Missed Opportunity: The WWF Light Heavyweight Division

Anyone watching WWF programming during the Attitude Era may have a few hazy memories of the light heavyweight championship. Christian winning it in his debut match, perhaps. Or Gillberg’s 453 day reign. Maybe even a particularly enjoyable match between Dean Malenko and Scotty 2 Hotty at Backlash 2000.

The chances are that anyone who does remember the light heavyweight championship won’t remember much more than that because it wasn’t a title that was really featured too often. It was seen very rarely after 1998. Pay-per-view appearances for the championship were practically non-existent once 1999 hit. For that matter they weren’t all that common before then.

Some may wonder why the company had a light heavyweight championship in the first place. It’s a well-known fact that the Fed was the home of the big men, with Vince McMahon having little time for smaller guys. The answer’s obvious though. The light heavyweight title was introduced to combat the cruiserweights on the other channel.

World Championship Wrestling had had a great deal of success with its cruiserweight division. They’d discovered that the smaller guys put on great matches that excited viewers, the ideal thing for an opening match, and that they didn’t need an abundance of storyline. Two guys could just be put into the ring, leaving the booking team more time to focus on writing for the more important (read “higher paid”)guys like the nWo and Goldberg.

The WWF put on a light heavyweight tournament, crowned a champion, and booked a few defences on RAW and pay-per-view. When they didn’t see ratings spike in these light heavyweight segments they took it as a sign that their fans weren’t interested in smaller guys having high quality matches and demoted the championship. Within a year of its official debut as a title (it had been floating around Japan and Mexico for sixteen years prior to the crowning of the first in-house champ) it was practically meaningless. It would enjoy a brief resurgence in the first half of 2000 when Malenko joined the promotion but it wouldn’t last. The WWF light heavyweight championship was ultimately always destined for oblivion.

This needn’t have been the case. Had a greater effort been put into the light heavyweight division in the summer of 1998 it could have been established as a highlight of the period along with Austin, DX, Mick Foley, The Rock, and a heavy-on-storylines mid-card.

There are six combinations for singles matches amongst these four guys alone.
And that's discounting Yamaguchi-San.

The company had the talent, it was just a matter of utilising it. In June of 1998, around the time the company seemed to decide the light heavyweight division was a waste of time, Kaientai were at full strength. That’s Taka Michinoku, Sho Funaki, Men's Teioh and Dick Togo, four guys who could have had great singles matches with one another had they just been split up. A number of Mexican wrestlers were being used on an infrequent basis. Aguila, who would later be signed and win the championship as Essa Rios, had challenged for the gold at WrestleMania XIV. Pantera had done the same the month before, at the amusingly named No Way Out of Texas pay-per-view. Super Crazy, as Super Loco, had wrestled a single tournament match the previous November and would appear again later in 1998.

Also affiliated with the company at this point were the Hardy brothers. In the summer of ’98 the Hardys were still a year away from becoming TV regulars with full contracts but they’d been working as enhancement talent for years. Both were good enough to work in low-card matches where the focus was on match quality as opposed to promos and storylines. They’d have been an ideal fit for the light heavyweight division. Well, Jeff would have been. Matt wouldn’t have been ideal, but he’d have been a solid addition.

Under contract at this point were Scott Taylor and Brian Christopher. They’d been put together as a team earlier in the year (peculiarly, they had debuted as a pairing at WrestleMania XIV) but they were still a while off of becoming Too Cool. They were well placed to work as the lead heels of a light heavyweight division. Christopher, being thicker than most of the men mentioned here, would have been a good fit as the bruiser of the division.

They had Sean ‘X Pac’ Waltman too, of course. He would go on to hold the light heavyweight championship in 2001 but was nowhere near it in 1998. I suspect that was because he was presented as a high profile signing and was associated with the ultra-hip, super-cool D-Generation X. It’s likely that the feeling was that the light heavyweight championship was beneath the gang. Plus X Pac was injured for a significant portion of the year and when he was healthy he was competing for the European strap.

Dean Malenko, perhaps  thinking about what could have been.

Splitting Kaientai and signing the guys they were already sporadically using would have provided a solid roster. Granting the guys one match a week on RAW would have been enough exposure for the division to be taken seriously and would have provided ideal opening match material. Carrying the approach over into 1999 and signing one or two new names would have kept things fresh and the division alive for the signing of Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero in January 2000.

The division would not have lasted long term, of course. The average size of WWE wrestlers has significantly reduced since the Attitude Era came to a close. The light heavyweight scene would have been faded out as this become more apparent. WWE wouldn’t have wanted guys going from the light heavyweight championship to the WWE championship because it would have highlighted the shift away from larger guys.

But they could have gotten far more mileage out of the concept than they did. It’s depressing to think how close the WWF came to having a really good light heavyweight division. Just a bit of effort would have allowed them to play WCW at their own game. But it wasn’t to be. It’s just one of many things on the long list of WWF and WWE missed opportunities.

