Ever since NXT announced its plans to move from the WWE Network to the USA Network with weekly two-hour live show, fans have been wondering about how the change might affect WWE’s other brands. One leading theory was that the cruiserweight division over on 205 Live would be absorbed by NXT, increasing its roster and providing it with more talent to fill out the two-hour show each week.
Videos by ComicBook.com
In a new interview with Newsweek, Triple H addressed the future of the high-flying brand by saying it would sit “under the umbrella” of NXT, meaning that wrestlers on the roster would be allowed to jump back and forth between the two shows.
“NXT UK will sit under that NXT banner as well, probably 205 too breathing some life into it a little bit,” he said. “That creates three distinct brands that talent, over the course of their career — which hopefully is long — where they can migrate from one to the other and be reinvigorated and have fresh starts and have longer, more meaningful and lucrative careers while staying within the same company.
“You’ll start to see 205 [Live] begin to [sit under the NXT umbrella],” he said. “I think it always existed as an island onto itself, a little bit, and it’s become lost in this limbo. You’ll begin to see it move more towards the NXT banner and the talent there. We have a lot of talent. For them to begin to compete either open against anyone or in the cruiserweight division, but have that title sit under the NXT brand is more meaningful. It creates more opportunities for more people.”
WWE first reintroduced the cruiseweights in 2016 with the Cruiserweight Classic tournament. Months later the new division became a part of the Raw roster while also touring with the SmackDown brand to produce the weekly 205 Live network show. Triple H took over the creative direction of the show in January 2018, and within months the cruiserweights stopped appeared on Raw.
There’s already precedent for crossover between NXT and 205 Live, as stars like Buddy Murphy, Drew Gulak and Oney Lorcan have appeared on both shows. Wrestlers such as Murphy, Ali and Cedric Alexander have also been “called up” from 205 Live to the main roster in recent months.
Alexander could be the first of that group to win a championship on the main roster, as he’ll challenge AJ Styles for the United States Championship at Clash of Champions on Sunday.
