WWE Battleground 2016: 10 Wrestling Matches We'd Rather See

3. Sheamus Vs. Neville

Jericho Reigns Battleground
WWE.com

Neville is reportedly set to return to action any day now, and has been mooted to resume hostilities with Chris Jericho - which might explain why the Ayatollah isn't currently involved in a programme.

There was value in Sheamus' now-aborted characterisation as a vanguard against the NXT generation. It gave him a sense of purpose, one which he could have used to drive all manner of programmes against many - even the majority of - incoming arrivals from Full Sail. His feud with Apollo Crews looks to have petered out, and his raison d'etre seems to have been flushed alongside it.

While Neville is reasonably established at this point, he's hardly part of the main roster furniture, so there's scope to oppose him against Sheamus here with similar storyline motivation. They had some worthy matches shortly after his debut, too. Sheamus excels against smaller opponents - his best match in WWE so far saw him square off against Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules 2012 - so match quality is practically assured.

There's little else for Sheamus to do, and unlike Rusev, he shows no sign of recovering from the disaster that was the League of Nations.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!