Breaking News: Neville walked out of RAW, possibly quit WWE
 

They better get him back. He's one of the best things they got going.

Say it ain't so :(

He should be Main Eventing on Smackdown.

Wonder if he got frustrated like Aries at not being allowed to move up from the division. He was great as the Cruiser champ but his reign also lasted longer than it should have because WWE was terrible at building up his successor.

Fuck him.

They wanted him to lose again to Enzo? I would walk too. He is one of like 4 things I like to watch though so this sucks. Braun, Rollins, and Sheamus/Cesaro is all.that is really left.but Rollins will be playing second fiddle to Reigns now ewwwwwwwww

Yeah totally dumb idea if they wanted him to lose.

Rumor going around the net regarding another reason for Kalisto suddenly getting a title shot was WWE didn't think ahead with the story of Enzo's special stip. They needed a way out of it and to reset the division since they also didn't have any long term plans for Enzo in the division especially as champ.

NOOO Neville was the best and most consistant heel theyve had in a long time

In fact for a while outside of Roman Neville was THE heel of the WWE

Talk about an ego

I guess Billy Corgan will have his first name for NWA

I thought that the next logical step for Neville was to be shifted back to the heavyweight roster. There really isn't anyone on Raw I was keen to see him feud with, but a trade to SmackDown could've done him wonders.

But in any event, he was far too good to be relegated to a secondary or tertiary feud in the cruiserweight division. If they told him they had no plans for him outside of the division, I 100% agree with his decision to quit. I don't agree with walking out right before a show and think he should have requested his release after the match, but I still don't blame him for wanting out of the company.

There are no shortage of places for him to go and make a really nice living.

Give him the Universal title to get him to stay. That is my solution.

Just looked into this. One random guy posted it on Twitter. Then Pro Wrestling Votes retweeted random guy. Then ProWrestlingSheet decided to just jump on the bandwagon and run with it.

Dunno how legit this story is.

If Kenton Lane posted it on the TPWW front page it must be true. He would never post fake news.

Lol, he's basically been champion & squashed every other guy on his show flat for a year, then they ask him to lose 2 matches & he takes his ball + runs home. Hilarious shit :lol:

Breaking: Neville comes down with a critical case of the CM Punk Blues. In a released statement, quote: "I don' wan' put nobody over. :'("

http://i641.photobucket.com/albums/u...psa564141c.png

With how frustrating Raw is to even read the results of with how bad the show is, I can't imaging actually working there. Fair enough.

Or maybe he just sees 205 Live for the gimmick show that it is and/or he doesn't wanna be part of a bland, boring, creatively-stifling product anymore.

Pretty much, I'm assuming it's a bigher issue than just one thing. Dude is one of the best heels on any WWE show and puts on great matches, but it was clear he was put in that cruiserweight pigeon hole and was going to stay on the D show. They weren't going to change that no matter how good his performance.

Oh wow, I was not expecting to read anything like this. Neville has turned into one of my favorites. I thought he would be promoted more than anything.

If there's any validity to this, then I suspect there is more to the story than simply being asked to job. Maybe the guy is just frustrated spiritually or creatively? I dunno, something about the story doesn't feel right.

I had just fantasy booked Neville to get a huge push as a stablemate to Samoa Joe and Finn Balor as part of a faction that forms close to WrestleMania in order to take out The Shield. Neville would shine in that sort of environment.

Probably. I imagine it's very similar to the Austin Aries thing where they know they can be bigger than what they can showcase on 205 Live, but once you're a cruiserweight, you're just stuck in that division unless Braun needs to squash somebody.

According to Meltzer, the Kalisto/Enzo match was supposed to be at the PPV with Kalisto winning, so Neville wouldn't have had a PPV payday either because the single cruiserweight slot was filled.

I don't know if talent get money for PPVs anymore now that people don't actually buy them.

Probably right, but even then, to put on the best work of your career and then get bumped off the PPV as your division only gets one spot would fucking suck.

Feel like a Joey Styles style rant of "I'm not even good enough to work TLC?!" should be in order.

so when is his contract up if he has years left then he is stuck.

Right? How quickly he must have forgotten how wasn't on TV he used to be.

Sucks though. I enjoy his work.

Talented guy. Can understand his frustration. Had been working hard and was probably going to get relegated into a nobody with Enzo as the new top heel

So he could have become top face by slaying the annoying dragon.

