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As the vision of what Global Cruiserweight Series (GCS), the new series set to film in Florida and air on WWE Network this summer featuring a tournament of 32 wrestlers at or below a 205 pound weight limit, becomes clearer, it becomes more and more (at the risk of getting hyperbolic) brilliant.
First, the news. After revealing that U.S. indy partner Evolve would host qualifying matches, and following that up by announcing Progress in the United Kingdom would do the same, we learned a few hours ago that another British indy, Revolution Pro, would also hold "win and you're in" bouts for the GCS:
We are pleased to announce that we will be one of the hosts for the @WWENetwork Global Cruiserweight Series Qualifiers.
— Revolution Pro (@RevProUK) March 28, 2016
Rev Pro, as the company is known, has been name checked by Triple H as a potential partner in the past, and WWE's targeting of UK talent wouldn't be a surprise even if it weren't a hotbed of unsigning performers right now, considering Willam Regal and Robbie Brookside's roles in the NXT hierarchy. Their current champion, Zack Sabre, Jr., is also a player on the Evolve and Progress scenes, and has been mentioned as a probable GCS participant even before these qualifying deals started becoming public.
The "brilliant" part is how many angles Triple H and team are covering with this project. They're evaluating performers and exposing their audience to future stars. They're building relationships with promotions around the world, not only strengthening their talent pipeline but potentially cutting off competitors' access (RevPro has worked with New Japan and Ring of Honor in the past). And they're not only creating new content for WWE Network, but with a recurring concept designed to encourage subscribers from international markets where these wrestlers are better known.
TakSPORT, which helped break the Progress news, mentions both the UK's ICW and Germany's wXw as other potential partners for GCS qualifying matches.
Still no word on when these matches will start, but with a scheduled kickoff for the GCS in July of this year, expect those announcements to begin once WrestleMania is in our rearview.
Exciting times.