10 Ways WWE Must Revert To Old Habits To Pop A Rating
6. Learning To Fly
WWE's rebooted Cruiserweight Division was thrown a lifeline in December when Neville returned to annihilate just about every performer in the league and liberate the title from listless champion Rich Swann.
The cloud of doom that hung in the air above the division wasn't Swann's fault, nor was it that of Brian Kendrick or TJ Perkins, who had also won and lost the title in the division's challenging first few months.
Integrated within Monday Night Raw as well the largely abandoned 205 Live on Tuesday Nights, the matches played to utter silence whilst the performers were robbed of significant character development and the ability to have the technical high flying spectacles that came to embody 2016's sensational Cruiserweight Classic tournament.
WWE have never been able to understand how WCW were able to make such a success with their lightweight league back in the mid-90s, and this appears to be due to Vince McMahon's fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose their matches can serve. Separate from being cookie-cutter 'Superstars', 'Cruiserweight' became a byword for innovation on Nitro, regardless of what the huge names in the nWo were up to or whichever poor talent got to be Goldberg's victim later in the show.
A small block of Raw left aside for the 205-and-under crew to do what they damn well please would sharp become appointment viewing, and undoubtedly drag stragglers to the struggling Tuesday vehicle the next day.