Andrade & Murphy Status Update After Royal Rumble

Buddy Murphy seemingly got a big win over Seth Rollins back in November. That was seen as the start of something big for him. However, the Australian Star has gone off TV and even his angle with Mysterio Family and his love angle with Alayah has also been dropped quietly.

In an update, Fightful Select reported that Buddy Murphy was slated as a Royal Rumble alternate. However, he did not end up in the match as WWE had so many other things in plan for the match.

Another recent report said that Murphy has been backstage at WWE SmackDown throughout December and January. However, he has not been used. He seemingly had some storyline planned to join Rey Mysterio & Dominik on taking King Corbin and his Knights of the Lone Wolf.

However, Steve Culter getting COVID-19 and subsequently getting released from WWE saw Murphy’s involvement in the storyline scrapped.

Another person – who was on stand-by for Royal Rumble and was not used – was WWE RAW Tag Team Champion Cedric Alexander. On the other hand, one name that some fans were expecting to come back at Rumble, but who was not even listed as a backup, was Andrade.

Fightful Select reported that Andrade was not even placed on the list as a Royal Rumble alternate.

Andrade has not been seen on WWE TV since WWE Draft 2020 in October. It has been rumored in recent months that he is set for a big push on his return. But nothing has materialized yet. It is said that Andrade opted to go for an elective surgery that was long due.