Rey Mysterio on why 205 Live isn't more popular

[héad.casé]

"I don't know why 205 Live isn't more popular. To be honest with you I can scratch my head all day and not figure it out because they do have talent. I don't know if they're limited to doing so much in the ring that they don't go all out versus Lucha Underground. It's Johnny Mundo versus Rey Mysterio and 15 minutes. We'll go ahead and tear the house down without limitation. We'll be coming up with new moves and still trying to innovate the game. With 205 Live and the comparison with WCW, it was just a different time. Back then, we had no competition. The cruiserweight division had no competition. Nobody was out there doing the stuff we were doing. You have to get really creative now to blow the fans' minds away. I think it's gotten to that point where there's another phase of the evolution of the sport and it's changing right now as we speak. I see guys like Ricochet. I see guys like Will Ospreay. And I'm going, 'what the hell, where are these guys coming up with all these moves?' Sometimes I pause and think, 'I was like that when I was breaking into the business.' I was always being creative and thinking of new stuff. We're in a new era right now. I think if they just let the guys from 205 Live go a little bit more, feel free to do whatever they want to do, maybe they might get a different reaction. I could be wrong."

wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1222/635228/rey-mysterio-on-if-he-would-want-to-return-to-wwe/

[thecrusherwi]

Rey I appreciate your concern over 205 Live, but scratching your head all day over it isn't going to fix it and might make a lot of problems for you!

[Deleted]

It's a weird interruption that, as far as it's depicted on Raw, is just a bunch of nobodies going out and eating up ten minutes with completely pointless matches, it really has nothing in the way of name value within it, and because none of them ever cross paths with the actual roster they all feel like a bunch of losers who can't cut it when it comes to the belts that actually matter, especially given none of the Cruiserweights on the main roster ever show even a passing interest in the belt. It's not remotely hard to get why no one watches it, even with it being by far WWE's best show.

Although Rey is kind of in the right ballpark that it doesn't at all help how they sell 205 Live as this nonstop thrill ride spotfest division and the division actually barely has anyone like that and those that do don't get to show it that much.

[A damn road sign]

>’Rey Mysterio on why 205 Live isn't more popular’
>”I don’t know why 205 Live isn't more popular”

So insightful. Such journalism.

[Welfare Willis]

You got guys wrestling the same WWE style as the rest of the roster. So they weigh less and are generally smaller... what beside that makes them any different?

[Deleted]

Pretty much. Like 90% of what the 205 guys do the big guys on the main roster can also do. I feel like 205 is too confined to the WWE style.

[bearned]

The problem with 205 Live is that they really aren’t going out there and wrestling a style that you can’t see already on WWE tv. Like it’s slightly quicker and a little more high flying but that’s it. The talent they have stockpiled could easily go a lot harder but they don’t seem to want to let them do that.

[Allie Kitsune]

Until they start feeding Heavyweights (and "Heavyweights" who are still cruiser-sized) to these guys, very few people will care.

It's always going to be "why aren't you going after the REAL belts?".

[abjordans]

Look, that is a lot of words, but I would just like to say Rey Mysterio is one of the best to ever do it, so I agree with whatever he says.

[Slanted and Enchanted]

TL;DR version: they should be allowed to wrestle like they did on the CWC.

[Bo Rida]

There was already six hours of weekly shows and a stacked roster, that's a lot to follow for the average fan.
Even without some of the issues mentioned in this thread it would have been a struggle to get people to add to that.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

I wish Rey was back in WWE 😤

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Dec 24, 2017 9:46:56 GMT -5 Allie Kitsune said:

Until they start feeding Heavyweights (and "Heavyweights" who are still cruiser-sized) to these guys, very few people will care.

It's always going to be "why aren't you going after the REAL belts?".

Exactly. The more the keep a hard divide between the cruiserweights and the rest of the roster, the more they'll be seen as unimportant.

[Allie Kitsune]

Dec 24, 2017 14:07:06 GMT -5 Mighty Attack Tribble said:

Dec 24, 2017 9:46:56 GMT -5 Allie Kitsune said:

Until they start feeding Heavyweights (and "Heavyweights" who are still cruiser-sized) to these guys, very few people will care.

It's always going to be "why aren't you going after the REAL belts?".

Exactly. The more the keep a hard divide between the cruiserweights and the rest of the roster, the more they'll be seen as unimportant.

I mean, I _GET_ that they don't want to job, say, Luke Gallows out to Cedric Alexander...

But at this point, why NOT do it?

