TJ Perkins Wins The Cruiserweight Classic & The *NEW* WWE Cruiserweight Championship

[Jack-Hammer]

On the live finale of the first Cruiserweight Classic, TJ Perkins ultimately defeated Gran Metalik in the finals, after beating Kota Ibushi in a classic earlier in the night, to win the tournament. Just after the introductions but before the bell rang for the final match, Triple H came to the ring, hyped the tourney, etc. and announced that the winner of the match would also be on Raw this Monday as the WWE Cruiserweight Champion before pulling the championship belt out of a black bag. The title has a purple strap, though it kind of looks blue in the right lighting, with side plates influenced by the current WWE Championship design, though there are differences, and I think said side plates can be personalized, while the center plate is a large, somewhat octagonal shaped gold plate with the WWE logo in the center of a large globe with the words "Cruiserweight" and "Champion" above and below it.

Given that neither Zack Sabre Jr or Kota Ibushi are signed, it makes sense to have Perkins go over and win the whole thing here considering that, unlike Gran Metalik, Perkins is obviously fluent in English. I'd say the odds are good that there'll be a Cruiserweight Championship match added to Clash of Champions next Sunday, though I wish they'd hold off on that so fans who haven't watched the CWC can become familiar with the different personalities and styles of the wrestlers.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

The whole tournament was a blast and I really enjoyed it. It will probably be something that in a decade people will tune and say that it was probably the best of its kind. It was a very simple premise of win and advance, which is basically "survive". We had amazing matches and in the end it was TJ Perkins who got the championship.

Now I don't see anything special in Perkins. He's still very generic character wise and he will need to offer more than the moves that they all can do. That will be the challenge for him, but he does have that heelish look for a cocky and irritating guy so, maybe that can be his path going forward.

So far the division looks like this: Gran Metalik, Akira Tozawa, Jack Gallagher, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Cedric Alexander, Rich Swann, Brian Kendrick, Noam Dar and TJ Perkins.

It's a small division, but it's enough to have one or two matches per show on RAW. We also need to count Neville of course, who is just perfect for the division and who was at a time the best cruiserweight on the planet. He would fill the "big name" that the division needs.

All in all it can be interesting and I do hope we get big enough stars to break the glass ceiling and also go for all the other titles that Raw has. TJ Perkins isn't my cup of tea, because well, having amazing matches with such fantastic veterans like Ibushi and Metalik isn't really that difficult for anyone who's trained. He needs to show more than vanilla.

I hope one day we'll get Ibushi, Zack Sabre Jr., Roderick Strong, Austin Aries & Ricochet on it.

 

[filthyanimalz]

No surprise that another former TNA talent has won yet another WWE title. TNA has been under rated my many for years now and will probably continue to be. Props to WWE for finally giving these guys recognition. Hopefully now they will have the balls to showcase some of the more athletic and talented wrestlers around instead of the slow, boring and roided up stooges they have been shoving down our throats for years. Also props to guys like Styles, Punk, Daniel Bryan and Aries for showing the WWE that smaller guys can draw.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

I've been some what emotional the last hour. So proud of TJP! He put on many amazing matches in this tournament.

...Think I've finally settled down though, as "what will wwe do to ruin this" has come across my thoughts.

For starters they didn't really give the CWC tournament any attention on Raw. It wouldn't have hurt for wwe to have done some highlight clips of the CWC the week before Raw, and tease the upcoming week's matches.
Now TJP and the rest of the Cwc competitors, that were signed will have to be reintroduced all over again to the casuals that don't watch/have the network.

I can see TJP greeting over pretty easily with the younger crowd, doing the dab schtick. And after putting on such great match in the CWC I doubt he won't be over with the IWC/older fans.

As for as the CWC tournament, it was electric and just all around enjoyable. I will miss Bryan and Mauro on the commentary together, as I feel like Bryan actual called the WRESTLING. Even if wwe allows the CWC competitors to have matches on Raw like they did in this tournament, Cole and Saxton would just ruin it.

