King: Lio Rush Saving The Cruiserweight Division

Chris King shares why he believes that Lio Rush is the perfect NXT Cruiserweight Champion to save the Cruiserweight division by elevating his opponents. 

“The Man Of The Hour” Lio Rush is changing the perception of 205 Live by delivering tremendous performances against literally anyone who is across the ring from him.

On this week’s episode of NXT, the NXT Cruiserweight Champion “barely” walked away with his title against “The Stamina Monster” Akira Tozawa after a five-star classic. Both competitors threw everything at each other in a high-octane match and the NXT Universe loved every minute of it.

In such a short amount of time, The Man Of The Hour has elevated the entire brand and added prestige to the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. On the September 18th edition of NXT, Rush resurfaced as a babyface to defeat Oney Lorcan to become the new number-one contender for the Cruiserweight Championship. The following week, The Man Of The Hour would dethrone Drew Gulak and win the title.

A few weeks later on the October 25th edition of 205 Live, the new Cruiserweight Champion made his in-ring return to battle Lorcan in an incredible match. This is not uncommon for “The Fury of 205 Live” but this was Rush’s first test after his return to the Cruiserweight division. Over the next few weeks, the Cruiserweight Champion would mix it up with NXT’s Raul Mendoza in some of the most exhilarating high-octane matches I’ve ever seen.

On the November 13th edition of NXT, Rush successfully defended his NXT Cruiserweight Championship against the obnoxious Lucha Libre superstar Angel Garza in an amazing match. At Survivor Series, The Man Of The Hour defended his Cruiserweight Championship against both Kalisto and Akira Tozawa in a triple-threat-match.

Back when Rush actually won the title I was very skeptical about him being the face of the Cruiserweight division, but now I think it was the best decision they could have made. I never followed his career other than his partnership with Bobby Lashley last year, so I was unaware of how incredibly-gifted he truly is. His athleticism and prowess are unmatched and his main focus is elevating the Cruiserweight Championship and the brand.

Every week it seems that Rush pushes the limit to continue improving and adding prestige to a division that has primarily been overlooked and underutilized for far too long. At this point, I think the Cruiserweight division is in great hands with The Man Of The Hour as it’s champion.