It’s been a year of improvements for the purple brand with many stellar matches but only few championship changes. This is the 205 Live – Year In Review.
Departures
Enzo Amore
2018 was rung in with Enzo Amore holding the Cruiserweight Championship having bested Kalisto, Neville Tozawa and on a path to defend against Cedric Alexander at the Royal Rumble. Enzo’s start the to the year came to a screeching halt when he was suspended amid sexual assault allegations and subsequently fired from the company.
Brand Switches
During the latter months of 2018, some of the 205 roster began to appear for other brands. Lio Rush & Drake Maverick appear on Raw as managers for Bobby Lashley & AOP respectively will the Lucha House Party have begun to compete on Raw in addition to appearing on 205 Live.
The biggest switch/loss for the brand came in the very recent move of Mustafa Ali. Ali spent most of 2018 killing it in matches with Cedric Alexander, Buddy Murphy & Hideo Itami and now he’s putting his not so subtle talents to use on the blue brand in stellar matches against Daniel Bryan & Andrade Cien Almas (so far…)
Arrivals
Two of the biggest arrivals to 205 Live this year came in the form of Drake Maverick and Buddy Murphy. Maverick was assigned to the role of General Manager, finally providing a face to authority on the purple brand. Murphy, on the other hand, came in as the ‘juggernaut’ of the brand. Truly reflecting his moniker of being the ‘best kept secret’ Murphy left fans wondering why he’d been floundering in NXT for so long given how well he could compete at this level. The combination of his speed and strength are unrivalled on the show and it goes to show why he was able to capture the Cruiserweight Championship, in his hometown of Melbourne, in October.
Two of 205’s newest superstars, Lio Rush & Mike Kanellis made impacts in their own way with Rush swaggering onto the show and quickly dispatching of opponents such as Noam Dar & Akira Tozawa while Kanellis (with Maria) quickly aligned himself with Cruiserweight mainstay TJP in a feud against the aforementioned Lucha House Party. Neither man has had a defining moment on the show but I would expect that would come in 2019.
Who To Watch In 2019.
I’ve already mentioned that Lio Rush and Mike Kanellis should be looking to break out in 2019, I’d like to add Hideo Itami to that list as he truly deserves a lengthy run with the championship sometime soon.
I wanted to come up with a list of who I think will debut on 205 Live in 2019 as I think its inevitable that some faces will come up from NXT(UK) and the Performance Center at some point but I struggled! I would hope that guys like Johnny Gargano & Ricochet will be used on Raw or Smackdown so instead I picked other roster members who I would say are more than likely to debut on the purple brand soon.
Jordan Devlin
Raul Mendoza
Travis Banks
Best Matches Of 2018
I think it’s safe to say that, across the board in WWE, 2018 has been a stellar year for matches. 205 Live contributed their fair share and all of the matches below can be found in the ‘Match Of The Year’ collection on the WWE Network.
Mustafa Ali Vs. Drew Gulak – March 20th
Cedric Alexander Vs. Buddy Murphy – May 29th
Cedric Alexander Vs. Buddy Murphy – Oct 6th (Super Showdown)
Mustafa Ali Vs. Hideo Itami – Oct 24th
And these aren’t on the list so do yourself a favour and hunt them down on the Network!!
Cedric Alexander Vs. Mustafa Ali – Jan 23rd
Cedric Alexander Vs. Roderick Strong – March 13th Kalisto Vs. Akira Tozawa Vs. Buddy Murphy Vs. TJP – March 27th
Mustafa Ali Vs. TJP Vs. Drew Gulak Vs. Tony Nese Vs. Kalisto – April 24th
Mustafa Ali Vs. Buddy Murphy – July 3rd
2019 has the potential to be a solid year for the purple brand, especially with Triple H at the helm. Join me next year for more Cruiserweight Corner monthly.
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