Why having no cruiserweight title is a good thing

[Showtime]

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?

 

[Crush1]

I think you're right. The cruiserweight division was dying since 2006 and when Vince decided to axe it, he made the right choice. As you said the title was rarely defended on pay-per-views and the cruiserweight wrestlers were nothing special, something cruiserweights should be. So to answer your question, no i dont want the cruiserweight title back, because it would have no use at all.

 

[Checkmate]

Well, I'm on the fence on this one.

I don't want it back because it will be stuck on one show, with all the cruiserweights on that show, and feuds for the title will eat up a ton of time for no reason. In addition, the guys who aren't constantly gunning for the title will have little to no use on any show. They would just job to someone bigger, and this is why the division would suck. No one would take you credibly if outside of a few guys you get pummeled. Not worth it at all.

However, on the flip side, I wouldn't mind the title back, if it was done properly. I'd want it to be defended on any show, and seperate the Cruserweights from the other guys. Don't let the Cruiserweights job in singles matches just because they are there. Feuds must be kept short and sweet, and number 1 contenders matches and title matches need to happen every week. A big PPV match for these guys could look like an X-Division matchup, with multiple guys in there together. All the talent needs to get used, and there needs to be lots of title defenses with the belt getting passed around every few months to make it worth it.

I look back at that and say that I don't want the title back, as my dream to make the title work wouldn't happen. So, I'll be greedy and stubborn and say that I want the title gone for good. At least until my mood changes...

 

[LMaruko]

I think without the cruiserweight belt, this gives a lot more opportunity for the cruiserweights to stand up and shine. Of course, there are ups and downs of not having the cruiserweight belt around, but I do agree that the cruiserweight belt gone is a great way to push the lackluster lightweight talent to a higher purpose. The Brian Kendrick, Chavo, Jamie Noble, etc., all have been pushed in one way or another, and if/when Gregory Helms returns, he'll be pushed because he has such great talent in the ring, and I don't see the WWE getting rid of him anytime soon.

However... Lance Cade was axed pretty darn quick, so I guess it isn't safe to say that anyone is safe in the WWE... everyone is expendable.

But I say that they should get rid of the Divas championship too, because that is just a waste, and it's being defended by the same divas every week, or PPV. I think it's a better looking belt than the Women's Championship (more fitting), but it should be unified.

 

[Tim]

I agree with most of your points Show, except I don't agree with one of them.

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.

So you're saying that this title is better than the CW title? This title is absolutely stupid and means absolutely nothing. At least the cruiserweight title entertained us, whereas this does nothing of the sort. The Divas that actually should get this title, Victoria and Natalya, aren't getting shots. Natalya only has had one shot to my knowledge, and Victoria hasn't even had one shot. It's just the Divas that can't wrestle fighting over it, but with the Cruiserweight title we got to see fast paced action and something different than the WWE usually gives us. In a good way. I cannot believe anybody would say the Divas title is better than the CW title, even if it gives the Divas a reason to be there. It doesn't entertain, which is the point of sports entertainment. I'm not saying they should bring the CW title back instead of this, they should just get rid of both titles for good.

As for my opinion, I believe that it is a good thing that the cruiserweight title is gone. It was running out of challengers, I mean Hornswoggle held it. Out of all people, Hornswoggle. It's around here where the belt became a joke. Before it was ok, but the WWE should have brought more cruiserweights in to help support the title. If they had, then we still could be seeing the cruiserweight title around today. But they had too many titles fighting to get matches anyway, and they didn't need another one. They shouldn't have brought the Divas title back in, they should have just stayed with 8 titles. Most of the cruiserweights are better off now that they have been released from the cruiserweight division, and are given the opportunity to shine in the mid card/main event. There would be no real point in bringing it back, because most of the cruiserweights are above the belt now and it would just be another meaningless title. And they do not have enough cruiserweights to fight over the belt anyway.

 

[Showtime]

So you're saying that this title is better than the CW title? This title is absolutely stupid and means absolutely nothing. At least the cruiserweight title entertained us, whereas this does nothing of the sort. The Divas that actually should get this title, Victoria and Natalya, aren't getting shots. Natalya only has had one shot to my knowledge, and Victoria hasn't even had one shot. It's just the Divas that can't wrestle fighting over it, but with the Cruiserweight title we got to see fast paced action and something different than the WWE usually gives us. In a good way. I cannot believe anybody would say the Divas title is better than the CW title, even if it gives the Divas a reason to be there. It doesn't entertain, which is the point of sports entertainment. I'm not saying they should bring the CW title back instead of this, they should just get rid of both titles for good.

