WWE Royal Rumble: Predicting Buddy Murphy’s 3 Opponents

Hideo Itami

Personally, I’d prefer to see Cedric Alexander in this match, because he’s one of the two most important wrestlers on 205 Live now that Mustafa Ali has officially moved to the SmackDown Live roster. However, Alexander has been on several Pay Per Views this year in Cruiserweight Championship matches after becoming the title-holder at WrestleMania 34. He was at SummerSlam, at Super Show-Down, and recently featured on the TLC Pay Per View.

Hideo Itami hasn’t been as fortunate in 2018, and while that’s partially because his body of work hasn’t been at Alexander’s level this year, Itami has quietly gotten his career back on track after a mediocre second stint in NXT.

He’s fit 205 Live perfectly, providing the brute force that the Cruiserweight Division has sorely needed. Itami’s cries for respect are always met with jeers, and his matches have consistently delivered. His Falls Count Anywhere match against Mustafa Ali was sensational, and his bout with Roderick Strong earlier in the year is one of the hidden gems of 2018.

Alexander is almost universally adored as the first Cruiserweight Champion in the new era of the brand, but it feels like it’s time for Itami to grab some Pay Per View spotlight. Itami, Murphy, and Gulak would make the match very heavy on grounded offense, but that could have the benefit of making Rush’s offense stand out even more. It’d also show the WWE Royal Rumble audience other aspects of 205, especially since Murphy is athletic enough to hang with Rush.