4 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE 205 Live (Dec 27)
1. The Presentation Of Neville
Neville is approaching the heights he literally ascended to in his awesome United States Title Open Challenge match against John Cena on the 11 May 2015 RAW, in which he only denied what looked like certain victory by an interfering Rusev.
Neville in spring 2015 was as relevant as he was exciting - and in just a matter of weeks, he has pushed himself at the forefront of the water cooler conversation. The presentation of the character is not without a few teething issues - his new anti-American slant is as derivative as it is pointless, in a division populated by babyfaces from Puerto Rico, England, Mexico, and Japan - but elsewhere, it has been pitched perfectly.
His mid-show sit down interview with Renee Young was something WWE should do more often. The contrived backstage skits do much to unravel suspension of disbelief - and Neville’s performance was totally credible, veering across a spectrum of bubbling menace and outright fury. It ended, with Young misunderstanding Neville’s “doddle” colloquialism, on a comedic note - and Neville used his newfound nationalist rage to inform the content of what was a gripping main event opposite Rich Swann.
His heel performance in that main event was similarly worthy of praise; decimating Swann’s back in the early going, the injury pervaded the narrative of a match in which every move struck mattered, and ebbed and flowed into the next. Swann’s selling was exquisite, Neville’s timing even better. It wasn’t perfect - Swann is yet another jobber champion, a trope which by design compromises the very narrative it generates - but it was awesome, regardless.
205 Live isn’t quite the most exciting hour of television, as per its marketing hype - but, much like Neville, it is gaining relevance by the week.