Do you see Neville as a credible threat to the top guys on RAW?

[TheprofileofJericho]

Alright people, this topic has been on my mind for quite some time, so I thought i would share it with you, and ask for your opinions.

There is no doubt that Neville is having the best WWE run in his career so far. I think all of us always knew that he was one of the best workers on the roster. I mean just look at him, the guy is an athlete if there ever was one. Incredible acrobatics, and incredible physique. But even though he is jacked like a beast, he is quite short. And as we know short guys dont have the best track record of being main event starts, with a few exceptions. I think Neville should definitely be among those exceptions.

Going back to his NXT days, he was the main guy for quite some time. He held the NXT championship for an impressive 287 days, only 5 days shorter then Balor's record reign. Everything was going great for him in NXT, he had all the momentum in the world, and theeeeen he got called over to the wretched abyss know as the main roster. As soon as he debuted on RAW, you could see that they didn't have a clue as to what to do with him. So as expected he got lost in the shuffle with no clear direction going forward. This directionless mess lasted for almost 2 years. Two years of him doing absolutley NOTHING. The superhero cape thing was stupid as hell, and thus he became one of the blandest guys on the entire roster, only known for the fact that he had a cool finisher. So naturally I gave up on it, I said fck it they will never use him to his full potential, he isn't the first and certainly won't be the last of WWE's missed opportunities.

But then lo and behold, after being off tv for a few months he returned in december 2016 as a cruiserweight, and immediately turned heel. Result? Pure gold! He won me over instantly with the amazing promo he cut on his return to RAW. The promo was so intense and genuine. It felt like he wasn't even given a script. He took 2 years of pure anger and frustration, and redirected all of it into one promo. This instantly made him one of the best heels in WWE, along with KO and Jericho. He was finally given a clear chance to prove himself, and in no time he became the only reason the cruiserweights had any relevancy at all. He dominated the division, and while the RAW and 205 live stuff was pure garbage, he had some really good PPV matches with the other cruserweights. His feud with Aries was really good stuff, and probably the best you will ever see out of this division. But after that, what is there left for this man. Let's be honest the rest of the roster is non existant, not that it's their fault really. The talent on the show is great, but the damage has already been done by the WWE, and every RAW they just go out of their way to tell you "Okay guys bathroom break time, make sure you do it know and not when Roman is in the ring". Still, as much as I have trashed this entire division, there is one good thing that came out of it. It gave Neville a platform for him to break out, and show everyone how damn good he really is. But has he gotten two good for it? Absolutely! I think that with this heel run, he has proven that he can be one of the main players on the main roster.


There is no doubt in my mind that Neville will eventually find his way back to the main roster. Now I'm not saying that he should go back to the main roster ASAP, since he is still very young, and while he is considered a veteran in the business, he still has his whole carrer ahead of him. But if he does reach that main event level, do you see him posing a threat to the bigger guys on the roster. Well if Balor can, and if Bryan could, then Neville certainly can two. He has the physique, the athleticism and the intesity. His moveset is also very inovative, plus his kicks are just brutal, excecuted with such speed. So yeah, I can definitely see him having believable matches against the likes of Reigns, Joe, hell even Brock and Strowman. Plus, lets not forget that he is one of the strongest guys on the roster pound for pound.
Insert clip here.


Well that would be all. I didn't mean for this to be so long, but I guess I got carried away. Sorry about that. Anyway I look forward to your feedback on the topic, and hope you enjoyed reading my post.
Cheers :jeritroll:.

 

[Grievous 3D]

Dude...I agree with you.

Neville is a beast and should be wrestling guys
like Rollins, Balor, Wyatt, Ambrose, Nakamura,
Owens and especially Styles.

(Yes I know they're on a different brand...but we
all know those matches would be awesome)

Its amazing to think that even though the
crusierweight division is struggling...they
have without a doubt the most dominant
champion on the main roster.

I've been saying that I hope Neville holds
that belt for 500+ days...and I mean it.

