The Cruiserweight Classic: A Post-Mortem
The CWC is over, and what a wonderful thing that was. Ten weeks of amazing matches, and a very interesting change of pace from the WWE’s usual product. For example, the balance of the material was far tilted towards focusing on in-ring action rather than DudeBro Soap Opera, although there was just enough of the latter to keep things dramatic and interesting.
I was very pleasantly surprised by the outcome – I had assumed that the finals were going to be Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi, but both of them getting eliminated in the semi-finals was an unexpected twist.
So our first Cruiserweight champion is T.J. Perkins, which I think is a very strong choice. Perkins has great in-ring work, charisma, and a compelling underdog backstory. I can’t wait to see him defend his belt as the “cocky but vulnerable but skilled” face champ.
According to “Wrestling With Wregret” (a wrestling news/review Youtube show), the following ten folks from the tournament have been signed on to WWE as the backbone of the new Cruiserweight division on Monday Night Raw:
T.J. Perkins
Cedric Alexander
Brian Kendrick
Tommaso Ciampa
Noam Dar
Jack Gallagher
Johnny Gargano
Gran Metalik
Rich Swann
Akira Tozawa
This is a phenomenal roster, and I can’t wait to see what they do with it. Cedric Alexander really wowed everyone with his in-ring work, Brian Kendrick showed great personality and in-ring storytelling, Ciampa and Gargano have been TEARING IT UP ever since their star-making match together (dear god, that standing elbow to Gargano’s face), Metalik is poised to inherit the mantle left vacant by Rey Mysterio that Kallisto and Sin Cara never quite lived up to, Dar’s a young star in the making with potential bursting from every vein, Swann’s in-ring work was solid and entertaining with lots of personality…
And then you’ve got my two favorites, aside from the awesome TJ Perkins. “Gentleman” Jack Gallagher and Akira Tozawa. Oh my god, where to even begin with these two? Tozawa has this amazing intensity and in-ring swagger, not to mention speed and technique, and Jack is just FLAT OUT AWESOME. You will never mistake Gallagher for anyone else, not just in look, but in his distinctive in-ring technical style. Personally, I liked his matches in the CWC far more than Zack Sabre Jr., even though ZSJ was the one heralded as the “technical wizard”. Jack’s mat work was stylish, clever, intricate, and best of all, it looked like it HURT. It’s just as well that ZSJ isn’t sticking around, because having two British tech-wrestlers might’ve been too much of a gimmick overlap, and I like Jack much, much more (although ZSJ is awesome, let’s not gloss over his skill). Also, I love Jack’s persona and mike skills, he could be a massive fan favorite on Raw if he’s given a chance to really talk and develop that character. Also-also, I really want to see Jack and Tozawa not only have some rematches, but maybe even team up at some point in a fun “odd couple” pairing.
Now if only I got the USA network on my super-nofrills-basic-cable package – hopefully the cruiserweight matches will be available online in other forms so that I can watch them after the fact.
Was going to do a similar write up….I don’t think I’ve ever been more invested in a match like Kota vs TJP.
Everything the wwe had done up to that point was so masterful….the story telling within the story telling….having Kota win with rhe Sit down powerbomb each match and emphasizing it….so when TJP took that finisher…I don’t think I’ve ever been more utterly shocked to see someone kick out of a finisher before….nowadays it’s so common in the WWE that it’s not a big deal. Here…it felt HUGE.
CWC had me completely invested in TJP for 10 weeks…I can’t recall the stakes of something being higher with that type of payoff while putting in that much work and emotional attachment… knowing his body of work, being FilAm myself, being the same age, from Cali and completely empathizing with his story….it was such a huge cathartic type payoff to see him take it….I honestly thought he was for sure going to lose in the second round….then for sure in the 3rd (Johnny Wrestling and Swann being huge fan favorites)….and then there was no way he could be Kota (before Belt was released) and still had small doubts in the finals (The announcers did a hell of a job praising and respecting the lucha tradition to the point of me thinking….could Metalik win this whole thing? The cwc isn’t anywhere near as good without dB and ranallo)
Suffice to say…I’m super sad that the cwc is over…it was what I looked forward to more than any other show….but RAW is going to be amazing.
Last note….people have mentioned how they probably didn’t really know who they wanted to win until later in the tourney….but looking at how they set up the brackets…they had to have had an idea tjp was gonna win it all, don’t you think? No doubt ibushi and zsj were making it to the semis….so that begs the question if they figured tjp was their guy all along?
That’s another thing — Mauro and Daniel Bryan were WONDERFUL on commentary. DB’s got a bright future ahead of him there, should he ever decide to stop doing the General Manager gig. The utter glee they had for these matches was well evident, and if they were faking any of that excitement, then it was very well acted.
I do wish that the Cruiserweights would be on Smackdown, since it seems to fit their overall vibe better, and so Mauro can keep doing their play by play. Michael Cole still can’t tell a Blue Thunder Powerbomb apart from a Michinoku Driver, just to give one example my not being thrilled with him, so I worry that he’s going to indirectly harm the CW division by not being able to call it correctly.
Besides, the Raw roster is already 50% larger than SD, and now they get 10 more folks on top of that? That’s an overcrowded show. I find myself wondering if Smackdown should get a third hour and thus the CW division as a result. Can you imagine a whole hour devoted to nothing but CW matches and storylines? 🙂
I also wonder how these tournaments are booked — was Kota maybe given a guarantee that he’d make it to at least the semi-finals, and then the bookers waited to see if he’d bite on a WWE contract or not (which apparently he didn’t) before they booked anything past that round?
On a side note — T.J. Perkins said in a Fox News interview today that his dream match would be against A.J. Styles, that despite their paths crossing multiple times over the years, they’ve never been in the ring together. Oh man, I’m drooling just at the thought of it.
Oh god — I suddenly want to see a Four Champions Match. AJ vs. TJP vs. Kevin Owens vs. Shinsuke Nakamura. All four primary belt holders in one elimination match, just TEARING IT UP. Oh, if only. Maybe we can envision it for the Survivor Series…
Man I was hoping for Lince to get signed. Still, a great signing