Far from it. You want me to say the Diva's title sucks on a live national wrestling forum, ok I will. The Diva's title sucks, it's shit and almost a complete waste of time on TV. Now backing it up a bit, my main argument to it was the title now gives the girls on SD a little more meaning. What was the point of women wrestling on SD before unless it was over a man or to settle some little spat. Now they have this little, 'hey, we have this ugly looking title to fight for, we got some reason to be wrestling now'. However little is still better than nothing. How much meaning did the cruiserweight title have before, nill, squash. The cruiserweights get more ring time and more storytime without the title than with it. I'm not saying I enjoy the Diva's title more than the CW title. Cruiserweight matches are awesome, I'm just saying no CW title benefits the women on SD. And your other point, on Sports Entertainment, I'd hate to say you've been missing something, but Vince recently got rid of the word "Sports Entertainment" to replace it with just "Entertaiment" which still doesn't describe the quality of wrestling for the Diva's title, but does describe the other part of women that Vince likes, hot attractive girls, that is what Vince calls "Entertainment".

All in all, I didn't quote your other part, but I do agree with you. Part of the CW title's demise was a lack of competition. All the cruiserweights were leaving SD, Super Crazy, London, Kendrick, Nunzio all left SD, leaving few to contend. I felt Super Crazy would've made a great CW champion before he got shipped to RAW and soon jobber status. So to cap it, thanks for the great input on my thread, good post.

 

[OIL]

I want the title back. Plain and simple.

The title gave the crusierweights a chance to build storylines over what for them, is a huge title. Moving out of the cruiserweight division wouldn't be seen that much. They would stick to that. Also, cruiserweight matches are one of the most exciting matches the WWE could produce, and gives a change for the audience from their normal wrestling styles. The high-flying style is something that is hugely popular, one of the reasons why for example, Rey Mysterio is so popular.

 

[Showtime]

The title gave the crusierweights a chance to build storylines over what for them, is a huge title.

What storylines? Tell me when the last meaningful storyline the WWE had that revolved around the CW title? They tried to do that with Gregory Helms, about him beating all the other cruiserweights, but then he got hurt. There wasn't really anything meaningful in 2005 either. The Mexicools were alright, but Juvatud ruined it. Chavo Classic in 2004?!? and an evil Spike Dudley?!? The last time I really cared for the CW title was when Hardy/Mysterio were fighting for it and when Tajiri was thrown in there. The CW title did little or nothing for the cruiserweights except give extra luggage to carry and guarantee Chavo a title reign in February (Look it up, Chavo won the title in Feb 07, 05, and 04, all at No Way Out).

 

[Tim]

Far from it. You want me to say the Diva's title sucks on a live national wrestling forum, ok I will. The Diva's title sucks, it's shit and almost a complete waste of time on TV. Now backing it up a bit, my main argument to it was the title now gives the girls on SD a little more meaning. What was the point of women wrestling on SD before unless it was over a man or to settle some little spat. Now they have this little, 'hey, we have this ugly looking title to fight for, we got some reason to be wrestling now'. However little is still better than nothing. How much meaning did the cruiserweight title have before, nill, squash. The cruiserweights get more ring time and more storytime without the title than with it. I'm not saying I enjoy the Diva's title more than the CW title. Cruiserweight matches are awesome, I'm just saying no CW title benefits the women on SD. And your other point, on Sports Entertainment, I'd hate to say you've been missing something, but Vince recently got rid of the word "Sports Entertainment" to replace it with just "Entertaiment" which still doesn't describe the quality of wrestling for the Diva's title, but does describe the other part of women that Vince likes, hot attractive girls, that is what Vince calls "Entertainment".

To start off with, it sounded better to say sports entertainment than just entertainment. Entertainment is too broad, could refer to anything and is a bad word to use for the wrestling industry. But that's for another thread. What's the point of even bringing in a new title, if it isn't going to do what the whole company is supposed to do? The title may give the reason for the women to be there, but nobody wants to see Maryse wrestling. She's just eye candy. Most of the girls on Smackdown shouldn't even be wrestling, which means the title just makes Smackdown worse.

Most of the girls on Smackdown, save for Natalya, Victoria, and to a certain extent Michelle, should just be managers or just be there for the eye candy. Instead of having the CW title, we have a title which shouldn't even be thee, because the girls shouldn't even be wrestling in the first place. That is why the title shouldn't be there, because the girls shouldn't even wrestle. There are only two women who should wrestle over it, and they're not getting shots. It gives the women of Smackdown a reason to be there, wich is bad because most of them shouldn't be in a wrestling role. They should be kept to managing/eye candy.

 

[Slyfox696]

This title is absolutely stupid and means absolutely nothing.

I'm confused. You talking about the Cruiserweight, tag titles, or Divas title?

You have several options.

At least the cruiserweight title entertained us

It did? When? Back in 1997 in WCW?

Because that was about the last time a cruiserweight title was entertaining.

The Divas that actually should get this title, Victoria and Natalya, aren't getting shots.

Why should they get the title? Victoria couldn't turn on a 45 year old sailor shipwrecked for 4 years on a deserted island, and Natalya hasn't even been on TV for 6 months yet.

