AEW Light Heavyweight Division?
Since AEW's inception they have prided themselves on being presented more akin to a legit competitive sports atmosphere and not sports entertainment. There's win-loss records, which start over every year (Which to my knowledge hasn't really played a part in anything yet). There's a weekly ranking system they advertise. They have weigh-ins before big matchups during their pay-per-views, and interviews structured more like an HBO doc. Throughout all of this one thing is missing...weight classes. To be specific a light heavyweight weight class.
I can understand if AEW chooses to not have weight classes to avoid pigeonholing certain talent, but simply because a talent falls in a certain weight class doesn't necessarily mean they have to remain in that weight class. Impact Wrestling has the X-Divison which doesn't have a weight limit but is typically filled by lighter weight members of the roster. However guys like Samoa Joe, Willie Mack, Brian Cage and current champion Josh Alexander have competed in and won the X-Divison championship. Stars were born from TNA/Impact out of competing in that weight class. WWE has 205 live which they've bended since becoming NXT 2.0. Within the storyline Joe Gacy set his sights on the cruiserweight championship because it's not inclusive..We'll see what becomes of that..
MLW has the middleweight divison, NJPW has their light heavyweight divison, and of course the gold standard in my opinion WCW's cruiserweight divison during the mid 90s-early 2000s.
Just like not wanting to pigeonhold talent, AEW maybe hesitant to introduce another championship for talent to compete for at this time. I for one advocate making it not exclusive to AEW Rampage but a primary component of Rampage. It would give Rampage a more fulfillingpurpose.
AEW currently has ring dazzlers on their roster such as Death Triangle members Pentagon, Fenix, and Pac. Dante Martin, Lio Rush, Sammy Guerva, Angelico, Jack Evans, and Jungle Boy are walking highlight reels they could utilize. Sonny Kiss, Trent and Darby Allin could be used as well, maybe not as cornerstones of the weight class but they fit the bill. Ricky Starks a guy who size wise would be a light heavyweight but his in ring style does not fit the traditional mold when people think of light heavyweights. Would be the perfect talent to show you don't have to be a high flyer to be successful in the division.
AEW has Christopher Daniels and Kazarian on their roster, two of the four godfathers of the X-Divison (AJ Styles and Samoa Joe being the other two). They also have Jerry Lynn as a backstage producer of matches who during his day could move around a ring just as quick and fast as anyone and was methodical in how it was done. Just watch his classic ECW bouts against Rob Van Dam. Use their knowledge to make sure matches are not just spotfest but tell a story (something the organization is still working on fixing.) If a championship is created use it as a stepping stone and not a way to limit talent to a particular weight class.
Weight classes do not diminsh talent in anyway, and should be embraced. AEW let's bring them to the table.
Comments
Post a Comment