10 Forgotten Hidden Gems From WWE NXT
7. Dean Ambrose Vs. Neville - August 7, 2013
Many months before ascending to NXT Championship glory, Neville was a prominent player in NXT's tag team scene throughout 2013. He first reached the mountaintop with Oliver Grey when they became the inaugural NXT Tag Team champions earlier in the year before regaining the gold alongside Corey Graves later in the summer.
During their tag team title stint, Neville and Graves encountered the returning trio of Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, who left NXT as The Shield a year earlier and amounted to great success on the main roster. But now that they were back, The Shield had their sets sight on sending a message at the newcomers' expense, specifically Neville and Graves.
In a match pitting two "internet darlings" against each other, Neville and Ambrose collided for the latter's United States Championship on the Aug. 7 episode. The title never felt like it was in jeopardy given it was property of the main roster, but the match itself was well-wrestled and an absolute treat. The Man That Gravity Forgot came close to clinching the star-spangled prize on a number of occasions before the rest of The Shield interfered and caused the contest to be thrown out.
Ambrose may not have defended his title regularly on Raw, but he and his belt were a fixture in NXT for a time in late 2013.