What’s the story?
Jack Gallagher won a Fatal 5-Way elimination match on 205 Live last night to confirm himself as the number one contender to Neville’s WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Gallagher outlasted TJ Perkins, Noam Dar, Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali to win the bout, and his match with Neville for the title has been confirmed for RAW’s upcoming Fastlane pay-per-view event.
Gallagher was coming off an entertaining performance in the 2017 Royal Rumble, and his ascension to the number one contender’s spot should come as little surprise.
In case you didn’t know...
Whilst the revamped Cruiserweight division has gotten off to something of a rough start, the performances of ‘The Extraordinary Gentleman’ have been something of a revelation. The 27-year-old from Manchester, England has wowed crowds with his unorthodox offence and impeccable manners, overcoming Ariya Daivari in a lengthy feud that was the highlight of 205 Live for a number of weeks.
Neville won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at the 2017 Royal Rumble, forcing former champion Rich Swann to tap out to the Rings of Saturn.
The heart of the matter
Such a championship challenge by the Extraordinary Gentleman was somewhat inevitable. Some believed that WWE may have held that match off for WrestleMania 33, but it seems that the company is going ahead with the match sooner rather than later.
With four champions in the first four months of the tournament, it is unlikely that the title will change hands once again, but Gallagher’s popularity could yet put a cat amongst the pigeons.
What’s next?
The match between the two Brits has been confirmed for Fastlane, as the card for the show on March 5th begins to take shape. The show will be headlined by Goldberg’s first World Championship match for over 13 years, as Big Bad Bill goes up against current Universal Champion Kevin Owens.
Elsewhere, Roman Reigns will take on Braun Strowman in the only other match currently announced for the show.
Sportskeeda’s take
We assume that the Cruiserweight Championship will be on the line at WrestleMania 33 in some sort of multi-man gauntlet-style match, so it makes a lot of sense for WWE to make Gallagher number 1 contender.
Whilst putting the title on Neville is without a doubt the right decision, the division still needs something of a boost, and a match between the champion and the division’s most popular challenger makes a lot of sense. This should be a lot of fun.
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