The Cruiserweight Classic, formerly the Global Cruiserweight Series, was a professional wrestling WWE Network series and tournament produced by WWE with all participants billed at a weight of 205 lbs. or less. Tournament qualifying matches took place in various promotions of the independent circuit, including well known promotions such as Revolution Pro Wrestling, Progress Wrestling, and Evolve. Many cruiserweight wrestlers from around the world were given the chance to qualify for the 32-man tournament, which took place over four dates: June 23, July 13, August 26, and September 14, 2016.
Look, I know I haven't written a lot about the CWC tournament nor live tweeted it much as I honestly refuse to watch it live out of loving to have something to watch at my own leisure when the bulk of the people I know don't watch nor like this style of wrestling - even more so that they are unfamiliar with a great deal of these "high-profile" free agents in this tournament. I've have enjoyed this tournament a LOT. The opening round struggled with the feeling of meaningless exhibitions until they got around to the "serious" bouts in the second round with more drama and intensity, along with a lot of dream match-ups and nail-biters in this tournament.
Gran Metalik def. Zack Sabre Jr.
This was a great fast-paced match to get everyone fired up for the finals of this tournament. Watching this match reminds me of NWA-TNA era X-Division matches and even the old WCW Nitro opening cruiserweight matches that amped up the crowds for the rest of the show with a high-flying, exciting match with tons of crazy spots and pure athleticism. As much as I want to like what I've seen from ZSJ in this tournament, I have to knock this guy for his lack of selling at times in this match. Either he was selling the wrong leg or not selling enough before hopping up for the next big spot. It's not like they were stretched for time here, so he had time to slow it down and maintain the excitement.
TJ Perkins def. Kota Ibushi
I think this was the upset of the evening right here as you could definitely sense a pattern now in terms of guys who weren't willing to sell their souls to the E machine by signing a contract. ZSJ openly said he wasn't signing and Ibushi said the same when he returned back to Japan a few months ago between tapings for this tournament. Besides that, as great as this match was, you had to know that TJP was going over from how much Daniel Bryan and Mauro Ranallo were talking about him being homeless and being an underdog. They were building up for a big win here after all of that. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised to see Kota Ibushi show up in NXT in another year or two. Could anyone confirm if that was his wife/girlfriend on the front row during this match?
DIY (Ciampa and Gargano) def. Cedric Alexander and Noram Dar
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| I'll never get tired of seeing Gargano's Slingshot Spear spot. |
If you were impressed with Ciampa and Gargano's tag team chemistry on NXT then you know what to expect here. Those guys are the unsung heroes of this tournament from their bromance in the last match of the opening round of this tournament that people are still talking about and probably will for a very long time in terms of telling a narrative in a tournament that had little to no storytelling going for it outside of some great matches up to that point.
Cedric Alexander and Dar didn't look like pushovers but I can't help but shake the feeling that the bulk of the NXT roster are looking at these guys coming in and taking spots on both the main roster and live events' cards without having to jump through hoops and hurdles like the rest of the folks down in developmental.
I still feel like it's a sin for Cedric Alexander to make his entrance to the ring without his bad ass ROH theme.
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| Triple H made his presence known as the beloved step-dad of the IWC as he gave the smarks what they wanted most out of this tournament - the revival of the Cruiserweight Championship. At least that belt looks a THOUSAND times better than the most of the new belts brought into the fold since the start of this new draft... |
TJ Perkins def. Gran Metalik to win the CWC and become the first NEW Cruiserweight Champion
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| TJP and Metalik's styles compliment each other so much. I could watch them wrestle each other forever. |
If you were playing a drinking game to how many times Ranallo and Bryan were bringing up TJP being homeless, you would have died of liver poisoning by now. After translating that one post-match victory promo by Metalik, it was like Vince saw that and said fuck that guy in the production truck. All of the hype on this match was on TJP to take it, no matter how well Metalik worked on this show or throughout this tournament as a whole. That being said, BOTH TNA as well as Ring of Honor had their chances to make TJP into a household name. Now it's WWE's chance to make him into a big star. He's already off to a great start and the sky's the limit from here.
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| First ever Cruiserweight Champion of the "modern" era, TJP. Sink it in, kid. This is your moment. |
Spoken like a true champion, TJP. Hearing that interview live that night I couldn't help but applaud TJP after hearing his heart-felt words. Not just one guy deserves props for the success of this tournament on the WWE Network. All 32 guys that participated - whether they signed WWE contracts afterwards or not - deserve all the praise in the world for giving their all to make this event something special, not just for WWE fans but for ALL fans of professional wrestling.
Afterthoughts:
The CWC as a whole was a VERY risky gamble that paid off extremely well for WWE and their Network. It had a bumpy start with the opening round until the drama and storytelling were introduced, thanks to the heart-felt match between Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano and continued to build throughout the following rounds, thanks to drama, passion, and most importantly - CHARACTER - in the ring expressed by Brian Kendrick, Cedric Alexander, and several other competitors. CWC quickly became my (along with many others) favorite hour of WWE programming for the past few weeks. From start to finish, I enjoyed what was offered here, especially with this finale. |
| By the way, the WWE Network already fixed that Sasha Banks/Jack Gallagher name tag botch on the archive footage. |
As for the "arrival" of the Cruiserweights on Monday Night RAW on September 19, 2016, I wasn't impressed nor underwhelmed by what WWE did with them there. The crowd wasn't initially too crazy about the four guys (The Brian Kendrick, Cedric Alexander, Rich Swann, and Gran Metalik) they choose to go with here, but warmed up to them by the end of it. I don't have a problem with Kendrick picking up the win but ultimately that makes me care less about TJP's first title defense. Kendrick is a "safe" bet to carry TJP through a WWE-style PPV bout. It's painfully obvious that they aren't going to give Kendrick the belt right off the bat like this, so it's not going to hurt TJP's momentum/street cred coming off as the winner of the CWC and being the first Superstar to hold the new Cruiserweight title. I thought it was in bad taste NOT to introduce the champion of this new division on the go-home edition of RAW before the PPV when TJP is going to defend said title, but whatever. That alone tells me that TJP isn't going to lose the title in his first defense when they didn't even bother to introduce him.
That being said, I'm skeptical that WWE can continue to carry the strong momentum for the cruiserweights that the CWC established as I'm sure there's a lot of people on the main roster and in developmental who are pissed these guys are getting their spots that they've been busting their asses for. At the same time, I can't imagine the cruiserweights upstaging the main eventers and if it does happen you can bet that the cruiserweights will find themselves confined in an even smaller glass ceiling than the cruiserweights in WCW found themselves in roughly twenty years ago. I hope I'm wrong but only time will tell if history proves to repeat itself in WWE.
