to do in the WWE except be in filler matches, fight for Tag belts, and that's really about it. I think it would also fill a good void in the WWE shows to keep the excitement up. It seems that the WWE is trying to bring in some more foreign guys now that they're expanding and these guys need a belt to contend for since it's obvious most of the guys considered cruiserweights won't get main event status.

 

[Showtime]

How this hasn't been merged with my thread, "why having no cruiserweight title is a good thing" is beyond me, but I will respond to this thread. No I don't think the cruiserweight title will be returning and no I don't think it should return at all. The cruiserweight title was never really used in any storyline and it ultimatly did little for the champions that held them. The cruiserweight title is what has held back many cruiserweight's from reaching the middle or upper card. Let's look at a list of many former cruiserweight's in the past few years. Juventud, Kid Kash, Kidman, Paul London, Spike Dudley, Nunzio, all not working for the WWE. Funaki, almost disappeared off the face of the WWE map after winning/losing the cruiserweight title till just recently. Rey had to shed himself away from the cruiserweight division to finally move up to the main event. The title did nothing for these guys. Gregory Helms was big as the Hurricane before he turned heel and won the cruiserweight title and his title reign, albeit long, wasn't really all that memorable. His feud with Matt Hardy was, but the title didn't matter at all in that feud. And now without the belt being around he appears in line for a big push, when it ever happens. Chavo's been in big feuds with Mysterio, Punk, Benoit, and held the ECW title without the title being around. Kendrick is receiving the biggest push of his life and is in the main event. The cruiserweight title was keeping these guys from reaching what we all really want in wrestling. The World Heavyweight title. Hey, maybe they won't all win it, but at least they have a chance to be solid middle carders with storied careers and big matches with main events instead of parading a title for lighter wrestlers and current jerking as they were before. So no, I don't think the WWE should hold back the cruiserweight talent by forcing them to contend for a meaningless belt.

Now with that being said, the only idea I would might ever consider would be cruiserweight title on ECW. Hey, everybody says TNA is is ECW's competition due to their similar ratings, so why not give them a belt similar to TNA's X-Division. ECW's only an hour long and should really use as much of it to focus on wrestling. It might encourage some TNA talent to try WWE out and it'll make ECW an entertaining show to watch just wrestling with little drama. Evan Bourne and a few others might make it interesting, but like I said, I really think the cruiserweight title just holds them back.

 

[RadioGaGa]

I'm all for the return of the CW title. Isn't SD the show marketed towards Latinos which is why they have the Colons as tag champs and why Mysterio was there for ages? They could bring in a few Mexican cruiserweights increasing their viewers from the Latin demographic and also we could see a few exciting matches.

I'm liking the cross brand title idea, which would at least give Raw and SD one quick, fast paced match a night. Handled correctly, it could be a way to build up Evan Bourne when he returns. Maybe even a Bourne-Mysterio program to build a bit of prestige in a pretty shitty title.

 

[Gutter Phenomenon]

People keep talking about how if it comes back Bourne should have the title, but I disagree. The best choice for a champion would be Kendrick. Since he's already getting quite a push the Cruiserweight title would be tailor made for him. And it would be a perfect oppurtunity for WWE to make a good cruiserweight feud between him and Helms. Plus it would give Jimmy Wang-Yang, Kung Fu Naki and others a chance to do something other than job. As cliche as it would be, there could be quite a good ladder match between Kendrick, Helms, Bourne, Wang-Yang, Guerrero, and Naki...

 

[mcflyboy]

I think bringing it back would not accomplish anything. While there are people on these boards who yearn for some cruiserweight action, in general, it seemed as though the fans never really got all that excited about it. Part of the reason is obviously the WWE's fault, as they never did much to promote storylines or feuds within the cruiserweights like they did the heavyweights. But still, in the end, it's not the cruiserweights who sell out stadiums or get people to decide to purchase pay per views. And in the end, before the cruiserweight division died completely, it was really difficult to care who actually held the title and who their next opponent would be.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the way things are now...have the cruiserweights that are still around open shows or get thrown together in some impromptu tag matches to tide us over.

 

[George Michael]

Having 'The Cruiserweight title as ECW's mid card title' is an idea that I like. Having a strong cruiserweight undercard, with one 'main event' progarm is a great way to kill an Hour of TV. Keep four to five main eventers on the card, and fill the rest with cruiserweights (and maybe cruiserweight bodyguards).

Kick it off with a tournament won by Evan Bourne and go from there. Cruiserweight wrestling is always exciting to watch, but can never get the focus it needs. ECW would be the best way to expose the product, because of it's show length, and it's lone title.

 

[TheGreatSPAMbino]

The Cruiserweight title should not come abck becuase weight limits in wrestling are stupid, its entertainment not boxing or MMA. The cruiserweights should be in the midcard and in the tag didvision and the really good ones can main event, instead of being restricted to one division and usually getting one cruiserweight match per show. Also, we already have enough title belts floating aorund, focus on improving the divisions you have instead of adding more watered down divisions.