Cruising to Success
Cruiserweights have been a staple on wrestling shows for decades, whether that be opening an episode of Nitro in the late 1990's, battling it out on a Smackdown exclusive PPV in 2004, or competing more recently on an episode of 205 Live. Counterweights have often had a hard time trying to prove themselves to be as worthy of being on a show as the 200 plus pound brawlers that often get the main event slot. In my opinion, however, it is the cruiserweights that are the talents that get the crowd going, often being used to start a show due to the enticement and attention they withdraw from the thousands in attendance and millions watching around the world.
Cruiserweights really came to prominence in 1996 when they started to appear on episodes of Monday Nitro on a weekly basis, after the WCW Light-Heavyweight Championship becoming the Cruiserweight Championship. During their time on WCW, wrestlers such as Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, and Ultimo Dragon proved that size doesn't matter in professional wrestling and that the 'little guys' can bring it just as much as the 'big men'. The crowd benefited massively from the inclusion of cruiserweights on WCW shows as they got to witness an influx of foreign talent that allowed for in-ring creativity, with wrestlers often mixing high-flying with technical expertise giving the US crowd exactly what they wanted....wrestling, not just Powerslams. After a lull towards the end of the WCW days in 2001, the cruiserweights would witness a re-emergence, this time under the WWE flag appearing exclusively for Smackdown. Things really started to pick up when Rey Mysterio defeated Matt Hardy on June 5th 2003 Smackdown to win the Cruiserweight Title. Mysterio would have great matches with the likes of Tajiri at No Mercy 2003 and Chavo Guerrero at No Way Out 2004 and at The Bash 2004. Unfortunately for the division all would come crashing down when Hornswoggle captured the title in 2007 and the division would be shut down.
We had to wait nine years until the Cruiserweight division returned, but it was a wait worth taking, as the Cruiserweight Classic in 2016 (the tournament that marked the division's return) was possibly the greatest tournament in WWE history. TJ Perkins would win the whole thing after defeating Gran Metalik in the finals and sparked the beginning of what would become a storied, yet interesting return for the 'men that fly'. TJ Perkins, Kalisto, Noam Dar, and Akira Tozawa all now appear on a weekly basis on the Network exclusive show 205 Live....but that is a story for another day.
What are your thoughts on the history of Cruiserweights? Please comment, like and follow for more.
Cruiserweights really came to prominence in 1996 when they started to appear on episodes of Monday Nitro on a weekly basis, after the WCW Light-Heavyweight Championship becoming the Cruiserweight Championship. During their time on WCW, wrestlers such as Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, and Ultimo Dragon proved that size doesn't matter in professional wrestling and that the 'little guys' can bring it just as much as the 'big men'. The crowd benefited massively from the inclusion of cruiserweights on WCW shows as they got to witness an influx of foreign talent that allowed for in-ring creativity, with wrestlers often mixing high-flying with technical expertise giving the US crowd exactly what they wanted....wrestling, not just Powerslams. After a lull towards the end of the WCW days in 2001, the cruiserweights would witness a re-emergence, this time under the WWE flag appearing exclusively for Smackdown. Things really started to pick up when Rey Mysterio defeated Matt Hardy on June 5th 2003 Smackdown to win the Cruiserweight Title. Mysterio would have great matches with the likes of Tajiri at No Mercy 2003 and Chavo Guerrero at No Way Out 2004 and at The Bash 2004. Unfortunately for the division all would come crashing down when Hornswoggle captured the title in 2007 and the division would be shut down.
We had to wait nine years until the Cruiserweight division returned, but it was a wait worth taking, as the Cruiserweight Classic in 2016 (the tournament that marked the division's return) was possibly the greatest tournament in WWE history. TJ Perkins would win the whole thing after defeating Gran Metalik in the finals and sparked the beginning of what would become a storied, yet interesting return for the 'men that fly'. TJ Perkins, Kalisto, Noam Dar, and Akira Tozawa all now appear on a weekly basis on the Network exclusive show 205 Live....but that is a story for another day.
What are your thoughts on the history of Cruiserweights? Please comment, like and follow for more.
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