The cruiserweight style of pro-wrestling gave the WWE Universe Daniel Bryan, a former WWE World Heavyweight champion who was a dynamic, fast-paced risk-taker with his high-energy style.
Well, while fans may never see the kind of superstar like the recently-retired Bryan again, they should be excited about WWE's announced plans to launch a Global Cruiserweight Series, consisting of 32 in-ring greats weighing under 205 pounds, for a July 13 launch on the WWE Network.
The series, which WWE will host at Full Sail University in Orlando, will take over 10 weeks to crown the best cruiserweight in the world.
The tournament could pave the way for WWE to create a permanent cruiserweight division and title as part of its main roster offerings, although company Executive Vice President Triple H wouldn't commit to that during an interview with PWInsider.com, as reported by WrestlingInc.com.
"I think it is slightly the cart before the horse," he said. "I think ... I want this to be something that is repetitive. I would like this tournament to be a recurring thing where we take the best talent from around the world and let them do their thing. Does that morph directly into a cruiserweight division right away? I don't know about right away ... and it might ... but we're clearly looking at all the guys in this tournament and saying, 'who do we want to work with long-term?'"
That being said, WWE will feature cruiserweight talent on its website and via its social media channels in lieu of the series launching on the Network. Who will they be?
"I would say the vast majority [of talents on the series] will be non-contracted or long-term contracted WWE talents," Triple H revealed to PWInsider. "We haven't finalized the selection process, watching tapes and seeing who we want to work with and all of that. It's going to be a discovery process. Look, I want to have the best in the world. I don't want to negate anyone from that process because they are under contract to us. At the same time, I'm looking for the best in the world and the brightest around to give them a platform that they've never had."
This should give the company and its legions of fans a nice shot in the arm this year, while also addressing the up-and-down style of Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling.
Seems like a win-win.
