Cruisers with the right booking make great world champs

[tafkaga]

I'm biased toward big guys. Admittedly, I'd rather watch King Kong Bundy smash Koko B Ware with his fat blubbery body and get a 5 count than watch Koko overcome the odds. The "he might not be the biggest but he's got the biggest heart" trope got ran into the groud for me with Rey Mysterio and so every time a little guy gets obliterated I find myself cheering.

[ace]

AJ Stlyes everywhere

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

I generally agree that there is more storytelling flexibility when the average wrestler is about average height. The smaller guys have more of a chance and can bring a lot to the table (as the likes of Rey Mysterio, Hiromu Takahashi, El Hijo del Vikingo, Jushin Thunder Liger, and Bryan Danielson make clear), and the bigger guys look bigger (see: Billy Gunn, Drew McIntyre, and other very large men who have looked downright average in "land of the giants" scenarios).

But speaking of very large men looking average in the land of the giants: if Randy Orton ever qualified as a cruiserweight, it was only barely, and he is tall enough that he was never going to remain one. Him even being mentioned is a symptom of too many huge guys making him look average when he is adamantly not.

[SkullTrauma]

i can't take any wrestler smaller than i am seriously.

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

Orton was neither a cruiserweight nor an Everyman underdog in 2004. Or at any point of his career, really.

[TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out]

Christian is a shoot 6'2", he was in the Light Heavyweight division during the Attitude Era because it was the land of the giants and even then the whole joke was that he was too big to be in the division.

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

Feb 23, 2024 12:35:48 GMT -5 Citizen Snips Has Left said:

Orton was neither a cruiserweight nor an Everyman underdog in 2004. Or at any point of his career, really.

Orton's one of the most interesting case studies for how "all big dudes all the time" hurts some very large men. Orton's wrestling style and presentation are built on the assumption that he is an average sized wrestler, despite him being taller than absolute units like Roman Reigns and Miro.

Would Orton have been better if he had wrestled a hoss style all his career? Eh, probably not. But it's a fascinating example of how the promotion of a wrestler can affect how their size is perceived, and how surrounding large men with even larger men just makes them all look smaller.

[yokohamacpfc]

Before the 205 rule in 2016 220lb was a kayfabe weight limit for cruiserweights I think (it was flexible depending on wrestlers participating). So although they never competed in the division Ziggler, Angle, Punk, AJ Styles, and Finn Balor all have billed weights under that. Jericho and Eddie who both competed as cruiserweights in WCW are over 220 in billed weight and I assume most wrestlers' billed weight will be above their real weight.

[LiamMcDuggle]

Feb 23, 2024 13:06:58 GMT -5 TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out said:

Christian is a shoot 6'2", he was in the Light Heavyweight division during the Attitude Era because it was the land of the giants and even then the whole joke was that he was too big to be in the division.

He's bigger than Shawn Michaels and is more or less the same height as Bret Hart.

Him being next to Adam/Edge all the time just gave the impression he was smaller than he really was. I often wonder if his career would have been more successful if he was not with Adam in the first part of his career. He was always compared to Adam, which I don't think is really fair.

[Cyno]

Eddie was billed at over 225 lbs when he was in WWE. Yeah he was a bit on the short side, but not a cruiserweight at the time.

Randy Orton was never a cruiserweight. Not even close.

[Alice Syndrome]

Feb 23, 2024 13:20:09 GMT -5 Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby said:

Feb 23, 2024 12:35:48 GMT -5 Citizen Snips Has Left said:

Orton was neither a cruiserweight nor an Everyman underdog in 2004. Or at any point of his career, really.

Orton's one of the most interesting case studies for how "all big dudes all the time" hurts some very large men. Orton's wrestling style and presentation are built on the assumption that he is an average sized wrestler, despite him being taller than absolute units like Roman Reigns and Miro.

Would Orton have been better if he had wrestled a hoss style all his career? Eh, probably not. But it's a fascinating example of how the promotion of a wrestler can affect how their size is perceived, and how surrounding large men with even larger men just makes them all look smaller.

Honestly Roman is an interesting one, because he was always the big guy of the Shield, but by the time all 3 of them actually started interacting again, Seth was visibly taller and more muscular.

[A Platypus Rave]

Feb 23, 2024 14:38:13 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

Feb 23, 2024 13:20:09 GMT -5 Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby said:

Orton's one of the most interesting case studies for how "all big dudes all the time" hurts some very large men. Orton's wrestling style and presentation are built on the assumption that he is an average sized wrestler, despite him being taller than absolute units like Roman Reigns and Miro.

Would Orton have been better if he had wrestled a hoss style all his career? Eh, probably not. But it's a fascinating example of how the promotion of a wrestler can affect how their size is perceived, and how surrounding large men with even larger men just makes them all look smaller.

Honestly Roman is an interesting one, because he was always the big guy of the Shield, but by the time all 3 of them actually started interacting again, Seth was visibly taller and more muscular.

In their shots Dean was considerably taller than Roman as well, even slouched over like he tends to be.

[yokohamacpfc]

Adam Cole is probably the lightest guy who as far as I know has never been billed or promoted as crusierweight (200lb) he is 6 foot so deceptively tall just looks short compared to his co-workers (median US male height 5'9 with 6'0 and over making up 14% of the population).