WWE announces the Global Cruiserweight Series

[dsrchris 190]

Yay Pete Dunne!! This news makes me ecstatically happy!!

[lonewanderer 5]

Not sure of their current weight, but I'd love to see Shelton Benjamin and/or John Morrison get a call back.

[Evil Gringo 279]

Morrison probably would make the cut weight wise but his deal with Lucha Underground and his supposedly nuclear level heat in the back would probably prevent that from happening.

 

Shelton is too heavy and is making a quite decent amount of money over in Japan at the moment where the situation in NOAH and their agreement with NJPW means he is used quite high up the card.

[Guest Onslaught316]

It's interesting to note that ZSJ has a qualifying match now, when he was originally listed as in the tournament in that press release along with Tozawa, Gargano, etc. Either it's just them getting some eyes on their show with a "WWE qualifying match," or he's being considered to take the whole thing and they want to make his journey to the win even more dramatic by making him have to qualify as well (hopefully that makes sense).

 

Also, didn't see it here yet, but Lince Dorado (former CHIKARA wrestler, now a Florida mainstay) seems to be confirmed for the tournament - he mentioned it at a live event, and then Joey Styles covered it on Twitter.

[dsrchris 190]

Actually, ZSJ winning the whole tournament would be one hell of a way to be brought into the company. The more I hear about this tournament, the better it's getting, I'm actually pretty hyped for when this finally rolls around.

[DC 536]

I'm wondering (hoping) whether they will do a straight single-elimination tournament or take a leaf out of New Japan's G1 Climax and have a group stage to start with.

 

I mean, with so many potential match-ups, it'd be a shame not to use a format that could give us as many as possible.

[DC 536]

 

 

On the official WWE YouTube channel, they have footage of two matches from Progress in the UK.

 

It's amazing that a promotion who used to pretend there was no wrestling outside of their own walls is now not only actively mentioning other promotions, but is hosting footage from their shows.

[Guest Onslaught316]

Yeah, it's like some type of weird bizarro world type scenario. It feels like a weird mutation or evolution of territory days. Hoping to see it continue. I imagine we're gonna get the same type of footage from the Evolve qualifiers. Maybe even a Network special prior to the Series beginning with highlights of the competitors.

[Guest Onslaught316]

Well, we have a full list of participants now, straight from WWE's website:

 

* Kota Ibushi

* Tajiri

* Gran Metalik

* Zack Sabre Jr.

* Noam Dar

* Da Mack

* Zumbi

* Clement Petiot

* Harv Sihra

* Gurv Sihra

* Fabian Aichner

* Brian Kendrick

* Rich Swann

* Cedric Alexander

* Akira Tozawa

* Jack Gallagher

* Tony Nese

* Johnny Gargano

* Tommaso Ciampa

* Ho Ho Lun

* TJ Perkins

* Drew Gulak

* Anthony Bennett

* Tyson Dux

* Lince Dorado

* Sean Malura

* Raul Mendoza

* Kenneth Johnson

* Alejandro Saez

* Damien Slater

* Ariya Daivari (brother of former WWE star)

* Jason Lee

[Guest]

Man I'm happy for Da Mack, he's a great fun guy. Lives right around my corner too. :D

 

It looks to be a good mix of the known and unknown wrestlers. Although I would have thought, that they'd put a few WWE Wrestlers in like Kalisto etc. Can't wait!

[Evil Gringo 279]

Zack Sabre v Tozawa final, I'm calling it right now!

[dsrchris 190]

IBUSHI!!

 

Super stoked to see Kota actually compete, and I'm over the moon that Drew Gulak is finally getting a chance to show what he can do.

 

This should be a great tournament!

[Guest Barbarian1072]

Insane line up! Really hope WWE picks up a good few of these talents, especially the likes of Ibushi, Zack Sabre Jr., Tozawa and Rich Swann. As if NXT isn't already stacked enough.

[Guest Onslaught316]

I have to imagine they're going to use a lot of this talent to reload NXT after the brand split takes a lot of the guys from down there. Let's hope!

[Guest HH-Evolution]

With Daniel Bryan on commentary, it's looking to be a cracker of a show!

[Guest Onslaught316]

No spoilers here, since this part was officially broadcast live by WWE on the CWC Facebook page last night - I LOVE the way the show is being presented. They did an introduction for each of the 32 guys last night, in-ring. Each was introduced as representing their country of origin, and even the commentators had "USA" and "Canada" under their names when they were shown. It's really being presented as a sporting event which I think is totally unique in this day and age for wrestling.

 

The first-round spoilers also look great. I won't post them here (because if I'm being honest, I haven't looked up how to spoiler tag, but they're a quick Google search away). Second round should be incredible given, in my opinion, nearly all the right guys moved on.

[The Fury 65]

It's been reported Kota Ibushi and Gran Metalik (mascara dorada) have signed NXT deals as a result of this!

 

Also reporting they're going to offer cedric Alexander and zack sabre Jr deals too

[Evil Gringo 279]

Watched the first episode last night, some of the matches where a bit short but all of them where fun. Ibushi was over and the match showed him whilst making his opponent looking like a boss as well. That Sit Down Last Ride still looks brutal, mainly because he jumped as well. Dorada's Samoan Driver was tight as well, please take note Dana Brooke.

 

Really looking forward to Cedric v Kota, damn it's going to be a good match if they give it the right time.

[DC 536]

I'm hoping Daivari Mk.2 gets a deal too, along with Clement Petiot, based on their performances.

 

Sean Maluta looked really good in his match with Ibushi (even recovering well from what could have been a disaster over the ropes to the floor) and a few of the CWC competitors had (dark?) matches against Itami at the recent NXT tapings.

[Evil Gringo 279]

I like the way he recovered it though into almost a 450 splash tope, that was some impressive adjustment in mid air. Petiot also looked excellent, you're right - he looked like an old school bruiser of a cruiserweight, like a French Takaiwa if that makes sense.