Why should they get it? Oh, wait, let me guess. Because they can "wrestle", right?

It's just the Divas that can't wrestle fighting over it

And yet, those Divas are the ones that people care about.

When are you going to learn that pro wrestling is about ENTERTAINMENT value, and not some arbitrary star rating list?

but with the Cruiserweight title we got to see fast paced action

Great. We got to see people who couldn't wrestle or entertain us.

Pass. I'll take the hot women over boring wrestlers any day.

I cannot believe anybody would say the Divas title is better than the CW title

You should, because it's true.

It doesn't entertain, which is the point of sports entertainment.

It entertains more than the cruiserweight title ever did.

The title may give the reason for the women to be there, but nobody wants to see Maryse wrestling. She's just eye candy. Most of the girls on Smackdown shouldn't even be wrestling, which means the title just makes Smackdown worse.

I'd rather watch Maryse wrestle in a Victorian style dress than watch two vanilla wrestlers who couldn't catch heat with kerosene and a blowtorch.

 

[Tim]

I'm confused. You talking about the Cruiserweight, tag titles, or Divas title?

You have several options.

Divas title for this. Although you could say that about a lot of the titles in the WWE at the moment.

It did? When? Back in 1997 in WCW?

Because that was about the last time a cruiserweight title was entertaining.?

It entertained me more than the Divas title does at the present time.

Why should they get the title? Victoria couldn't turn on a 45 year old sailor shipwrecked for 4 years on a deserted island, and Natalya hasn't even been on TV for 6 months yet.

Why should they get it? Oh, wait, let me guess. Because they can "wrestle",
right?

They can wrestle a damn sight better than the other Divas on Smackdown. If the other Divas fought over the ttle in a lingerie match or a Bra and Panties match, than it would make sense. But they're actually wrestling over it, which most of those girls shouldn't be doing anyway.

And yet, those Divas are the ones that people care about.

When are you going to learn that pro wrestling is about ENTERTAINMENT value, and not some arbitrary star rating list?

Like I said, if those Divas were fighting over the belt in some match like a lingerie match, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. It's just that the women fighting over the belt aren't entertaining in the ring.

Great. We got to see people who couldn't wrestle or entertain us.

Pass. I'll take the hot women over boring wrestlers any day.

If they didn't entertain you, fine. But they entertained me and thats my opinion. If you really want to see hot women, you can just look at them on the internet. I'd rather watch a wrestling show for wrestling, if you don't mind. Oh, but its entertainment now. I could watch any other show for hot women if I wanted to, so i'd rather watch the cruiserweights title because I can't see it anywhere else, except TNA. And I can't watch TNA, and there are reasons behind that.

You should, because it's true.

How so? The CW title in my opinion entertained more than the Divas title is, but both titles are still worthless. So therefore, since the CW title is more entertaining, its better than the Divas title.

 

[Slyfox696]

They can wrestle a damn sight better than the other Divas on Smackdown.

Not really.

Being a wrestler is about making people care about you. People care about Michelle McCool.

If they didn't entertain you, fine. But they entertained me and thats my opinion.

Hate to break it to you, but nobody cares about your opinion. Nobody cares about mine.

What the WWE cares about is the collective opinion of ALL their wrestling fans. And obviously Divas entertain more than a bunch of boring male skinny wrestlers.

I'd rather watch a wrestling show for wrestling, if you don't mind.

Then you are watching the wrong show.

You need to be getting NCAA wrestling on your TV. Not WWE.

 

[Tim]

Not really.

Being a wrestler is about making people care about you. People care about Michelle McCool.

Really? I was under the impression that most people didn't really care about Smackdown's womens division.

Hate to break it to you, but nobody cares about your opinion. Nobody cares about mine.

What the WWE cares about is the collective opinion of ALL their wrestling fans. And obviously Divas entertain more than a bunch of boring male skinny wrestlers.

I'm sorry, I thought everybody cared about my opinion. I never would've guessed that nobody really cared that much about other people's opinions.

The Divas match is usually the piss break of the whole show. So people obviously don't think Divas entertain that much. They probably look online at their Playboy pictures more than watching them in the ring. There's no point of them being on Smackdown.

Then you are watching the wrong show.

You need to be getting NCAA wrestling on your TV. Not WWE.

Australian networks are different. We only get WWE and TNA here, and I can't watch TNA as I said previously. I don't exactly have that much of a choice.

 

[Fizzy]

I believe that Vince could have made this title get more air time and become more meaningful. I actually enjoyed the Cruiserweight Title matches and think that their very fun to watch. Vince really dropped the ball with this title and now every Cruiserweight that was wrestling in this division has been reduced to jobber status. I think he should have made a effort to make it a main title and not treat it like a jobber title, because it was perfect for the likes of Kendrick, London, Jimmy Wang Yang etc. So I believe that they should bring it back and make more effort to make the title more mainstream.