He couldn't have challenged Enzo for the title because of the no contact clause thing Enzo had, which is why Kalisto was going to get the shot at TLC.

Then you're still the top guy on a show people barely care about with no story development and a single PPV match slot a month and you can't seemingly move once you're in that box.

He takes two months out of the title scene to freshen things up. Boo hoo. the built a brand around him for a year.

Can't say I'm surprised and its probably real similar to Aries situation. Don't blame the guy at all, now he can go do what he wants and how away from WWE. Being asked to job to Enzo more than once though is just too much to ask somebody. Sucks though because he was an entertaining spot on Raw.

From Owens Instagram

https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram...60642816_n.jpg

Yeah, he will prob rake it in more on the Indies leaving while red hot instead of after he has been cooled off and made so people don't care about him again. I mean he would still rake it in, but slightly less than now maybe.

Not sure Neville ever renewed after his first deal...how long has been with them?


If he hasnt he isnt making much...

Hm, assuming that might be the case, the cruisers don't work house shows either which will affect his bottom line. Enzo has been since he moved over, but the division basically just does Raw and their own show.

Therefore of he can get let go and he is sharp marketing-wise, he can make way more on the indies... Making thos a smart move.

Yeah, should be an easy pay bump

May be tough getting that release though.

Clearly need Konan to step in and ask them to stop holding Neville hostage.

Thats the thing, even if they "release him" he isnt free to work whatever he wants. If he hasnt resignd though it will expire soon enough...if he has resigned then it could be awhile... releasing him nly frees him from his date commitements to them. He still wouldnt be abel to work for major competitors. He could do random indies but that would be about it.

Yeah, I think they let Punk go only if he didn't got to another wrestling promotion for x amount of time. Obviously that's not an issue for him.

You never know, it could be a last ditch effort to make his position better and Vince sometimes respects these moves. He might come back in a slightly better position or at least work out the rest of his deal so he just has no extra non-compete.

Yeah he still may be better off not jobbing to rich swann and drew gulak before he hits the open market... Particularly if he hasnt re signed. I imagine he hasnt re sogned though if he just walked out on them.though lol.

I would have quit if they had given me that awful t-shirt too!

Cruiserweight division......lol

Neville is the only one who I could maybe buy in the real division but the curse of being in the cw division will never leave him while in the E. So at this point, really who cares.

The Cruiserweight division has even been getting more shine on Raw as of late. I can't pretend to personally know how Neville's feeling, but this kinda just sucks all around.

Update from the Observer via TPWW Frontpage

Basically its an Aries situation right now and WWE is likely working on the paperwork needed to enforce certain terms for Neville's official release soon.

http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/update-o...-quitting-wwe/

It's a work. He will get released from the RAW exclusive cruiserweight contract and be signed to a normal contract on Smackdown!

Wow Neville is just like owenbrown, a crybaby.

That is inline with their present use of social media/dirt sheets

So there's truth to this? Something seems weird about it. I don't know why Neville, who has been smelling like roses lately, would care about dropping the Cruiserweight fucking Title. It could mean bigger and better things.

Long-term frustration makes sense. I mean, the dude is a freak in the ring and he's been bending over backwards for that division and if you show up to work and they've kind of got nothing for you in a big way moving forward, I can understand how that could be deflating. And there's that sting of Enzo bumping up 205 Live. Eyes on your product and people comparing your dick, it's possible that compounded the issue.

I'm really bummed out that my Shield vs. Finn Balor, Neville & Samoa Joe feud can't happen now. Unless it is a work, which would be cool. WWE is not this good at working people usually. They'd have him throw a fit on RAW and telegraphed it.

Wouldn't be surprised if WWE views the Cruiser/205 Live like how WCW did with their Cruiser division.

Based on how its been handled, WWE probably still doesn't have a favorable stance for the division and once your in it, its pretty much the end of any future upward mobility on the success ladder.

Neville probably came to the same conclusion Aries had about him not going to succeed any higher or have the chance to do so while in the WWE.

The division has been going for a year now and Neville has been the best guy in it by far. There's no real precedent to assume that he'd not be moved out the division and used better. I dunno, something is really off about it.

