Wednesday night kicked off the opening of the 32 man tournament known as the Cruiserweight Classic. This is an extremely significant venture for the WWE and the WWE Network. Growing up a wrestling fan, I didn't think I would see something like this happen in a major North American promotion, and certainly not the WWE. The fact that most of the talent lineup are not under a WWE contract makes it even more fascinating.
What also makes this tournament fascinating is the presentation. This show is being treated like a sporting event with serious discussion on weight cutting, fighting styles and the representations of their countries. They even did a Bracketology special. This is a complete departure from the WWE presentation style. This isn't sports entertainment, this is professional wrestling, and they are pushing that fact. Mauro Ranallo and Daniel Bryan bring a feel of legitimacy and excitement to their announcing that this show feels even more special. They are purposely going for an MMA style show and it works so well for this tournament.
The video packages for each competitor is a nice touch and creates a level of interest in each individual that you don't get on the main roster. The match structures are clearly set on card placement based on the first episode. The last two matches got significantly more time than the first two. This will work for a one hour show as we can get four matches and they will flow smoothly without feeling too long.
I think the main event matches are going to be the matches to talk about each week as was the case with the first show. Kota Ibushi vs. Sean Maluta was a fun match that made both guys look good, but particularly made Kota Ibushi look like a star. Kota Ibushi has been considered in the top tier of wrestlers in the world for quite some time and seeing him in the WWE is special. Gran Metalik (Mascara Dorada from CMLL) also looked good in his quick match to start the tournament with Alejandro Saez. We have three more weeks of the first round, so there are plenty of guys left who will surprise people.
This tournament has the possibility of bringing us some memorable dream matchups in later rounds, so the WWE could have something very special on their Network that people will talk about for some time. I look forward to watching the rest of this tournament and I have the pleasure of attending the second round of tapings tonight. Don't worry, I will not post any spoilers. I will continue to cover this tournament every week with my thoughts on each episode. When the tournament ends I will have a post with my picks for biggest standouts and best matches... think of it as an award show.
There will be a lot more posts this summer with the G1, Super J Cup, CWC, the WWE Draft, NXT TakeOver, and Summerslam. I will also be posting random things on the Facebook page. I hope everyone has an amazing summer of watching tons of Pro Wrestling!
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