Buddy Murphy: 5 pivotal moments that show he was destined for WWE's main event scene

This week's episode of RAW appears to have indicated what many have known for a while – Buddy Murphy is no longer the company’s ‘Best Kept Secret.’

That may well have been the moniker by which the Australian superstar was known for the first few months of his ‘main roster’ career, but the fact that he has more than a lot to offer is now well and truly out there.

His apparent alliance with Seth Rollins and the AOP lifts him firmly into the upper echelons of WWE’s programming, establishing him as a genuine main event-level talent.

It’s also a continuation of a rapid ascent for the 31-year-old, who has enjoyed quite the year of action onscreen. In fact, there have been plenty of indications that the Melbourne-born grappler was destined for exactly such a role.

Here we detail 5 of the signs that Buddy Murphy has been heading straight for WWE’s main event picture.

Buddy Murphy reacts to his dream hometown win that saw him clinch the Cruiserweight title

#5 Cruiserweight Champion

Rewind to October 2018, and land yourself in Melbourne at the city’s iconic Cricket Ground. WWE are staging the Super Show-Down, a show headlined by the No Disqualification match between Triple H and The Undertaker.

Despite that hefty billing, however, there’s one more name that the 70,000-odd crowd have come to see – their hometown hero Buddy Murphy.

On this night, Murphy is challenging for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship, then held by Cedric Alexander. It has been seen that WWE superstars appearing in their hometowns often suffer chastening defeats or an embarrassment or two, but this event proved to be the exception. The two were given just a brief time to work - just over ten minutes to be exact – but put on a cracking bout nonetheless, with Murphy picking up a dream win that saw him claim his first singles WWE title.

He proved to be more than just a flash-in-the-pan champion, too, by racking up a succession of pay-per-view wins at Survivor Series, TLC, and the Royal Rumble to name just a few. His reign was a lengthy one by today’s standards, coming to an end at Wrestlemania in 2019 at the hands of Tony Nese.

#4 Roman’s wrath

While Reigns beat Murphy, the Australian didn't fare too badly in the long run

Though WWE doesn’t always hit a home run out of the park with every single thing it does on television, you’d have to argue that, as far as Buddy Murphy is concerned, they’ve wasted very little.

Likewise, the company rarely does much to cheapen or risk one of their biggest names in Roman Reigns, with The Big Dog almost always well packaged and presented.

It should come as no surprise, then, that when these two stars had the chance to share the screen together, it was an intriguing watch. It came back in June 2019, when Reigns had suffered a series of attacks, one of which saw scaffolding toppled on to him.

Replays indicated to a vengeful Reigns that Murphy had in fact been in and around the 'crime scene' at the time, leading to an altercation between the two backstage. It didn’t end well for Murphy who, after being roughed up by the former Shield member, ousted Rowan as the man behind the assault. Reigns and Murphy would later renew hostilities on an episode of Smackdown Live in August and, while Reigns notched a victory, Murphy continued to shine.

#3 A major upset

With a prone Bryan left laying behind, Murphy celebrates his huge win on SmackDown

The legacy of the attack on Reigns may have left some physical and emotional scars on Murphy – he was confronted backstage by The Big Dog and later beaten in a televised match – but it wasn’t all bad.

The aftermath of Murphy identifying Rowan as the assailant behind the attack on Reigns - and then spilling the beans to The Big Dog - saw Rowan, weighed down by what was revealed to be a very guilty conscience, and Bryan, who believed him to be innocent, seek out the former NXT tag team champion for retribution, and with violent intent to boot.

Fuming with this and the injustice of it all, Murphy challenged the former WWE Champion to a match on an episode of Smackdown Live in late August. Murphy would go on to take risks aplenty but eventually dispatched the lurking Rowan before going on to pin Bryan after delivering Murphy’s Law.

Without a doubt, Murphy had arrived on the radar of WWE's big hitters.

#2 A string of wins

In red-hot form, Murphy leaves Zack Ryder a beaten man after their RAW meeting

Winning streaks are a valuable way for a WWE Superstar to gather momentum and aid their presentation as a credible threat to the rest of the roster. After all, even in the pre-determined world of professional wrestling, there’s little that ‘looks’ more impressive than a talent that racks up win after win over the course of a number of weeks.

That’s the treatment Buddy Murphy was afforded after being drafted to RAW as part of the blockbuster 2019 Draft that heralded new beginnings for many a superstar who might have considered themselves overlooked on a previous brand.

Though never necessarily stealing the show or dominating screen time, Murphy quietly went about his business, first knocking off R-Truth and former Cruiserweight Alexander, before also getting the better of Akira Tozawa, Matt Hardy, and Zack Ryder to help solidify not only his place on the RAW roster but also his position as part of the weekly television product.

#1. A deadly alliance

New friends? Buddy Murphy aligns with AOP and Seth Rollins

As a WWE superstar, it's clear that it pays to never be too downhearted in defeat, but equally to never get too carried away after a victory. As late 2019 turned in to 2020, Buddy Murphy learned this lesson in a painful fashion.

No doubt still on a high after his string of wins, he well and truly came unstuck when it came to facing up to the architect of the Black Mass, Aleister Black. The enigmatic Dutchman picked up a hat-trick of successive wins against the Australian, including a telling success at the TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs PPV. The last of those wins came on the 13 January episode of RAW, leaving Murphy with more than a little New Year misery to deal with.

Clearly undergoing a change in mindset, Murphy would be stationed at ringside later in the night as the main event of the evening ended in chaos, with Seth Rollins and AOP brawling with Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, and Big Show. Rollins would call upon Murphy to offer some assistance, with the 31-year-old clearly checking his conscience at the door on his way back to the ring to play his part in the beat-down.

Murphy and the heel trio would be left standing tall in the middle of the ring at the show’s end, virtually confirming his new-found status as one of WWE’s big hitters.

It had been coming.