WWE 205 Live: We Need A Cedric Alexander vs. Hideo Itami Feud

Cedric Alexander became WWE 205 Live’s Cruiserweight Champion at WrestleMania 34, defeating Mustafa Ali in a heart-warming match that was the culmination of a breath-taking tournament. Alexander’s first challenger will ostensibly be the now-heel Buddy Murphy, and I’d love to see him eventually face Hideo Itami for the title.

There is absolutely no doubt that Cedric Alexander has earned the privilege of being the face of WWE 205 Live as the Cruiserweight Champion. He carries himself like a champion, he seems like the type of person every young fan can look up to, and he worked his ass off to get to this point after betting on himself by leaving Ring of Honor.

It was his sensational work against Kota Ibushi at the inaugural Cruiserweight Tournament that got him signed to WWE, and it was his string of performances in the second tournament that helped seal him as the first champion in the new era of WWE 205 Live.

Alexander defeated the equally impressive Mustafa Ali at WrestleMania 34 to capture his first championship victory, and there’s a solid chance the two will cross paths again in a championship match during Alexander’s reign.

That said, Alexander needs to have a lengthy run with the title as the first champ under Drake Maverick’s (read: Triple H’s) watch. His first feud will likely come against Buddy Murphy, who earned a future title opportunity by defeating Kalisto, TJP, and Akira Tozawa (all former champions) in a Fatal Four-Way match. He was, however, unable to receive his match at the Greatest Royal Rumble after missing weight.

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Murphy is an excellent first feud and the perfect initial foil for Alexander, whose babyface work needs to be elevated by an imposing, sinister, and hyper-athletic heel. There’s no doubt that Murphy checks off all the boxes as a challenger, and Alexander’s response to The Best Kept Secret’s attack from behind served as an example of just how much this feud can help Cedric’s character work as a champ.

Although I’m undoubtedly looking forward to Alexander’s matches with Murphy, I’m also always looking ahead. As I look across the landscape of talented heels on the 205 Live roster, including submission expert Drew Gulak, one name stands out to me perhaps moreso than any other.

And that name is “Hideo Itami”.

KENTA is one of the most accomplished professional wrestlers in the world today, and while some view him as a bit of a flop in the WWE given the high expectations the fans had for him, he’s done some solid work here despite the injuries. Sure, he can’t do the “GTS” anymore after injuring Brian Kendrick, but he still has an arsenal of stiff strikes, nasty submission holds, and other hard-hitting power moves. Itami is in great shape right now, as he’s clearly worked hard to get back to the top of the totem pole in WWE.

On 205 Live, Itami is all about “respect”, even though he shows so little respect to his opponents. He loves attacking them from behind, trying to injure them, or slapping them in the face. Itami recently broke up with tag team partner Akira Tozawa, whom he never seemed to give a rat’s rear end about.

Itami does things his own way, and he brings a type of poetic violence to the ring with the way he wrestles. In the ring, he’d be the perfect counterpart in styles to the graceful, fluid, and explosive Cedric Alexander, who is also a proficient technical wrestler.

In terms of sheer story-telling potential and jaw-dropping in-ring work, a program between Alexander and Itami for the Cruiserweight Championship pretty much sells itself. Itami has yet to receive a real opportunity at WWE 205 Live’s shiny title, nor has he ever faced Alexander before.

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I can’t help but feel that Itami turned on Tozawa for a reason. He has designs on proving he’s the best, especially after failing to capture any gold in NXT. Itami wants to challenge Alexander to show the WWE Universe that he isn’t a flop, and the matches themselves could help some on-the-fence fans understand why Itami was such a big deal in Pro Wrestling Noah.