Wesley Blake On What Led To End Of “Blake And Murphy” WWE NXT Tag Run
During his recent appearance on The Wrestling Inc. Daily, former WWE Superstar Wesley Blake [Westin Blake] reflected on his run as a tag team with Buddy Murphy in WWE NXT.
Blake recounted how he and Murphy had been tied at the hip from their very first day in WWE.
"We both got started on the same day at the Performance Center. It was July 8, 2013, and we were the first group of class that came into the PC," Blake recalled. "We actually met at our tryouts at FCW, and there was going to be only one guaranteed contract given out. Murphy happened to be that person. And that's when our friendship began. Since he was a foreigner, he was looking for friends to show him around. We hit it off, and started riding on the road together.
"It wasn't until eight or nine months in when Matt Bloom pulled me aside and asked me, 'what do you think about tagging with Buddy?' At that time, the thought never occurred to me, but I said, 'I would love to.' And so, that night at a promo class, Dusty Rhodes said, 'come back tomorrow with Murphy and we'll put you two in front of a camera.' I called Buddy and we were so excited. And before you know it, we started doing live events together as a tag team."
Blake continued, "Just to illustrate on how passionate we were to succeed...at the time, we didn't have matching gear like kick pads, shorts and stuff. So, I remember borrowing someone else's white shorts and boots just so we could look cohesive as a team. Once that happened, the ball started rolling. We got the Match of the Year and when we first came out of Full Sail, we had a dark match with Lucha Dragons and got a bunch of great feedback. They loved our look, vibe, and chemistry. We both had the same level of intensity and things just clicked. People watching us could tell we had a real connection and friendship. And when that exudes on TV, people could really get behind us."
When asked by Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman if there's the possibility of him and Murphy reuniting on the indie circuit, Blake said: "Yes, absolutely. That could be a future opportunity if it presents itself. Murphy and I are still keep in contact with each other."
As for why his tag team with Murphy was disbanded, Blake said it had a lot to do with Alexa Bliss leaving the stable to go on a singles run.
"I guess it's just what creative wanted," Blake said. "Once we dropped the NXT Tag Titles, they wanted to split Alexa away from us, so she could have her singes run. We were very happy for her because we knew she was going to be star. And so, we were still tagging but not getting any traction. We weren't having any storylines on NXT, and then they slowly started putting us in singles matches. At one point, we were at odds and unsure if we're still a team or not. And then eventually, they said Samoa Joe was going to come lay us out during a match. At the time, Buddy and I pitched the idea of wrestling each other, in a best-of-three or best-of-five series. But they didn't want that. So, I just started doing my Beautiful Blake character and he moved onto 205 Live."
You can follow Westin on Twitter @TheWestinBlake. You can find Blake's full interview via the players below:
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