Dolph Ziggler getting fed up and walking out? Yeah, I'd believe that story. But Neville has been like pushed and pushed and pushed. Yeah, the 205 Live experiment has been a fucking disaster, but that's exactly why when Vince comes up to me and is like "Kid, we're taking the belt off you tonight," I'd be like "Fucking thank you!"

There's got to be more to the story than this, because there's no way Neville is such a belt mark. Surely he would have thought "onwards and upwards."

By the way, how surreal is this 205 Live thing? Who would have thought that Vince McMahon would like a tournament so much he'd think "That has to be a thing" and he's hire all these small guys and try to push them for a year?

I enjoyed a lot of the CWC, but was it even that good. I'm not bitching about it, but as good as it was, does it warrant the "cruiserweights are hot!" ongoing response that Vince has been going with. At this stage, who even thinks about it in association with the division? I'm so fucking tired so I'm not explaining myself correctly, but it's just surreal that Vince is trying so hard to push little guys because there was this good tournament that was watched by maybe 1 million people or whatever.

Unless he was asking and they said no

He reminds me of Mr. Burns hiring Frank Grimes. Only Frank Grimes is still being pushed a year later on at a nuclear plant.

Yeah, maybe, but you'd think the WWE would be more savvy than that. Remember how Triple H told Chris Masters there was a big push coming? You keep dangling the carrot. I doubt they would have bluntly said "We're done with you now." For him to just walk out? Like, you've got to be pissed or just so frustrated that you're done. That doesn't seem a reasonable response to "Yeah, you're losing to Enzo and we don't have anything for you right now."

Also, WWE has been really good for Neville as an overall performer. He's managed to ground a lot more of his game, develop a personally, etc. It's not like he's been "creatively stifled." I can understand frustration at bending your body backwards for this company and maybe feel underappreciated or that you're just pissing into the wind with the current product, but...fuck, I dunno.

More power to the dude for exercising his agency.

Yeah, or it could be "We're going to put you here for 2 months" and then just kept extending it. Guess we won't know until the inevitable shoot interview if he does leave.

Just an aside because I read this while reading more stuff on the Neville thing. Apparently, when Justin Gabriel quit, they called him that day and said "We were actually going to use you on Raw... Oh well".That was just hilariously petty.

I'm with Noid. Things don't add up with this whole situation. Can't accept that the best heel in the company is leaving over this.

Although in fairness, as much backstage heat Enzo has and how absolute shit he is, it would be garbage to be on the Neville level and play second fiddle to Enzo and have him be credited for why the cruisers are getting more air time.

I personally think the cruisers are getting the main event lately because hour 3 has the lowest viewers and has for a very long time.

^You don't have to personally think. I think it's a pretty open secret.

Maybe Neville was just pissed a shithole like Enzo got a belt (not even that he lost it, but that Enzo got it). :lol:

Can't blame him for that. Literally the worst person to put it on. Sure Enzo can talk....but that's literally it.

I mean, Neville might have been feeling a lot of pressure to carry a brand. The WWE likes to think that the WWE brand name carries RAW, SmackDown and the Network, but 205 Live has kind of been under a bit more of a public microscope. And Neville is the champion there. Legit heat or not, it would be reasonable for someone to feel like they are working with less of a safety net than someone slumming around on RAW.

Vince is also apparently quite hands-on with 205, and I can imagine how frustrating that could be. Vince simultaneously wanting the cruiserweights to be "exciting," but also not wanting them to deviate from the style everybody else works too, but legitimately expecting those results would seem to be well within the scope of his character.

I don't like Enzo, but at the same time, good on them for trying something new. I mean, the dude wants to act like a star, give him the chance to back it up. And so far, in a relative sense, he's achieving that. Will it last? Probably not, because he does suck, but it's the Cruiserweight fucking Title. If I were a small guy I would be praying Vince doesn't put it on me.

How close is Neville and Jacobs?

That could have a thing to do with it.

Possibly. A Jerry Lawler/Kat situation?

I dont think Neville was fucking Jacobs

Neville fucked Glenn Jacobs?

Jimmy Jacobs, ex-wwe writer. Got fired for posting a photo hanging out with the Superkick Twins and the rest of those morons when they invaded Raw.

You don't think or you don't know, Destor? Do not speculate.

