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Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat
Biggest mistake was having Vince be in total control of the division considering its arguably the one thing he can't book correct or handle based on history.
Agree on the last part since nothing about the division really feels unique compared to the CWC or even how other companies promote Cruiser style wrestling. Triple H had the right idea about wanting to limit wear and tear but WWE went overboard with the restrictions and forcing the WWE style on the division.
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Even so, the style of wrestling is integrated into WWE programming now. Everybody flips and dives. Cruiserweight wrestling has been amalgamated into the ring product. Going "harder" or "faster" wouldn't have necessarily helped it, because that shit just loses people too. The format of the CWC could have been applied to African-American talents, or giant heavyweights, or just had an international theme. The idea that they all had to make a weight limit was cute, but wasn't actually that important beyond a storytelling device for how much hard work Cedric Alexander did to qualify.
That it got over because of "cruiserweights" is the wrong idea to take from it, I think. It got over because of realistic human drama and the stakes of being knocked out and your dream being over. And the matches were good, but a large part of that is the vibe around them and that they were part of a larger story that mattered to them. They weren't good because the guys were small or wrestling any faster than they were on 205 Live.
TJ Perkins should have won the tournament and received an NXT Title shot and probably won the belt. Turns out the guy is a piece of shit, and he wouldn't have been my pick to take the whole thing, but once you've got him there, that's where you go, in my opinion. He proves he's the pound-for-pound best, but now he's got to go swimming with larger sharks. He succeeds. Babyface story complete.