Analyzing the Issues of the Cruiserweight Division on RAW

After a breath-taking Cruiserweight Classic Tournament, The Cruiserweight Division arrived on RAW and it was a terribly disappointing experience. Between the bad presentation, the dead crowd, the short match and the baffling absence of the newly crowned Cruiserweight Champion, the WWE turned what should have been the Red Brand’s trump card into a massive flop.

What was expected to happen on RAW was a grand ceremony, featuring an incredible line-up of cruiserweight superstars, enough in numbers to fill up an entire division, plus an even more glamorous entrance for the first ever WWE Cruiserweight Champion of the New Era. Instead, we got Mick Foley, struggling to read off of a piece of paper, while clumsily introducing the competitors in a Fatal-4-Way match to determine the #1 contender for TJ Perkins’ yet-to-be-seen-on-RAW gold.

The first problem was that the crowd barely responded to anyone, who came out for that segment. Maybe the audience that night was just bad, or maybe (and more likely) the sad reality is that only a small portion of the WWE fans actually watched the CWC. The devoted crowd that chanted PLEASE SIGN CEDRIC is the minority, in comparison with the entire WWE Universe. All the greatness shown during the CWC tournament, which gets those who watched it excited about the Cruiserweight Division, is lost to most of the viewers. Therefore, it was a mistake on the part of the WWE to rely on it alone to hype the arrival of the cruiserweights on RAW.

The match between Cedric Alexander, Rich Swann, Brian Kendrick and Gran Metalik was good; probably one of the best wrestling performances that night. However, it was only 15 minutes long. That’s half the time two people would get at the CWC and it had to be shared between four superstars. As a result, we saw close to nothing from what the cruiserweights are capable of.  If new fans were supposed to be hooked after that, the WWE might have a different thing coming.  And this issue with timing might be much bigger than just a momentary miscalculation of popularity.

If the Red Brand struggled to insert a simple introduction of four new members of the roster, how is the show supposed to handle the arrival of the rest of the cruiserweights, who got signed? CWC was unbelievable. It was pure wrestling but on RAW, storylines need to be created and characters need to be developed. The show was struggling to balance their superstars as it was. The RAW roster has significantly larger gap between main event talent and jobbers than the SmackDown roster does. It’s worrying to think how the RAW booking team will handle writing script for enough new characters to possibly open a separate show altogether.

The bad writing has already begun. The most perplexing part of this charade of an introduction to the Cruiserweight Division was the absence of its champion on stage. It truly is baffling, knowing that TJP was backstage and even had an interaction with Brian Kendrick after the match but that wasn’t deemed important enough to be on the main show. TJ Perkins should, at least, have come out after the match to mark his presence. It would have been enough to have Mick Foley introduce him before the match and then have TJP walk out on the ramp after it and raise the championship high, teasing Kendrick. Even that would have been better than not showing the guy at all. What were the WWE Creative thinking?!

The only sensible thing that happened that night was the fact that Brian Kendrick won the Fatal-4 Way. He’s the one name everybody knows. Even without the CWC, the WWE fans know THE Brian Kendrick. It’s a smart move to put him up against the champ in TJP’s first title defense. The audience will be more invested in the fight, if they feel some sort of an emotion towards, at least, one of the two competitors. Also, Brian is a scarily good heel. He stood out during the CWC with his driven, WWE-crafted style of telling a story between the ropes. His facial expressions and the way he moves his body paint a picture already. Kendrick is a ready-made top heel and he will help TJP get over as a face.

Brian Kendrick vs. TJ Perkins at Clash of Champions will be the Cruiserweight Division’s chance for redemption. The WWE must book that with the right amount of importance attached to it. The two competitors must be given enough time to work in the ring and impress. Then, from the next week on, the cruiserweights must take central stage. This division is the one thing that RAW has over SmackDown. These superstars cannot be booked as midcarders. The WWE Universe must be made to believe that the Cruiserweight Championship is almost as important, if not as important as the WWE Universal Championship. After all, the difference between the superstars, competing for these two titles should be only a weight category, not skills or status.

 

What do you think? Comment below with your thoughts, opinions, feedback and anything else that was raised