On the February 20th episode of 205 Live, Buddy Murphy debuted and defeated Ariya Daivari to advance in the Cruiserweight Championship Tournament.
Buddy Murphy debuts his new finisher and moves on in the #205live tournament pic.twitter.com/3M3WZpIOj7
— MarkOutManiaHK (@RealMarkOutHK) February 21, 2018
However, unless you watched NXT between 2013 and 2015, chances are you aren’t all that familiar with Murphy. Here are five fast facts you should know.
5. He’s One Half of the Second-Longest Reigning NXT Tag Team Champions
Once upon a time, Buddy Murphy enjoyed a fairly successful tag team career in NXT. Murphy teamed with Wesley Blake in August 2014 and the duo went on to win the NXT Tag Team Championship in January 2015. With a little help from their manager, Alexa Bliss, Blake and Murphy held onto the titles for 219 days, making them the second-longest reigning NXT Tag Team Champions in history.
4. He’s Engaged To Alexa Bliss
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This will probably break a lot of hearts (including Braun Strowman’s) but Murphy is indeed engaged to his former manager, Alexa Bliss. Presumably, the two started dating around the time they were paired up in NXT, and Murphy didn’t wait long to pop the question – Alexa told Gorilla Position they got engaged around Christmas 2015.
As for why they haven’t tied the knot yet, Alexa also revealed that she was drafted to SmackDown around the time the wedding was originally going to be and their lives have been incredibly hectic since.
3. He Wrestled Exclusively In Australia Prior To Signing With WWE
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Buddy Murphy is one of several Australian superstars currently in WWE, but he’s the only one who didn’t have any experience wrestling outside of Australia prior to signing with WWE.
Murphy debuted as Matt Silva for Professional Championship Wrestling (PCW) in August 2007. He wrestled for several other promotions throughout Australia, including Melbourne City Wrestling and Riot City Wrestling, up until signing a developmental contract with WWE in 2013.
2. He Has A Pet Mini Pig Named Larry-Steve
Buddy Murphy and Alexa Bliss have several pets – including a mini pig named Larry-Steve. In fact, Larry-Steve even has his own Instagram account and YouTube channel, and has appeared on both “Total Divas” and ESPN. I suppose Murphy had to find something to help occupy his time while Alexa was away traveling with the main roster.
1. He Only Had One Televised Match In 2017
After losing the NXT Tag Team Championship and splitting from Blake and Bliss, Murphy appeared to fall off the face of the Earth. Seriously: between June and October of 2016, Murphy wrestled just three televised matches. Even worse, he wrestled just one televised match in all of 2017, on the Jan. 4 episode of NXT, in which he teamed with Tye Dillinger to defeat Bobby Roode and Elias Sampson.
But even though he wasn’t on TV, Murphy was still wrestling, working dozens of NXT house shows throughout 2017 and into 2018 prior to his 205 Live debut.
There you have it – five fast facts about Buddy Murphy! Did you learn anything new? Are you excited to see what he can do on 205 Live? Share your thoughts and comments below!