WWE Demands A Lot Of Fans' Time, But Cruiserweight Classic Is Tremendous Idea

From now through August 23rd, WWE is airing more than 45 hours of normally scheduled programming. This breaks down to six three-hour episodes of Raw (and those go over), seven two-hour Smackdowns (which we used to be able to skip and still keep up with important storylines, but beginning next Tuesday is going to air live in an attempt to be must-see), six installments of NXT and the Brooklyn Takeover, three hours for Battleground and four for Summerslam.

They’re really asking a lot out of us. It breaks down to over an hour a day. Sure, you could DVR Raw or Smackdown and zip through the commercials and segments you don’t care about, but then you have to stay off social media. If the surprise element is gone, it’s usually just not worth it.

In addition to all that, the Cruiserweight Classic kicked off last night, and airs every Wednesday on WWE Network for the next two months. Here, Triple H (who also oversees NXT) cherrypicked 32 wrestlers 225 pounds or less from all over the planet and put them in a single-elimination tournament:

The tournament’s announcers are Mauro Ranallo and Daniel Bryan. They’re already a fantastic team. Ranallo, who does play-by-play on Smackdown, conveys crisp, sincere-sounding enthusiasm. His voice and passion make everything he calls feel like a big event. He does this without going over the top. That’s no small feat.

Daniel Bryan has credibility not just by virtue of being a recent WWE champion, but having performed with many of the competitors in this tournament. He has deep understanding of the psychology of everything that is happening in the ring, and an ability to communicate it. If Ranallo and Bryan became the Raw announce team tomorrow, it would be a major uptick. And it’s only going to get better as they develop more chemistry.

The Cruiserweight division was always one of my favorite things about WCW. It kind of existed on the frays or even totally outside the core storylines, and people like Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero had matches that just required bonkers athleticism.

This was on display already on Wednesday. Some clips and GIFs that came out of it:

On the weeks of Battleground and Summerslam, this will mean a responsibility to watch WWE programming four consecutive nights. At the very least, this portion of it is a safe bet to be worth it.