The Curious Case Of 205 Live

[Hyorinmaru]

I've been a cruiserweight fan for years and I've watched every episode of 205 Live since it first aired. I seem to be in the minority though as it seems everyone else besides me seems to not like it for various reasons. Some just don't like the Cruiserweight style while a few people out there may not have the Network.

The most common reason I've seen for people not watching it is that the cruiserweights haven't given them a reason to watch based on what they've seen. A legitimate reason if they weren't basing it solely on what they've seen from the Division on RAW and not 205 live, which is a tad confusing to me.

On RAW they are a small segment on a 3 hour show not to mention the people who run RAW still don't seem to like the smaller guys.

205 Live is a show dedicated to the division and everyone on is building a character that you don't see on RAW.


I guess this is a thread saying to those people to give 205 Live a chance because you may be surprised.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The division is a joke. I had given 205 Live a chance for around 5 weeks worth of shows or so, but it honestly felt like a waste of time. I am in a busy season of life at the moment and when you are looking for content to remove from your list of shows to watch, generally most people pick the show least important to them. To me that was 205 Live. The division is not doing any of them any favors, except maybe Neville. There is no reason why the Cruiserweights cannot just be used to form tag teams or work singles feuds in the midcard. The division makes these guys look inferior and having a whole other show devoted to them with them being stuck there is why I dislike it. It has nothing to do with their style, which I do like. Heck, Jack and Neville had the best match of the night at Fastlane. The purple ropes are a cool touch too but, much like 205 Live, are honestly unneccessary. I say replace it on the Network with the upcoming UK Championship's show and put the cruiserweights into either tag teams (both Raw and Smackdown need more) or into the midcard.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

If i had more time I would definitely regularly watch 205 Live as what Frank says is true - the division is awesome on their own show and being booked abysmally on Raw.

Unfortunately Raw is the show most people watch or make time to watch. On Raw, all we've seen is a steady stream of guys entering and leaving the title scene. On 205 they get the character development that they need/deserve.

I think a fix for Raw is to drop the separation. Stop changing the mat and the ring ropes every time these guys have a segment. Jack Gallagher in the Royal Rumble was fantastic.

The last time their was a cruiserweight division they didn't always keep to themselves. Eddie and Chavo feuded while Chavo was cruiser champ. Shane Helms left Smackdown (where the division was in that time) and won tag titles with Kane and even had a match with The Rock.

They should be cross pollinating these guys. Perkins and Swan could go after the tag titles or Gallagher could feud with Rusev (sure it's a mismatch, but it would be damn entertaining). A cruiserweight team holding the Raw tag titles could allow them to book a Raw tag match for 205 Live.

The most important piece of dropping the separation is to allow these guys to develop on Raw the way the do on 205 Live. There's plenty of ways to book around their smaller size, Mysterio and Michaels made careers of it (one of my favourite things to do on old WWE video games was to have Michaels win the cruiserweight title).

Smaller guys can draw more than big guys, they just need the proper time to connect and develop. The Raw writers can't rely on a WWE network only show to get over their guys in time from primetime TV.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

I really hate the whole cruiserweight division. Not the guys in it but the idea of it. We have seen guys like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan main event pay per views, one of which had WRESTLEMANIA built around him where he won the World Title by making a heavyweight tap out. That right there should have ended any discussion of a Cruiserweight division. Hell look at Rey Mysterio a 3 time world champion in WWE.

AJ Styles and Finn Balor were world champions last year. If you had never knew of either of them and saw them in the cruiserweight division you wouldn't have anything to say because they fit the build of it. Yet they main evented shows and won world titles last year. It doesn't make any sense to have a division dedicated to the smaller guys when that barrier has been demolished multiple times by several small guys.

The Cruiserweight Classic was outstanding and I could have gone with it being a yearly thing where guys like Balor and AJ can take part in it then go back to main eventing. Just have a weight limit and have wrestlers from all around the world and main roster compete during the summer. Also it is down right laughable to believe that Neville is below 205lbs.

The division has replaced the women on the main shows as the bathroom break. They get ZERO reaction minus Aries and Neville. Not their fault though considering they were all thrown on TV at one time without ever giving the fans who didn't follow the tournament a reason to care about them. It was a stupid idea before it was executed and it was executed horribly. I agree with Dagger, take the guys and make some tag teams (since there just HAS to be two divisions for tag teams for some stupid reason) or push guys like Neville, Aries, into the midcard division.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I watched the CW Classic last year and I watch 205 Live regularly. Some are into it, some aren't but it's frequently among the top 2 or 3 most watched shows on the network each week. There are great wrestlers on 205 Live but I don't think it's what a lot of fans generally think of when they hear "Cruiserweight." The Cruiserweight Division of WCW consisted primarily of matches worked at a really fast pace with a lot of flashy moves and that's not really what we see a whole lot with WWE's Cruiserweight Division; it's really wrestlers working more the WWE style of putting more emphasis on storytelling, selling, starting out sort of slow and building up to more of a fast paced match the closer it gets to the end with less emphasis on flashy moves. That's not to say that it's bad because it's not like WCW's division, most of which consisted of spotfests, but I do think it's what a lot of fans want when it comes to a Cruiserweight/Light Heavyweight/Junior Heavyweight Division.