 

[MillionDollarMan]

Fantastic series of matches and I was glad TJ Perkins was selected as the ultimate survivor and first new cruiserweight champion.

He's had a long road to make it to the show and his personality and talents will fit right in with the WWE. I can easily see him becoming a crowd favorite. He has just the right mix of high flying ability, ground game and cockiness to get a reaction from a different crowd every night.

As for Night of Champions, if he gets a match, it will likely be a rematch with Gran Metalik and could very well steal the show if given 15 minutes.

The 10 episodes were fantastic and the only wrestler I was even slightly underwhelmed with was Zack Sabre Jr and that's only because I wasn't familiar with his wrestling style. His last 2 matches were solid and entertaining once I knew what he was trying to do.

Bring on Monday night.

 

[New Hot Fed]

TJ really deserves it.

I remember back in the day in TNA when a new guy came in as the masked Suicide character, everybody laughed it up, not only cause they felt the gimmick was played but cause the two previous guys that had been Suicide were Chris Daniels and Kaz, two excellent wrestlers. But TJ shut everybody up cause he was BETTER than both of them. All the things he could do, he was phenomenal. TNA should never have lost that guy.

 

[King Patrick Star]

Mabuhay Pilipinas!!

T. J. Perkins side plates might be the first SuperStar side plates I actually purchase.

I can't wait to get my own!!

 

[Jack-Hammer]

No surprise that another former TNA talent has won yet another WWE title. TNA has been under rated my many for years now and will probably continue to be. Props to WWE for finally giving these guys recognition. Hopefully now they will have the balls to showcase some of the more athletic and talented wrestlers around instead of the slow, boring and roided up stooges they have been shoving down our throats for years. Also props to guys like Styles, Punk, Daniel Bryan and Aries for showing the WWE that smaller guys can draw.

The fact that Styles & Perkins were in TNA had nothing to do with WWE signing them. It was Styles work in New Japan that got WWE's attention as he'd done the best work of his career up to that point as he'd been spinning his wheels in TNA for quite a while now. As for Perkins, most people don't even know or care that Perkins was in TNA but he was saddled with a lame gimmick, had a highly forgettable X Division Championship run and hasn't been in TNA for several years now. To use your logic, look at how many former WWE talents TNA has utilized as champions: Angle, Foley, Hall, Nash, Steiner, Booker T, Galloway, Lashley, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, etc.

Also, stop with the generalization that there aren't and haven't been big guys in WWE who aren't talented. It's become such a clichéd position among internet fans that it makes us all look bad.

 

[ShinChan]

The fact that Styles & Perkins were in TNA had nothing to do with WWE signing them. It was Styles work in New Japan that got WWE's attention as he'd done the best work of his career up to that point as he'd been spinning his wheels in TNA for quite a while now. As for Perkins, most people don't even know or care that Perkins was in TNA but he was saddled with a lame gimmick, had a highly forgettable X Division Championship run and hasn't been in TNA for several years now. To use your logic, look at how many former WWE talents TNA has utilized as champions: Angle, Foley, Hall, Nash, Steiner, Booker T, Galloway, Lashley, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, etc.

Also, stop with the generalization that there aren't and haven't been big guys in WWE who aren't talented. It's become such a clichéd position among internet fans that it makes us all look bad.

I disagree with both statements.

TNA did make AJ Styles as he is today. We can't ignore TNA's contributions in making him and vice-versa too. Surely NJPW too enhanced his career but he was a good main eventer even before joining NJPW.

TJP was present in TNA until the finish of last year or start of this year.

EDIT:

On January 12, 2016, Perkins stated that TNA had given him notice that his contract was not being renewed.

 

[LegendKiller97]

No surprise that another former TNA talent has won yet another WWE title. TNA has been under rated my many for years now and will probably continue to be. Props to WWE for finally giving these guys recognition. Hopefully now they will have the balls to showcase some of the more athletic and talented wrestlers around instead of the slow, boring and roided up stooges they have been shoving down our throats for years. Also props to guys like Styles, Punk, Daniel Bryan and Aries for showing the WWE that smaller guys can draw.

