What does Jordan Devlin winning the NXT Cruiserweight title mean for 205 Live?

At Worlds Collide on Jan. 25, 2020, Jordan Devlin surprised the WWE Universe when he won the NXT Cruiserweight Championship in a Fatal 4 Way. Devlin primarily wrestles for NXT UK.

When the match for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship was announced, it was expected that Angel Garza would retain. He had just beaten Lio Rush for the title in December. He even proposed to his girlfriend after the match, a surprise to even his co-workers.

The NXT Cruiserweight Championship not only got a facelift, but a brand new champion named Jordan Devlin.

If you’re not familiar with Devlin, he is a standout on both the NXT UK roster and on the UK independent scene. Go out of your way to watch his match with David Starr from Over the Top Wrestling and you’ll see why it was many wrestling fans’ Match of the Year in 2019.

“The Irish Ace” is a star and needed a title. Obviously, WALTER won’t be dropping the NXT UK Championship anytime soon. There wasn’t really any other option other than the NXT Cruiserweight Title. It keeps the title within the NXT brand and elevates it by having a superstar of his caliber holding it.

WWE has been pushing NXT UK more recently between World’s Collide and the Dusty Classic. It makes sense to have Devlin hold the title both to reward him and to make fans pay attention to a brand that doesn’t get a lot of it, particularly from US fans. What about 205 Live? 

The brand has long been mishandled by the company. They were overlooked when they were part of the Monday Night RAW roster.

Then, they were moved to Tuesday nights after SmackDown Live, where they didn’t fair much better. Once SmackDown Live was rebranded as Friday Night SmackDown, 205 Live was again pushed aside. The Friday night slot at 10 p.m. is all but a death sentence. In fact, there were several weeks after the move when the show was canceled the day of. Yikes.

Without a champion, how is 205 Live any different from Main Event? Devlin has been announced for this week’s NXT and reportedly on this Friday’s 205 Live. What happens when he goes back across the pond? We have seen The Brian Kendrick, Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan make appearances on NXT UK. Former 205 Live OG, Noam Dar, is now on the NXT UK roster.

If fans aren’t already watching NXT UK, is Devlin enough to make them watch? 205 Live has a small but loyal fanbase, but will they watch yet another brand to see the NXT Cruiserweight Championship defended?

Jack Gallagher demanded Cruiserweight Tag Team titles as a stipulation to come back to TV. That isn’t likely for a brand that’s mostly an afterthought (they also didn’t have it as part of the tweet shown on TV). Garza said he wants his title back last week, but he seems to have aligned with Zelina Vega on RAW. 

Devlin could be really good for the Cruiserweight brand, but there’s a lot of unknowns right now. What do you think of Devlin winning the title? Does it help or hurt 205 Live? Let us know below.