PAC has become a noteworthy asset for AEW competing in both singles and trios division matches. The signing in the early days of AEW showed that PAC would become a relevant fixture in the promotion’s foundation. This was his first chance in a major promotion since the WWE and NXT run as Adrian Neville.
RELATED: PAC's Career Told In Photos, Through The Years
Many fans view Neville as the first breakout star of the NXT brand since he was the champ when they moved to WWE Network. The entire NXT stint and a main roster call-up led to Neville spending many years in the WWE system before wanting out. Despite a controversial exit, PAC had the following moments as Neville to get overlooked in his WWE career.
10 Scoring Shocking Clean Upset Over Mark Henry
Mark Henry deserves a lot of credit for trying to help the next generation of talents in WWE when suggesting hires or trying to put them over. Neville scoring a clean victory over Henry was a shocking moment that few fans remember since it didn’t lead to much more.
RELATED: 5 AEW Wrestlers Ready For A World Title Run (& 5 That Still Need Improvement)
The match barely lasted two minutes when Neville took advantage of Henry running into the ring post. Neville went to the top rope for his finisher and scored the quick win to the shock of the audience that did not see it coming. Henry wanted to help Neville since he strongly believed in his talent.
9 NXT Tag Title Run With Corey Graves Beating Wyatt Family
The NXT tenure of Neville saw him winning multiple titles at various points. Neville had a makeshift team with Corey Graves of all people to capture the NXT Tag Team Championship. Both wrestlers had little in common, but they were put together to make a team work.
It was even more shocking that they defeated the Wyatt Family to win the tag titles. WWE wanted to take those belts off the Wyatt Family since they were pivoting to the main roster full-time. Neville and Graves had a short run before going in their separate directions.
8 His Injury Inspired Zack Ryder's IC Title Win
Zack Ryder winning the Intercontinental Championship in a multi-man ladder match at WrestleMania 32 never would have happened with the original plan. Neville suffering an injury a few weeks before the PPV saw him replaced with a fellow fan favorite Ryder.
Reports indicated that Kevin Owens retaining the title was always the plan until Ryder entered the picture. Vince McMahon wanted to start the huge night off with a shocking upset and did just that when Ryder won the belt.
7 Never Turned Fully Heel While Playing Heel Vs Sami Zayn
The rivalry between Sami Zayn and Neville for the NXT Championship may have been the best story in the brand’s history. Zayn falling short against his close friend Neville haunted him for months. Neville even used cheating tactics to come out on top.
Fans booed Neville and treated him like the heel out of love for Zayn, but Triple H never wanted him to fully turn heel. Neville raised Zayn’s hand after the match and played a face again for the rest of his NXT stint since that was the role expected for his main roster run.
6 WWE Booked Cruiserweight Division Around Him Until Enzo
The main roster run turned out to be a disappointment for Neville in WWE. There were some strong highlights, but things always stalled. Neville underwent a huge transformation with a sadistic heel joining the 205 Live brand and cruiserweight division.
WWE put the Cruiserweight Championship on Neville right away and booked the title around him as someone with more name value than the newer signed cruiserweights. This run lasted for many months until Vince McMahon pivoted to Enzo Amore as the talent he wanted to represent the side project.
5 Fans Believed He Was Beating Seth Rollins For WWE Title
The peak of Neville’s main roster run featured a great title match against WWE Champion Seth Rollins on Raw. Everyone knew that Rollins would retain, but the match was good enough to get us all into the moment of rooting for Neville.
An all-time great false finish saw Neville hitting his finisher and fans buying the title change. Rollins just reached out with his foot to graze the bottom rope and survive. The match continued with Rollins scoring the win, but Neville looked like a star this night.
4 Put Over Finn Balor Before Leaving NXT
The end of Neville’s NXT run saw him working with the new big names signed before he planned for a main roster call-up after WrestleMania season. Finn Balor had the final television match of Neville during his NXT main event run.
RELATED: 10 Wrestlers With A Claim To Be On NXT's Mount Rushmore
The two faced off in the finals of a tournament to crown the #1 contender to the NXT Championship. Both men left it all in the ring for a great match ending with Balor scoring the victory. Neville put over Finn perfectly to help him get to that top spot on the way out.
3 Won A Slammy Award Over Kevin Owens
The 2015 Slammy Award show of WWE featured Neville having a standout moment. Kevin Owens expected to win the Breakout Superstar of the Year award after beating John Cena and winning the Intercontinental Championship as a heel character.
Neville won the fan vote as a popular face, but it still felt a bit surprising to see him winning out over Owens. The speech of Neville was interrupted by Owens, which led to KO and presenter Dolph Ziggler getting into a brawl.
2 John Cena Endorsed His NXT Title Win
The first use of the WWE Network for a live event saw NXT Arrival testing out the new format. Many fans tuned into NXT for the first time since it was the first live show for the brand and featured main roster talents involved.
John Cena sat in the crowd for the main event of Neville vs Bo Dallas in a ladder match. The big victory for Neville ended the show in a feel good moment. However, Cena upped the night for Neville when he entered the ring and raised Neville’s hand to show the biggest star vouching for him.
1 Lost Finals Of King Of The Ring Tournament
WWE brought back the King of the Ring tournament in 2015 with many of the top mid-card and upper mid-card names competing for the prize. Neville had a great run and made it all the way to the finals to face Wade Barrett.
Vince McMahon wanted most of the winners of this tournament to adopt an annoying heel king gimmick after Booker T made it work. This caused Barrett to win and have the stale cheap gimmick. King Barrett flopped and made it clear that Neville winning would have been the better call.
