HORRORHOLIC
Pre-Show Stalwart
One thing they should keep is the purple ropes. They look better than the red ones 
By the way, how do they change the color so fast anyway ?
By the way, how do they change the color so fast anyway ?
WWE Cruiserweight Division: Keep It, Fix It Or Scrap It
- Thread starter Jack-Hammer
- Start date
This is probably the major point in all of this. Most of the cruiserweight wrestlers were new to the audience. All things considered they have done a fairly good job of promoting the talent, but they really need to add some more power players to the division. They need Enzo Amore in that division to make it hot. Sign Ricochet once his contract is up and you have some major traction for the rest of 2017.
I voted for "fix it", as in "try to fix it", but if fixes don't really work then, like the Crusierweight division that started and died out before in WWE after WCW, it may just have to go.
But, I don't see WWE scrapping the Crusierweight division anytime soon, but definitely making some tweaks and improvements will probably happen, and probably NEED to happen if they want to maintain a certain level of regular viewership.
Some problems I see with the Crusierweight division now is that, while I understand the need to let each talent get some time to flesh out their character as individuals, I think a better way to get interest and opportunity into the division would be a big heel faction.
Because it often seems just too random and boring for why most of the Crusierweight matches are happening. But if, for example, "King" Neville came out with a bunch of other heel Crusierweights who pledged their allegiance to him as "King of the Crusierweights" and would do his bidding for him and started SERIOUSLY wreaking havoc on all face CWs, then NATURALLY more people will start to take notice.
Just imagine a Nexus-like debut for Crusierweights. Massive damage and a heel faction with at least 4 members in it would cause people to take notice and help babyfaces have a reason to show what they got to fight back and see who the fans really get behind.
Personally, I don't really like having two segments for Crusierweights, I feel like if there can always be a mega story line that is the focus for one Crusierweight segment on Raw then the WWE can promote any further matches or storylines that may occur on 205 live and then next week on Raw show quick recaps of events from 205 live that build onto Raw storylines.
I feel the weight-class limit is going to make the CW Division always be more hampered for creating interest than the rest of the show and I think WWE has to be pretty careful about who on the current roster goes up or down to the Division because it could quickly hurt the MAIN ROSTER, too.
What happens if Finn Balor who already is former Universal Champion goes down to CW Division? What does that say for Neville, who may be a few inches shorter than Balor, is clearly more jacked than Balor or even Tony Nese, who while has been made to look bad in the CW Division is pretty close in height to Balor and ALSO has a very jacked physique.
A guy like Kalisto, actually should be in the CW Division but those CW-types are also kind of needed on the main roster for jobber matches so you can't get rid of all the smaller wrestlers and send them to the CW Division. So, either the CW Division keeps getting an influx of NEW talent, but then has to do more work for building up the new talents so fans can accept them or runs the risk of hurting overall their main roster talent's credibility if they go from CW to main roster divisions.
My short answer?
Start at big, ruthless and destruction-heavy heel faction-based storyline with a heel Champion at the top. Let that faction run for a while, even if it means some members drop out and others join and some smaller face factions try to rise up to defeat them.
Give the CW Division a real chance to be interesting with a big over-arching storyline that goes on for at least 6 months and THEN see where the Division stands in the eyes of the fans.
But, I don't see WWE scrapping the Crusierweight division anytime soon, but definitely making some tweaks and improvements will probably happen, and probably NEED to happen if they want to maintain a certain level of regular viewership.
Some problems I see with the Crusierweight division now is that, while I understand the need to let each talent get some time to flesh out their character as individuals, I think a better way to get interest and opportunity into the division would be a big heel faction.
Because it often seems just too random and boring for why most of the Crusierweight matches are happening. But if, for example, "King" Neville came out with a bunch of other heel Crusierweights who pledged their allegiance to him as "King of the Crusierweights" and would do his bidding for him and started SERIOUSLY wreaking havoc on all face CWs, then NATURALLY more people will start to take notice.
Just imagine a Nexus-like debut for Crusierweights. Massive damage and a heel faction with at least 4 members in it would cause people to take notice and help babyfaces have a reason to show what they got to fight back and see who the fans really get behind.
Personally, I don't really like having two segments for Crusierweights, I feel like if there can always be a mega story line that is the focus for one Crusierweight segment on Raw then the WWE can promote any further matches or storylines that may occur on 205 live and then next week on Raw show quick recaps of events from 205 live that build onto Raw storylines.
I feel the weight-class limit is going to make the CW Division always be more hampered for creating interest than the rest of the show and I think WWE has to be pretty careful about who on the current roster goes up or down to the Division because it could quickly hurt the MAIN ROSTER, too.
What happens if Finn Balor who already is former Universal Champion goes down to CW Division? What does that say for Neville, who may be a few inches shorter than Balor, is clearly more jacked than Balor or even Tony Nese, who while has been made to look bad in the CW Division is pretty close in height to Balor and ALSO has a very jacked physique.
A guy like Kalisto, actually should be in the CW Division but those CW-types are also kind of needed on the main roster for jobber matches so you can't get rid of all the smaller wrestlers and send them to the CW Division. So, either the CW Division keeps getting an influx of NEW talent, but then has to do more work for building up the new talents so fans can accept them or runs the risk of hurting overall their main roster talent's credibility if they go from CW to main roster divisions.
My short answer?
Start at big, ruthless and destruction-heavy heel faction-based storyline with a heel Champion at the top. Let that faction run for a while, even if it means some members drop out and others join and some smaller face factions try to rise up to defeat them.
Give the CW Division a real chance to be interesting with a big over-arching storyline that goes on for at least 6 months and THEN see where the Division stands in the eyes of the fans.
