I have returned once again to bring you the fourth edition of this series.
Our
Facebook followers already determined the Best Female (Paige), Best Newcomer (Rusev), and the Best Tag Team (The Usos) of 2014. This time I asked them who was the best high-flyer of 2014. Any wrestlers from any promotions were eligible, and we got a range of nominations. Some of the names (but not all) included Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles, Ricochet, ACH and Kota Ibushi. There was one man who stood out above the rest and garnered the most amount of votes, so without any further delay, let’s enjoy the year of “The Man That Gravity Forgot”.
Adrian Neville is the second English (and third European) wrestler voted into the Facebook Best of 2014 album. As a Yorkshireman, I can relate to Neville. His hometown of Newcastle is just up the road from my hometown. I have supported Newcastle United since I was a child, and it appears he has as well.
I remember the first time I saw him wrestle. I was watching 1PW and I saw “Pac” breaking the rules of gravity. The crowd loved him, and the commentators put him over a treat. It was at that moment I thought … man, this guy can fly, he needs to get into WWE one day.
Fast forward to the end of 2014, and Adrian Neville is ending the year as the most successful NXT wrestler. He is the longest reigning NXT champion (287 days), and just like previous champions (Rollins, Big E, Bo Dallas), he is bound to move up to the main roster permanently in 2015.
He doesn’t have a character yet, but he does have amazing athletic ability. He’s small in stature, but he is muscular like a heavyweight. Neville is able to use his strength and agility to perform some of the sickest moves in wrestling. Hopefully his athletic ability alone will help to get him over, but in the WWE you always need a little more. Will the casual WWE fans (who don’t watch NXT) care about Neville? Or will they jokingly ask why WWE have an elf on the show?
Sorry … that was a dig at his ears, but comments such as those will begin when WWE start to highlight Neville on the main roster. He has to prove himself, and make the fans respect who he is and what he can do. He has all the athletic ability in the world, and he has plenty of time to become someone the fans care about. The English fans wish him the best of luck. We are loving the current surge of English talent (Paige, Barrett, Neville), and it would be nice to see more of that in the future. We have yet to see an English World Heavyweight Champion in the WWE, so all we can do is keep our fingers crossed and hope it will happen one day.
Neville worked most of 2014 as a babyface. He defended the title against Brodus Clay, Tyson Kidd, Tyler Breeze and Sami Zayn. Neville made his main roster début on Raw, teaming with Sami Zayn to take on Tyler Breeze and Tyson Kidd. Neville won the match after hitting Breeze with the Red Arrow. On his latest program with Sami Zayn, he displayed heel qualities, but it would ultimately be a cover, as he hugged Zayn after their title match at NXT Takeover: [R]Evolution.
There isn’t much more to say about this one. Neville could be the best high-flyer for many years to come. Hopefully nothing will get in his way. Going to leave you with an epic video of Adrian “Pac” Neville, highlighting what this man is capable of.
