s leagues MVP voting four times.Perhaps even more

The new WWE cruiserweight division debuted Sept. 19 on Raw, with hopes it could carry on the momentum and buzz generated by the inaugural Cruiserweight Classic. After 32 wrestlers put on a spectacle unlike anything ever constructed under the WWE banner over 10 weeks on the WWE Network, the interest was palpable and a number of former independent stars now find themselves with brand new WWE contracts.With breakout stars such as TJ Perkins,?Cedric Alexander?and?Rich Swann, the veteran talents of?Brian Kendrick?and a host of others whove either recently debuted or stand ready to join the fray,?Monday?Night?Raw?has a chance to reinvigorate the show with a high-flying spectacle that should get fans out of their seats and change some perceptions as to what wrestling can be.Sound familiar?If you were a wrestling fan in the mid-1990s, you may have watched the cruiserweight division in World Championship Wrestling. Like the WWEs new division, most of the featured names were unfamiliar to all but the most hardcore of wrestling fans, and for a mainstream American audience, it provided action that was a stark alternative to a world plodding giants with massive physiques and limited movement that dominated the squared circle at that time.While the gap in physicality between the cruiserweights and the rest of the roster is smaller in the modern era, their appearance was a complete shift in the landscape and the Monday Night Wars of the 1990s between WWE and WCW. Not only did WCW have the revolutionary anti-establishment, superstar-laden New World Order, but it further distanced its product by bringing in the best cruiserweights from Japan, Mexico and seemingly every other corner of the globe -- innovation that WWE programming sorely lacked at the time.It was a part of the fabric of WCW from the very beginning, in fact, and while they lost their most prolific performers to the WWE in the chaos and downward spiral that ultimately brought the company down, they had a presence at every stage of its existence. In fact, the first match on the first episode of Monday Nitro was a cruiserweight contest, as Brian Pillman and Jushin Thunder Liger squared off in the Mall of America in Minnesota.Pillman and Liger were just two of the future stars of the wrestling world who were among WCWs earliest cruiserweights. Three future WWE world champions came from that crop of groundbreaking wrestlers as well, and laid some of the groundwork for smaller guys to get their shots down the line. Each of their styles were unique, and each holds a prominent position in the annals of wrestling history.Rey Mysterio Jr.s WCW debut came in a WCW cruiserweight title match against Dean Malenko in 1996. Although he didnt come away successful in that match, Mysterio would become champion about a month later. Hed ultimately hold that title five times in WCW, and added another three reigns when the belt shifted over to WWE. Mysterio eventually became a three-time WWE world champion, a two-time Intercontinental champion and a four-time WWE tag team champion, along with winning the 2006 Royal RumbleChris Jericho?debuted as a fairly vanilla babyface in WCW, but hit his stride when he morphed into a whiny heel -- a run that peaked with his list of 1,004 holds and a run with the WCW world television championship. Jericho was a four-time cruiserweight champion, and also had some of the finest feuds in the cruiserweight division, highlighted by his bouts with Malenko and Juventud Guerrera. He went on to far greater success in WWE as a six-time WWE world champion, a nine-time Intercontinental champion and a seven-time WWE tag team champion. Jerichos career continues to this day.Eddie Guerrero ended Jerichos second reign as cruiserweight champion. He had previously won the United States championship by winning a tournament during his earliest days in WCW. Guerrero had a pair of reigns as cruiserweight champion overall, but his feud with Eric Bischoff gave the divisions Hispanic wrestlers a more prominent position in the promotion. He famously defeated Brock Lesnar to win the WWE world heavyweight championship, and successfully defended that title at Wrestlemania 20. Guerrero also held both the Intercontinental and European championships twice each, and was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006.While it helped revolutionize wrestling and helped drive interest, the cruiserweight division as a whole was underutilized in WCW. When intermingled with the heavyweights and main eventers, they were made to look out of their league almost every time -- essentially putting them all on a second tier of the roster, lesser than the primary product.WWE, which had all but struck out with its own version of the division, was able to scoop up WCWs underused cruiserweight talent. They gave Jericho a major debut, with a weeks-long countdown clock leading to a promo interrupting?The Rock. Guerrero and Malenko debuted as part of The Radicalz, and immediately jumped into a feud with the hottest faction of the Attitude Era, D-Generation X.WWE has an opportunity to take this cautionary tale as it launches this new cruiserweight division. In WCW, the cruiserweights were allowed to tell their stories in the ring, but werent given the chances to develop characters like those at the top of the card (though Jericho was a notable exception). WWE told the stories of those who competed in the Cruiserweight Classic in the ring and through brief pre-taped video packages, but now that theyre under the bright lights of Raw, there are more steps to take to ensure these new competitors dont simply get lost in the shuffle.WWE seems to have decided to keep their cruiserweights separate from the rest of the roster to start their run. When they ultimately do venture out and interact with other stars on the roster, it will be important to avoid the pitfalls of WCW, referring to the wrestlers as just cruiserweights or pointing out the size differential -- giving them little chance to emerge victorious when they find themselves opposite these main eventers.If you missed the Cruiserweight Classic, the Fatal 4-Way that opened up the cruiserweight divisions debut episode on Raw and the tag team match the following week gave you a taste of what wrestlers like Kendrick, Swann, Alexander and?Gran Metalik?can do -- showcasing a range of styles from high-flying to striking to a technical submission style. Reactions from a lackluster Cincinnati crowd?notwithstanding, the match between Perkins and Anthony Nese did the same.Some 20 years removed from WCWs cruiserweights, this new generation has a chance to stand out as a special and significant part of the Raw product for years to come. Bill Russell Jersey . