NXT: Kushida vs Buddy Murphy is the match cruiserweight needs

Two weeks ago, Kushida escaped an intense two-out-of-three falls match against Santos Escobar. It looked like the former champion was going to take the title in a clean sweep, but Kushida stormed back to win 2-1 in a match that was nearly 25-minutes long. Now, the focus turns to what is next for the NXT Cruiserweight champion and that challenge should come from one very familiar with that title: Buddy Murphy.

Remember Buddy Murphy? He was once considered one of the best-kept secrets on the WWE roster. That was well before his main roster run. In fact, when he and Mustafa Ali were tearing things up for the right to hold the cruiserweight title in 2018, they put on some of the best matches in the entire promotion. The man can work, and fans were excited when it looked like his hard work was going to turn into some sort of sustained use on the main roster. But that was not to be.

It is easy to look at how Murphy has been used, especially the lack of his usage in 2021 yet another indictment of the WWE’s inability to book talent well. Instead, focus that energy on a possible angle that would see him return to NXT, where he is a former tag team champion, and put the current cruiserweight champion on notice that he is back and ready for that title.

WWE NXT is the place to go for the best wrestling that WWE has to offer. Kushida has already put forth two of the best matches seen in WWE this year with his match against Johnny Gargano at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day and the above-mentioned match against Escobar. And there is a need for any further evidence about what Kushida can do in the ring, look back across his 14-year career to find a wealth of matches that would immediately get fans out of their seats. If this match were announced for a weekly NXT showing on Tuesday, it is the exact type of contest that would get people to tune in.

The cruiserweight division has a strong champion on its throne. Even though the division has an entire show dedicated to it with 205 Live, that property does not gauge nearly as much interest as needed to take an individual from that show and slot him in against Kushida. That is why the right move would be to take Buddy Murphy from SmackDown where he is not seeing the light of day, shift him back to NXT for a surprise feud, and draw in the viewers needed for the show while reminding wrestling fans that these are yet two more men that can put on excellent matches.