Neville/PAC

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[InYourCase]

For what it's worth, he's survived on the main roster for longer than I thought he would. There still seems to be at least a small portion of the audience that cares about him and besides Owens, Cena and Cesaro, he's been my favorite main roster worker over the past year. He also benefits from having a 2011 that was out of this world. Ricochet would not be what he is today without working PAC in 2011. There's a huge difference between December 2010 Ricochet and December 2011 Ricochet.

 

I love Neville and I think he's really good in a variety of settings, but he's someone who I can't justify in my Top 100. 105-110, I could buy an argument. He just doesn't click with me enough to call him one of the 100 best workers ever.

[ZubazKid]

I’m a little surprised PAC isn’t getting more discussion here, since he’s killing it in AEW right now, but I think he’s worthy of consideration. Nearly every time I watch a PAC match I find something enjoyable about it, and whenever I’m getting burned out researching a particular style for this project, I take a break and watch a few PAC matches and am always glad I did.

Whether it was as a fresh-faced, up-and-coming high-flyer in PWG in '07 or the arrogant, bullying Bastard in RevPro in ‘19, he always brings something interesting to the table. The fact that he can play both characters and tell good stories as he’s evolved as a worker is a big point in his favor in my book. As he’s bulked up, he’s added more power moves to his arsenal, but maintained his athleticism and can still break out his aerial moves. Check out the match against Michael Oku below for a good example.

I haven’t even mentioned his NXT stint, which included a classic against Sami Zayn, again telling a great in-ring story to go along with the athleticism. And he’s still going strong as his AEW work, particularly the match against Andrade, shows. I think he deserves consideration now, but the Bastard could add significantly to his case before 2026.

I’ve included a few match suggestions that I find interesting and enjoyable. I’ve got more research to do, so this isn’t a complete list or anything. I notably didn’t include or mention his work in DragonGate since I’m not familiar with it (but will do what I can to change that before ballots are due) and I know there are many on here that are well-versed in DragonGate, so I’d welcome any other match recommendations.

 

• Vs. Kevin Steen- PWG Holy Diver Down- 2/24/07

• w/Roderick Strong vs. Briscoe Brothers- PWG DDT4- 5/20/07 (I think this is a tremendous, fast-paced tag match)

• w/Roderick Strong vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico- PWG Giant Sized Annual #4- 7/29/07

• Vs. Sami Zayn vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Tyson Kidd- NXT Takeover Fatal Four-Way-9/11/14

• Vs. Sami Zayn- NXT- R-Evolution- 12/11/14

• PAC vs. Pentagon Jr. - TNT Extreme Wrestling - 4/18/19

• PAC vs. Michael Oku- RevPro Live at the Cockpit 42- 6/2/19 (I love the story they tell here and PAC really helps get the crowd behind Oku)

• PAC vs. Kenny Omega- AEW All Out 2019- 8/31/19

• PAC vs. Amazing Red- RevPro British J Cup 2019- 11/24/19

• Andrade El Idolo vs. PAC- AEW Rampage-10/22/21

• PAC & Penta El Zero Miedo vs. FTR-  AEW Dynamite 12/3/21

[Tetsujin]

He's criminaly underrated, in a sense that most people will agree is great when asked about him, but nobody will bring his name to the conversation in the first place, when he's such an obvious pick for one of the greatest wrestlers of today. I need to dive deep in his first indie run, but his work as Neville at peak NXT is fucking amazing and his title run specially felt huge. His main roster run was a hit or miss when it came to booking, but he strongly delivered any time. He was a random midcarder by mid-2015, yet he managed to make everybody believe he could won the WWE Title against Seth Rollins in an open challenge (that match is soooo good, underrated gem). His Cena US Title match is one of my favourites of that reign (and god knows that title reign has aged poorly as hell). Fuck, his King of the Cruiserweights stuff was great, carrying an almost dead division (his matches against Gallagher and Aries are the highlights here, but he worked great with everyone on that roster and even carried Enzo to his best matches).

