How the WWE Cruiserweight Championship needs to be defended at WrestleMania 33

Here’s an idea on how the WWE Cruiserweight Championship could be defended at WrestleMania 33

With WrestleMania 33 just eight weeks away, it’s time for the WWE cruiserweight division to really make a splash and I think I’ve got just the thing to make people stand up and take notice.

When plans for the WWE Cruiserweight Classic were announced last year, I was ecstatic. The cruiserweight division used to be one of my favorite things back when WCW was actually still a thing, and while the division certainly wasn’t nearly as good after the merger in 2001, I was still a bit disappointed when the title just suddenly disappeared in 2007. If you want to get technical, the belt wasn’t officially considered “vacant” until March of 2008 but the title hadn’t been seen in six months so I’m still going to go with 2007. That all changed last summer when it was announced that the winner of the CWC was going to be crowned as the new and technically inaugural WWE Cruiserweight Champion (the new title does not carry the lineage of the previous incarnation) and the division would get a reboot on WWE’s flagship show, Monday Night RAW. The division would also get its own show on the WWE Network, 205 Live, a few months later. That’s a pretty big push for a division that hasn’t been around for almost a decade.

Unfortunately, while I’ve for the most part been enjoying things in the cruiserweight division, there are a lot of people out there that just aren’t connecting with these guys and it’s actually a little bit upsetting. The live crowds at RAW just seem dead when these matches are taking place and I really don’t like how 205 Live is taking place immediately following the conclusion of SmackDown Live on Tuesday nights. The crowd has already sat through a two-hour show and are really just waiting for the dark match they were promised and the cruiserweights suffer for it, even though they’re putting on some decent matches and being given a lot of time to shine in their main events. But it’s just not working for a lot of people and I can’t quite understand why. With all the talk over the years about how WWE needs to bring back the cruiserweights and bring back the title, where exactly are all of those people now? Do you not get excited because you don’t know who a lot of these people are? Do you not like the purple ropes? I just don’t get it.

The division did get a big jolt with the return and subsequent heel turn of Neville and that has brought a bit of an edge. But people still really aren’t fully behind some of the guys that they don’t know and that needs to change. It doesn’t help that creative isn’t really giving them much time in their matches on Monday nights and there have been reports that there’s talk of taking them off of RAW altogether, which I think would be a huge mistake. They really just need a big stage to show some of these competitors off and there’s no bigger stage than WrestleMania. And WrestleMania 33 is the perfect place to showcase their talents, even if it might take a gimmick match to get it done.

For the last two years, the Intercontinental Championship has been up for grabs at WrestleMania in a Ladder Match. But with the success the title has had in the last year with the great run of The Miz and with it now being on a big star like Dean Ambrose, they really do need to get back to a 1-on-1 match for that title at WrestleMania. It doesn’t need the novelty, and we obviously know that Money in the Bank has its own pay-per-view and hasn’t taken place at ‘Mania in years. That’s where you get an eight-man Ladder Match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship and they’ve already got the storyline to get this done naturally.

I can’t say enough how much I’m enjoying watching this version of Neville. He’s arrogant and so much more brutal than the guy we were used to watching, and it’s just beautiful. There are some who might not like putting the title on him so quickly following his return but I think it works. This allows him to further his King of the Cruiserweights ego trip and I’m digging the fact that his new attitude isn’t just directed towards the babyfaces. He’s upsetting everyone. Just last week on 205 Live, he walked out on Noam Dar in their tag match against Cedric Alexander and Jack Gallagher. And then on Monday, in a really fun interview segment, Neville hated the fact that Austin Aries suggested that he was afraid of anybody in the division and turned a Fatal 5-Way number one contender’s match into a six-man tag. Neville thinks he’s better than everyone and this is just too good to get away from.

So perhaps you get a one-on-one match at Fastlane with Neville and Alexander, who seems to be next in line for a shot at the title. They’re also teasing something between Aries and Neville, which could also be a great match to help make Fastlane worth the watch. It won’t be Goldberg, I can tell you that. But I digress.

Neville manages to retain and says his reign as King of the Cruiserweights can’t be stopped. He goes on by saying that he can beat every single top competitor in this division. He’s then interrupted by Mick Foley, who asks “But can you beat them all at once?”

BOOM!

A series of matches on RAW  and 205 Live will determine who will fill the seven remaining slots and instead of getting matches that sometimes have no real meaning, the cruiserweight matches leading up to WrestleMania 33 become important and have a real effect on a big match at the biggest show of the year. And since you’ve come this far on this fantasy booking journey of mine, here’s the eight I’d like to see in the match.

• Neville
• Cedric Alexander
• Gran Metalik
• TJ Perkins
• Tony Nese
• Akira Tozawa
• Jack Gallagher
• Noam Dar

Tell me these guys couldn’t put on a phenomenal ladder match. Just in case you’re wondering why you don’t see Brian Kendrick or Tajiri on this list, I think they’d be a great addition to the WrestleMania kickoff show. They could cost each other the chance to compete for the title in their qualifying matches and go right into that match. Because, let’s be honest, there’s no way that Vince puts two cruiserweight matches at WrestleMania, right?

Next: WrestleMania Flashback: 'Once in a Lifetime'

So what do you think? Would you like to see a Ladder Match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at WrestleMania 33? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below and be sure to check back in with FanSided for all your WWE needs as we travel the road to WrestleMania.