205 Live, which hasn't been about the now nonexistent cruiserweight division for a million years, is about to finally be replaced with a new program called - wait for it - NXT LVL UP.
Originally posted by KevintripodSo what will be the focus of this show? Even more rawer wrestlers that the NXT ones?
Well, Kushida of all people is on this week, so, uh, unclear.
And, I mean, 205's been dead since they, you know, fired all the cruiserweights, but it was such a great show. Early on, it suffered from lack of direction, but once they finally put the title on PAC, it really took off. I know being relegated to the cruiserweight division is one of the reasons he left, but he really carried that brand for a long time, and he absolutely made Mustafa Ali early on. The transition to the Enzo era was definitely awkward, but even that had a lot of charm, having established 205 as a WRESTLING show, but the champion was no kind of a wrestler at all. It was the first chance guys like Cedric really had to shine by being pitted against him, and the entire 'Zo-Train got a big spotlight that cemented a number of them (Drew Gulak, I'm looking at you!) as absolute faves. The last great era of 205 was the one headed by Cedric and Ali and Buddy Murphy, and it stands as some of the absolute best televised wrestling ever produced. They would routinely take absolutely dead Smackdown crowds and revitalize them. I saw a crowd go from giving absolutely no shits about Drake Maverick vs. Mike Bennett to actively helping Maverick climb onto the barricade to mount a counter-attack. These guys were making magic every week for a management team that didn't even know they worked there. Like I said, it's been done for like 8 months at this point, but it's still really sad to see it go.
Thread rated: 6.87
#
