5 Wrestlers who grabbed the brass ring in 2018

#4 Buddy Murphy

The Juggernaut 'Buddy Murphy'

One of the biggest success stories of 2018, the reigning WWE Cruiserweight Champion has come from being a lower mid-carder in NXT to the backbone of 205 Live in a matter of months.

The former NXT Tag Team Champion was called up to the Cruiserweight division during the 16-man tournament to crown the next Cruiserweight Champion, which was left vacant after the departure of Enzo Amore.

Murphy reached the quarterfinals of the tournament before losing to eventual finalist, Mustafa Ali.

Murphy would then go on to have a slew of a highly-engaging single match against of Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali.

After winning a fatal four-way match on the 25 March 2018 edition of 205 Live, Murphy would fail in his mandatory weigh-in, thereby being stripped of his championship opportunity and was removed from the 205 Live rosters.

The next few weeks would see Murphy trying to cut weight to fulfill the weight requirement for the cruiserweight division. Murphy finally got his title opportunity against reigning champion Cedric Alexander on the 29 May 2018 edition of 205 Live, where he failed to capture the Cruiserweight title.

After a few unsuccessful attempts, Murphy finally captured the Cruiserweight Championship by defeating Cedric Alexander in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia at WWE SuperShowDown in October.

Murphy would successfully defend the title against Mustafa Ali and Cedric Alexander at Survivor Series and TLC respectively.

Murphy has been one of the biggest reasons for 205 Live consistently being dubbed by fans as the best pure wrestling show on the network. He has been the biggest breakout in the WWE in 2018 and 2019 promises to be another great year for the Australian.