10 Things WWE Regrets About Survivor Series
7. 2016's Crummy Cruiser Contest
The 205 Live brand was meant to represent a brave step forward for WWE.
It was hoped that the show would exist as a natural successor to the awesome Cruiserweight Classic tournament it sprang into life from. Nope. The show's 'Most Exciting Hour on Television' tagline became a double dose of ironic dumbassery; it wasn't on television, and it wasn't exciting. Though it is still broadcast, the past tense is appropriate - because near enough every Network subscriber has since stopped watching.
Much of the damage was inflicted at the 2016 edition of Survivor Series. The Brian Kendrick underwent a late-career renaissance in the CWC as a desperate veteran using shortcuts to keep up with the faster, prime physical specimens of the next generation. On the main roster, he devolved into a derivative chickensh*t heel - the latest in a long line to create apathy with blue balls-inducing cheap victories. The pay-per-view's brand warfare format apparently necessitated an opponent from SmackDown. The ice-cold Kalisto was drafted in from the nearest house show undercard, chosen above an endless list of exciting new talents who hadn't yet been stigmatised as nobodies.
The result was a heat-free, average match Kendrick won through yet more chicanery - at which point blue balls flopped into full erectile dysfunction.