5 interesting facts about Neville - the man that gravity and WWE forgot

Neville, whose real name his Benjamin Satterly, is one of the most gifted and exciting wrestlers on the planet. The man hailing from Newcastle, England had some of the best rookie years in NXT, even though he was already an established name on the independent circuit. WWE had acquired a gem of an athlete when they signed him up for NXT in 2012, but failed to capitalize on his talents after he was drafted to RAW in 2016.

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Then WWE rejuvenated his character, inserting him into their new Cruiserweight Division, 205 Live and made him the 'King of the Cruiserweights'. The former two-time 205 Live champion walked out on the 9th October 2017 episode of Raw, never to be seen again on WWE programming.

Regardless, Neville has made his return to pro-wrestling, appearing at Dragon Gate. Here are 5 facts about the man now known once again as Pac.

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#5. He is the only wrestler to have held both the NXT Championship and NXT Tag Team Championship simultaneously.

Neville was one-half the NXT tag champions, while also being the NXT Champion

Forget the first NXT Champion Seth Rollins, Neville was the first NXT wrestler to have won both the NXT Championship and the NXT Tag Team Championships. He is also, the only wrestler to have held both these championships simultaneously, a record unbroken till date.

He was also the first ever NXT Tag-Team Champion, winning a tag-team tournament to decide the winners. He held the tag belts on two separate occasions, one with Oliver Grey, and the other with current WWE announcer Corey Graves.

All of Neville's championship reigns have amounted to a total of 462 days, making him one of the best NXT Champions of all time, bettered only by Asuka at 510 days. He is also the second longest reigning NXT Champion, at 287 days. Finn Balor held the belt for 292 days.

Pro-Wrestling Illustrated named him at number 11 in their PWI 500 Best wrestlers of 2017.

And WWE let all of that slip away from their hands.

#4. His parents banned him from watching WWE.

A young Neville during his time in NXT

Neville was surely athletically gifted, as he was immensely active while growing up. He played football, hockey, basketball, and swimming and was a fan of WWE, which was then the WWF. When he turned 16, he had started wrestling and his technical ability was so profound, he always ended up performing the most entertaining matches.

But would you believe it, his parents had banned him from viewing WWE. Back when Neville was the NXT Champion, he explained how he had to sneak to his aunt's home to watch WWE, who herself was a fan of the product.

You can watch the interview down below, and the complete interview here: https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/wwe/597940/my-parents-banned-me-from-watching-wwe-says-adrian-neville/

His favorite wrestlers during his childhood years were 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan and...............The Undertaker.

Talk about inspiration!

#3. Neville is still the longest reigning WWE 205 Live Cruiserweight champion.

Neville was the fourth WWE Cruiserweight champion since the division was established

It's been two years since the Cruserweight Classic took place, which subsequently led to the establishment of 205 Live, the Cruserweight division of WWE programming. In the span of two years, there have already been eight different champions and a total of ten championship reigns among them.

While T.J.Perkins was the winner of the Cruiserweight Classic and the first champion of the division, Neville dominated 205 Live even though he has been largely missing in the past year. He is a two-time champion and his first reign lasted 197 days and that's still the longest reign in the division. Both his reigns combine to 232 days, which is yet another record.

Cedric Alexander has the opportunity to overcome this record if he manages to defeat Buddy Murphy at The Super Show Down in Australia, but it's likely that Murphy will emerge victorious given that the show is taking place in his hometown of Melbourne.

#2. He is a hardcore gamer and a football fan.

Neville has featured prominently on Xavier Woods' Youtube channel UpUpDownDown

Fans of Neville may already know this. The Englishman is a fan of his local club Newcastle United and is an avid player of FIFA Football. The majority of his gaming strengths have been featured on WWE Superstar Xavier Woods' Youtube channel UpUpDownDown, where he had been on a ruthless run, defeating his fellow WWE superstars in almost any game he was requested to play.

He joined hands with Sasha banks in a team nicknamed 'Nasha', where he won a mixed Tag Team tournament called 'WWE SUPERSTARS ROCKET LEAGUE'. It was hosted by The New Day, on Xavier's youtube channel. Enroute to the victory, he and Sasha defeated the team of Sami Zayn and Becky Lynch, Cesaro and Bayley in the semi's and capping it off with a win over AJ Styles and Charlotte Flair in the final.

Here's the final of that tournament, which included a shimmery set of tag belts for the winners.

#1. He almost won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on an episode of Raw.

Rollins vs Neville for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on an episode of Raw

This is one particular incident, which would have changed Neville's career in WWE. On the 3rd of August 2015, Seth Rollins issued an open challenge to anyone on the roster to compete for his WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It wasn't similar to his more recent Intercontinental Title open challenge as a babyface, considering Rollins was the slimy cowardly heel who was always flanked by his buddies Joe Mercury and Jamie Noble. But this was a spectacle of a match.

There was a point in the match when Neville hit his finisher, the Red Arrow, and almost grabbed the title but Rollins placed his foot on the ropes at the very last millisecond. Fans had lost their breath. What if Neville had actually won that night?

It was evident that the match was booked in that fashion to seem legit, but if Neville really had pulled off a win, he would have been in a different bracket of top stars in WWE. We know that technically Finn Balor and Rey Mysterio are actually cruiserweights, but both went on achieve bigger success on the main roster. Finn Balor winning the WWE Universal Title and Mysterio established as former World Heavyweight Champion, Intercontinental and Tag team champion.

The possibility of Neville being on the main roster as a main event or likely even an upper mid-card star, instead of joining 205 Live would've done justice to the mesmerizing high flyer.