 

[Death Walker]

Alright people, this topic has been on my mind for quite some time, so I thought i would share it with you, and ask for your opinions.

There is no doubt that Neville is having the best WWE run in his career so far. I think all of us always knew that he was one of the best workers on the roster. I mean just look at him, the guy is an athlete if there ever was one. Incredible acrobatics, and incredible physique. But even though he is jacked like a beast, he is quite short. And as we know short guys dont have the best track record of being main event starts, with a few exceptions. I think Neville should definitely be among those exceptions.

Going back to his NXT days, he was the main guy for quite some time. He held the NXT championship for an impressive 287 days, only 5 days shorter then Balor's record reign. Everything was going great for him in NXT, he had all the momentum in the world, and theeeeen he got called over to the wretched abyss know as the main roster. As soon as he debuted on RAW, you could see that they didn't have a clue as to what to do with him. So as expected he got lost in the shuffle with no clear direction going forward. This directionless mess lasted for almost 2 years. Two years of him doing absolutley NOTHING. The superhero cape thing was stupid as hell, and thus he became one of the blandest guys on the entire roster, only known for the fact that he had a cool finisher. So naturally I gave up on it, I said fck it they will never use him to his full potential, he isn't the first and certainly won't be the last of WWE's missed opportunities.

But then lo and behold, after being off tv for a few months he returned in december 2016 as a cruiserweight, and immediately turned heel. Result? Pure gold! He won me over instantly with the amazing promo he cut on his return to RAW. The promo was so intense and genuine. It felt like he wasn't even given a script. He took 2 years of pure anger and frustration, and redirected all of it into one promo. This instantly made him one of the best heels in WWE, along with KO and Jericho. He was finally given a clear chance to prove himself, and in no time he became the only reason the cruiserweights had any relevancy at all. He dominated the division, and while the RAW and 205 live stuff was pure garbage, he had some really good PPV matches with the other cruserweights. His feud with Aries was really good stuff, and probably the best you will ever see out of this division. But after that, what is there left for this man. Let's be honest the rest of the roster is non existant, not that it's their fault really. The talent on the show is great, but the damage has already been done by the WWE, and every RAW they just go out of their way to tell you "Okay guys bathroom break time, make sure you do it know and not when Roman is in the ring". Still, as much as I have trashed this entire division, there is one good thing that came out of it. It gave Neville a platform for him to break out, and show everyone how damn good he really is. But has he gotten two good for it? Absolutely! I think that with this heel run, he has proven that he can be one of the main players on the main roster.


There is no doubt in my mind that Neville will eventually find his way back to the main roster. Now I'm not saying that he should go back to the main roster ASAP, since he is still very young, and while he is considered a veteran in the business, he still has his whole carrer ahead of him. But if he does reach that main event level, do you see him posing a threat to the bigger guys on the roster. Well if Balor can, and if Bryan could, then Neville certainly can two. He has the physique, the athleticism and the intesity. His moveset is also very inovative, plus his kicks are just brutal, excecuted with such speed. So yeah, I can definitely see him having believable matches against the likes of Reigns, Joe, hell even Brock and Strowman. Plus, lets not forget that he is one of the strongest guys on the roster pound for pound.
Insert clip here.


Well that would be all. I didn't mean for this to be so long, but I guess I got carried away. Sorry about that. Anyway I look forward to your feedback on the topic, and hope you enjoyed reading my post.
Cheers :jeritroll:.

Well there's a lot to cover here due to your "enthusiastic" article LOL just joking of course. So let's begin:

