The Age of Alexander

The Enzo Amore situation and the the rebirth of 205 Live under the reign of new onscreen GM Drake Maverick has proven to be one of the WWE's most fascinating bouts of creative tap dancing in recent memory. A show that was teetering on the edge of being irrelevant or even downright offensive to the diehard grappling fan, 205 Live was allowed one final hard restart when Enzo Amore's past legal troubles came back to haunt him and the show was forced to vacate the relatively new Cruiserweight title and refocus its creative energies.

The cries from fandom against what Amore had been doing on 205 Live were deafening. He took the place of any number of more deserving contenders, added to the head-scratching creative decisions that led Neville and Austen Aries to leave, and cheapened what was supposed to be the "pure wrestling" show with the same gimmicky arsenal that got him to Raw from NXT as part of a tag team with Big Cass. In September 2018, both Enzo and Big Cass turned out to be failed experiments as singles attractions and their roles within the WWE canon were quickly snapped up by more talented and well-rounded performers. Heck, if there's one area the 'E isn't hurting in these days, it's talent.

Enzo's disgraceful exit lead to a title reign that sort of inspired this new series of posts here on Work/Shoot, focusing on the current WWE titles and their relevancy. Cedric Alexander would be the next champ on the purple brand, and he would elevate every ship near the Cruiserweight shore like an undeniable tide. When he fist made his way up the card in 2016 and 2017, the main complaint against him as a title contender was his lack of personality and charisma. Awkward angles with Alicia Fox and Noam Dar didn't help endear him to the audience the way the bookers would have liked. By stripping the Total Divas plot-driven stuff away and focusing on his bell-to-bell abilities, he was able to get over in a Daniel Bryan kind of way. I wouldn't say Alexander has achieved that level of connection yet, but he's proven able to wake up a sleepy Smackdown taping crowd on more than one occasion. (Yeah, it sucks for the cruiserweights; that they have their matches buried so deep into an already bloated live show.) I tend to take note of that, especially since knowing how to work in tandem with one's place on the card seems to be a forgotten subject when evaluating or "reviewing" matches.

The stripping away of the chuffah seems to have worked in the eyes of 205 Live's management, since they've applied that technique to several other cruiserweights now and over the course of the last several months have been able to line up several strong challengers for Cedric's belt. Mustafa Ali, Hideo Itami, and Drew Gulak all feel like brand new characters, reviatlized by being allowed to just be wrestlers. The fueds and ensuing storylines on 205 Live now stem from issues of respect, honor, and competition. Buddy Murphy went from hanging around NXT waiting to work a dark match (I assume) to challenging for the title on 205 Live and finding a niche as the brand's "juggernaut", the typical cruiserweight heel who skirts just around the weight limit, the biggest fish in the pond. His title match with Cedric and his matches with Ali were instant classics, on par with anything on Ring of Honor or NXT.
 
The self-proclaimed Age of Alexander has been highlighted by a fighting champion, incredible workrate, and story lines that advance in the ring, as opposed to angles shot for social media or backstage shenanigans. 205 Live finally feels like the show it should have been from the beginning, and it's extremely fitting to have one of the workhorses who's been there since the show's debut after the Cruiserweight Classic way back in 2016 as the brand's champion. It gives me the same, weird indy fan catharsis that seeing Daniel Bryan and C.M. Punk climb to the top a few years ago did.
Unlike the ascension of Punk or Bryan though, I think Alexander has more credible opponents lined up and his spotlight isn't so large that the big guys in WWE will want to intrude. As thrilling as it has been to to see Alexander win the title and be the face of the show, it has been even more exciting to see him defend it against a string of credible challengers with varying styles in lengthy, physical matches. Buddy Murphy, Hideo Itami, and Drew Gulak all seem capable of taking the strap off of Alexander with little more than a well-placed submission, and each title match doesn't seem like a foregone conclusion. Sometimes Raw and Smackdown title matches are pretty poorly telegraphed as being an "Act 1" or "Act 2" of a larger story line meant to carry a fued from one tent pole pay-per-view to the next.

The future looks good for Cedric's reign and the Age of Alexander, however long it may last. A returning Noam Dar seems to be rebuilding his character, shedding the same soap opera antics that plagued the champ over a year ago. Lio Rush has impressed me personally as an obnoxious heel with lightning-fast trickster-style offense. Tony Neese and his current work-out buddy and previous title contender Buddy Murphy both seem poised to challenge Cedric on a purely competitive level and force yet another layer of character to emerge from the champion. Guest stars from NXT and the new UK brand have precedent to show up, so the title could even be a prop to build up someone like Mark Andrews or Flash Morgan Webster.

As far as being well-booked, I'd have to put the Cruiserweight title up with the NXT Women's Title and the WWE World Title as one of the best. It's a silly purple belt that doesn't really call to mind the era of rasslin' the talent of 205 Live are trying to evoke, but it matters to performers, it matters to the bookers and writers, and in time it will matter to the fans if they keep things consistent.