The Cruiserweight Classic Offers Something Different For The Hardcore Wrestling Fan
When WWE launched the CWC five weeks ago, it was met with a lot of hype and excitement from interest wrestling fans. That’s because we could tell that it was different from other WWE shows. It is filmed at Full Sail University where NXT takes place, but it’s presented in a completely different way. If you’ve never heard of it, you have some catching up to do. The show airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on WWE Network and past episodes are available on demand.
Here are some of the ways it’s different from other WWE shows.
** It started out with a 32-man tournament, with wrestlers coming in from all over the world to be a part of it. The only guy that had a full-time NXT deal going in was Rich Swann, although Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa joined him in that regard.
** The tournament runs for 10 weeks. Will we miss it after it’s gone? Of course, but it puts a premium on every show being important.
** The colors of the show are purple and silver. The set is also different from the NXT set, which is a nice touch.
** No storylines. It’s all about who can win the match to move on in the tournament. Seeing a WWE show without storylines is so rare.
** There’s an international feel to the show. When a wrestler is shown in a video package, he talks about his background and where he’s from. Obviously there are a lot of Americans, but they have had people representing the Philippines, India, China, Canada, Mexico, Italy and other places as well. That international touch is smart because it makes the tournament feel so unique.
** Prior to the matches, wrestlers are told to shake hands. After the match is over, the referee faces the hard camera with both guys and raises the hand of the winner, which is similar to what you would see in boxing or MMA fights.
** The announcers are Mauro Ranallo and Daniel Bryan. This is my favorite announce team already because of the enthusiasm they have for the matches. Instead of having to put over ridiculous storylines or talk about stupid things, they just put over the work in the matches. That’s what I love.
The only problem I have with the CWC so far is that they haven’t mentioned what the winner gets. It’s likely going to be a new Cruiserweight Championship because they have announced a cruiserweight division starting on Raw in September after the tournament is over. However, that’s still not official. Shouldn’t they tell us what the prize is or at least make something up? Would be nice.
There have been a lot of good to great matches so far, but the best match took place this past Wednesday, as Japanese sensation Kota Ibushi battled American Cedric Alexander in the second match of round two. It was one of the best WWE matches this year – probably in my top five. The amount of near-falls they had were amazing, they had so many big spots including dives to the floor and even simple things like Ibushi’s dropkick earned a standing ovation at one point. It ended after about 15 minutes when Alexander missed a top rope attack, Ibushi nailed three huge moves in a row and it was enough to win. Bryan on commentary was going crazy as if he was a 12 year old watching his first match on television. That’s why this show is so much fun to watch.
Following the match, the crowd was giving them a standing ovation and asking for WWE to sign Alexander to a deal. In a rare appearance, Triple H walked out, acknowledged the chants and said “alright” as if to say they would sign him. It shows that while the tournament is about the wins and losses, you can definitely win over the crowd by your performance, which is what Alexander did.
Ibushi is the favorite to win because of the great work he’s done in New Japan over the years. Check out his matches with WWE regulars like AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura if you have the time. He’s in his early 30s and seems interested in signing a long term deal. They’re only going to pick somebody to win that is committed to WWE, so that way they can really put the guy over and move him to the main roster.
Others to keep an eye on include British submission wrestler Zack Sabre Jr., former TNA star TJ Perkins (he was known as Manik in TNA), Johnny Gargano, Gran Metalik (he won his round two match this week), Rich Swann, Noam Dar and also former WWE star Brian Kendrick.
The CWC has been an incredible addition to WWE’s weekly show roster so far. With five more episodes left leading to a live finale on Sept. 14, the best may be yet to come.
In Closing
The reason that NXT and the Cruiserweight Classic represent WWE’s future is because both shows are going to be used as a way to send talent to the main roster. It’s not like every fan that watches Raw is going to watch these shows, but for those of us that are diehard fans who go out of our way to watch them, we will be familiar with the performers before they make it to the bigger stage.
It’s pretty cool that we can watch these men and women go from wrestling in front of 500 people at Full Sail University to main eventing major events in a few years. That’s like having a AAA baseball team in your city, watching a guy get through the system and making it to the majors. It’s very easy to root for performers like that because we want to see them succeed at that next level.
The great thing is the quality of NXT and the CWC is so high right now is that we, the wrestling fans, are spoiled unlike never before. Could storylines be better on all shows? Sure they can, but we are getting a ridiculous amount of good wrestling action in the seven hours of wrestling content that WWE is giving us on USA Network and WWE Network every week. I hope you enjoy it because I sure am.
I’ll be back this week with the Raw rundown, as well as an in-depth preview of next week’s huge SummerSlam pay-per-view.
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