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#2 Former 205 Live star Pac
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It was a surprise when Pac, known then as Neville, didn't really work out on 205 Live. After a great run as NXT Champion, he was taken to the main roster where he had some great performances against Seth Rollins, Chris Jericho, and Cody Rhodes.
He was soon moved to 205 Live and was pushed as the face of the cruiserweight division. He knocked off Rich Swann to capture the Cruiserweight Championship and would hold it on two separate occasions until losing the belt to Enzo Amore in the fall of 2017. Not counting Santos Escobar and Jordan Devlin, who both had some strange reigns as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Neville's run on 205 Live was the longest consecutive run a champion had on the brand at 197 days.
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After losing to Amore, Neville walked away and quit 205 Live and WWE altogether. After having his contract frozen for some time, he was let go by WWE in 2018. And right there, on August 24th, Pac was reborn.
Pac had a stellar run in Dragon Gate, holding the Open the Dream Gate Championship for 229 days from December 4th to July 21st, 2019. He'd then sign with All Elite Wrestling, and while he hasn't won any gold in the promotion yet, it's only a matter of time.
"The Bastard" has been a major player since his debut and has had some stellar feuds with Kenny Omega and Orange Cassidy. He even competed in an AEW World Championship match against the two at AEW Double or Nothing.
#1 Former 205 Live star Rich Swann
You don't get a much better success story than that of Rich Swann. Though he managed to capture the Cruiserweight Championship while on 205 Live, he had a rather short stint with the company. His first reign didn't last too long, and when he was on his way to a possible second, he was released.
Shortly after, though, he signed with IMPACT Wrestling and in no time was a major player in their X-Division. At the beginning of 2019, Swann defeated Trey Miguel, Ethan Page, and Jake Crist in an Ultimate X Match to crown himself X-Division Champion.
After returning from a gruesome knee injury in 2020, Swann defeated Eric Young for the IMPACT Wrestling World Championship. Swann went on to have classic matches against Sami Callihan, Chris Bey, Moose and more before losing his championship to Kenny Omega.
Right now, Swann looks to be moving into the tag division with partner Willie Mack. Soon enough, Swann will have captured every single championship the company has to offer.
There was a lot of great talent to be released from 205 Live this year. Who's to say that batch isn't holding a few future world champions? Tony Nese has already been publicly offered a spot in IMPACT Wrestling's X-Division by Tommy Dreamer. If this list has told you anything, it's that you should be expecting those released recently to thrive in the coming years.
