Projecting Raw's 7 New Cruiserweights' Long-Term WWE Career Prospects

The Cruiserweights have finally arrived on Monday Night Raw, and they couldn’t have come at a better time. Though the 2016 Brand Split has brought widescale improvements to WWE’s all-round product, Raw’s struggles with the three-hour show format continue, and the show still feels like an immense slog most weeks.

If used correctly, the Cruiserweights will go some way to alleviating these concerns. WWE have added seven of the most exciting wrestlers on the planet to Raw’s roster, and with more on the way, filling those long, arduous three-hour shows will soon be a whole lot smoother.

TJ Perkins won the Cruiserweight Classic to become the new WWE Cruiserweight Champion last Wednesday. He’ll be charged with the task of leading the division through its early days, but he could hardly ask for a better supporting cast. Kota Ibushi and Zack Sabre Jr. would’ve been nice, but the likes of Gran Metalik and Cedric Alexander lit-up the CWC, and they’ll do the same on Raw if given half a chance.

But how will they fare in the long-run? WWE don’t have the best history when it comes to promoting the lighter weight classes, and the division’s Raw introduction didn’t exactly blow anyone away. Still, the CWC was a roaring success, and these wrestlers will surely connect if allowed to play to their strengths.

Rated on an individual basis, here are career projections for each of Raw’s 7 new Cruiserweights.

Lince Dorado entered the Cruiserweight Classic to little fanfare. Though he’s been a solid hand on the American independent circuit for years, his name was lost in the hype surrounding wrestlers like Kota Ibushi and Gran Metalik. Regardless, he produced the goods in tournament matches with Mustafa Ali and Rich Swann, and now finds himself on the precipice of mainstream wrestling success.

Dorado is a slick high-flyer who has carved-out a strong career on the indies, but he’s never really separated himself from the pack. He was a decent masked high-flyer in an ocean of decent masked high-flyers in CHIKARA, and he’s never broken into the perceived top tier of indy flyers occupied by wrestlers like Ricochet and Will Ospreay.

Moreover, WWE’s poor history with handling masked wrestlers is a big issue, as is entering at the same time as Gran Metalik. Lince didn’t feature on Raw, but CWC finalist Metalik has already established his identity as a risk-taking and surprisingly hard-hitting luchador. Dorado, at this stage, has no such traits to separate himself from the pack.

That’s not to say he can’t be a success in WWE, but it’ll likely take major work to make Lince Dorado one of the division’s stars. He’s a fantastic wrestler in his own right, but differentiating him from Metalik in-particular will be key to his long-term prospects.