I mentioned the CW Classic and the format was much more similar to what you'd have seen in WCW. The action was more fast paced and the wrestlers were essentially told to go out there and let it all hang out. This is just 100% speculation on my part, but I think that it's what the division would be if Triple H was in charge of it; my gut tells me that he wanted to be sort of a mix of what we've seen with NXT and Cruiserweight Division of WCW but that's not how it is as, reportedly, Vince McMahon and his top yes man Kevin Dunn are really the ones overseeing it.

An inherent problem with a division like this is that it can be pretty redundant these days in the sense that we've seen so many smaller guys rise to prominence in WWE and that American fans, or it seems like a majority of them, don't really dig the notion of weight divisions in pro wrestling. American fans tend to prefer seeing two guys go at it, regardless of size, and may the best man win.

I think the Cruiserweight Division would be better off without being on Raw at all. For the most part, I don't think they're getting much out of it, especially not when it takes the ring crew longer to tape the ropes and put the Cruiserweight Division logo onto the four corners of the canvas than most of the matches last. After all, 3 minute matches almost never do anyone any favors unless they're squash matches being used as part of building a monster. I think 205 Live would be better off as its own brand and/or is paired up frequently with NXT on tour as it just seems to be more conducive.

 

[d_henderson1810]

Phew! When I first read the OP's post, I thought that he was saying that he didn't like the cruiserweights themselves.

Because I like a lot of the guys in the division, and enjoy some of their matches.

Glad to hear that people here aren't hating on the cruiserweights themselves, as I think a few of them can be used in other areas.

Yeah, maybe drop Cruiserweights on RAW, and keep them exclusive to 205Live. But then, I think that they should drop an extra hour of RAW anyway, and bring it back to two hours, instead of three.

 

[Navi]

I love 205 Live, Mauro and Corey Graves are great as an announce team and the show moves quickly and uninterrupted by a crap load of commercials. The only promo's you see are for shows on the Network, and most of them I watch anyway, so no biggie.

Yea the cruiserweights are wasted on RAW, no build no real story lines attached, just random matches here and there. But it' like anything, you will have people that dislike the division, some that watch it when it's put in front of them and others that will actually sit down and invest their time in watching.

I look forward to it after Smackdown Live and then watching Talking Smack. Even though SD, 205 Live and Talking Smack is the same length as RAW, it certainly doesn't feel like it. Once they build up a loyal fanbase you'll see them come off RAW. It's going to take some time to get it going.

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

I like the talent, but I just don't think there's enough roster depth to support them having their own show. Especially when they are already featured on Raw. If they added another 5-10 guys I'd be more interested, but it feels like no serious storyline developments ever occur on 205 Live, and I feel like I've seen all the matches in some configuration multiple already at this point.

 

[ShinChan]

I love Cruiserweight Division. Cruiserweight Classic was damn good and after some months, Cruiserweight Division has also gotten too interesting for me.

There are bunch of talented Cruiserweights that I care about like:

1. Neville (Who's actually the king)
2. Austin Aries (He's the one who is even better than the king)
3. Jack Gallagher (He's just too awesome)
4. Cedric Alexander (I'm missing him)
5. TJ Perkins (I'm in minority but I love him)
6. Akira Tozawa (He's damn good. I don't get why he screams too much but I still like him)

Gran Metalik is good as well. That makes total 7 awesome Cruiserweights. Add in Noam Dar and The Brian Kendrick and you have a damn talented division.

I even enjoy them on Raw. That's unlikely for most people but I do enjoy them.

 

[stingray11214]

I have seen many of these guys in the Indies. I know what Tony Nese, Noam Dar, and Cedric Alexander are capable of. As I have said in another post, this is all about VKM puffing out his chest to say, "See? I like Cruiserweights, too!" At least in places like RoH and Impact, these guys would have somewhat of a chance. Some of you believe they should only go for a midcard strap. In other words, you are no better than VKM, WWE will NEVER give them the opportunity to really compete at the highest levels. Sad.

 

[Spencesc11]

I think I would try to keep the cruiserweight division more exclusive.

* Move Raw back to 2 hours
* Take them off of Raw and put 205 on Saturday morning for an hour on USA and available on the Network
* Create cruiserweight tag tltles
* Have a Cruiserweight match to open every PPV (both brands)

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

The 205 as a show is good. It's the division that shouldn't exist, though. Why? Because:

a) it's not something different. What these guys do, about 70% of the rest of the roster can do as well nowadays. It's not the 90s with they heavy main eventers any more.

b) they are labeled as Cruiserweights, which will follow them for the rest of their WWE careers. Are these guys part of the main roster or they're just guys that are feautured with the main roster? WWE needs to clean this up. The logic is simple here.

c) Also, the fact that WWE has cruiserweights like Balor and Kalisto and their main rosters but they also have a division, shows that the division are considered a bunch of jobbers.

My solution
Seperate the division from the main roster and present it like the division is something that is feautured with the main roster.
Then, give out main roster contracts (=participation for the main titles), to the best of the Cruiserweights, but do not take these guys out of the division, because then it will look like another version of NxT. The division should look like a WWE spin-off, while NxT is a WWE prequel.