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What's the story?
If you have viewed 205 Live recently, you noticed that the feel of the show is starting to look more like the Cruiserweight Classic lately. That is because Mike Johnson of PWInsider is reporting that there have been major changes behind the scenes on the weekly show.
In case you didn't know...
The rebirth of the Cruiserweight Division as we know it started with the Cruiserweight Classic in the summer of 2016. The single-elimination tournament featured 32 of the best Cruiserweights from around the world, and in the finals, it was TJ Perkins who defeated Gran Metalik.
The heart of the matter...
Mike Johnson confirmed that Vince McMahon has stepped aside and is no longer running 205 Live. The WWE Network show is now being overseen by Triple H, who with William Regal put together the Cruiserweight Classic.
Johnson reported that Triple H has brought back many of the hallmarks that made the Cruiserweight Classic so successful, including putting the focus more in the ring than outside it.
Over the past few months, there were internal discussions with WWE Management to figure out why the division wasn't "firing on all cylinders". Vince believed a character-driven show was the best way to get the show over.
McMahon officially turned the duties of show-runner over to Triple H two weeks ago in an attempt to reboot and fix the brand.
What's next?
As Cruiserweight GM, Drake Maverick announced on 205 Live last week that there is a 16-man single-elimination tournament in the vein of the Cruiserweight Classic. The finals will be at WrestleMania to determine the next WWE Cruiserweight Champion after it was vacated due to Enzo Amore's release.
Half of the first round is complete with TJP, Cedric Alexander, Kalisto, and Roderick Strong advancing to the round of eight. Next week on 205 Live, Akira Tozawa takes on Mark Andrews from the United Kingdom Division and Tony Nese takes on Drew Gulak.
Author's take
This is tremendous news for the show. I love the Cruiserweight Division because every single competitor in it could easily be seen as the champion, but the 205 Live show wasn't capturing what I loved about the CWC and it was hard to get motivated to tune in every week.
The episodes from the past couple of weeks were TREMENDOUS. The addition of Drake Maverick as the GM was a great choice and the match between Hideo Itami and Roderick Strong last night was amazing.
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