I really never knew about this guy until he came to the main roster (RAW, before the super hero phase kicked in) and a lot of friends of mine were so amped, ready to see all the amazing things he was going to bring to RAW. He had a rocky start in the few weeks to follows and I noticed immediately that he had potential not being utilized. So I sat back and waited on WWE to do something with the guy especially since he came right over from NXT. One night on a RAW episode, the lights cut off and music blared around the arena, leaving everyone in confusion to what was going on (were we getting a new superstar, a re-invented one, a past one we may have forgotten??? We had no clue.) and sure enough, it was Neville in a purple cape and being announced as "THE MAN THAT GRAVITY FORGOT!!!" So I was still wondering where they were going with this guy, he wasn't bad at all in the ring just needed proper booking and an interesting story to follow even if it would be the same old played out underdog story as long as it appealed to the audience. We watched the athlete work his ass off as this anomaly that was supposed to be spectacular with all this agility, energy and his Red Arrow finisher, only for WWE to drop the ball on giving him any actual interest. Instead, they just made him a sideshow or filler for everybody else who they were more concerned with. I actually felt genuinely bad for this guy in his position because they hyped him up as well as the WWE fans were excited and they never led him in any solid direction (like you said).

But then out of nowhere, he pops up on the new cruiserweight show (which a lot of fans were watching at this time lol) and completely change the gravitation on this world (pun intended!). Neville was now fierce and super intense and very serious and angry, THIS IS WHAT WWE WAS BUILT FOR. I have no idea what the other hang ups are to make everything this thrilling and edgy (whether it's "all Vince's fault" or the writers and creative teams or the WWE staff just not paying attention) but without this type of impactful statements made in the business, WWE will continually lose and confuse the fans at a slow steady rate. Anyway back to Neville, I saw his return and quickly thought ok I guess this will last for a few weeks before WWE let this burn out like other superstars/stories. However, they made Neville a new addition to the cruiserweight division AND capitalize on one of the important weak spots which was the division needs challenges and struggles, deep stories not just technique and high flyers. Neville has surely brought the fire and keeps it burning as he should even though I don't really like a lot of Neville's shortcuts to win matches/retain the title, he definitely takes control. And yes, he needs to come back to a main roster at some point in time and WWE would be FUCKING IDIOTS if they let the opportunity slip away AGAIN with King Neville.

NOW here's the problems with bringing him to the "big table" (RAW or even SmackDown Live):

1. One of the most important thing about presenting someone new to these big shows is (and a lot of people argue with me about this)...........TIMING! TIMING! TIMING! It is important for the right time for a move like this especially for him to complete any and all unfinished business at 205 Live (please WWE no skipping, skimping or rushing. Take the time and end that part of his career correctly). Once that is handled then they have to make the right time to bring him on, it can't be too early (where too much is going on with Raw/SmackDown Live and superstars are finally becoming great) and not too late (where everything is dragging ass and boring, barely any fans are paying attention).
2. Right now, Raw is really not in the best shape for a lot of what it could be doing and need to do. There are repetitive matches after repetitive matches, for awhile they copied all the great ideas that SmackDown Live did instead of using their own, terrible stories, bad bookings and misutilizing the talent (I'm talking about the GM, superstars, promos, commentary team, backstage acts). They still struggle to get things sharp and crisp with minimal bumps/hiccups, I mean even SmackDown Live mess up as well but not as much as Raw.
3. This is more of my own personal feeling but I want "King" Neville to do a little more with 205 Live like finally prove he can beat a few opponents without any cheap shots or cheating tactics. I want him to show that not only did he get away with doing so much devious stuff but he also can win fair and square, and on top of that let his big send off be about him facing someone who is intense as himself (whether heel or face, maybe Cedric Alexander) and to make this even better, perhaps have them develop feud matches with the last one at a fan's favorite PPV (say Survivor's Series??) and he relinquishes the title to that person.

That's it for me, as you all can see I wrote a quite a bit and I apologize but it had to be done. Enjoy!

 

[Snowman1]

First of all, awesome post. That was a fun read!
Is he credible enough to belong in the main events!?... Not really... If we weren't in a time where the main event scene wasn't the strongest it's been in years, with the big 4 (or at least 3 of them) being handled so well, I'd absolutely agree. He's got probably the best win-loss record, possibly the best in-ring offense, and the most protected/spectacular finish on the whole main roster.

However, that's for the best. It would have to be as a babyface (a real "turn" wouldn't even be required, him as this angry undersized badass would be enough) and he can go face a Samoa Joe or Strowman or even a Brock Lesnar. Running with an underdog Neville against one of these behemoths sounds absolutely must-see to me.

