Introduction 

The WCW cruiserweight title and division featured people who would go on to become some of the biggest stars (Jericho, Rey, Eddie, etc.) in the business. It also provided action on WCW shows top-heavy with big stars that weren’t doing a hell of a lot.  

08/10/1996 WCW Pro

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Rey Mysterio (C) def. Dean Malenko in 10:55. Man, they worked hard for a Disney taping, but they also had some very weird and notable flubs. Malenko threw a clothesline so bad on Mysterio that Dusty Rhodes had to tell us, “That wasn’t pretty.” Even the victory roll finish wasn’t super crisp. Outside of those few spots, they had a really strong match. Dean dominated most of the match, and it was portrayed more as Rey escaping, with Rey taking some huge bumps for the amusement-park audience. It would have been better than good without the glaring mishaps, but it was still a strong match. ***

07/13/1997 WCW Bash at the Beach

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Chris Jericho (C) def. Ultimo Dragon in 12;55. I almost forgot Jericho took the cruiserweight title off Syxx and had a babyface title run before the heel champion breakout run in ‘98. This was a more frustrating version of the first match in that, minus one big flub where Jericho smoked a dropkick off the top rope that Dragon had ro sell anyway, they were building to a great match. They had some incredible sequences, and you could tell their familiarity with each other worked well. But the match fell apart at the end, something awful, and a once-hot match totally lost the crowd. Their timing was off on so many spots, and the match limped across the finish line. Jericho could be a little erratic in his earlier days. **3/4 

07/09/1998 WCW Nitro

WCW Cruiserweight Title: Juventud Guerrera (C) def. Hector Garza in 6:50. They had a couple of noticeable botches, but the match was strong outside of that. Garza worked like a big man versus the much smaller Juvi, including giving him a MURDEROUS powerbomb that saw Juvi’s head bounce against the mat like a baseball. Perhaps the crowd was so into the Juvi driver because they were so happy Juvi was still walking. They tried to cram a lot into seven minutes. **3/4