How Neville Could Fit Into MLW

Credit: MLW.com

The MLW World Middleweight Title is a division with a 205-pound weight limit. Sound familiar? This may be the smoothest transition for a former WWE Cruiserweight Champion who competed under the same strictures.

The Middleweight scene in MLW is quite a bit different from the Cruiserweight division of WWE. While WWE scoured the globe to find mostly prototypical Cruiserweights who specialize in high-flying and lucha stylings, there are a handful of wrestlers who break that mold. In MLW, we haven’t seen a standard as far as in-ring style is concerned with the Middleweight division.

The first MLW Middleweight Champion was decided at Battle Riot on July 19 when Maxwell J Friedman defeated Joey Ryan. MJF has since continued his rivalry with “Bad Boy” Joey Janela by successfully defending against the indie dream match-maker while also walking away with Janela’s now-former girlfriend Aria Blake. MJF has made a career out of flaunting his personal wealth and physical capabilities to raise the ire of his opponents, and the crowd, to great benefit.

MJF has made it clear that he doesn’t care how long somebody has been a professional wrestler, insisting that longevity plays second fiddle to natural talent. Friedman is a three-year pro and has already marked his career with at least a half-dozen championships to his name. Neville, on the other hand, has been active for nearly two decades.

Neville’s accolades on the largest platform in North America are clear – he was the first man to hold the NXT Tag Team Titles twice while holding the NXT Title as a new era of the developmental brand was ushered in. Without Neville as NXT Champion coming out of the brand’s first WWE Network special, audiences may not have been quite as captivated by the action at the top of the card.

Not only has Neville been responsible for putting, and keeping, more eyes on the NXT Title scene but he was also the man who raised the entire Cruiserweight division to unheard of levels in WWE. He has a history of making championships important and highly sought-after wherever he goes. The hand of the King is blessed with the Midas Touch and he could bring similar success to a young and hungry MLW Middleweight division.