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. Gordon Hayward Jersey .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. http://www.celticssale.com/kids-bill-russell-celtics-jersey/ . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. Paul Pierce Celtics Jersey . Defenceman Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Canucks breathed a sigh of relief with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. Marcus Smart Celtics Jersey . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Two players who began their careers at opposite ends of the spectrum nearly three decades ago ended up in the same place on Sunday -- with their names etched on plaques at the Baseball Hall of Fame.For Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza, the culmination of their long journeys was tinged with tears all around.I stand up here humbled and overwhelmed, Griffey said, staring out at his family and tens of thousands of fans. I cant describe how it feels.The two became a piece of history on their special day. Griffey, the first pick of the 1987 amateur draft, became the highest pick ever inducted. Piazza, a 62nd-round pick the next year -No. 1,390 -- is the lowest pick to enter the Hall of Fame.Griffey played 22 big-league seasons with the Mariners, Reds and White Sox and was selected on a record 99.32 percent of ballots cast, an affirmation of sorts for his clean performance during baseballs so-called Steroids Era.A 13-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove Award winner in center field, Griffey hit 630 home runs, sixth all-time, and drove in 1,836 runs. He also was the American League MVP in 1997, drove in at least 100 runs in eight seasons, and won seven Silver Slugger Awards.Griffey, who fell just three votes shy of being the first unanimous selection, hit 417 of his 630 homers and won all 10 of his Gold Gloves with the Seattle Mariners. He played the first 11 seasons of his career with the Mariners and led them to the playoffs for the first two times in franchise history.Thirteen years with the Seattle Mariners, from the day I got drafted, Seattle, Washington, has been a big part of my life, Griffey said, punctuating the end of his speech by putting a baseball cap on backward as he did throughout his career.Im going to leave you with one thing. In 22 years I learned that one team will treat you the best, and thats your first team. Im damn proud to be a Seattle Mariner.Dubbed The Natural for his effortless excellence at the plate and in center field, Griffey avoided the Hall of Fame until his special weekend because he wanted his first walk through the front doors of the stately building on Main Street to be with his kids, whom he singled out one by one in his 20-minute speech.There are two misconceptions about me -- I didnt work hard and everything I did I made look easy, Griffey said. Just because I made it look easy doesnt mean that it was. You dont become a Hall of Famer by not working, but working day in and day out.Griffeys mom, Birdie, and his father, former Cincinnati Reds star Ken Sr., both cancer survivors and integral to his rise to stardom, were front and center in the first row.To my dad, who taught me how to plaay this game and to my mom, the strongest woman I know, Junior said.dddddddddddd To have to be mom and dad, she was our biggest fan and our biggest critic. Shes the only woman I know that lives in one house and runs five others.Selected in the draft by the Dodgers after Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda, a close friend of Piazzaa father, Vince, put in a good word, Piazza struggled.He briefly quit the game while in the minor leagues, returned and persevered despite a heavy workload as he switched from first base to catcher and teammates criticized his erratic play.Mom and dad were foremost on his mind, too.Dad always dreamed of playing in the major leagues, said Piazza, just the second Hall of Famer depicted on his plaque wearing a Mets cap, after Tom Seaver in 1992.He could not follow that dream because of the realities of life. My fathers faith in me, often greater than my own, is the single most important factor of me being inducted into this Hall of Fame. Thank you dad. We made it, dad. The race is over. Now its time to smell the roses.Piazza played 16 years with the Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Padres and Athletics and hit 427 home runs, including a major league record 396 as a catcher. A 12-time All-Star, Piazza won 10 Silver Slugger Awards and finished in the top five of his leagues MVP voting four times.Perhaps even more impressive, Piazza, a .308 career hitter, posted six seasons with at least 30 home runs, 100 RBI and a .300 batting average (all other catchers in baseball history combined have posted nine such seasons).Though the Dodgers gave him his start, Piazza found a home in New York when he was traded to the Mets in May 1998.Three years later, he became a hero to the hometown fans with perhaps the most notable home run of his career. His two-run shot in the eighth inning at Shea Stadium lifted the Mets to a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves in the first sporting event played in New York after the 9/11 terror attacks.Piazza paid tribute to that moment.To witness the darkest evil of the human heart ... will be forever burned in my soul, Piazza said. But from tragedy and sorrow came bravery, love, compassion, character and eventual healing.Many of you give me praise for the two-run home run in the first game back on Sept. 21st, but the true praise belongs to police, firefighters, first responders that knew that they were going to die, but went forward anyway. I pray that we never forget their sacrifice.Attendance was estimated at around 50,000 by the Hall of Fame, tying 1999 for second-most all time. ' ' '