Former NXT Champion Neville debuted on Raw the same night as The Lucha Dragons, and unfortunately, his career has followed a similar trajectory - he had an impressive debut filled with highlight reel-type moments and maneuvers, and since then, he's struggled to find any real success. In Neville's case, there seems to be a battle of wills. In NXT, he was treated as a star, eventually becoming the longest-running champion in the brand's short history. Even after losing the title, he remained an important part of NXT, having matches with Kevin Owens and Finn Balor. It was clear that Triple H - who retains primary control over the creative end of NXT - was a major proponent of Neville's. In WWE, there are far more cooks stirring the broth, and everyone from Stephanie McMahon to Kevin Dunn to an army of writers has a chance to influence the opinion of Vince McMahon - though they made not have needed to, as the diminutive Neville is hardly McMahon's type of superstar. In a sense, Neville's struggles on the main roster have been proof that Triple H doesn't wield as much creative power as people thought he did. With some decision-makers in Neville's corner and others standing in his way, he's simply been left to drift. Even a win at SummerSlam - teaming with Arrow star Stephen Amell to defeat Stardust and Bad News Barrett - wasn't enough to kickstart any lasting success. If WWE ever reinstates the Cruiserweight Title, Neville would be a prime contender for it, but failing that, the creative team seems to have nothing for him.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013