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What’s the story?
Coming out of this week’s 205 Live show, we’ve got ourselves another championship match to add to this year’s SummerSlam card. Having beaten Ariya Daivari in number one contender’s action, Akira Tozawa will once again face Neville for the Cruiserweight Championship at the Aug. 20 show.
In case you didn’t know…
Tozawa has already had a recent go at Neville’s Cruiserweight Championship—an effort that ultimately ended in defeat back at last month’s Great Balls of Fire show. The very next night on Raw, though, Tozawa pinned the champion in tag team action to put himself right back in contention, and this latest result only reiterates that stand-out candidacy to challenge Neville for the belt.
Going in depth
Tozawa beat Daivari clean, following up a suicide dive with his patented Senton from the top rope to score the 1-2-3. The two had been feuding for a few weeks prior to this, with Tozawa’s win seemingly acting as the blow-off to that program.
Also read: 5 WWE Superstars who could improve the Cruiserweight division
That, in turn, reignites this Tozawa vs. Neville rivalry. And though Neville won their first meeting in fairly straightforward fashion, the pair were still working together on recent house shows, so expect to see something a little different when they lock up again at SummerSlam.
What's next?
We’ve still got a couple more weeks with which to build this SummerSlam match. But then again, given that it’s a Cruiserweight bout, don’t expect to see too much effort invested into hyping up this one.
As for the match itself, there’s a very real chance that Tozawa makes amends for his previous pay-per-view defeat. Neville’s reign will have passed 200-day mark come SummerSlam, and with Tozawa having built some momentum as of late, this could be the right time to crown him the next Cruiserweight Champion.
Author’s take
As previously touched upon, it certainly wouldn’t be too premature to have Neville drop the title to Tozawa in Brooklyn. Plus, with Austin Aries' recent departure affecting the Cruiserweight title picture, Tozawa is one of the very few credible babyfaces left in the entire division.
Still, regardless of the outcome, you could argue the real victory would be in having this one take place on the actual SummerSlam card itself, rather than being relegated to the pre-show as per usual.
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