5 Former WWE Cruiserweights: Where Are They Now?
The recent re-emergence of WWE’s Cruiserweight division has met with mixed results. While this past summer’s Cruiserweight Classic certainly received high praise, the subsequent booking of the division has come under scrutiny.
They have been lumped together and had little character direction, and the Cruiserweights have been segregated from the overall product and have not crossed paths with the other talent. It has taken the WWE a number of years to reassemble a division with talented workers that demonstrate the kind of high calibre in-ring work the division was once synonymous with.
After WWE’s purchase of WCW, the company made a concerted effort to re-establish a division that is exciting to watch. The cruiserweight division in WCW once included the names of Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero and Ultimo Dragon, men from different countries coming together to put on high tempo and engaging matches.
Fans wanted to see them, and it certainly captured their attention each and every time they stepped into the ring. What about those wrestlers that laid the foundation for today’s Cruiserweights? Where are they now? Here are five former WWE cruiserweights who have found new life after leaving the WWE.
#5 Rey Mysterio
After a thirteen-year tenure with WWE, Mysterio's contract expired and he was deemed a free agent at the end of February 2015. Though he had left the company, Mysterio still carried his reputation and name value with him and could compete anywhere in the world.
He initially went back to Mexico and was performing for AAA less than a week after his contract with WWE expired. While there he faced the likes of Pentagon Jr and the late Perro Aguayo. A few months later Mysterio, along with Alberto El Patron (Del Rio) and Myzteziz (the original Sin Cara in WWE) competed as part of the Lucha Libre Cup and scored the winning pinfall.
Mysterio has also been active competing on the independent circuit, facing the likes of PJ Black, Amazing Red and Ricochet, not to mention facing Kurt Angle in the United Kingdom. His value to the Mexican people cannot be minimised, and knowing this, the wrestling program Lucha Underground brought him in, where he has faced the likes of Johnny Mundo, Son of Havoc and Jack Evans. Whether or not Mysterio returns to WWE remains uncertain, but his ability to compete at the highest level possible remains.