There is only one champion who will be present on the upcoming pay-per-views, it gets less viewers than Raw and SmackDown, and we all know it isn’t a priority, nor is it really eligible to even take part in the Superstar Shake-up.
As it stands, the cruiserweight division’s program isn’t technically a separate brand, but stuck in a limbo situation of being halfway to that goal.
There is a general manager (Drake Maverick), a figurehead champion (Cedric Alexander), a television show dedicated entirely to the wrestlers in that division, separate colors for the ring ropes and the accompanying graphics for the apron and so on…but it isn’t recognized the same way Raw and SmackDown are.
That third hour of content timing for Raw is sometimes a playground for the cruiserweights, yet not a guarantee. Lately, pretty much everything has been happening on 205 Live itself, which is suspicious, almost as if there are legitimate plans to break this off into its own quaternary brand tied with NXT for the #3 spot.
We can speculate all day about the potential of Raw losing that third hour if WWE moves to FOX and how that might have an effect on 205 Live and other brands, but for now, the cruiserweights somehow officially belong to the Raw roster, don’t show up there all that often, and then wrestle on Tuesday nights after SmackDown.
It’s a strange scenario and something that is unlikely to be fixed in the coming weeks, but there at least stands some potential for WWE to give this division a little tip of the cap so people won’t forget that it exists.
The longer you watch WWE programming, the more familiar you become with the idea that no rules are ever set in stone and even if something makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, if the creative team wants to do it, they’ll do it and just hope the audience either goes with the flow or forgets about the illogical side of things soon enough.
NEXT PAGE: 205 Live: The Superstar Shake-Up’s Forgotten Son (cont.)
