When the cruiserweight title was retired last year, many of us wondered about the status of many of the cruiserweights, Helms, London, Kendrick, Noble, Chavo, Funaki, Super Crazy, Jimmy Wang Yang. How would they fit in WWE without there being a title for their weight division. We all feared the worst for them, that they may be reduced to jobbers to the stars or released, and that their only hope to stay in the picture may have been to catch on as a good tag team, like London and Kendrick did and Wang Yang and Shannon Moore tried to do. Then when the WWE added a second women's title, many of us dismissed the new title and demanded the cruiserweight title still be brought back.
Well a little more than a year after the cruiserweight title was retired, I think it has been one of the best thing the WWE has done. Gone was a usless title that rarely gained any attention and was usually left off most PPV's and rarely was apart of any good or meaningful storyline. Look at the champions of 2005. Two of them were out of WWE by 2006 (Kid Kash and Juventud Guerrera), Nunzio was released last year, London had a long tag title run, but hasn't been seen much since the breakup with Kendrick, Funaki was only just seen a couple weeks ago after a lengthy absense. Chavo is about the only one who continues to have some success, but he's become only a little better than jobber to the stars. So clearly their title reigns did little for them. Helms in 06 wasn't a bad champion, but the title took a big hit in 06 due to Helms injury yet him still being able to be champion and the lack of competition he had for the belt.
Now that we've assessed why the belt just plain kinda sucked a bit, now we come to why it's a good thing that the belt is gone.
1) The cruiserweights are finally starting to get some mainevent spotlight.
Look around. Yes we've had Mysterio around the top for years, but he's been about the only one to recieve anywhere near the amount of success he's had for a cruiserweight, hell, it's been debated that the most successful cruiserweight in the WWE before Mysterio was X-Pac, and we all know how much X-Pac sucked (at least that's what everyone kept shouting at him). Now we have Brian Kendrick becoming The Brian Kendrick, cocky, arrogant, and with a huge ass body guard. He's already been in the mainevent at a PPV for the title and is hugely over with the fans and people online. Gregory Helms looks to be coming back with a new and solid push, renamed Hurricane Helms, that should keep him in at least the middle card scene for the next while. Noble has gotton huge amounts of TV time and plently of wins in WWE's lower middle section. Chavo was ECW champion and has been in many different feuds. Even Funaki's getting a push as Kung-fu-naki. And then the leader of what may become 'the next genereation' (really, have you seen how many new faces have been called up this year) Evan Bourne has shown to be a phenominal talent and will hold championship gold in 2009, I guareente.
2) WWE shreds itself of a worthless title and gives the women on SD a reason to be there.
Yea, I know the Diva's title kinda sucks right now, but at least you now got something for the women on SD to fight for. Vince for some reason, really likes there to be lots of Diva's, so having another title allows him to have more girls on both shows. Can't blame the girls for this, their not at fault, but it does give them a title to fight over, so its good for them.
3) X-division stars view WWE as a good place for wrestlers there size.
Now I know that not every TNA X-division star is going jump right to the WWE just because Noble's getting a few wins and cause Kendricks really kool, but WWE is making a start to be more cruiserweight friendly. As mentioned, alot of cruiserweights are alreaday getting decent to solid pushes. Any of TNA's X-division stars, Alex Shelly, Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal, Petey Williams, they could look at WWE as maybe a place where they'll be able to break through to the mainevent scene like Jericho did when he left WCW for the WWE. I know WWE hasn't shown to be very TNA friendly yet, but let's look toward R-Truth as our ginea pig to see if a TNA star will get a big push in WWE or not. So far, okay.
So what does everyone think, want the Cruiserweight title back or do you like the way the cruiserweights are being pushed? You all know my answer, I like the way they're being pushed and I think the title coming back would only slow their progress. Just like after the steriod era in baseball, when the smaller, younger, and new players became the stars, so too will the WWE someday after their steriod issue is finally behind them. It's already begun in my opinion. Now then, what do you think?
Well a little more than a year after the cruiserweight title was retired, I think it has been one of the best thing the WWE has done. Gone was a usless title that rarely gained any attention and was usually left off most PPV's and rarely was apart of any good or meaningful storyline. Look at the champions of 2005. Two of them were out of WWE by 2006 (Kid Kash and Juventud Guerrera), Nunzio was released last year, London had a long tag title run, but hasn't been seen much since the breakup with Kendrick, Funaki was only just seen a couple weeks ago after a lengthy absense. Chavo is about the only one who continues to have some success, but he's become only a little better than jobber to the stars. So clearly their title reigns did little for them. Helms in 06 wasn't a bad champion, but the title took a big hit in 06 due to Helms injury yet him still being able to be champion and the lack of competition he had for the belt.
Now that we've assessed why the belt just plain kinda sucked a bit, now we come to why it's a good thing that the belt is gone.
1) The cruiserweights are finally starting to get some mainevent spotlight.
Look around. Yes we've had Mysterio around the top for years, but he's been about the only one to recieve anywhere near the amount of success he's had for a cruiserweight, hell, it's been debated that the most successful cruiserweight in the WWE before Mysterio was X-Pac, and we all know how much X-Pac sucked (at least that's what everyone kept shouting at him). Now we have Brian Kendrick becoming The Brian Kendrick, cocky, arrogant, and with a huge ass body guard. He's already been in the mainevent at a PPV for the title and is hugely over with the fans and people online. Gregory Helms looks to be coming back with a new and solid push, renamed Hurricane Helms, that should keep him in at least the middle card scene for the next while. Noble has gotton huge amounts of TV time and plently of wins in WWE's lower middle section. Chavo was ECW champion and has been in many different feuds. Even Funaki's getting a push as Kung-fu-naki. And then the leader of what may become 'the next genereation' (really, have you seen how many new faces have been called up this year) Evan Bourne has shown to be a phenominal talent and will hold championship gold in 2009, I guareente.
2) WWE shreds itself of a worthless title and gives the women on SD a reason to be there.
Yea, I know the Diva's title kinda sucks right now, but at least you now got something for the women on SD to fight for. Vince for some reason, really likes there to be lots of Diva's, so having another title allows him to have more girls on both shows. Can't blame the girls for this, their not at fault, but it does give them a title to fight over, so its good for them.
3) X-division stars view WWE as a good place for wrestlers there size.
Now I know that not every TNA X-division star is going jump right to the WWE just because Noble's getting a few wins and cause Kendricks really kool, but WWE is making a start to be more cruiserweight friendly. As mentioned, alot of cruiserweights are alreaday getting decent to solid pushes. Any of TNA's X-division stars, Alex Shelly, Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal, Petey Williams, they could look at WWE as maybe a place where they'll be able to break through to the mainevent scene like Jericho did when he left WCW for the WWE. I know WWE hasn't shown to be very TNA friendly yet, but let's look toward R-Truth as our ginea pig to see if a TNA star will get a big push in WWE or not. So far, okay.
So what does everyone think, want the Cruiserweight title back or do you like the way the cruiserweights are being pushed? You all know my answer, I like the way they're being pushed and I think the title coming back would only slow their progress. Just like after the steriod era in baseball, when the smaller, younger, and new players became the stars, so too will the WWE someday after their steriod issue is finally behind them. It's already begun in my opinion. Now then, what do you think?