Is the cruiserweight division working out? I would say not. You have regular reports of fans leaving before 205 Live on Tuesdays. Trying to advertise special dark matches featuring John Cena isn't enough to get fans to stay. You also have fans dead for a lot of cruiserweight matches. This is an age where you are likely to either get dead audiences or rowdy smarks, but it seems even a lot of smarks cannot always bring themselves to care about the cruiserweights.
Why is the cruiserweight division not doing better? I would say there are numerous reasons. First, they need to stop treating these guys like they are something different. Enough of the purple ropes. Just incorporate them better into the shows. WCW had a cruiserweight division. TNA has their X division. The WWE used to have this kind of division a long time ago. It became a joke. You can also argue that the division was never handled as well as it was in WCW and even TNA. But the WWE is just making the opposite mistake now. They are taking it too seriously. It is kind of like the problem with the women's division. Yes, you are guilty of mistreating female talent for many years, but that doesn't mean you create this feminist atmosphere that just isn't entertaining. As for the cruiserweights, just let their in-ring ability speak for itself and incorporate them more smoothly with the other guys on the roster.
Another problem is that the WWE is just dumping talent in and not really developing them well. Try to put yourself in the place of a casual fan. To a lot of these fans, a lot of these matches look almost as bad as two local jobbers going at it. They don't know who a lot of these guys are. They need storylines, and storylines on 205 Live are not going to cut it. Most people don't have the WWE Network. And even with those that do, not all of them care about the cruiserweights. For the most part, those fans that care about 205 Live have already bought into the cruiserweights and the WWE is not gaining anything more.
Last issue I am going to bring up, the WWE is doing a terrible job with the Cruiserweight Championship. They are not using it to build stars. They are just juggling it around. The title is only a few months old and four men have already held it. And the WWE has not done a good job at all keeping momentum going for any of the men that have held the title already. What is even the point? Yes, titles are supposed to help feuds and storylines seem more interesting, but is that idea even alive here? I would say there have been some interesting feuds over the title here and there, but this isn't about whether I like it. Is it really helping the wider audience get interested in this division? I don't think so.
Just look at the current Cruiserweight Champion, Neville. He was on the main roster even before the cruiserweight division came back. He was featured regularly after he first debuted. He was allowed to do his style. You would think this would be one of the most over men in this division. But he suffered an injury. And his overness was just never the same when he came back. The WWE turned him heel and still put the title on him. The smart thing to do would be to worry about actually helping him get over. I see a lot of smarks loving his heel character. Smarks loving a heel character? Shocking! If history is any indication, Neville will drop the title in a few weeks and eventually be rotated out.
The WWE obviously cannot continue along this same path for a long time. They are either going to improve how they feature the cruiserweights or they are going to just cut back on the focus they are getting. Maybe a little bit of both? For one thing, 205 Live should end. I never felt it would be a show that stays around forever. Overall, I would not be surprised if the WWE views this division as a flop and loses a lot of interest. I am not saying they dump the title right away, but they do cut down on the focus.
When you are talking about the success of a division, show, or entire company, you are not just looking at one thing. You want an atmosphere that can draw. You want star power that can draw. You want entertaining storylines that can draw. What does the cruiserweight division have going for it? The cruiserweight style, which has been showcased here and there even before the cruiserweight division came back, is not drawing. The WWE is doing a terrible job building stars within the division. The storylines can be decent at times, but nothing really amazing so far. This whole thing is just a flop.
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