Team Game

The Triple H v CM Punk match that’s been announced for Night of Champions was not originally going to happen. It was going to be Kevin Nash (the guy who told Punk to “take a shower, hit the waits, [and] get a clue”) facing Punk, but a medical check revealed it wouldn’t be the best idea for him to work a full match. So Triple H’s in-ring encounter with Punk was brought forward.

The original plan was for Punk to beat Nash and move on to a full feud with Triple H afterwards. Their first match would have happened either at Hell in a Cell in October or Survivor Series in November. The latter probably would have been decided upon because it is traditionally the bigger show and would have felt more appropriate for the first big match between CM Punk and Triple H.

But with things being changed that’s off the cards, and a new plan has to be concocted for the next three pay-per-views. We know Triple H v CM Punk will happen at Night of Champions, and I’m expecting either a gimmicked rematch at Hell in a Cell or the Kevin Nash v CM Punk match that’s been postponed. I’m hoping for the former: Nash holds no appeal for me as a performer in 2011. Plus I think Triple H and CM Punk could have a lively no disqualification type match.

That just leaves Survivor Series, which brings me to my point. In the last several months we’ve seen Punk reference the release of Colt Cabana and Luke Gallows from their WWE contracts and the return of Kevin Nash, real life pal of Triple H, to television. Punk’s recent push has featured a lot of real life feelings, as has his dispute with ‘The Game’ and ‘Big Sexy’, and I think Survivor Series would be the perfect time to have everything culminate. By that time it will have been five months since Punk’s original shoot promo, four since Triple H became COO, and three since Nash’s surprise return. Everyone involved will need a fresh direction by then.

Here’s what I’d like to see for Survivor Series: Triple H challenging Punk (or Punk challenging Triple H) to a Survivor Series match in which they each captain their own team. ‘The King of Kings’ would naturally pick Kevin Nash as his first teammate and the other three positions could be filled by members of the Clique that can still work (Sean Waltman, basically) and current members of the WWE roster that are “favoured by management”: basically guys that Triple H (in the storyline) wants to elevate to the top of the company. It’s a good way to elevate heels such as Dolph Ziggler, The Miz or Alberto Del Rio. Shawn Michaels could be brought in to be at ringside for his best friend too, adding to the realism of the situation and encouraging those after a bit of nostalgia to buy the show.

Instead of putting together a team of guys from the WWE roster Punk would insist on bringing in the aforementioned Colt Cabana and Luke Gallows in order to provide them with the chance to prove they never should’ve been released. In an ideal world the final two men on his team would be Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero, presented as two of the best in the world who have been overlooked by WWE for years. Alternatively they could go with two other former ROH guys already under contract: Bryan Danielson and Colby ‘Tyler Black’ Lopez.

I think this match would work well because it’s so credible. It’s no secret that Triple H is friends with Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman, and seeing him tag with them would give the match the old guard versus new guard feel that the feud is beginning to take on now. Punk wouldn’t just be bringing in the friends he feels were unjustly fired, he’d be trying to create a better WWE, as he’s said he’s wanted to for months. It’s a natural extension of the groundwork that’s been laid featuring realistic, logical developments.

It would be a fantastic opportunity to draw some big money and start fresh feuds. As I mentioned, the fans nostalgic for the past would be catered for by having Waltman, Nash and Michaels involved, while indy wrestling fans would be interested in seeing the Kings of Wrestling, Cabana or the man formerly known as Tyler Black appear on a WWE pay-per-view, or Danielson and Punk on the same team. It would be a good way to begin a push for whoever filled the positions on ‘Team Game’ too. Del Rio and Miz would be perfect for the role of the company’s chosen one, and the match could be used as a starting point for a singles feud between either one of them and CM Punk. Alternatively Hero and Castagnoli could turn on Punk, setting up a Kings of Wrestling versus Cabana and Punk (I don’t think they refer to themselves as the Second City Saints in WWE, sadly) feud.

Given enough promo time in the weeks leading up to the event this match could draw a lot of buys and provide some memorable television moments along the way: Punk, Triple H, Michaels, Hero and Nash all have great verbal skills are there are various combinations that could be put together to create memorable RAW segments. There would be more than enough guys involved to do four weeks of matches to hype the Survivor Series match without using Nash, Michaels or Triple H.

Most importantly this match gives WWE various ways to start a new feud for its hottest character, CM Punk. The promotion should want to make him a central figure for next year’s WrestleMania and to do that it needs to keep him involved in meaningful feuds. The current Triple H feud is fine, and a post Survivor Series match with The Miz, Del Rio, or the Kings of Wrestling would all allow him to continue doing what he’s been doing so successfully, but against someone fresh.

I know we’re not likely to see this exact match take place at Survivor Series on November 20^th, but if WWE can go for something similar that mixes their current compelling storyline with the showcasing of younger talent then I think they’d be doing themselves a huge favour, and providing the fans with an exciting and unpredictable main event.

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