I don't think anybody has ever crapped on the talent pool that TNA has/had. They use to have the best wrestling roster in the world when guys like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Kaz, Kurt Angle, etc were there.

There problem has always been creative.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Hard to get excited when you're not going to get CWC style matches on Raw. And if I'm watching CWCentre style matches on Raw every week I'm eventually going to hope they bump into Rusev or that big Wyatt dude.

 

[ShinChan]

So the guy whom I knew most about out of all the CWC competitors, wins the whole damn thing plus the title.

I love this title more than any title. Also the title suits TJP a lot. I have watched nothing of CWC yet but his attitude during photos show that he could be good c*cky heel.

I had wanted him to win since the tourney started but wasn't sure considering the hype of Ibushi and ZSJ. Dreams do come true. My did.

TNA missed big time on him. Plus he was a company guy.

 

[Bischoff's Knob Slobberer]

No surprise that another former TNA talent has won yet another WWE title. TNA has been under rated my many for years now and will probably continue to be. Props to WWE for finally giving these guys recognition. Hopefully now they will have the balls to showcase some of the more athletic and talented wrestlers around instead of the slow, boring and roided up stooges they have been shoving down our throats for years. Also props to guys like Styles, Punk, Daniel Bryan and Aries for showing the WWE that smaller guys can draw.

TJ Perkins should still be in TNA. Another boneheaded release by Dixie Carter. As for TJ Perkins, I love that cat! I love Cedric Alexander also. I may watch RAW just for Perkins, Rollins, Alexander and Sasha Banks. Everyone else on RAW is hot garbage and I could care less about them. It's funny how ex TNA stars are now carrying WWE eh?

 

[Rayne]

TJ Perkins should still be in TNA. Another boneheaded release by Dixie Carter. As for TJ Perkins, I love that cat! I love Cedric Alexander also. I may watch RAW just for Perkins, Rollins, Alexander and Sasha Banks. Everyone else on RAW is hot garbage and I could care less about them. It's funny how ex TNA stars are now carrying WWE eh?

Apparently you find the idea of ex-TNA guys succeeding in the WWE pretty hard to believe yourself, but you wouldn't be you without being a hypocrite:

May 23rd, 2016:

Vince will NEVER put the WWE title on anyone that was in TNA. Styles and those other tools (Samoa Joe, Roode, Young, Aries) are only there to job to Vince's NXT darlings.

June 6th, 2016:

Ha Ha!!!!! Do you people really think Vince will let a 39 year old Styles defeat the face of the WWE? Lol....I got some swamp land in Alaska for sale if you believe that.

Styles is there one reason and one reason only...too job! He's just going through the motions collecting a paycheck because he knows the WWE will NEVER give a TNA reject like him any gold.

Sorry truth hurts...it is what it is. Serves AJ right for turning his back on TNA after agreeing to a deal with Dixie then bowed out. I hate people who don't keep their word.

Styles has been in two major feuds with Y2J and Reigns and lost BOTH feuds!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Y2J beat him 2-1 and Reigns just put the clean sweep on him 3-0. smh. Styles is a glorified jobber and nothing more.

If you believe Matt Taven will be in TNA by January 31st, 2017, I've still got a bet for you.

 

[Bischoff's Knob Slobberer]

I'll be all for re-signing Perkins to TNA when WWE's "Cruiserweight" Division flops. Oh and it will flop too. I have 100% faith that WWE's shitty booking will run this group into the ground sooner than later. It's basically a group of steaming shit with the exception of Alexander and Perkins. The rest of those bums, no one gives a rat's arse about.



It's was criminal that nobody bum pinned Alexander last week. smh. Way to go Hunter (HHH)!!!!!! You sure know talent don't you? Not!

