WWE: 10 biggest stories of 2016
By Luke Norris
8. The return of the cruiserweights
After years of rumors and requests from fans all around the world, the cruiserweight division finally made it back to WWE.
When it was announced that the Cruiserweight Classic, a 32-man tournament featuring talent from all over the world, would be taking place, I don’t think I was the only one who was shocked by the news. There hadn’t been a cruiserweight title in WWE in nearly a decade, and while the new title has nothing to do with the history of the old one, it’s very good for the company, even if some of the live crowds on RAW haven’t figured that out yet.
The Cruiserweight Classic itself was fantastic. Sure, there were some names there that the casual fan didn’t recognize and even some names there that the most hardcore fans maybe didn’t know but that didn’t stop these 32 men from putting on some great matches. I mean, if you didn’t like the match between Cedric Alexander and Kota Ibushi then you just don’t like wrestling. In the end, it was T.J. Perkins that not only won the tournament, but became the new WWE Cruiserweight Champion following a great match with Gran Metalik on September 14.
In the few months since, the division is just trying to make a name for itself. Title matches have been featured on RAW-exclusive pay-per-view events and on the flagship show itself. Former stars like Brian Kendrick were brought in to give some name recognition while the unknowns get themselves familiar with the WWE audience, and the addition of 205 Live to the WWE Network will only help things.