When Buddy Murphy won the tag team titles in NXT, it wasn’t just a milestone for himself and tag partner Wesley Blake.
The Melbourne native made WWE history for Australia as well.
“It was a huge honor,” Murphy said.
“It was quite an accomplishment for me. I wasn’t aware it went beyond that until the Australian fans hit me up on Twitter to inform me. I did a little research and was the first Australian-born to ever hold a championship. It’s something nobody can take away from me. It’s awesome. Speechless is the right word.”
The 27-year-old has grown within WWE’s developmental brand over the last two-and-a-half years. His first big break within the company came at the hands of the late Dusty Rhodes. The Hall of Famer had the idea to test the waters of Blake and Murphy as a duo.
“We both had a similar look,” Murphy said.
“A lot of people get us mixed up as brothers. So when we were put together we had a trial run that did pretty well. We’ve been tagging for about a year-and-a-half now. I think Blake and I are just starting to get to where we want now with our tag team wrestling and psychology. I think we are really better now than we have ever been in our career.”
Murphy will never forget what the “American Dream” did for him. He was grateful to have as a mentor.
“Dusty was a huge part of bringing me out of my shell,” he said.
“I was this shy kid, and Wes was this outgoing Texan. He saw potential in us both in bringing us together. We found magic there. We owe our careers, our tag team run and our tag team championship run. We owe it all to Dusty.”
There was no doubt Blake and Murphy had the mechanics down in the ring, but was missing an element to help them stand out. Believe it or not, their hair helped do that. Seeing discussion on social media and responses from the crowd the team ran with it.
“We’d never had long hair before coming to NXT,” Murphy said.
“The long hair was something new to us. As two jokester on road trips we would do just outrageous hairstyles. It made its way to live shows. With Blake, he enhanced it. For me, I have my look with the wet hair. Blake likes to change it up to keep people guessing. People give him crap for it. The crowd doesn’t like his hairstyles too much, but as long as he loves it. That’s all that matters to him.”
Their personalities evolved exponentially while working against the charismatic Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady. Blake and Murphy decided to add Alexa Bliss to the mix as a way to combat Carmella at ringside. The move was beneficial to all parties.
“We kind of thought it would be a cool dynamic to have a third member,” Murphy said.
“We looked around and saw Alex Bliss just sitting there. She wasn’t doing much. She had the blue hair and was the little fairy queen. Nobody really thought there would be a bad bone in her body. So we spoke to her and turned her bad. The rest is history. Now she is small, but fierce.”
For Murphy what you see on television is what you get from the tag team outside of the ring.
“The wackier you see us the more humorous and outlandish we are,” he said.
“That’s us. There was a promo we did a couple of weeks ago on NXT where we are in the background. We would mime the whole thing while Alex was talking. You couldn’t be any more straightforward. That’s us. That’s what we do without the cameras. That’s what we do with the cameras. We don’t have a jock mentality. Though we think we are the best. We know we are the best. So we are going to have fun while we are letting the world know it.”
The performer is in NXT at the perfect time. The brand has exploded in popularity, especially in the last year.
“When I first came here they couldn’t really draw,” Murphy said.
“Our product wasn’t known to the world like it is now. So when we did these shows we used to have like 10 or 15 people sometimes. Now we are selling out with 400 to 500 people and more on bigger events. To when I first started to now is night and day. To be part of this whole thing, it’s great. There is not one person at the Performance Center who doesn’t work hard.
“We all bust our butts every single day to become the best. We have the best brand, so we are trying to show the world. The moment it kind of stood out was in Brooklyn. We sold out the Barclays Center. It’s the same venue as SummerSlam with thousands of fans watching NXT and screaming NXT. You go from a little town drawing five people, 10 people to big arenas. This is NXT today.”
Murphy is excited about the future. He is also enjoying what he is doing. That’s why if the call the main roster doesn’t come right away, it’s not the end of the world.
“I’m going with the flow,” Murphy said.
“If I was told I’d be going to the main roster, that’s fantastic. It’s where we really want to go and make it. But NXT’s is such a good brand and place to be right now. If it didn’t happen in the next year, I’m still happy where I’m at. I’m keeping busy. I’d love to get the call, but I’m happy here also.”
Murphy has his bags packed as the NXT roster heads to the United Kingdom for the first time. They will compete before packed houses including a live special 3/2CT Wednesday, Dec. 16 on WWE Network titled NXT TakeOver: London.
“It’s huge,” Murphy said.
“From something that airs on WWE Network just shows that the WWE Network is out there and how much NXT is out there. I hope in the near future NXT goes down to Australia, and I can wrestle in front of my home country. NXT going to New York and the U.K., this is just baby steps. NXT is taking over.”
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Photos Courtesy: WWE
