OK, so the WWE has made me and a lot of fans of their product very very happy. The cruiserweight title has gone to Paul London, a tough competitor with a lot of energy, which as an opener on any SmackDown! gets the crowd pumped for the night ahead of them.

Early in London's career he was a stiff wrestler in the independents, companies like Ring of Honor and ECWA. London was given great reviews by hardcore fans following Ring of Honor, after running through gauntlets, and having a "blood-feud" with Michael Shane that ended with a great Shooting Star Press off a ladder, a ladder which had a bent frame and couldn't lock into position. The blood feud is the biggest type of feud in the Honor system Ring Of Honor has. When it came to an end London competed in the well known ECWA super eight tournament... and won! London defeated Frankie Kazarian and Chance Beckett to win the Super Eight in a tournament which featured Spanky, Chris Sabin and Kazarian.

One month later he showed up in TNA for just a little while, winning a 4 way match for a shot at Chris Sabin's title. Although he didn't win he was noticed, because just one week later he had a dark match for the WWE against Matt Hardy. It was months afterwards when he got another shot at a WWE match, and on Velocity London faced off against now WWE Champion John Cena.

The WWE have a lot of trust in Paul London I feel because since that match with Cena he has progressed and done a lot of things. He tagged with his friend Spanky as 'Get well soon' and was the resident Velocity tag team, but when Spanky decided to go to Japan again London took the ball and ran with it. Within 6 months, along with Billy Kidman, he had had matches with the world's greatest tag team, the Basham's and then even went on to win the tag team titles in a match against the Dudleyz. Branching from this match could have been one of the greatest feuds but the WWE cut it short and rushed it, albeit with a great match where London sold an unbelievable Shooting Star Press while he was tied down to a stretcher.

In 2005 London has lost 3 matches if you include the Royal Rumble, otherwise 2... he lost to Akio early in the year and then after going on a streak he found himself at No Way Out against 5 other cruiserweights. London practically ran the gauntlet defeating Funaki, Spike, Shannon Moore and Akio, then found himself against Chavo Guererro in the final portion of the match and was beaten. Shortly after he became the cruiserweights number one contender beating Akio on velocity of all places, he was due to face Chavo at WrestleMania, the biggest stage of them all, but due to an injury Chavo couldn't compete. A Battle Royal was announced prior to 'Mania on SmackDown!, where London captured his first title and was absolutely ecstatic, even going as far to hug the referee.

SmackDown! is due to soon see the arrival of some great cruiserweights including Franky Kazarian, Psicosis, Juventud Guererra and Super Crazy. These guys could well mix it with the best of them and at the moment the best of them is Paul London. The matches that could occur with these 4 new talents is unbelievable and should push the cruiserweight division ahead. London is already getting a major push. He has had 3 articles on WWE.COM in the last 2 weeks, talking about his win, WrestleMania and then the newest one made the 3rd biggest moment in the WWE this week according to the WWE Weekly Top Five, only behind Austin's return and Batista defeating Orton. I see WWE focusing a lot on the cruiserweights in the near future and here is to seeing them excel and become a mainstay on SmackDown! Headed by Paul London, the man who I believe is turning the cruiserweight division around.

by D. Whelan ..