Cruiserweight Title Match
Kalisto (c) vs. Enzo Amore
Can a good lucha thing cancel The Zo Show?
The Road to TLC
Three weeks ago, despite qualifying, Kalisto wasn’t technically a cruiserweight. Enzo Amore was the champion of the division, and thanks to an attack led by Neville, no one on the 205 Live roster could touch him. They all hated the Smacktalker Skywalker, anyway.
Fast forward to this weekend. Neville’s gone, as is the stipulation that no cruiserweights can challenge him. That doesn’t even matter, because Kalisto beat him for the belt (in a match originally booked for The Man That Gravity Forgot, before he bounced). Now a match which had already been announced for TLC is still happening, but the champion is now the challenger, and vice versa...
What’s more, Enzo now has friends! Reported backstage heat can’t stop heels from being heels. And the babyfaces apparently got tired of protesting, or the green-eyed monster got the best of them, because only Mustafa Ali could really be bothered to come to the champ’s aid when the bad guys struck.
Kalisto is fired up, and he took the fight repeatedly to The Certified G this past Tuesday, standing tall at the end of 205 Live after a tag victory with Ali over Amore and Ariya Daivari.
Is that a good thing? The division may have bigger fish to fry...
What’s at stake?
Enzo’s arrival on 205 Live generated excitement, but it also changed the formula for a show that had delivered at least a month’s worth of solid-to-good episodes before he showed up.
Good storytelling continued up to his title win and heel turn, but an over-emphasis on Amore promos and the sudden absence of the man who had carried the division since last December has resulted in a drop in quality the past couple weeks.
Or maybe it’s a downturn in morale? We may never know, but if the Zo experiment was WWE’s big idea to save the cruiserweights, a good showing at TLC is essential. With another match and a Kickoff segment, all the pressure isn’t on Amore and Kalisto, but most of it probably is.
Drew Gulak can deliver a POWERPOINT PRESENTATION segment for the ages, and Cedric Alexander, Rich Swann, The Brian Kendrick and Gentleman Jack Gallagher could put on the match of the night, but if the two guys with main roster cred who are fighting for the belt flop...
Will they soar or crash? Will it matter, or have most fans already written off WWE’s cruiserweights?
Come find out with us, as Cageside Seats covers all the 205 Live action at TLC!