It took nearly a year, but former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville is finally a free man. Instead of granting his release upon request, WWE made Neville sit out his contract from the comfort of his home in the United Kingdom.
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What for? Business, of course.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE put Neville and his contract on ice to establish a precedent. Apparently, WWE was keen to Neville’s intentions of wrestling elsewhere. So instead of letting him jump from WWE to the likes of New Japan Wrestling as soon as his 90-day non-compete clause lifted, Vince McMahon and Co. elected to keep him on the payroll — making Neville not just wait out his contract, but effectively freezing his ambitions to wrestle elsewhere.
Per the report, WWE doesn’t want to start the practice of releasing anyone who asks for it, allowing them to show up in another promotion just 90 days later. The moral being, WWE will grant you your release, but it will be on their terms.
This may seem a little icy, but this is a sterile world of business. Vince McMahon didn’t turn WWE into a global conglomerate by being easy going.
Over the weekend, Pro Wrestling Sheet confirmed that Neville’s contract was officially up. Even more, Neville showed up on the alumni section of WWE’s website. So for anyone hoping he makes a surprise return, that looks next to impossible.
However, some think he’ll show up at the September 1 All In event. While there has been no indication of such, a large chunk of the wrestling world will hope to lay eyes upon the King of Cruiserweights at the much-anticipated show.
Even if Neville misses All In, we can assume his return to professional wrestling is imminent. Given his work in WWE, Neville will have his pick of promotions, with him likely choosing to work in several a la Cody Rhodes.
Rhodes is easily the best example of a WWE Superstar leaving the company and thriving elsewhere. While opportunities certainly fell at Rhodes’ feet, he’s created his own success by using his newfound freedom to make it in the wrestling world. Neville will surely look to follow in Rhodes’ footsteps.
If Neville is able to garner the same type of money and attention, he could be an important date point in the growth of non-WWE wrestling. While the ecosystem is certainly healthy, adding instant gratifiers like Rhodes and Neville make promotions like Ring of Honor and New Japan that much more formidable. While WWE will be fine without Neville, his upcoming arch could pay a significant role in the future of independent wrestling.
