WWE News: Backstage Update On Adrian Neville’s New Gimmick
Adrian Neville held the NXT Heavyweight championship for over 287 days, which is the longest-ever title reign in NXT history. When WWE started the promotion, Seth Rollins was the inaugural NXT Heavyweight champion. After that came Big E Langston and Bo Dallas, and now Sami Zayn holds the immaculate championship.
So far, only one of the three former NXT champions is successful on the main roster. Rollins is considered as the “standard-bearer” of the WWE, and a former member of arguably the greatest faction in WWE history, the Shield. Langston and Dallas have yet to pan out on the main roster, as neither gained traction.
Neville is different from Dallas and Big E. He got over with the NXT crowd, and is a better wrestler than the both by a large amount. The matches Neville would have with every man on the NXT roster astounded even casual WWE fans.
Last week on the Inquisitr, we reported that Neville would come up to the main roster with a “Mighty Mouse” gimmick. In an update to the situation, Wrestling News Source is reporting that his new gimmick might change after all.
“WWE’s creative team has been giving some serious thought to repackaging NXT talent Adrian Neville when he debuts on the main roster. They’re still talking about having him debut with a gimmick inspired by Mighty Mouse.
Things haven’t been finalized yet and there’s still a chance that they won’t decide to give him this new gimmick, but Neville is expected to be the next talent to debut on the main roster from NXT after the Ascension tag team.”
As soon as the report came out about Neville’s rumored gimmick, the internet went ablaze with frustration. There was always an internal sense of worry within the WWE Universe that the WWE’s writers would change what Triple H and NXT created. To be fair, Neville doesn’t need a gimmick.
Haven’t some of the best wrestlers in WWE history just been an exaggerated version of themselves? CM Punk and Stone Cold Steve Austin are two prime examples. They didn’t have a “gimmick,” but rather a realistic portrayal of their real personas. CM Punk often played Phil Brooks with an attitude on TV.
The Ascension is set to debut on Raw tomorrow night. Just looking at their attire during the vignettes that aired, they seem like a re-used version of Hawk and Animal, the Road Warriors. In NXT, the Ascension dominated the tag-team division with the gimmick they used. There is no real need to change them or Neville. Hopefully, the WWE doesn’t have Neville come out with a mask and cape. The WWE Universe would riot.
[Image via WWE]
