On Tuesday's inaugural episode of 205 Live on WWE Network, Rich Swann defeated Brian Kendrick to win the Cruiserweight Championship for the first time.
The 205 Live Twitter account shared an image of Kendrick celebrating his win:
Kendrick successfully defended the cruiserweight title against Kalisto at Survivor Series with a win by disqualification when Baron Corbin interfered.
That ensured the entire cruiserweight division would remain on Raw, and it led to a Triple Threat match between Swann, TJ Perkins and Noam Dar for the No. 1 contendership on last week's edition of the show.
Swann entered the match with a ton of momentum on his side. In addition to scoring the pinfall in a six-man tag team match on the Survivor Series Kickoff Show, Swann posted both a tag team and singles victory over Kendrick in the weeks leading up to the Triple Threat.
The fun-loving Swann managed to pin the former cruiserweight champion in TJP to earn a title shot, which set the stage for a highly anticipated 205 Live main event.
Following the success of the Cruiserweight Classic during the summer, 205 Live was recently announced, and WWE went to great lengths to generate interest in the new show by booking a championship match between two of the world's top cruiserweights.
The 37-year-old Kendrick is as savvy and experienced as they come, and as evidenced by his comments leading up to Survivor Series, he has the utmost confidence in himself too, according to WWE Universe on Twitter:
Despite Kendrick's success since returning to WWE, there were major question marks regarding his ability to overcome a Superstar as athletically gifted as Swann.
Kendrick needed to play possum and use dirty tactics to take the title from Perkins in the first place, and he was very much in danger of dropping the championship to Kalisto at Survivor Series prior to Corbin's interference.
Swann had been nearly unstoppable leading up to 205 Live, so it seemed likely that Kendrick would have to pull another trick from his sleeve in order to prevail.
The dynamic in Tuesday's match was highly entertaining, as Kendrick is the quintessential heel, while the crowd is arguably more behind Swann than any other cruiserweight on the roster.
Kendrick and Swann proved to have great in-ring chemistry and put on a match that helped boost the prestige of the Cruiserweight Championship.
Although Swann came out on top, a rematch with Kendrick seems almost certain, and the fact that Perkins is still due a championship rematch adds intrigue to the title scene as well.
The addition of 205 Live to WWE's lineup gives the cruiserweights another chance to shine, and both Kendrick and Swann made the most of that opportunity Tuesday.
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