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Falling: TJ Perkins

As a whole, TJ Perkins’s heel turn has served him well, and his status as the “prince” to Neville’s “king” of the Cruiserweight Division has been by far the best storyline on 205 Live. Perkins has always been one of the best in-ring workers in the world, which is why he was tabbed to win the Cruiserweight Classic and become the first Cruiserweight champion.

Here’s why his stock is falling, though. Neville had yet another successful title defense against Austin Aries at a Pay Per View, defeating him at Extreme Rules in a submissions match. Perkins defeated Mustafa Ali on the following Raw in order to finally receive a shot at the Cruiserweight Championship, and after initially ducking him, Neville finally agreed to face Perkins on the next 205 Live.

There was no build. This storyline has been cooking for quite some time, and it has been the only interesting story within the Cruiserweight division. But instead of there being a slow burn to Perkins’s title opportunity or any sort of build for the match, it was just thrown together. This should have been built up on 205 Live and the following week’s Raw at the very least, and you would think that a match between Neville and Perkins would be capable of being the Cruiserweight’s division at Great Balls of Fire.

You would think that, because the match itself was excellent. That, of course, comes as no surprise, because Neville and Perkins are incredible workers who can wrestle just about any style. The finishing sequence to that match was straight out of the top drawer, because you actually believed for a good couple of minutes that Perkins would pull this one out.

Instead, I worry that Perkins has been thrown to the wayside and that this was a one-off match to prove that TJP isn’t good enough to beat Neville. If that’s the case, then we’ll just have to look out for Neville’s next babyface challenger. It could be Rich Swann, which would prolong Neville’s reign. At this point, the only current Cruiserweight who should be tabbed to end Neville’s reign is Cedric Alexander, who had a great match of his own against Noam Dar on 205 Live.