From Dave "Tuna" Meltz:

What that means regarding Neville is still up in the air. Neville wasn’t back for the 10/10 show. At this point the belief within the company is that he’s gone, including one person close to the situation insisting he’s 100 percent gone. The company’s official word is that he is still with the company and never quit. At press time, this was a situation that wasn’t fully sorted out.

Hey, if the dude isn't happy, more power to him. The better the wrestlers outside the WWE are, the better the wrestling outside WWE will be.

And IMO guys need to be "selfish" enough to walk out. When there is a monopoly it becomes so much more important for talent to tell the only show in town that it just aint worth their bullshit.

Absolutely 100% agree.

PWinisider updates. Basically says he didn't walk out, he was never there. Wants to do a Drew McIntyre thing to build himself back up as he was never getting out of the cruisers otherwise and a souring point was being off of the Wrestlemania DVD as it affected his payday.

https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...pdate.html?p=1

At the moment, everything posted on this story has been nothing but "apparently" and "possibly" and "one source says" etc, with reports constantly changing. I'm just gonna wait until an official statement is posted or we see a future endeavor on WWE.com.

Pfft that's no fun. Whatever the case, he wasn't at Raw. That much is clear.

He probably was. We all just weren't paying attention for the entire three hours.

I mean, who would pay attention to Raw? I HAVE STANDARDS

Right? I'd rather pay attention to that high-pitched sound that was played at American embassies in Cuba for 3 hours!

More power to the dude for calling his own shots, but given how good he was and how good the company clearly knows he is, I'm not necessarily sure he'll be pushed harder or better than he is now.

Yes. The Cruiserweight Classic was that good. Way better than Mae Young, anyway.

CWC was the best thing WWE had done since Wrestlemania 30's main event. It was that good.

But can you imagine Vince thinking that? I mean, he's taken away all the stakes that made it interesting anyway. And now he's like "Cruiserweights! Cruiserweights are the money!" It's just really weird he'd take a critically well-received piece of business like the CWC and then sports entertainment it up on the main roster for a year with guys he clearly thinks are geeks.

At this point, I think Vince is just being stubborn. But it's just weird that he would get so invested in this dead end.

It's like if there was a really great independent movie, and Vince was a producer, and he turned this independent movie into a highly publicized Hollywood remake and everyone was like "Why?" and he kept pushing through, even though every indicator was that it was horrible. It bombs, so then he makes a sequel.

Like, I admire the dude's determination, but it's so weird this is the hill he's choosing to die on.

CWC was really great.

Biggest difference between the CWC and 205 Live was Vince having no hands on role with the tournament and completely having his hands all over the division even though he's terrible with lucha/cruiser style wrestling.

To clarify: My point is not that the CWC was not great. I'm just confused as to why Vince thinks it was so great as to adapt it into a weekly show. "You know what we need! Velocity!"

Vince is an odd man.

Personally, I think stuff like the CWC is what they should be putting on TV. Not in place of RAW or SmackDown or anything, but as limited run television that comes with a definite commitment. I think there are people floating around who might not be able to commit to three hours of RAW every week, and don't care to make that ongoing investment, but if they hear about a really good wrestling tournament that is going to end at some point, they might pop in.

Air that shit on Thursdays and try to launch a star from it. TJ Perkins came off really well on that. If you now know that he's going to be on RAW every Monday, people can choose whether or not they want to follow him further.

That's cool. I'm just saying that the CWC was fucking dope, and I'll take every opportunity I can to repeat that. Doesn't matter how old you are. If you saw it as a fan of wrestling at all, you'd be hard pressed to not see something special in it.

I also think the WWE is leaving money on the table when it comes to PPV and the NXT Takeovers. The Royal Rumble and WrestleMania are still shows that even I would consider buying if they were on PPV, whereas I am not getting the Network until my entire perception of the company changes. I'll vote for a show, but I am not voting for the entire product, if that makes sense.

For the Takeovers, I think they should do that thing that some bands and comedians do, where they say "Look, we'll give it to you for $5 -- we know money is tight -- but if you do really love the NXT product, please pay more so we can pay the talent better, etc.," and they cap it at $80 or whatever. I would rather pay $20 for a product I want to support and hopefully one day influence change, than it just being part of a package deal with the shitty WWE stuff, even though I technically get it for free. If I'm cold on NXT, I would willingly part with $5 to watch a Takeover, because I'm sure I will see at least one good match and enjoy the presentation.