 

[Rayne]

I'll be all for re-signing Perkins to TNA when WWE's "Cruiserweight" Division flops. Oh and it will flop too. I have 100% faith that WWE's shitty booking will run this group into the ground sooner than later. It's basically a group of steaming shit with the exception of Alexander and Perkins. The rest of those bums, no one gives a rat's arse about.

It's was criminal that nobody bum pinned Alexander last week. smh. Way to go Hunter (HHH)!!!!!! You sure know talent don't you? Not!

As we've seen though, you having 100% faith in anything doesn't actually mean you have any faith in it, but at least you're learning to set ambiguous targets that no one can hold against you later. Good for you.

We'll also take your opinion on the cruiserweight division being a "group of steaming shit" with a grain of salt; as we've seen, it only takes you about six months to go from "this is the worst guy ever who should retire" to "this guy is an awesome signing and the future of the company."

That being said, this is Booking 101 here. You might be a bit too young to remember Brian Kendrick; or maybe he called you a mean name on the internet and so now you pretend you haven't seen him while talking shit about him; or perhaps this is just your traditional salt towards anyone who leaves TNA; but he's the performer in the cruiserweight division that the broadest part of their audience is familiar with. So he gets sent out to work a program with the guy that they're looking to promote, and instead of hot-shotting your two best cruiserweights on a C-level PPV, you save that program for a bigger occasion, like a Royal Rumble or Wrestlemania- while using those C-level PPV's to build up your performers for the bigger event.

 

[Bischoff's Knob Slobberer]

Is this the best WWE could do for a cruiserweight division? Brian Kendrick is straight garbage. He was irrelevant during his prime. His claim to fame is jobbing to Austin Aries in TNA and jobbing made Aries a superstar. That "slice bread" finisher is used by at least 10 wrestlers off the top of my head? Where's Rodderick Strong, Where's Aries, Sonjay Dutt, Tiamso, Homicide? shit...where's anyone of relevance. Does anyone care about any of this heaping tub of shit besides Perkins and Alexander?

I'd rather watch that dwarf Rockstar Spud wrestle than any of those cruiser weight bums. Consider I fucking hate Rockstar Spud says a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!

This cruiserweight shit will flop and no one will care in 2 months tops. Thanks Hunter!!!! You really outdid yourself this time dumb arse!

 

[Rayne]

Is this the best WWE could do for a cruiserweight division? Brian Kendrick is straight garbage. He was irrelevant during his prime. His claim to fame is jobbing to Austin Aries in TNA and jobbing made Aries a superstar. That "slice bread" finisher is used by at least 10 wrestlers off the top of my head? Where's Rodderick Strong, Where's Aries, Sonjay Dutt, Tiamso, Homicide? shit...where's anyone of relevance. Does anyone care about any of this heaping tub of shit besides Perkins and Alexander?

I'd rather watch that dwarf Rockstar Spud wrestle than any of those cruiser weight bums. Consider I fucking hate Rockstar Spud says a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!

This cruiserweight shit will flop and no one will care in 2 months tops. Thanks Hunter!!!! You really outdid yourself this time dumb arse!

His claim to fame is actually being tag team champion with Paul London for around a year, but, again, you might be too young to remember that. He's been using the Sliced Bread for his entire career and was the first professional wrestler in America to use it regularly, but now that it's a fairly common move, his finisher is the Bully Choke. If you're going to comment on what's happening, actually watch the matches instead of reading results and rageposting, because they've been pushing his Bully Choke as his big finisher pretty hard.

In answer to where people are: Roderick Strong is believed to have signed with the WWE, Austin Aries is holding down a critical spot as solid talent on NXT (a show of its own now, which needs its own stars), Ciampa is working a great tag program with the Revival and will likely move to the WWE proper after that, Homicide is signed elsewhere and as a TNA fan, you should be very familiar with those particular circumstances.

