Earlier this year, the WWE held its first ever Cruiserweight Classic tournament: a 32 man single elimination tournament featuring wrestlers weighing less than 205 pounds. Although it was a bit surprising to see the WWE resurrect the cruiserweight division — something it abandoned nearly a decade ago — the Cruiserweight Classic was shocking in that it mainly featured wrestlers that weren’t part of the WWE’s everyday roster and was a huge success, filled with amazing matches unlike anything we’ve seen in a WWE ring in recent years.
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Thanks to the success of the Cruiserweight Classic, the WWE created an official Cruiserweight division and cherrypicked a handful of wrestlers from the tournament to appear on Monday Night Raw. Sadly, the success of the Cruiserweight Classic hasn’t been replicated on Raw. But instead of aborting the Cruiserweight division, the WWE doubled down and created 205 Live, a new WWE Network show focusing exclusively on the cruiserweights.
And you should be tuning in.
205 Live is definitely positioned to appeal to the most passionate wrestling fans. It airs immediately after Smackdown Live, which has become the trendy WWE show to follow for many “in the know” wrestling fans, and features the commentary of Mauro Ranallo and Corey Graves — knowledgeable and experienced commentators who aren’t afraid to reference wrestlers outside the WWE. But even though it’s made for the “hardcore” wrestling fan, 205 Live is definitely a show that anyone interested in wrestling should at least check out.
205 Live features more variety and….well, better wrestlers than what the WWE hastily cobbled together for its initial Cruiserweight Division. In addition to standouts Rich Swann and Cedrick Alexander (the only two Cruiserweights to get much of a reaction from RAW’s crowd), 205 Live also features lucha sensation Gran Metalik, Japanese superstar Akira Tozawa, and the “Extraordinary Gentlemen” Jack Gallagher, who wrestles unlike anything you’ve seen on TV before. Gallagher proved to be just what 205 Live needed in its premiere episode. After a relatively boring and bland tag team match, Gallagher got a disinterested crowd into the show as he methodically grappled his way to victory with a mix of submission holds, showmanship, and athleticism. Gallagher’s match represented the potential of 205 Live: unapologetically different, showy, and a lot of fun.
The main event of the first 205 Live episode featured a title match between then-champion Brian Kendrick and Rich Swann. While Swann has appeared on WWE TV before, 205 Live aired a vignette before the match talking a little bit about the tragedy and adversity Swann overcame to fulfill his dream of becoming a wrestler. That was the sort of stuff missing from RAW’s Cruiserweight Division: backstory to help fans care about who wins and loses the match. After watching Kendrick deliver nasty suplex after suplex to Swann’s neck in order to set up his Captain’s Hook submission move, that backstory gave a little extra meaning as to why Swann refused to quit. After Swann won the match, 205 Live ended on a surprisingly sentimental note, with Swann thanking his mother in heaven while fans chanted “You Deserve It” as he lifted the belt. That’s not the sort of thing you’ll usually see on WWE television and it was fantastic.
Not everything about 205 Live was perfect. Most of these wrestlers aren’t polished and have little experience giving a promo worthy of television. With the exception of former TNA star Austin Aries (who is serving as a third commentator until an fractured eye socket heals), none of these wrestlers know how to talk to a crowd. In that way, 205 Live is a little like NXT, in which the wrestlers are still learning while putting on a show. It’ll be a while until some of these wrestlers can get themselves over with a microphone alone, but their in-ring charisma should be more than enough to compensate for that particular weakness.
The Cruiserweights are supposed to represent something different for the WWE, a weird mashup of the WWE’s established style and wrestlers who don’t conform to how WWE wrestlers are “supposed” to look. 205 Live was a great way to reset the cruiserweight division and transform it back to the flashy alternative to the WWE style we’re used to seeing. If you have the WWE Network and an hour of free time, you should definitely give the Cruiserweights another try.
