Court Bauer, who was a WWE writer at the time Mistico hit it big in Mexico, attempted to get him in, with the idea of creating a division built for him to be the showcase, similar to how New Japan got the original Tiger Mask and Jushin Liger over in the 80s and 90s, with the original label being the Junior Division. His feeling was they had already tainted the cruiserweight division and putting him in that division would be the kiss of death to him both in booking and with the fan base. The idea was to have a group of smaller wrestlers kept separate, and the idea was accepted, but then quickly turned into a comedy division, that died a quick death to the point few remember its short shelf life. Plus, without Mistico, there was no star to be the focal point.
“The concept was radically different but was obscenely sabotaged,” he said. “Vince wanted to kill the cruiserweight division and realizing the term and concept `cruiserweight’ would never get over at WWE, given the inherent philosophy, I pitched a `special attraction’ division of guys 5-5 or so. We wouldn’t promote it as a height division, but that was more for Vince’s digestion. I positioned it like the original WCW cruiserweight tournament, where we’d bring in the best from around the world and give it an authentic international flavor. Vince approved, and the two of us personally reviewed a list of people to hire.”
The key names on the original list included Milano Collection A.T., Milanito Collection A.T., Mistico (who would be the Satoru Sayama/Tiger Mask character the division would be built to showcase), Brazo de Plata (for pure comedy and he was the only one hired), Taiji Ishimori, Dragon Kid, Sonjay Dutt, Jody Fleisch, Jack Evans, Teddy Hart and some of Hart’s students.
“After Vince approved, the list was then given to talent relations and whenever I’d check in over there to see how the process (international paperwork was a major bitch) was going, I was told everything will be fine, ultimately to discover they had taken my list, ignored it, and hired a bunch of midgets and Porky. Then they tried to bury me saying that’s what I asked for, a midget division and that’s what I got.
It was a waste of money, time and assets to just give someone such a grand political FU, but that’s what they did to me at Talent Relations over that initiative.”