 

[bmui]

Not if he stays as King of the Cruiser weights and Cruiser Weight Champion.

 

[bmui]

Not if he stays as King of the Cruiser weights and Cruiser Weight Champion.

And Brock Lesnar is current WWE Universal Champion.

 

[TheprofileofJericho]

First of all, awesome post. That was a fun read!
Is he credible enough to belong in the main events!?... Not really... If we weren't in a time where the main event scene wasn't the strongest it's been in years, with the big 4 (or at least 3 of them) being handled so well, I'd absolutely agree. He's got probably the best win-loss record, possibly the best in-ring offense, and the most protected/spectacular finish on the whole main roster.

However, that's for the best. It would have to be as a babyface (a real "turn" wouldn't even be required, him as this angry undersized badass would be enough) and he can go face a Samoa Joe or Strowman or even a Brock Lesnar. Running with an underdog Neville against one of these behemoths sounds absolutely must-see to me.

Yeah I agree with this. He definitely couldn't work as a dominant main heel over huge guys like Strowman Joe and Lesnar. Only if he was a chicken heel, like Rollins was but that would defeat the whole purpose. So yeah like you said he could work as a badass face that keeps the intensity his heel character has. I too would really like to see that.

 

[CoccoMania]

Alright people, this topic has been on my mind for quite some time, so I thought i would share it with you, and ask for your opinions.

There is no doubt that Neville is having the best WWE run in his career so far. I think all of us always knew that he was one of the best workers on the roster. I mean just look at him, the guy is an athlete if there ever was one. Incredible acrobatics, and incredible physique. But even though he is jacked like a beast, he is quite short. And as we know short guys dont have the best track record of being main event starts, with a few exceptions. I think Neville should definitely be among those exceptions.

Going back to his NXT days, he was the main guy for quite some time. He held the NXT championship for an impressive 287 days, only 5 days shorter then Balor's record reign. Everything was going great for him in NXT, he had all the momentum in the world, and theeeeen he got called over to the wretched abyss know as the main roster. As soon as he debuted on RAW, you could see that they didn't have a clue as to what to do with him. So as expected he got lost in the shuffle with no clear direction going forward. This directionless mess lasted for almost 2 years. Two years of him doing absolutley NOTHING. The superhero cape thing was stupid as hell, and thus he became one of the blandest guys on the entire roster, only known for the fact that he had a cool finisher. So naturally I gave up on it, I said fck it they will never use him to his full potential, he isn't the first and certainly won't be the last of WWE's missed opportunities.

But then lo and behold, after being off tv for a few months he returned in december 2016 as a cruiserweight, and immediately turned heel. Result? Pure gold! He won me over instantly with the amazing promo he cut on his return to RAW. The promo was so intense and genuine. It felt like he wasn't even given a script. He took 2 years of pure anger and frustration, and redirected all of it into one promo. This instantly made him one of the best heels in WWE, along with KO and Jericho. He was finally given a clear chance to prove himself, and in no time he became the only reason the cruiserweights had any relevancy at all. He dominated the division, and while the RAW and 205 live stuff was pure garbage, he had some really good PPV matches with the other cruserweights. His feud with Aries was really good stuff, and probably the best you will ever see out of this division. But after that, what is there left for this man. Let's be honest the rest of the roster is non existant, not that it's their fault really. The talent on the show is great, but the damage has already been done by the WWE, and every RAW they just go out of their way to tell you "Okay guys bathroom break time, make sure you do it know and not when Roman is in the ring". Still, as much as I have trashed this entire division, there is one good thing that came out of it. It gave Neville a platform for him to break out, and show everyone how damn good he really is. But has he gotten two good for it? Absolutely! I think that with this heel run, he has proven that he can be one of the main players on the main roster.


