WNS Fans View: Cruiserweights. The Best Champions? Does Size Matter?

By Craig Liggeons    

While watching Raw, I heard Triple H say to Daniel Bryan that he would bring back the Cruiserweight Title for Bryan to go after. I hadn't heard that name "Cruiserweight" in a long time. It occurred to me that name doesn't even apply to wrestlers anymore. 

    Daniel Bryan is arguably the most popular wrestler on earth and he's a cruiserweight (or Junior Heavyweight as it was known in my day) but does anyone care? He puts on the best matches, has the best “catchphrases” and makes a great face and heel. He's also been Heavyweight Champion and probably will be again because it's "best for business".

    Chris Sabin and A.J.Styles have also been Heavyweight Champions of their respective companies and they would also be considered cruiserweights and no one cares. Then I started thinking how far cruiserweights have come.

    Rey Mysterio, Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, and Eddie Guerrero are all former World Champions. They are also all former Cruiserweight/Light Heavyweight/Junior Heavyweight Champions.

    It obviously didn't happen overnight that junior heavyweights became heavyweights or smaller wrestlers just became wrestlers, I believe it's a matter of fans recognizing the goods when they see it like they did 31 years ago last weekend. (What a segue!)

     AUGUST 30, 1982 

    Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid in Madison Square Garden for the WWF Junior Heavyweight title. The feud between Tiger and Dynamite was already legendary in Japan. This match was their first one in America hence this was the first time American audiences got to witness the cruiserweight “Lucha Libre” fast paced action we've now come to expect from lighter weight wrestlers. 

     It was obvious the Garden crowd had never seen anything like the moves those two put on (the FIRST 619 in Wrestling History!) but they responded with tremendous applause. This tragically short 8 minute match may have been the most influential match in the history of MSG. It showed how 2 unknown "smaller" guys can captivate an audience with a foreign style on the grandest stage in the world. 

   From Tiger Mask in 1982 to Daniel Bryan in 2013, fans know the goods when they see it.

  Check this match out. Then check out the other matches these two had in Japan on YouTube. 

In my opinion Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid set the table for Rey Mysterio vs. Psicosis, Eddie vs. Dean, Bret vs. Shawn, and Daniel Bryan vs. Punk. Smaller wrestlers put on the best matches and invariably steal the show.

    They did so 31 years ago, and they do so now. 

   Size Matters. 

   Cruiserweights Rule!