Ranking Every WWE Cruiserweight Champion Since 2016
5. Tony Nese
Truth be told, there wasn't anything overly special about Tony Nese for the first few years he was on 205 Live.
He was mainly positioned as a good hand in the ring who lost far more than he won. Following alliances with Drew Gulak and Buddy Murphy, he finally broke out on his own for this year's Cruiserweight Championship number one contender's tournament and showed potential as a singles star.
The better his matches got throughout the tourney, the more fans rallied behind him.
Over time, the idea of him challenging Buddy Murphy for the Cruiserweight Championship actually turned into something worth looking forward to. They killed it on the Kickoff show at WrestleMania 35 and Nese's win over Murphy felt like a big moment.
Nese has always been a natural narcissist, but he was believable in the babyface role for a while. His rematch with Murphy on 205 Live was excellent and his title defense against Ariya Daivari at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view managed to be solid.
The Premier Athlete was in the midst of a pretty good reign as Cruiserweight champion before it was cut short at the hands of Gulak at Stomping Grounds. Thankfully, he's remained in the mix for the title in recent months by realigning himself with Gulak and calling out newly crowned champ Lio Rush last week on 205 Live.