I voted to fix it. I'd move it to SD and put the belt on Zayn.
The argument used to be that Raw has more time to fill but they give them no time at all. 2/3 minute matches. If they were on Smackdown even every other week and they gave them solid content and not have to worry about saving anything for 205 Live then I think it'd have been better received.
They used to have it on SD, and some of it was utter garbage, but they showed they had the time to dedicate to it in a 2 hour show.
They're on a show that people feel is a slog to always get through because of its length and audience fatigue. Put them on SD and give them quality time to tell a story. I'd rather see them take a week off on SD then be given 15/20 quality mins the following week than see them every week in forgettable matches and segments. I get the appeal of an overarching story like Nexus on paper. It took a while for the ones that did succeed other than Barrett to develop into their own characters. Much of the problem with the he cruiserweights was that they all debuted together as this homogenous group. They don't need a big storyline, they need consistent, entertaining, logical feuds between two people the audience care about.
Sami is just over the limit, they could bill him as less and put the belt on him. He qualified under the old weight limit. Xavier Woods did too. Legit stars unlikely to get a significant singles title run anytime soon. The division needs personalities people care about. Turn Austin heel and you've got Neville and Aries as your top heels in the division and Zayn and Woods as your top faces, guys like Gallagher and Kendrick round it off nicely.
Zayn as champ would get that division over. Neville and Zayn could easily main event SD.
The argument used to be that Raw has more time to fill but they give them no time at all. 2/3 minute matches. If they were on Smackdown even every other week and they gave them solid content and not have to worry about saving anything for 205 Live then I think it'd have been better received.
They used to have it on SD, and some of it was utter garbage, but they showed they had the time to dedicate to it in a 2 hour show.
They're on a show that people feel is a slog to always get through because of its length and audience fatigue. Put them on SD and give them quality time to tell a story. I'd rather see them take a week off on SD then be given 15/20 quality mins the following week than see them every week in forgettable matches and segments. I get the appeal of an overarching story like Nexus on paper. It took a while for the ones that did succeed other than Barrett to develop into their own characters. Much of the problem with the he cruiserweights was that they all debuted together as this homogenous group. They don't need a big storyline, they need consistent, entertaining, logical feuds between two people the audience care about.
Sami is just over the limit, they could bill him as less and put the belt on him. He qualified under the old weight limit. Xavier Woods did too. Legit stars unlikely to get a significant singles title run anytime soon. The division needs personalities people care about. Turn Austin heel and you've got Neville and Aries as your top heels in the division and Zayn and Woods as your top faces, guys like Gallagher and Kendrick round it off nicely.
Zayn as champ would get that division over. Neville and Zayn could easily main event SD.
Mighty NorCal
SHALL WE BEGIN?
If only they had a ready and waiting audience who knows the competitors and cares about them...
If only that audience attended tapings of a brand that needs more depth...
Oh wait, they did and they do.
Should have been another belt on NXT all along. They could have even done it in an interesting fashion and have it not be a "mid card" but another main title, the way the womens and tags are done. A weight class designation allows for this.
Not to mention, when they were hidden away in florida, they were allowed to work a style that got people to care.
Now the best we can hope for is that the chance is given in NXT before the whole thing is just scrapped. In its current form, it should have been put out of its misery weeks ago.
If only that audience attended tapings of a brand that needs more depth...
Oh wait, they did and they do.
Should have been another belt on NXT all along. They could have even done it in an interesting fashion and have it not be a "mid card" but another main title, the way the womens and tags are done. A weight class designation allows for this.
Not to mention, when they were hidden away in florida, they were allowed to work a style that got people to care.
Now the best we can hope for is that the chance is given in NXT before the whole thing is just scrapped. In its current form, it should have been put out of its misery weeks ago.
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
Yeah, I think it's best if the CW Division was made part of NXT, maybe it should've been part of NXT from the very beginning. If you look at the Cruiserweight Classic from about this time last year and compare it with the general format of 205 Live, it's seems obvious that Triple H and Vince McMahon have two very different visions for the division and what it could be.
It's fairly well known that he's never exactly cared for Cruiserweight/Light Heavyweight/Junior Heavyweight divisions in the past. Given that and given how watered down Vince has made it, I really don't know why he even let Triple H bring it back in the first place.
I'm actually starting to like the cruiserweight division, I'm might be in the minority here but I love the fact that they are booking the division the same way as the rest of the show. If I would change something, it would be to maybe stop seperating the division from the rest of the show with all the purple stuff but outsde of that, I wouldn't change a thing.
I agree with you.
Its basically that the talent is there but the booking isn't there to support the talent. Neville, Austin Aries, Akira Tozawa, Jack Gallagher, Cedric Alexander, Rich Swann and TJP are talented enough to make this division entertaining. There's only a singles title and it could be done very well if intended. But throwing any of two Cruiserweights in a meaningless match during Raw isn't going to do any favours.
Anyone else notice that the cruiserweight guys got red ring ropes tonight? No more purple ring ropes, from the looks of it. At least on Raw. While I still maintain the same opinion I did before in that the division should be gotten rid of, as well as 2015 Live, but having red ring ropes instead of purple was a step in the right direction. The cruiserweights felt less out of place tonight and more like they belonged for once. Perhaps the WWE is going in the direction of trying to fix the division. Eliminating the purple ring ropes is the first step. Not sure where they go next in making this division not suck, although it appears they may be trying now. It doesn't make me change my mind on preferring to see all the cruiserweight division guys in Raw's midcard or tag team division instead, however I give the WWE credit for finally putting forth some more effort here.
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