TJ Perkins Becomes The New WWE Cruiserweight Champion

WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic Series ended tonight, and with it was crowned a new WWE Cruiserweight Champion: TJ Perkins. The WWE hasn’t had a Cruiserweight since 2008, but with this win, Perkins will bring the high-flying action of the Cruiserweight division to Monday Night Raw.

Perkins, a former X Division Champion in TNA Wrestling, started in the Cruiserweight Classic Series (formerly the Global Cruiserweight Series) on May 7, defeating Fred Yehi at Evolve 61 to qualify for WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic tournament. The tournament kicked off on June 23 with Perkins defeating Da Mack in his first round match.

Perkins first defeated one of New Japan’s biggest stars Kota Ibushi and then Gran Metalik to claim the colossal trophy as well as the new title, which is a complete reinvention from the old WWE classic Cruiserweight Championship that features silver plates with a purple strap.

Now that the Cruiserweight division will be featured on Monday Night Raw, time will tell if the smaller talent will be pigeon-holed into just that division or will eventually branch off into the “heavyweight” division. In the past, the likes of Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, Christian, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk, and even Daniel Bryan have all been lighter than what ranks a heavyweight, but for the most part, the Cruiserweight title wasn’t around for most of their careers. Of course, you had Jericho win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, and both Jeff Hardy and Christian had won the Light-Heavyweight Championship.

Congrats to Perkins though has he brings the Cruiserweight Championship into the New Era of the WWE.