How many people do watch the Takeovers. How well are they received? I'm sure the people who watch those shows would be fine spending a bit of money on them. Some are obviously tight with money and they would just pay the $5, but others in a better situation would do what I did and pay more to support their favorite "artists," so to speak.

Think that was always the plan with these tournaments. Only reason it hasn't happened with the UK guys yet is due to costs and women's tournament has the benefit of using NXT as a placeholder for the near future.

Triple H had an interview after the tournament detailing his or WWE's roadmap for the cruiser division and Vince pretty much failed to follow any of it. Instead Vince did a really watered down version of lucha/cruiser wrestling done in the WWE style.

Execution was poor. Honestly, I'm not even sure the Triple H idea was the right way to take it. Just let good things be good. The CWC boosted the value of tournaments -- it's why they started this Mae Young thing and could probably do something with the Dusty Classic (but it'll probably just be in NXT canon).

They could have done a CWC 2017, which they couldn't have done with the division up and going. TJ Perkins should have been focused on as a star, probably with Gran Metalik as his rival. I don't know if you use him on NXT or straight to RAW and SmackDown right away, but they got a bit "let's feature everybody" instead of telling those stories later.

That being said, I do think the women should have their own show. I think they could use the depth and hierarchy. You need a female mid-card to have female main eventers, I think. Everyone is on equal footing at the moment.

For me, I still think along the lines of WWE liking to hire people who make a buzz elsewhere so that they can no longer make that buzz for anything even close to competition. They don't really have any true long-term plans for many of them, but that is attention going to wrestling that isn't controlled by Vince. I feel the CWC was part of that thinking. Nobody else can build a cruiserweight division and stars within it if WWE has a majority of people making themselves synonymous with said style. Same for Women's Revolution/Mae Young Classic poaching any halfway decent human equipped with a uterus from all over the place, effectively hamstringing anyone else trying to make it a thing.

I think that's part of it. I also think that Triple H wants to get his developmental over, so he pushes for guys that smarks love so that he looks good. I mean, who has NXT trained that is really good? A few guys have passed through there, and they did put some good presentation touches on some guys, but do you think Sami Zayn really learnt how to work in Billy Gunn's class? Or promo? The only thing Billy really could have helped him is banned there anyway.

Keep in mind that by this point in time, OVW had already seen John Cena, Batista, Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar crowned as World Champions. I guess you can kind of give NXT Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns. But everyone else was really somebody before FCW got them.

The guys getting signed and pushed through are the same guys that Triple H would have had stand there and look like goofs while he Pedigree'd them for funsies. I'm not sure how much of his "change" is genuine and how much is ego-driven and for vanity reasons. I mean, if it drives him to be better at generating talent, it's not necessarily a bad thing -- but I just find the WWE's "indy kick" to be interesting.

I would contend that getting in peoples way and letting talents find their own footing is the key of a great teacher. Comformity was the old method.

Would you argue that they are not conforming now? Everyone seems to do the same "WWE style," which has been updated to be a lot more "indy strong style" or whatever you want to call it, but with rest holds thrown in.

I actually do think that a little resistance goes a long way. I think a lot of NXT talent are kind of facing that resistance first when they get to the main roster and realize that they may not be as prepared or as instantly over as they thought they would be.

I agree that the old "stretch 'em out, authoritarian-style" is out-moded (in life; not just in wresting). But I'm not sure if I agree that the WWE has the "key." They've got one of the only doors though.

there is more freeedom in the in ring product now than there has been in 20 years

In a certain direction I'd agree with you. I think less important guys have a lot more freedom. I think the more important guys probably have equal freedom. I mean, I don't think Austin wrestles differently from Seth Rollins because he wasn't allowed to do what Seth does, haha. But flashier moves from the top aren't taboo anymore, which is an obvious change. I mean, there are two or three guys using the Phoenix Splash now.

I dunno, I wish less shit was given away actually, and that things had a more organic and authentic feel to them. That is me speaking selfishly as a fan.

Austin didnt wrestle like Rollins because brawlers make more money :lol:


Guys today have their hand tied more where it actually matters though. Promo and character. Its flipped from where it was.

Austin was a fantastic technical wrestler. He brawled because of the neck problems.