WWE Deftly Using Dislike for Enzo Amore to Boost 205 Live

Enzo Amore is proving the unifying power of a common enemy.

There's a buzz around 205 Live and the WWE cruiserweight division that hasn't been seen since its inception. That's a direct result of Amore being the new champion and how unsettled that has left everyone.

And WWE is in the midst of expertly tapping into that.

Muscles Marinara dethroned Neville at No Mercy in the clear worst match from Sunday's pay-per-view. Amore used a low blow to take down The King of the Cruiserweights and assume his throne.

A groan echoed throughout the WWE Universe to kick off the era of Amore.

With him on top, the run of thrilling championship matches is over. No longer will Neville be tearing down the house against the likes of Jack Gallagher, Austin Aries or Mustafa Ali. Instead, the division's worst in-ring performer is going to stink up the ring night in and night out.

The desire to see that come to a close will be what fuels 205 Live for the moment.

Beyond his limitations between the ropes, Amore makes it easy to not like him at times. He's a grating loudmouth. And despite his babyface alignment, his character has been quite the jerk, as we saw when he tried to sleep with another man's wife last year.

By all accounts, he's not liked backstage. Last month, Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated detailed several issues Amore has had with his fellow Superstars.

Rather than brush talk of that aside, WWE has used it to generate heat for the new cruiserweight champ.

There have been several onscreen mentions of Amore being unpopular with the rest of the roster. Raw general manager Kurt Angle has been visibly flustered with him. Overall, there has been a steady signaling to the audience that Amore is a pest.

That's become a key part of his persona.

Amore has been an unrelenting irritant since he joined the cruiserweight division. He's mocked every one of his new peers. He's talked down about the division as a whole.

He continued that pattern on Monday night when the entire cruiserweight division came out to confront him and he appeared to morph into a heel before our eyes. Amore laughed at Cedric Alexander's level of charisma, made a joke about Gran Metallik's weight and mocked Drew Gulalk's wrestling gear.

Each and every cruiserweight seethed on the entrance ramp.

Neville was the only one willing to break the no-contact clause Amore had for the night. The Man That Gravity Forgot whipped on Amore in quite the satisfying, violent scene.

After Raw went off the air, the rest of the cruiserweight division joined in. As did the monstrous Braun Strowman. The assault hit a nerve with fans.

The attack has pulled in over a million views on WWE's YouTube page as of this writing. That's more than any other clip from Monday's Raw. That's something one simply hasn't seen with anything related to the cruiserweights.

The interest in seeing Amore get crushed is apparently strong.

WWE is apparently willing to lean on that as the quality of matches within the division goes down. Those who find him annoying will tune in to see him get his ass handed to him, to see one of the other cruiserweights end his time as champ.

It's The Honky Tonk Man all over again.

The hip-shaking heel held the Intercontinental Championship for a record 454 days in the late '80s. Audiences wanted badly for someone to shut him up. We're now seeing the same approach with Amore.

The process may be ugly, as we saw at No Mercy, but folks are going to pay a lot more attention to the cruiserweights for the moment.