Neville’s victory over Austin Aries at Extreme Rules on June 4th was a definitive end to one of the hottest, most personal feuds WWE has put together in 2017.
Their submission match at the PPV – which saw Aries give in to the always painful looking Rings of Saturn – may have cemented Neville as the rising star of the year, but it has also contrived to give an already confused and directionless 205 Live a few more creative quandaries.
Since picking up the title at the Royal Rumble from Rich Swann on January 29th, Neville has remained both undefeated in singles competition and convincing in victory. Having vanquished Swann, Neville has taken on TJ Perkins, Jack Gallagher, Mustafa Ali and Cedric Alexander (i.e. the most prominent 205 workers) at various points and remained unscathed.
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Vicious of promo and scary of face, Neville may be on top of his game right now but he has careered right into the proverbial glass ceiling. With nobody else of note to beat in his purple roped kingdom, Neville has only two options left: lose the title and have all of the great work of the past six months undone, or have another crack at RAW or Smackdown and see where the momentum can carry him.
His match at Great Balls Of Fire on July 9th against Akira Tozawa for the title could be a watershed moment for Neville’s 205 tenure. Win and have absolutely nobody else capable or believable enough of taking him on, lose and be forever doomed to look stupid for all of the hype and months of domination.
In reality, the smartest thing to do would be to have Neville drop the title. The inclusion of Titus O’Neil into this angle – terrible, annoying gimmick and all – means that it’s almost a certainty he will play some part in the outcome of their bout. It’s surely inevitable that Titus will distract Neville from outside the ring, allow Tozawa to hit a roll up, pick up the three count and scarper with the belt while a grimacing Neville pounds the canvas with his fists. You heard it here first, marks.
Even with this face-saving scenario in mind, there is no creative clarity on offer for Neville. With no draft or Superstar Shake Up (aka the Get The Popular Guys To RAW ASAP scheme) on the horizon it might prove difficult to extricate him from his underweight confines. But guys, this is WWE, where rules literally don’t matter. Just think about Brock and that convenient-when-needs-be 30 Day Title Defence rule.
Big money feuds potentially await on either the red or blue brands. A trip to Smackdown – the self-proclaimed Land of Opportunity – could find Neville tussling with any of the following:
AJ Styles – The best in the world vs the King of the Cruiserweights. Established class vs upstart arrogance. The laconic agility of Styles vs the angry crash landings of Neville. The matches these two could put on would sit atop many Best Of The Year lists with ease.
Kevin Owens – A Canadian and a Brit fighting for the US Title? Well, that’s one way to get heat. In this climate both could operate as heels, lording it over the Americans as they fight in their name as foreigners. Owens’ brute force would find a match with Neville’s strong arm tactics and whip crack aerial prowess.
Shinsuke Nakamura – Two kings knocking the absolute unholy crap out of each other. Not much more needs to be said.
Over on AW, Neville would most likely struggle and get lost in the shuffle, the same fate that befell his post-NXT career. Short of losing to Reigns, Strowman, Lesnar and Rollins, Neville may be best suited to these two potential feuds in particular:
Finn Balor – Like with Owens, Neville would find himself at odds with another former NXT champion. Balor’s good looks and ease of grace could well eat away at Neville, a man sidelined by injury at various points in his career and questionable looks. The pair could work some fast paced, unpredictable matches.
The Miz – The selfish, Hollywood arrogance of Miz is the perfect foil for Neville’s gruff, British cynicism and malevolence. The movie star pretty boy who started in reality teevee vs the man who has scraped and scrapped and clawed his way up to where he is now. Throw in Miz’s penchant for stiff violence and cheating, and you’ve got yourselves a blood feud, friends.
In typical WWE fashion, they’ve contrived to book one of their finest, hottest workers into a corner; the creative method of killing somebody with kindness. Whatever the outcome against Tozawa on Sunday, there will have to be some work done to ensure Neville’s star keeps deservedly rising.
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