{"id":2239,"date":"2017-02-02T20:00:23","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T01:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/?p=2239"},"modified":"2017-02-02T20:00:23","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T01:00:23","slug":"wwes-cruiserweight-division-struggling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2017\/02\/02\/wwes-cruiserweight-division-struggling\/","title":{"rendered":"Law of Diminishing Returns: Why WWE’s Cruiserweight Division is Struggling"},"content":{"rendered":"

When WWE held their\u00a0Cruiserweight Classic<\/strong><\/em> tournament over the summer of 2016, the tournament became an instant classic (no\u00a0pun intended). The CWC<\/em>, as it was called,\u00a0hooked in fans immediately. While the tournament was happening, WWE announced that the Cruiserweight Division would be coming to Monday Night<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Raw<\/strong><\/em> that September. After the performances of wrestlers like\u00a0Cedric Alexander<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and TJ Perkins<\/strong>\u00a0in the\u00a0CWC<\/em>, fans wondered…what could they do on\u00a0Raw<\/em>? And then, something really weird happened. The cruiserweight division, as a whole, lost almost all of its steam. Confused fans scratched their heads, searching for a both a cause and a solution. Then the WWE announced\u00a0205 Live<\/strong><\/em>, billed as the “most exciting hour on television.” And amazingly, it’s actually working. So why are the cruiserweights struggling so badly on\u00a0Raw<\/em>, but thriving on\u00a0205 Live<\/em>? Well, it’s just too much of a good thing.<\/p>\n

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Photo: WWE.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Laws of Diminishing Returns: Why WWE’s Cruiserweight Division is Struggling<\/h2>\n

The Problem<\/h3>\n

Okay, let’s start with the raw\u00a0source\u00a0of the problem (pun intended). Why doesn’t the cruiserweight division work on\u00a0Raw<\/em>? Well, simply, it’s the economic law of diminishing returns. In other words, it’s too much of a good thing all at once. The cruiserweights get too many matches between\u00a0Raw<\/em> and\u00a0205 Live<\/em>. And the worst part is that the matches they get are rarely good.\u00a0Raw’s\u00a0<\/em>creative team is so concerned with getting them in and out of the ring entirely too quickly. The matches are only awful because Raw<\/em> gives them no time to develop or tell a story in the ring. In other words, one\u00a0well-paced cruiserweight match each week is much better than three short ones. Furthermore, the cruiserweights have little to no time to develop a character on\u00a0Raw<\/em>. They’ve basically become faceless names. Fans just don’t care.<\/p>\n

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Photo: WWE.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the other hand, the lack of brand exclusiveness is gravely hurting the cruiserweight division. WWE is essentially killing their own child in the form of\u00a0205 Live<\/em>.\u00a0205 Live<\/em> can’t get off the ground because\u00a0Raw<\/em>\u00a0continues to hurt it. If fans see that the cruiserweights are still on\u00a0Raw<\/em>, what reason do they really have to watch\u00a0205 Live<\/em>? In addition,\u00a0205 Live<\/em> is on immediately after\u00a0SmackDown Live<\/em><\/strong> on Tuesdays. And while attendance does gain traction each week, many fans still leave right after\u00a0SmackDown Live<\/em>. So, how can WWE fix it? How can WWE help\u00a0205 Live<\/em> and its cruiserweight division as a whole?<\/p>\n

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Photo: WWE.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Solution<\/h3>\n

Solving WWE’s cruiserweight woes is a deceptively deep problem. However, it has a strikingly simple solution. The solution has two parts.<\/p>\n

Creating Characters and Storylines<\/h3>\n

WWE made good headway on this part at the\u00a0Royal Rumble<\/em><\/strong>. By giving the Cruiserweight Championship to\u00a0Neville<\/strong>, they gave the belt and division a face, or rather, a heel. Neville best work in the cruiserweight division has come, ironically, as the exact opposite of most cruiserweight characters. Neville is the Joker to the Batman that is Rich Swann<\/strong>. Neville’s win over Swann at the 2017 Royal Rumble<\/strong><\/em> reinvigorated the entire division. WWE’s cruiserweight success now firmly rests on the back of Neville. Neville has the power to be a complement to the babyface-heavy cruiserweight division by simply keeping his character.<\/p>\n

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Photo: WWE.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other feuds in the division are already beginning to take place. Wrestlers like\u00a0Jack Gallagher<\/strong> and\u00a0Ariya Daivari\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>are currently the “secondary” feud in the division. Gallagher works strikingly well with Daivari’s heel work, and this all revolves around Neville. Neville and Swann set a basis for cruiserweight feuds to come, and it’s working to perfection.<\/p>\n

Make the Division Brand Exclusive<\/h3>\n

This one is simple economics.\u00a0Raw<\/em> is taking any and all possible potential away from\u00a0205 Live<\/em>. Like I’ve stated before, fans have no incentive to watch\u00a0205 Live\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>if they know the cruiserweights will still be on\u00a0Raw<\/em> next Monday. And then comes the problem with\u00a0Raw<\/em>. The cruiserweights are getting exposure, yes, but in the wrong way.\u00a0Raw<\/em>‘s cruiserweight matches make the entire division look bad. If only fans had a reason to watch more\u00a0205 Live<\/em>. Then maybe they would see what the division is actually capable of! See the problem?<\/p>\n

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Photo: WWE.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

The problem with the cruiserweight division actually isn’t their problem at all. The cruiserweights themselves aren’t at fault. It’s the fact that they’re being exposed to fans in the wrong ways. Mediocre (at best) exposure in short bursts, rather than prolonged exposure in the right ways. And when they do<\/em> get the proper exposure (205 Live<\/em>), no one is there to see it!\u00a0So let me propose to you this.<\/p>\n

WWE pulls the cruiserweights from\u00a0Raw<\/em>. They make it so the only way that fans can see the division in action is\u00a0205 Live<\/em>. And then, I guarantee you, the cruiserweights flourish. And the WWE benefits too! More people show up in attendance for SmackDown Live<\/em> because they want to see the cruiserweights battle after it goes off the air. Vince McMahon <\/strong>gets the fan money that he desires. And…done. Not only does that gets rid of the problem, but it’s a win-win. And you simply cannot pass up a win-win.<\/p>\n

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Photo: WWE.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Main Photo: WWE.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why is the cruiserweight division struggling so badly on Raw, but thriving on 205 Live? Well, turns out, it’s just too much of a good thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1787,"featured_media":2301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[316,6,25,1,4,3],"tags":[299,69,414,281,283,51,347],"class_list":["post-2239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-205live","category-north-america","category-raw","category-uncategorized","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-205-live","tag-cedric-alexander","tag-cruiserweight-championship","tag-cruiserweight-division","tag-neville","tag-raw","tag-rich-swann"],"modified_by":"Jamie Greer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1787"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}