Neville - a tragic accident waiting to happen?

[Creepy Old Man]

Look, this guy is obviously a great athlete. But I can't help but feel that he takes too many risks. One day, after a long flight and a week with a bug on his chest, he's gonna have an off moment and land on his head. If not that, it'll be an opponent failing to receive one of his many spot moves correctly, injuring Neville, the opponent, or both.

I don't marvel at the guy, I just wince, waiting for something tragic. I don't care how skilled or co-ordinated you are, 300 days of that a year for many years presents plenty of opportunities to be that split second off when it matters most.

Your thoughts?

 

[Nate DaMac]

Well he's been doing it for over a decade now and I'm not seeing any history of injuries with him.

I think you're being over-dramatic. He's not doing anything any more dangerous than any high flyer has done for the past 20 years.

 

[Navi]

Every move done in the ring can be dangerous if done incorrectly, some take more chances than other's do. I would hope that those that do know what they're doing, but yea shit happens.

Neville has spent years doing what he does, and he does it well. He's not some backyard wrestler jumping off the roof of his garage. He trained with people who know what they're doing, and by the looks of things they did a pretty good job of it.

You have to know your own body and it's limitations as well. If I did a Red Arrow, I would end up looking like a pretzel, so yea wouldn't even attempt it. But I can bash you pretty good around the head with my purse, something maybe Neville wouldn't be able to do.

 

[DexVendetta88]

I understand the concern of Neville becoming a tragic accident waiting to happen, but if the WWE is not telling this guy to tone down his style then they must be really confident in this guy's ability to have a consistent performance night in and night out considering all the risks. I'll admit I have that feeling too whenever I see Neville perform, but I just have to keep remembering the fact that he's been doing this for a long time consistently, and that the WWE has confidence in him in taking the risks involved. Besides, the WWE would not place their confidence in him if he was inconsistent.

 

[My Couch Pulls Out But I Don't]

Neville will never take a bad fall because gravity forgot about him.

 

[MC_Live]

Sure, anything can happen at any moment. But Neville is a professional. Not to mention, he is an athlete on a whole other level. Of all the matches I've seen from Pac/Neville over the years, I've never once seen him even slightly be off on a move, let alone not hit it perfectly. If you ask me, you're reading too much into the dark side here. Neville is really freaking good, and I doubt that we'll ever see him mess up. And if Neville starts losing it, I think he'll be smart enough to adapt and not do whatever he can't physically do.

 

[MetalBuffalo911]

He'll be fine... I just can't wait until MITB. Damn he's gonna be amazing

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

There's no more risk of Neville being a "tragic accident" than any other high flyer. Look at someone like Jeff Hardy. When he was throwing himself off ladders and cages every few weeks I was sure he'd end up with a career-ending back injury of some kind. Or Mysterio moonsaulting off the ropes to the floor- one slip and he could be paralysed.

But it's not just high flyers who can become seriously injured- look at Droz! Paralysed for life because of a botched move in the ring that he'd taken many times before. Wrestling is a dangerous sport.

However, Neville is extremely skilled and one of the smoothest high-flyers I have ever seen. I've every confidence that he won't be regularly bothing the red arrow or any of his other high risk moves.

 

[Heartbreak_Kid_707]

He's been doing it for about 9 or 10!times with no tragic accident.

The rick is there with everybody...

 

[THTRobtaylor]

He's at no more risk that ANY wrestler on their roster as so sadly proven by El Hijo De Perro a few weeks back. If it's your time, it's your time and if a simple dropkick can do it, then why worry about doing the high risk stuff?

Neville has been doing this a LONG time, his rep was built on wrestling that style in indie rings that are not of the quality of the WWE ones and he never had issues. His platform for the leap is the most stable he's ever had, he doesn't "rush" the move, making sure he has footing... so if anything happened it'd be sheer luck. That being said...

They have referenced it in commentary that they guy has somewhat of a prodigious talent when it comes to spatial awareness and control of his body mid air and this borne out in seeing him in action. The chances are he knows that move backwards and has "an out" if he feels it going south.

At the end of the day, he is comfortable doing it, perhaps more so than anyone yet... WWE trust him implicitly, it's arguably why he spend so long in developmental, they wanted to be sure... and he's reaping the rewards... pretty sure he ends up King Of The Ring tonight, winning with...a Red Arrow... suddenly dropping Adrian makes some sense... King Neville...already got the cape too...

