Buddy Murphy has enjoyed a new lease of life recently as part of Seth Rollins’ stable on Monday Night Raw and he’s now one-half of the RAW Tag Team champions as a result.

The Australian grabbed everyone’s attention as the show-stealing Cruiserweight champion, but now he is breaking away from that stigma and becoming a fully-fledged part of WWE’s flagship show.

3 Buddy Murphy was a prominent part of the rise of 205 Live

talkSPORT had the chance to talk to the once Best Kept Secret – an interview you can hear on this week’s talkWRESTLING on talkSPORT 2, 6-7pm on Wednesday – and we got into a multitude of topics.

Hi Buddy! Let’s talk about the breakout performances you had against Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan on SmackDown last year. How was it working with them?

“Yeah, it was awesome to be in that position. First of all, with the Roman match and being thrown into the mix with him – Roman was awesome to work with. He kind of let me put my own little spin on it.

“It was more a Buddy Murphy match, so to speak. I know a lot of people in the internet wrestling community give Roman a lot of hate, ‘he can’t wrestle’ and whatever – Roman is one of the best wrestlers in the world and you can mark my word on that. And I feel like he opened up a lot of our eyes that he could do a match and hang with me, so to speak.

“I know a lot of people were saying I hung with Roman and that was the idea, but Roman hung with me! We had great chemistry together and I would wrestle him every day of the week. Same with Daniel Bryan. Bryan is obviously a little bit smaller than Roman and has had that independent background as have I, but it was just awesome to get in there and mix it up with them all. I would do it again any day.”

3 Buddy Murphy pushed Roman Reigns to the limit when they met on SmackDown

One might think Paul Heyman is quite the fan of yours given how he has used you on RAW over the past few months. How has it been working with and learning from Heyman?

“Paul has been awesome to work with. He has a lot of belief in me and I don’t want to let him down. The Aleister Black performances and what not, I want the ball and I want to run with it. I believe – and Paul believes – I can be a mega star for this company.

Once that bells rings, I’ve got that down pat, now I just need a story to sink my teeth into and maybe being Seth’s disciple is it. Paul has been a great influence and he’s been pointing me in the direction and as long as I can keep Paul and Vince [McMahon happy], then I’m happy.”

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How did joining Seth and the AOP come about? It’s a nice bit of character development for you…

“It’s pretty real what you’re seeing in the sense I respect Seth a lot. I’m his follower, or disciple, or whatever you want to call it and there’s a lot I can learn from him. It’s a really fun dynamic that I think can lead to some good storylines and working alongside AOP, working alongside Seth in the ring is great, too.

“Seth did approach me about it, yes. I was very excited to have a story to sink my teeth into because I know I can go out there and perform.

“I’ve proven that and I’ve stolen many, many shows I’ve been on, but the character aspect and connecting with fans is something you always want to work on. This is the perfect opportunity for that.”

3 AOP alongside Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy on RAW

As a man that helped raise 205 Live to the highest it has been, what do you make of what you’re seeing there now – is WWE giving it enough attention and do you still watch it?

“No, unfortunately I don’t. 205 was a family. When I came in, they accepted me. The 205 guys, the whole roster was like a family. We would hang out and we were promoting our own brand, so to speak. Everything we did, we did together. Then once we lost Ali, we took a big hit. Then Cedric and myself got drafted to SmackDown, that was another big hit. We got the Oney Lorcans and stuff like that, but now I haven’t had a chance [to watch].

“The 205 originals are awesome. They could mix it up on the main roster any day of the week. But the current product I haven’t really seen. I know they’ve transitioned from the WWE Cruiserweight title to the NXT Cruiserweight title. From what I’ve seen of it, they don’t do much [in the way of] stories at the moment. Not many storylines there, you know what I mean? I don’t know.

“I personally, as a guy who feels like he helped build 205 Live, it’s a completely different entity now. They’ve had to replace the original guys and I don’t get much of a chance to watch it being busy on the road, but I remember 205 Live for what it was, not necessarily what it is now because I’m just not too sure.”

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Guys like Cedric Alexander and Ali seem to be waiting in the wings for their chance to shine on the main roster and shed that stigma that seems to have come with cruiserweights in the past few years on the big shows. Do you believe they should be used more?

“I think 205 is a completely different universe than the WWE universe. The people that watch 205 are the die-hards for pure wrestling. The WWE universe is everyone else and the pure wrestling fans and it’s just a lot bigger of a universe. So we had to re-educate them. re-educate the fans on who we are.

“Fortunately for me, the Roman Reigns match and the Daniel Bryan match, I got to introduce my wrestling abilities to the WWE universe who weren’t familiar with me. But in the WWE universe, it’s more than just in-ring performances. They go a long way, but it’s that something else that people will sink their teeth into.

“I’m not worried about Cedric [Alexander] and Ali. They’re both two of the best in the world and I would gladly step in the ring with either one of them any night of the week. They’re going to be just fine. It’s just not their time just yet. But, when they get that opportunity, I can guarantee they will flourish.”

WWE Raw highlights continue this Sunday 9th February at 10:30am on Channel 5