WWE News: The Cruiserweight Championship gets a new name
While Adam Cole, Shayna Baszler and the duo of Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly all retained their titles during NXT on October 2nd, one change to a title in the WWE largely went unnoticed during the show on Wednesday night.
While promoting the upcoming Cruiserweight Championship match between Champion Drew Gulak and Lio Rush, the WWE revealed that the title has been renamed the NXT Cruiserweight Championship.
Recent signs of change
As Drew Gulak has reigned as Champion, he has faced Superstars from NXT and 205 Live. He's faced the likes of Isaiah Scott and Oney Lorcan on 205 Live. Prior to that, he had appeared in NXT to challenge the likes of both Matt Riddle and Kushida.
Many shows have changed nights, including SmackDown and 205 Live to Friday and NXT UK to Thursdays. The led to some thoughts about the 205 Live's fate as some speculated that 205 Live's run as a WWE brand would be coming to an end.
Due to the recent extension of NXT from an hour to two hours, it has provided the opportunity for more Superstars to appear on the brand. The renaming of the title was noted on Gulak's profile on WWE.com as he is now listed as the NXT Cruiserweight Champion.
There has traditionally been an overlap of 205 Live and NXT brands as Tyler Bate, Johnny Gargano, Noam Dar, Humberto Carillo and Lorcan have all appeared on multiple brands at various points.
With a roster chock full of wrestlers that meet the cruiserweight criteria like Jordan Miles, Cameron Grimes, Angel Garza and Kushida, it makes sense to have NXT absorb the purple brand.
A tough run for 205 Live
The tournament to crown the inaugural Champion was full of great matches and talent. But as the brand continued to grow, it wasn't at a fast enough rate or with enough exposure to meet expectations from management. Many of the first men to hold the title have since left the WWE (Neville, Perkins, Enzo Amore, Rich Swann) and that hurt the brand.
Once Triple H took over control of the show, however, it became more about the wrestlers and less about the storylines. It helped to propel the likes of Ali, Buddy Murphy and Cedric Alexander all to top spots on the purple brand and later roles on either RAW or SmackDown.
The matches for the title, however, were usually relegated to the pre-show of PPVs, making it seem towards the bottom of the pecking order of titles in the company.
With the title now a part of NXT, it will give the wrestlers vying for the title a better platform with more eyes. It's too bad Murphy's defenses of the title weren't given this type of boost because they were often the best matches on the PPVs on which they were booked.
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