There is no doubt in my mind that Neville will eventually find his way back to the main roster. Now I'm not saying that he should go back to the main roster ASAP, since he is still very young, and while he is considered a veteran in the business, he still has his whole carrer ahead of him. But if he does reach that main event level, do you see him posing a threat to the bigger guys on the roster. Well if Balor can, and if Bryan could, then Neville certainly can two. He has the physique, the athleticism and the intesity. His moveset is also very inovative, plus his kicks are just brutal, excecuted with such speed. So yeah, I can definitely see him having believable matches against the likes of Reigns, Joe, hell even Brock and Strowman. Plus, lets not forget that he is one of the strongest guys on the roster pound for pound.
Insert clip here.


Well that would be all. I didn't mean for this to be so long, but I guess I got carried away. Sorry about that. Anyway I look forward to your feedback on the topic, and hope you enjoyed reading my post.
Cheers :jeritroll:.

I agree that he's probably more physically gifted than anyone on either roster outside of AJ, but I can't see him as a threat to big names or big bodies because he's a heel. David v Goliath only works when David is a babyface underdog and Goliath is a heel. Daniel Bryan v Authority, HBK vs Diesel/Taker, Mysterio, Hitman, etc....
I also can't see him getting that face main event run anytime soon b/c the shows loaded with faces/not exactly heels. Like you said, he took off after heel turn only. Also, on NXT, he was long term champ in a different era, before big name signings. He wouldn't have been in the picture save for a match or two if he came up with Joe, Balor, KO, Nakamura, Roode...

 

[SWL]

if Neville was to get "promoted" out of the cruiserweight division, he'd still be an underdog. But obviously that all depends on how they'd book him. If they put him up against names like Strowman, Lesnar or Reigns then I don't see much happening besides 1 good main event. He wouldn't benefit off of that one bit. After all, the reason why he's doing so well now is because he has smaller people putting him over.

 

[TheprofileofJericho]

I also can't see him getting that face main event run anytime soon b/c the shows loaded with faces/not exactly heels.

Umm you do realise that the closest thing to a face in the main event of RAW currently is Finn Balor, and he is feuding with BRAY WYATT. Who else besides Balor comes even close to the main event scene? Rollins and Ambrose? They are currently in the IC title picture, and plus their characters have been one of the stalest on WWE TV for the past few months. RAW desperately needs some interesting, and OVER babyfaces, because currently the guy most over with the crowd is Strowman, a HEEL.

 

[DiggleGick]

I think when he loses the title he absolutely should go to the main roster. Once his reign is over I don't wanna see him doing 6 man tags every month with random cruiserweights who aren't doing anything.

But, can he be credible? Definitely man. He's super good and interesting, I just hope he doesn't turn face too quickly after he leaves 205 Live cos his style is too entertaining vs. slower guys.

 

[Jacob Fox]

Absolutely. I thought he would be credible when he was brought up the first time... until they saddled him with that idiotic gimmick and made him seem silly. Now he's got an edge that I think will translate wonderfully if he is on the main roster. Will he ever hold a world title? Hmmm... maybe not but I can see a long IC reign.

 

[Rosie]

Neville's proved himself and he has almost carried the entire division. He was already hanged with them from an in-ring perspective, just as a heel may be a bit tricky as he is more of a natural underdog compared to the heavyweights.

 

[Mr. Roman Empire]

The problem with Neville, is his mic skills are terrible. He's a beast in the ring. But his lack of conviction and think foreign accent weighs his character down. Him turning heel has helped him become a little more interested but I still find that he's a hard character to get invested. All his lines sounds so blatantly scripted and corny to me.

 

[TheprofileofJericho]

The problem with Neville, is his mic skills are terrible. He's a beast in the ring. But his lack of conviction and think foreign accent weighs his character down. Him turning heel has helped him become a little more interested but I still find that he's a hard character to get invested. All his lines sounds so blatantly scripted and corny to me.

Tbh, I thought his mic skills have been really good ever since he has turned heel. Everyone sounds scripted in the WWE today, at least he brings some intensity when he speaks. Guys like Balor, Rollins and Reigns are much more bland to me.