"Give it NXT 'til the end of the season" was the strategy for the cursed purple strap once keeping 205 Live from having absolutely no purpose at all. The latter may now be true but who gives a single sh*t when the matches on the black-and-gold brand have been so uniformly fantastic?
Under the stewardship of Drew Gulak, Lio Rush and Angel Garza, the matches have ranged from great to amazing and generated the first buzz for the strap since the celebrated Cruiserweight Classic.
That took place in Full Sail too - perhaps that generous, molten crowd were what WWE were missing all along.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back almost 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
