Cedric Alexander has had one hell of a 2016. The longtime stalwart of the U.S. independent wrestling scene had arguably one of the biggest breakthrough years in a long time, having one of the best matches of the year in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic and winding up smack-dab in the middle of the main WWE roster, as part of their rebooted (for better or worse) cruiserweight division.
Cedric recently stopped by Booker T’s Heated Conversations podcast to talk shop, and of course his current shop is being one of the biggest fan favorites in the cruiserweight division, although his time is currently being spent in and Archie-Reggie HEY THAT’S MY GIRLFRIEND storyline with Noam “Bad At Jackets” Dar. But he (and most of the other cruiserweights) had no idea they’d be moving to Raw. At most, they expected the CWC and possibly a spot on NXT. Whoops!
“I just expected us to have this tournament. The belt would probably be a part of NXT or something like that. I didn’t think it would be on the flagship show. And then, on top of that, get its own show. I was definitely freaking out. It was just happening so fast. There as almost no time to react, honestly.”
We had heard for a while that the end of the CWC and the move to Raw was a pretty fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants affair, with no set plans being firmed up until the last minute … a tradition that arguably continues to this day. But it still must have been amazing and quite a shock to go from getting invited to the CWC, to being signed, to suddenly being on Raw every week in the span of just a few months.
The next major breakthrough for Cedric will definitely be busting out of this MY WIIIIIFE angle and competing for the actual cruiserweight title … or maybe that belt Roman Reigns doesn’t appear to care much about.
(h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription)
