WWE doing a “cruiserweight show” of some kind as a WWE Network project has been rumored for years now, going back even before the network launched. Back in 2012, when WWE was first shooting pilots at Full Sail University before the launch of the current version of NXT, one of those pilots was some kind of cruiserweight show. The rumors kept going as for a while, disappeared last year, and finally returned a few months ago when it finally got close to reality. Yesterday, WWE finally announced the Global Cruiserweight Series, which is coming in July with 32 wrestlers from around the world.
There’s always been a complicated relationship between WWE and smaller wrestlers. Historically, even long before Vincent Kennedy McMahon was in charge, the WWWF/the Capitol Wrestling Corporation was a territory built around bigger wrestlers working a slower style, with a heroic champion slaying giants in main events. That a big (pun not intended) reason why the rings are bigger and were historically harder than other promotions’ rings for many years, as well. That informed McMahon’s preferences, and so on and so forth.
Even when they eventually tried, they badly missed the mark. In 1997, after the cruiserweight division became a key ingredient in WCW’s success, the WWF light heavyweight division was launched. The problem was that it was badly mismatched mix of great junior heavyweights from around the world (TAKA Michinoku, Mr. Aguila, Pantera, and so on) with whatever shorter wrestlers they had hesitated in signing before, like Scott Putski and Brian Christopher (who was a great performer, but wrong stylistically). It never clicked, and eventually disappeared from TV for long stretches of time. Eventually, it improved, and while there were hiccups, the version that inherited the WCW Cruiserweight Championship as a WWE belt featured good action in the style fans wanted.
Until it vanished after Hornswoggle won the title.
So you can see how WWE introducing the Global Cruiserweight series is a big change, In context, though, it’s not surprising at tall that it’s happening now. PWInsider’s interview with Triple H yesterday made it very clear.that this is one of his projects, and, well, look at what’s happened with NXT. If this was ever going to happen, it was going to happen now. WWE is now actively recruiting from “workrate indies,” the same people they laughed at a decade ago, and paid good money to lure Shinsuke Nakamura from New Japan Pro Wrestling. Even if the main roster shows still have issues, this is not the WWE we used to know.
Of course, the question is if any of this can make its way to the main shows. Triple H is not in charge of the main roster shows, Vince McMahon is. Based on how Raw has looked as of late, it seems like it could be a long time before any of this is reflected on “Vince’s” shows. But it’s a start.
