Why WWE’s Cruiserweight Division Works Better on SmackDown Than Raw
By Juan Herrera
With the Cruiserweight division on the line in a match between Kalisto and The Brian Kendrick at WWE Survivor Series, it’s time to consider the benefits of moving the division to SmackDown.
Nearly three months have gone by since the WWE decided to bring back the cruiserweight division. After all this time, we have yet to see any of the magic we saw on The Cruiserweight Classic.
The cruiserweight matches on Monday Night Raw are not compelling at all and the storylines within the division are basically nonexistent. Week-in and week-out, talented wrestlers like Cedric Alexander, Gran Metalik and Noam Dar have put on matches for no real purpose.
The only matches that seem to matter within the division usually involve the cruiserweight championship. Outside of the feud between T.J. Perkins and Brian Kendrick, the cruiserweight division has not had any storylines.
Without storylines, there isn’t really anything separating the cruiserweight division from all the other wrestlers on Raw. The purple ropes and lighting are not enough to make people care about the cruiserweight wrestlers.
The quality of the matches themselves has also been an issue. It also seems as though the WWE has limited the number and types of moves the cruiserweight wrestlers can do in matches. The Cruiserweight Classic featured great matches. In comparison, the cruiserweight division on Raw seems really watered down.
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What’s the point of bringing in these exciting, high-flying wrestlers if they are not allowed to do the moves that make them unique?
Whether it’s the lack of storylines or the quality of matches, it is clear that Raw’s cruiserweight division is a failure.
It is time to hit the reset button. With the cruiserweight division on the line at Survivor Series, it would be best if SmackDown took the division over. The blue brand has the roster space and time to bring all of these new guys in.
Although SmackDown is a shorter show than Raw, the blue brand has done a better job at putting on a great show. SmackDown’s creative team seems to know what they are doing.
They have done a good job with booking and helping people like James Ellsworth get over. Even with this success, the blue brand is not flawless.
SmackDown’s biggest problem is that the show lacks a real mid-card outside of the intercontinental title picture. A lot of the matches at the mid-card level seem like filler.
A lot of the guys in the mid-card like Jack Swagger, Curt Hawkins and Apollo Crews are not that entertaining to watch. These guys are decent wrestlers, but they are not the ones putting fans in seats.
Adding the cruiserweight division to SmackDown would help cover that filler time. It would also make SmackDown a much more entertaining program.
With “205 Live” coming to the WWE Network, SmackDown won’t have to focus solely on having cruiserweight matches. This new program could allow SmackDown’s creative team to focus more on crafting storylines that will make fans more invested in the cruiserweights.
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Based on what Raw has done with the cruiserweight division, it is obvious that some major changes need to be made. Why not start over and move the cruiserweights to a show that can actually use them correctly?