As far as if anyone else cares about the heaping tub of shit that is the Cruiserweight division, judging by how the CWC was received, yes, a lot of people care about it; or at least the ones who don't measure their self-esteem in terms of how they feel about professional wrestling companies. Unfortunately we can't make some kind of super accurate measurement of how much people care about the Cruiserweight division, else there might be another bet we could put on offer with that two month timeline. Speaking of which, my Matt Taven bet is still on the table.

You may now proceed with your regular post that responds to my post while pretending not to see the things which destroyed your previous post, all without addressing me directly because you either still haven't figured out the ignore feature or don't have the fortitude to actually use it.

 

[TDFG]

Kendrick is getting pushed as the No. 1 contender because he's a veteran who is known to long-time fans of WWE.

TJ Perkins is known to us that have watched TNA etc. but for those not to familiar then it makes sense for Kendrick to have a feud with him while the other guys in the division build up their character to be the next in line for a title shot.

Will the cruiserweight division flop? It's history in WWE would suggest yes, it will, I guess it relevance depends on how much interest HHH has in the division.

 

[Bischoff's Knob Slobberer]

Kendrick is getting pushed as the No. 1 contender because he's a veteran who is known to long-time fans of WWE.

TJ Perkins is known to us that have watched TNA etc. but for those not to familiar then it makes sense for Kendrick to have a feud with him while the other guys in the division build up their character to be the next in line for a title shot.

Will the cruiserweight division flop? It's history in WWE would suggest yes, it will, I guess it relevance depends on how much interest HHH has in the division.

This guy "gets it." I give this cruiser weight division to the end of the year (maybe less) until it fails and all are released. I would love to see TJ back in TNA. I love that cat! Too bad he has that Hulk Hogan stain on him though.

This cruiserweight roster is a joke. Until they get some real talent in there, it's doomed for failure.

 

[Rayne]

This guy "gets it." I give this cruiser weight division to the end of the year (maybe less) until it fails and all are released. I would love to see TJ back in TNA. I love that cat! Too bad he has that Hulk Hogan stain on him though.

This cruiserweight roster is a joke. Until they get some real talent in there, it's doomed for failure.

End of the year before all their cruiserweights get released? Wanna make a bet on it? Same terms as the Taven bet, date set for January 1st, 2017?

 

[Bischoff's Knob Slobberer]

Wow, that cruiseweight match last night was horrific! Even more horrific than the disgusting Nia Jax/Alicia Foxx match. One of the worse cruiser weight matches I've ever witnessed. Again...wow. That match was one botched move after another. This cruiser weight thing already is an epic failure!

 

[ShinChan]

Wow, that cruiseweight match last night was horrific! Even more horrific than the disgusting Nia Jax/Alicia Foxx match. One of the worse cruiser weight matches I've ever witnessed. Again...wow. That match was one botched move after another. This cruiser weight thing already is an epic failure!

Do you really know what horrific means?

Same with disgusting? If you find these matches on WWE so bad then why do you even try to watch them? Just keep yourself away from any type of WWE Programming?

Or You watch every WWE match just so that you can moan about it's quality while your opinion is always biased by what Wrestling promotion the match is taking place in?

Stop watching WWE. I am sure everyone will be happy seeing you do so.

 

[Rayne]

He's just making an obligatory shitpost because I responded to him. Either that or he's subscribed to the WWE Network (or cares enough to steal access), which is probably funnier.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Wow, that cruiseweight match last night was horrific! Even more horrific than the disgusting Nia Jax/Alicia Foxx match. One of the worse cruiser weight matches I've ever witnessed. Again...wow. That match was one botched move after another. This cruiser weight thing already is an epic failure!

You're fully aware that nobody takes you seriously as you don't have a shred of credibility, right?

You rage against any and all things WWE yet, going by the things you post, you spend your time and possibly even your money watching WWE programming. So, you either care enough to watch WWE on television or, at the very least, read over the various TV reviews of Raw or SmackDown Live on various sites. You also either spend your money to subscribe to the WWE Network, you watch it with someone else who subscribes or you have access to someone else's password so you can watch. Either way, you're watching something that you claim with all your heart and soul you hate.