On Monday, just hours prior to WWE’s big Raw 25 celebration, news broke that the current WWE Cruiserweight Champion, Enzo Amore, was suspended by the company due to charges related to a sexual assault allegation. Less than 24 hours later, on Tuesday, WWE abruptly announced that Amore had been released outright.
Amore was scheduled to face Cedric Alexander — himself a replacement for Rich Swann, who had previously won a No. 1 contender match but was then suspended related to an arrest on battery charges — at Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view. Obviously, since a reigning champion was terminated by WWE, this leaves the Cruiserweight Championship in the lurch.
Prior to Smackdown Live on Tuesday night, WWE announced that Daniel Bryan would open 205 Live with an announcement regarding the title. The easiest assumptions to make were a one-night tournament to crown a new champion, or to establish two finalists to compete for the title at the Royal Rumble.
Bryan opened 205 Live by saying that Amore had “abdicated” the title and talked about his pride in working on the Cruiserweight Classic, and thus his — the Smackdown General Manager’s — interest in 205 Live (an extension of Raw). He said that next week, a new general manager of 205 Live will be named, and that general manager will decide who will be awarded a chance to compete for the vacated title.
#SDLive GM @WWEDanielBryan announces that #205Live will get a brand-new General Manager NEXT WEEK, and that person will address the #Cruiserweight Championship situation. pic.twitter.com/0JR662P0ZR
— WWE (@WWE) January 24, 2018
So uh … we still don’t really know what’s going on with the title! The main thing this means is that there will now likely not be any cruiserweight match at Sunday’s Royal Rumble, unless they do a multi-person clusterfight. … Which is probably exactly what they’ll do.
Now let the speculation for the General Manager of 205 Live begin in earnest! Sadly, it will not be the late, great Ernest P. Worrell.
