Its hard to call this a down, but the third encounter between Neville and King Barrett pretty much left the door wide open for a fourth match between the two Brits. And while every bout theyve had has been pretty entertaining, WWE is painting itself into a proverbial corner with this one. Barrett is in need of some serious momentum after winning the King of the Ring tournament last month, otherwise its just another meaningless achievement for him. Sure, Barrett can lose a feud here and there, but not the first one after winning KOTR. Neville has made great strides in his first six weeks on the main roster, and its obvious WWE brass is high on him, so losing to Barrett could slow him down a little. What to do? Booking a countout victory for Neville really was a cop-out unless WWE is going to blow things off in the Elimination Chamber for the Intercontinental Championship. In that case, having Neville capture the title by beating Barrett could be an interesting course, especially if Neville comes out of it with a new challenger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC95Ju_DHxQ This is one where it really isnt a negative on its face, but WWEs history of mishandling situations like this has to give you pause. Ideally, this rivalry would be well-booked and elevate both men. Time will tell in this case
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
