Neville Will Benefit from Missing out on Elimination Chamber Spot

It has been a meteoric rise to WWE fame for Neville.

Since debuting the night after WrestleMania, the high-flying former NXT champion has beaten five-time intercontinental champion Bad News Barrett and came within a whisker of pinning John Cena only a few weeks ago.

Given his immediately elevated position on the WWE card, eyebrows were raised when the Brit was not included in the lineup for the WWE Intercontinental Championship match inside the Elimination Chamber this month.

On paper, Neville seems like a no-brainer for inclusion in this match. His jaw-dropping offense and desire to take risks would jell perfectly with the danger of the Elimination Chamber to produce some memorable moments.

However, Neville needs to start picking up some decisive victories.

He is simply not ready to hold the intercontinental title at this stage, so he would have to lose inside the Chamber. Putting gold on a talent too early can severely harm their push, particularly if they are booked to take the kind of win-loss record that regularly plagues midcard champions in WWE.

Although Neville has been booked exceptionally thus far, a poor reign as champion could be a disastrous dagger in the heart of his momentum.

The WWE undercard is currently littered with aborted NXT pushes, and it would be upsetting to see a talent as valuable as Neville fall into that category.

Step forward, Bo Dallas.

On this week’s episode of Raw, Dallas interrupted an interview with Neville and later attacked The Man That Gravity Forgot after his match with Barrett.

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This angle seems to tease a feud between the two men in the near future. Whilst this may seem like a downgrade for Neville, this is actually an ideal step forward in his development.

In a feud with a talent as decorated as Barrett, he is forced to trade wins and losses in order for both men to be protected. This is not the case for Dallas, who sits close to the bottom of WWE’s current pecking order. As a result, this feud could provide Neville with a string of decisive, dominant and impressive victories.

There is also proven chemistry between the two performers.

It was Neville who put an end to Dallas’ reign as NXT champion, and they battled on numerous occasions, including an excellent ladder match.

A series of decisive victories would be a great stepping stone for Neville to move onto the next stage of his career, which could include a run at one of the midcard titles or a feud with an upper midcard heel, such as Sheamus or Bray Wyatt.

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He needs to string some wins together before he could, within kayfabe at least, be considered a title contender. Despite his impressive antics between the ropes, victories for Neville have not arrived in great numbers.

A feud with Dallas could change that.

Neville’s absence from the Elimination Chamber might rob the WWE Universe of some memorable moments of athleticism and wonder.

However, in the long run, it will help an exciting young performer who has many years to fight his way to the top.