6 Ups And 7 Downs From WWE Elimination Chamber 2019

Ups...

6. Mr. Kickoff Show

buddy murphy akira tozawa
WWE.com

As frustrating as it might be to see the cruiserweights seemingly permanently banished to the kickoff shows of PPVs, we might as well accept it and enjoy the matches we get.

Buddy Murphy’s Cruiserweight Championship matches have consistently been entertaining as he’s continued to just win, and Sunday’s bout against Akira Tozawa was no different. Tozawa took Murphy to the limit and had him on the ropes several times, notably a flurry at the end with an inverted hurricanrana, two suicide dives and a draping senton for a close 2 count.

But Murphy did what he’s always done and pulled out a Murphy’s Law finisher to retain the title. You’ve got to wonder if he’s turning any heads backstage and could earn a promotion to the main roster, ala Mustafa Ali.

For now though, Murphy will continue to put on solid matches before the PPV proper begins.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.