Cruiserweight (professional wrestling)

In professional wrestling, a cruiserweight is a wrestler weighing below 220 lb (100 kg), with no lower weight limit. The term was popularised in World Championship Wrestling, when WCW President Eric Bischoff in 1997 reestablished the light-heavyweight division as the cruiserweight division and reactivated the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship as the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Bischoff renamed the division because he felt that "light-heavyweight" was a pejorative term, and made the smaller wrestlers seem less important. After the World Wrestling Federation acquired the intellectual property of WCW in 2001, the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was abandoned in favor of the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, and the title was renamed the WWF Cruiserweight Championship.

Related Topics:
Professional wrestling - World Championship Wrestling - Eric Bischoff - 1997 - WCW Light Heavyweight Championship - WCW Cruiserweight Championship - World Wrestling Federation - 2001 - WWF Light Heavyweight Championship

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Cruiserweight wrestlers are generally shorter and possess less muscle bulk than heavyweights, a build which lends itself to a high-flying wrestling style. While there are many cruiserweights who specialise in alternate wrestling styles, cruiserweights are strongly associated with moves performed from the top rope and moves requiring a degree of speed, agility, balance and torque. Cruiserweight wrestling is often associated with lucha libre, where similar moves and match pacing are used, but they use a different weight class system and the actual term "cruiserweight" is rarely used.

Related Topics:
High-flying - Lucha libre

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The high spots performed by crusierweights are normally visually impressive but carry a varying degree of risk. A cruiserweight match with no transition holds and little psychology is known as a spotfest.

Related Topics:
High spots - Spotfest

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Championships contested by cruiserweights cannot be held by wrestlers who are not cruiserweights, but cruiserweights are normally eligible to compete for heavyweight championships.

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In 2002, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling created the X Division Championship, a title with no upper or lower weight limits but which epitomised the stereotypical cruiserweight style.

Related Topics:
2002 - Total Nonstop Action Wrestling - X Division Championship

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Notable cruiserweight wrestlers include Rey Mysterio, Super Crazy, A.J. Styles and Jushin Liger.

Related Topics:
Rey Mysterio - Super Crazy - A.J. Styles - Jushin Liger

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