WWE sent out the following press release this afternoon:
GLOBAL CRUISERWEIGHT SERIES – SERIES PREMIERE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13 AT 9PM ET
STAMFORD, Conn., February 16, 2016 – WWE Network continues to add to its already robust slate of original programming in 2016, with the newly green-lit show, Global Cruiserweight Series, a tournament which brings together more than 30 of the greatest in-ring competitors at Full Sail University in Orlando, to vie for the right to call themselves the best cruiserweight in the world. Global Cruiserweight Series is set to premiere Wednesday, July 13 at 9pm ET on WWE Network.
Triple H talks about selecting wrestlers for the Global Cruiserweight Series:
“I would say the vast majority [of talents on the series] will be non-contracted or long-term contracted WWE talents. We haven’t finalized the selection process, watching tapes and seeing who we want to work with and all of that. It’s going to be a discovery process. Look, I want to have the best in the world. I don’t want to negate anyone from that process because they are under contract to us. At the same time, I’m looking for the best in the world and the brightest around to give them a platform that they’ve never had. I’m certainly looking at the vast majority from being from the outside [of WWE.] When I say Global, I mean Global. We are recruiting from everywhere. UK, Japan, China, to find the best talent. That doesn’t mean we are going to find someone everywhere, but we are really trying to turn things over and really find someone from every part of the globe to be part of this and show the world who they are and what they can do.”
Why are cruiserweights being given their own show when they’re not showcased on other WWE shows?
“At the end of the day, I was just having this conversation with my wife. I kind of approach this as I’m just a huge fan. I started out that way and I will be that way my whole life. I kind of do what I think I’m going to dig and that I’m going to like and that’s the way I approach it. There’s this talent that I like and I’d like to go and see what they can do. So, I push for going to see what I can do with that. I think it’s important for everything to always grow and become bigger. I’ve looked for a long time at that population of talent in that under 205 lb. category, the Cruiserweight category and thought, ‘Man, there’s a lot of really talented performers’ and I don’t mean guys that can just do flips. Really talented performers that have characters and can speak are really good. They are underutilized to me and they don’t have the platform to show what they can do. I feel like that’s a miss. Not intentionally a miss, but just something that we’ve left sitting on the table, and I don’t want to leave stuff sitting there on the table.”
Will a cruiserweight division return in WWE?
“I think it is slightly the cart before the horse. I think..I want this to be something that is repetitive. I would like this tournament to be a recurring thing where we take the best talent from around the world and let them do their thing. Does that morph directly into a Cruiserweight division right away? I don’t know about right away…and it might…but we’re clearly looking at all the guys in this tournament and saying, ‘who do we want to work with long-term? Maybe we give this guy a year and we’ll work with him long-term next year’ and who are all these talents. I think where it lands is sort of a work in progress. If you look at this tournament, it’s going to be a platform where somebody and it could be more than one person, is going to be seen as one of the best Cruiserweights in the world or the best Cruiserweight in the world. It’s a hell of a platform and it’s going to get bigger and better but just not sure 100% what that is.”
What the show means for the WWE:
“Hopefully, this expands to be more within the WWE. I’m certainly looking at it as an opportunity to see the best and brightest Cruiserweights from around the world and hopefully give them an opportunity with WWE in a bigger way, but if nothing else, just being a part of this, those 32 talents that are selected to be in this from around the world, you are opening yourself up to a platform that most of these guys have never only dreamed of doing. I’m excited about that opportunity for them and WWE, but mostly for our fans.”
