Akira Tozawa and Brian Kendrick have been lighting up Raw and 205 Live in recent weeks, making the WWE Cruiserweight Division a must-watch with their brewing feud.
It is no secret that since debuting the Cruiserweight Division on Raw last year, it hasn’t exactly been a raging success. It could be that the wrestling aspect has been toned down, but the magic from the Cruiserweight Classic just wasn’t quite there. They added the weekly show 205 Live to the WWE Network to help pick up steam, and it isn’t bad. The addition of Neville as a heel has helped greatly, and now with the debut of Akira Tozawa and the re-emergence of Brian Kendrick things are really heating up.
Tozawa had a fantastic showing in the Cruiserweight Classic, and he has finally debuted in the division. It was an interesting debut as straight away Brian Kendrick got involved, and at first, he wanted to mentor the man. But things didn’t go according to plan, Tozawa rejected Kendrick and his offer. In the past few Kendrick has been attempting to give Tozawa lessons, with sneak attacks and the like. The pair will get the chance to lock up in the ring at the Fastlane Kick-off show with a Tag Team Match with Noam Dar and Rich Swann, and no doubt they will all make it a must see.
So, what exactly is it about this pair and storyline that is working? Kendrick is immensely talented, but since losing the Cruiserweight Title he hasn’t had much to do. Bringing in Tozawa was a great opportunity for him, but that alone isn’t what is making this great. Tozawa himself is extremely charismatic, and almost from the get go he has gotten the audience’s attention and they chant his war cry with him. You know something is getting over when the crowd is showing interest.
Not only have they made me personally get invested in this, it gives me more reason to tune into 205 Live. The show isn’t as popular as it should be, and it is a good hour show, but these two are lighting things up even more that it is worth checking out. Along with Neville and Jack Gallagher, these guys are giving us more of a reason to care about the division. That isn’t to take anything away from the rest of the roster, but something has just really clicked with Tozawa and Kendrick.
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This feud really needs to keep going, and perhaps even get these two to lock horns at WrestleMania or the Kick-off show and get the ball rolling. Tozawa is certainly going to be big business in the division, and there is no doubt in my mind he is in line for a Cruiserweight Championship run sometime this year. Tozawa and a few other names from the division have the potential to even break away from the Cruiserweights and join the ranks on the main roster. It is great to see that finally we have solid storylines and time being invested in the Cruiserweights and we aren’t getting just random matches with no backstory.