10 Reasons WWE's Cruiserweight Division Has Fallen
7. Kalisto's Anticlimactic Cruiserweight Debut
Needless to say, Kalisto should have been a part of the rechristened Cruiserweight division from the beginning. It was a mind-boggling move for him to be shipped to SmackDown Live in the 2016 WWE draft, where he would do nothing of note for the one year he was there.
By the time Kalisto finally arrived as a member of the 205 Live roster in the fall of 2017, fans had already been conditioned to not care about him. A former two-time United States champion joining the ranks should have been a big deal, but you could have heard a pin drop when he was introduced as the newest Cruiserweight on the 2 Oct. edition of Raw.
The follow-up to his debut was pretty poor as well. He unseated Enzo Amore for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship one week removed from his arrival on 205 Live, and although it was cool in the moment, the title change was also premature. That was made evident three weeks later when he lost the belt back to Enzo at TLC and was quietly dropped from the title picture shortly thereafter.
Kalisto was never going to be a game-changer for the brand, but it didn't take long for WWE to make him just another Cruiserweight, reinforcing the perception that nothing on the show mattered.