 

[MERPER]

These guys are all, essentially, stunt doubles.

He takes some more risks than others but an injury can happen on any move at any time.

One thing I have noticed is that he lines his stuff up well. He examines angles and distances consistently and you can see him thinking about if it's correct or not. He's usually not just doing stuff blindly and hoping it works.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

These guys are all, essentially, stunt doubles.

He takes some more risks than others but an injury can happen on any move at any time.

One thing I have noticed is that he lines his stuff up well. He examines angles and distances consistently and you can see him thinking about if it's correct or not. He's usually not just doing stuff blindly and hoping it works.

Exactly... I get the impression he's one of those guys who can "see" the lines, numbers and stuff in his head. I heard he's not far off "genius" level smart so I could see him working it out as he goes.

Like great pool players can draw a line in their head to get the right angles...and he seems to have uncanny control once he's in the air... Jeff Hardy for example would just "flop" in effect but this guy is more like an Olympic diver in how he moves mid air.

I am sure at some point, he gets hurt but he comes across as the kind of guy who would be able to stop it being life threatening, maybe just bad injury where lesser guys might just get themselves killed. The time Barrett got hurt cos of Ziggler comes to mind...

 

[laodaron]

Don't worry, I agree. I can barely watch a ladder match at this point in my life because I'm not a high schooler anymore. Neville's matches are cringe-inducing, but it isn't only just him. Cody Rhodes taking that superplex at Wrestlemania, for instance, made my stomach lurch.

It's unnecessary risk. As everyone else says, if a powerbomb can paralyze a guy for life, then why add the additional risk of superflips and back breaking top rope moves?

Neville could rely on more technical styled wrestling and do just fine. I just hope that the game doesn't take him out before he's ready.

 

[blueskyy]

Which moves are you referring to specifically? The Red Arrow in nothing but a corkscrew shooting star press (essentially a frog splash). The over the top rope somersault, or the moonsault off the top rope? His variations always have him land on his feet. As far as those moves are concerned, they are safe (but you'd need strong legs to pull them off).

On the subject of dangerous moves, I think Stardust's Falling Star is much more dangerous (especially to himself) if something goes wrong. That move didn't make any sense to me whatsoever.

 

[Mustang Sally]

There's no more risk of Neville being a "tragic accident" than any other high flyer. Look at someone like Jeff Hardy.

Can't think of a better comparison. If you watch the matches of both men, Jeff's high wire maneuvers will seem much less controlled than Nevilles'. Jeff never looked before he leaped and it seemed as if he was depending on fate to decide whether he'd hit the ground safely. Neville seems to position himself so that he gets a look at what he's heading down toward while still in the air. That allows him to make adjustments in his flight pattern, although didn't he miss his landing with the Red Arrow on Luke Harper last night? The way Neville landed, along with the attention he received from the referee after the match was over, made me think he got hurt in a place all you guys don't want to get hurt.

All in all, I agree with other posters who say that if he's going full throttle on the flying moves, the company must have confidence in his ability to land them safely.

 

[DCLXVI]

Neville is on another planet in terms of his control in the ring. I can't ever think of him botching any of of that stuff. That being said - anything can happen. Barrett was just out for months and months from being slung into a barricade which is a routine thing and probably just as dangerous as Neville doing calculated flips he's practiced and performed hundreds if not thousands of times.

 

[goalieman31]

I don't think we have to worry about any horrific accidents happening to Neville. As a former poster said hes finally got the most stable and consistent ring and turnbuckles hes ever got to use. He did just ad dangerous stuff on the Indies with different wrestlers and rings with different spring on ropes never with an issue. Hes gonna have a great long career maybe not main eventing but he will make his mark.

 

[boozinjedi]

I think the reason for this post is with all the stuff that has happened to Daniel Bryan,
Any wrestler that goes aerial on a constant basis...questions always start,
From IF to WHEN something serious might happen.
If not an accident then maybe just plain old wear and tear on the body.

 

[velvetx]

WWE honestly needs more superstars like Neville and Dolph Ziggler. I think they are great people to watch in matches and they always give it their all.

 

[velvetx]

Also many people don't remember Mick Foley and all the crazy stuff he used to do from the top of a cage. Pretty insane when you think about it and I am sure he got hurt but he also weighed a lot more than Neville.