Cedric Alexander Has Won the Hearts of WWE Fans

Cedric Alexander and Kota Ibushi delivered an instant classic in the second round of the Cruiserweight Classic. But despite his loss to Ibushi, Cedric may have won in the bigger picture.

Just one week removed from an emotional roller coaster match to close out the first round of the CWC between tag team partners Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, the CWC followed up that memorable performance with yet another one: Cedric Alexander vs. Kota Ibushi. And it most certainly lived up to expectations.

In another potential match of the year candidate, both men nearly went the distance of the allotted 20 minute time limit. Ultimately, in the end, Ibushi would defeat Cedric and advance into the quarterfinals, leaving his opponent visibly in tears. If you did not see the match, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It is that good, easily ranking up there alongside Gargano/Ciampa the week prior and Zayn/Nakamura from Takeover: Dallas.

must read: WWE Cruiserweight Classic 2016 Review: Results, Analysis, and Grades for August 10

However, perhaps the best moment of the entire night took place after the match, when the Full Sail crowd broke out into a “Please sign Cedric” chant, moving an already emotional Cedric to even more waterworks. And then from behind the curtain emerged Triple H, the man responsible for NXT and the CWC, who shook Cedric’s hand, consoled him, and took him to the back, but not before giving a thumbs up to the audience as if to say “I’m already ahead of you. Don’t worry guys, I got this”. The episode would close out with an uproarious ‘Yes’ chant.

Cedric vs. Ibushi had the fans glued to their seat from start to finish, rewarding both men with a rare ‘Fight Forever’ chant for their unbelievable performance

One can only hope that Triple H did indeed listen to the fans in attendance and signed Cedric Alexander. Cedric understood the platform he was in, and used it to his advantage, giving the showcase of a lifetime in quite possibly the most important match of his career to date. Cedric looked incredible, even in defeat, and made his opponent, Kota Ibushi seem that much more of a superstar than he already was. In pro-wrestling, sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in wins and losses, and lose sight of ultimately what is the objective: to entertain the crowd. Cedric vs. Ibushi had the fans glued to their seat from start to finish, rewarding both men with a rare ‘Fight Forever’ chant for their unbelievable performance.

Even though he lost, Cedric has nothing to be ashamed of. He put everything on the line and came up just short against the man who is arguably considered the best in the world at the moment in Kota Ibushi. In WWE, they want you to be able to connect with the audience, and that night, Cedric wore his heart on his sleeve.

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If WWE did indeed sign Cedric Alexander, the question now becomes: where will he go next? The most obvious answer would be to put him in NXT, where he could be a huge babyface after the performance he had in the CWC. Cedric won the hearts and captured the minds of the WWE Universe in his match against Ibushi and could be as popular down in NXT as Sami Zayn was. There is no doubt that Cedric would have great matches against the likes of Austin Aries, Bobby Roode, Andrade Almas, both Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, Shinsuke Nakamura, and the NXT Champion Samoa Joe.

Perhaps another destination could be a straight shot right into the main roster as part of Raw’s upcoming Cruiserweight Division, where Cedric would most likely be in direct competition with Neville. That in of itself would be a huge match-up, however with details of Raw’s Cruiserweight Division still very much vague at this point, in particular which superstars will comprise the division, Cedric would not have many opponents to work with outside of potentially Neville.

Also, Raw TV is strikingly different from the way Triple H does TV for NXT and CWC; almost a night and day contrast. Given how toned down Neville has become since arriving on the main roster, it’s not unreasonable to fear that they may do the same to Cedric and everybody else in the division; shorter matches, less crazy spots. Essentially the match we saw against Ibushi, Cedric would probably not be able to have on Raw. Much like how on Raw, Neville has yet to be able to have a feud, much less a match, on par with his memorable title bout against Sami Zayn at Takeover: R-Evolution. With that in mind, the most logical place to put Cedric would be NXT.

Cedric has clearly won over the hearts of the WWE Universe and may have won himself a WWE contract

Cedric Alexander may have lost to Kota Ibushi and effectively been eliminated from the CWC, but if the ending of Wednesday night’s episode is any indication, Cedric has clearly won over the hearts of the WWE Universe and may have won himself a WWE contract. With all the talk of new opportunities in this New Era between Raw and Smackdown, it’s easy to overlook that Triple H is essentially providing an opportunity as well for these cruiserweights in the CWC to show the world who they are. And if Triple H was watching the same match we were, then he knows that there’s no way WWE could let Cedric slip through their fingers. Not after a performance such as that.

Next: WWE Cruiserweight Classic 2016: Who is Cedric Alexander?

Often times we get Triple H’s character in The Authority confused with Triple H’s executive role behind the scenes. We accused him of not listening to us when we wanted Daniel Bryan to be WWE World Heavyweight Champion. In reality, he does hear the fans. He heard them loud and clear for Cedric and seemingly did what’s ‘best for business’.

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