Backstage News On Why WWE Refused To Release Neville

Breaking orbit and precedence. One of the more interesting sagas of the year in WWE has been Neville’s contract status. He walked out on the promotion late last year and hasn’t made an appearance ever since. Last week it was reported that Neville had been released, which makes you wonder why it took him so long to be released from the company. It turns out there is a pretty simple reason.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Neville’s contract was frozen for the sake of not allowing a precedent to be set of people walking out and then being released from their contract, allowing them to wrestle anywhere. Neville was rumored to be going to New Japan Pro Wrestling when he originally walked out, though there is no word on if there is any interest from New Japan. Neville is now allowed to wrestle anywhere he likes.

Here’s one of Neville’s final appearances, when he was still awesome.

Neville spoils Enzo Amore's Certified G Championship Celebration: Raw, Sept. 25, 2017

Opinion: I understand why this is the case but it’s kind of a shame that Neville didn’t get to become a huge star outside of WWE. He was on a complete roll in WWE as the King of the Cruiserweights and has the natural athleticism to be a star anywhere he went. Hopefully he gets to go somewhere and make a huge impact, which he’s earned at this point. I get why WWE did it, but it’s rather disappointing.

Where do you think Neville will go next? Where do you want to see him? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 28 wrestling books. His latest book is the the Complete 2003 Monday Night Raw Reviews.

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