As first reported by the Wrestling Observer newsletter, there has been a doctrine to make sure that the cruiserweight matches on Monday Night Raw are shorter. Almost the entire match between Rich Swann and Noam Dar on this past Monday’s Raw took place during the commercial break and the match only went about 5 minutes.
This could be because of bad quarter hour ratings and if that is the case then it’s a sign that Vince McMahon is losing faith in the cruiserweight segments.
They have tried to give storylines to some of the cruiserweight guys but something hasn’t been clicking, except for Neville’s heel turn. I think that guys like Will Ospreay and Kota Ibushi (guys they did attempt to sign at one point) would have raised the profile of the division. If it were up to me, I’d keep the cruiserweights exclusive to 205 Live and run the shows from Full Sail University in Florida in front of a rabid hardcore crowd.
Rich Swann is scheduled to defend the Cruiserweight Championship against Neville at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