[Juice]

I must be the only person on earth who can get into the division being a seperate brand and entity that doesn't need to job to the Blugeon Bros on Smackdown or Strowman on Raw.

To me it works. They are cruiserweights. The cruiser title is their world title. They are now a touring brand. They are their own thing.

It doesn't work because it's not different enough to be its own thing. If it was like the glory days of x division with gimmick matches added it would be on fire.

Rey mentions ricochet and Ospreay, that shit ia very popular on indies. Adding the uk strong style bruisers, there is so much potential being wasted and not one of them have to cross paths with Big Cass.

[Deleted]

Someone said it earlier that there is nothing that seperates what they do , nothing they do makes them stand out from the rest of the roster especially when heavyweights are doing just as many flippy flips as they do.

Rey made the LU comparison and he is right but also it circles back to WWE's biggest problem their stories being piss poor and the characters being non exsistent , where as LU has so much depth and layer to their stories that it is never an issue to watch Drago fly around doin awesome lucha things (WOO)and in the same match The Mack is doing topes and handstands on the turnbuckle.

[Bub (BLM)]

They don't have any superstars besides Enzo. They need a solid roster of main event cruisers who don't just feel like nobodies. Itami will help, but they need more. If that division had Balor, Itami, Enzo, Neville, Gargano, Ciampa, and Roddy, fans would be more invested in the now. Then they can build guys like Cedric and Gulak naturally instead of wanting fans to just buy into them right away.

[thegame415]

Enzo has been the best thing about 205 live. It took a year for that to happen.

Honestly, they need to interact and have matches with other stars. I would’ve loved Jack Gallagher trying to teach Strowman how to be a gentleman, or Miz trying to recruit guys to take beatings for him with the promise of a “move up the card”, or a cw team challenging the Usos.

Just something. WCW worked because of that. Eddie wasn’t a cruiser initially. Guys faced others. Syxx, Dragon and Malenko won and went after other titles. WWE needs to do that.

[RedSmile]

Mysterio is mostly right. This isn't 1995. Thanks to the WCW cruiserweight division, including Mysterio himself, we've seen hurricanranas, suicide dives, 450 splashes, crazy planchas, springboard-based offense, and shooting star presses, for over 20 years now. In 1995, that was unique to the average wrestling fan. Sure, you had guys like Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, The Rockers, Sean Waltman, and Jushin Liger cameos; but for the most part, that was a wildly new and innovative style of wrestling.

The ensuing generation of wrestlers; the Daniel Bryans, the A.J. Styles, and the Samoa Joes; adopted and innovated a hybrid style that is highly influenced by lucha style and cruiserweight style of wrestling (along with puro and MMA influences). That is the style that has been headlining wrestling shows now for 10+ years, including Mysterio himself.

In 2017-going-on-2018, I can watch cruiserweights and jr. heavyweights anywhere, and it's much better outside of the WWE umbrella. You could make an argument that 205 live is a third or fourth rate cruiserweight division and maybe worse depending on how you feel about Dragon Gate and NOAH.

In NJPW, it's Will Ospreay, KUSHIDA, Marty Scurll, and Hironmu Takahashi, busting their asses and flying all over the place.

In Lucha Underground, it's Fenix, Drago, Jack Evans, Angelico, and until recently, Prince Puma, doing absurd shit like diving off of balconies.

In PWG, it's Ricochet, the Young Bucks, and all sorts of other invitees in glorious spot fests.

In WWE, it SHOULD BE Adrian Neville, Austin Aries, Chad Gable, Finn Balor, Tyler Breeze, Akira Towaza, TJ Perkins, Mustafa Ali, Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne, Roddy Strong, Hideo Itami, Tyler Bate, Kalisto, Mark Andrews, and Cedric Alexander working their asses off, taking crazy bumps, working high-paced, adrenaline fueled matches. But instead, it's Brian Kendrick grabbing a headlock, it's heatless Ariya Daivari, it's Drew Gulak and powerpoint presentations, it's TJ Perkins' ice cold debut, it's bad wrestler Enzo Amore as the "biggest star"(who was presented as a worthless chump in the Big Cass feud).

It's an obvious purple tinted glass ceiling, where talent has to work both RAW and Smackdown tapings, yet do not get to work the house shows (costing them money). The way the CWs were treated, and presented, in the CWC vs. how they are treated, and presented, for 205 live are night and day.

[sfvega]

I don't wanna say it's because of a lack of avalanche fireman's carry gutbusters, but it's because of a lack of avalanche fireman's carry gutbusters.

Also, I like that he mentions Ricochet before Ospreay. He knows who the better man is.