Then he left WWE and had anither fucking crazy awesome title run, but this time not as a top babyface like in NXT, but as THE BASTARD gaijin of Dragon Gate. He also has the only Cara Noir match I really like. His AEW run is been limited by him being British in the pandemic era, and to me is a real shame he isn't one of the main heels of the company because he's a full package and is way better than anybody in The Elite has been. Help build Hangman as a top guy with a pretty cool series of matches early on the company's history, gave Omega great matches where he hadn't anything scheduled between the Moxley feud and the tag titles run, the Andrade matches are a DELIGHT even with shitty overbooking... Man, he's been consistently great throughout so much time right now, at many different points in his career and against a cool variety of opponents, a lot of them not even close to his level.

One of the all time great bumpers, crazy mix of athleticism and ruthless agression, he can be a great underdog, dominant babyface top guy, dominant top heel, he can be a dirty scumbag or the biggest underdog in the world for one night, super unappreciated at elevating others, has the longevity... Maybe he doesn't have as much all time elite level matches as so many other contenders (right now I would only rank his match with Sami in a top 100 for GME), but he's the king of the very good to great matches and one of the strongest workers in any company and/or division he's been.

[El-P]

I was watching PAC this week on Dynamite and it struck me that he's been one of their best workers since the start of the promotion, and that's saying something considering Omega (GOAT contender) and the Young Bucks (GOAT tag team contenders) are right there. I haven't seen much of him elsewhere (seen some NXT stuff, which was already great), but from this sample of the last three years alone, I can't think why he's not making it. Let's be real, transpose him in WCW in the mid to late 90's, and he's talked about to this day as the very elite of the company along with Eddie, Rey and you-know-who. Considering he's not done at all and he had quite a few years of being just as great before, yeah, PAC probably ends up on the list when all is said and done.

[Jmare007]

I have noticed in AEW how he does stuff faster and more crisp than anyone that I've seen. Like, half the time I expect this dude to collide against his opponent and get fucked up because he was doing too much, too fast but he manages to execute perfectly, not hurt anyone and make shit look legit. I don't think he was this good in DG or WWE, am I being victim of recency bias or nah?

[Boss Rock]

From the limited viewings I have of his time in WWE, I think developing more aggression as a heel and now antihero in AEW helped as opposed to being a white meat babyface.

[Reel]

I'd say a lot of that started in his second Dragon Gate run.

[EnviousStupid]

Wouldn't argue anyone who called him the best worker AEW has had since their debut. A tremendous high-flyer that already stood out from his peers in the 2000s. I also think his WWE stint shows how great he could be in different roles (face, heel, ace figure, etc.)

[KawadaSmile]

His AEW work is great, but the indies run that preceded it was... just decent. 

His transition from basically Mighty Mouse to BASTARD in WWE was great, though. His matches as that gremlin-faced heel champ were THE highest point of the Cruiserweight Title and just a highlight in general.

[HeadCheese]

PAC is a interesting because has been great for almost 15 years but, due to stuff stopping him, he feels intermittent. He feels for sure top 100 but, not sure where to place him.

A great highflyer and impactful high flyer. He was very showy but, his moves felt like they had a bit more sting compared to others.

He also has a sneaky amount of range. His face work feels like he comes of as someone who never turn heel or brooding.

But, he does it and it works. He wrestled territory invader in Dragon Gate and tour helpinfg lifts people up (Cara Noir in the RIPTIDE match). 

He is also great base (the Will Ospreay match All Out match) and now since his return has leaned into being a good power guy.

One of the first independent matches I saw was a PAC match.

[TheBean]

On 3/13/2026 at 1:18 PM, HeadCheese said:

A great highflyer and impactful high flyer. He was very showy but, his moves felt like they had a bit more sting compared to others

I totally agree with this. I'm not sure why either... I feel like he does the rotations faster on his flips/spins than other guys?? 

I'm familiar with him from watching a bunch of DGUSA & PWG. He has always looked great and superior to Ricochet who is similar in style. I've recently been watching early NXT and I was afraid what they did to PAC but honestly I think this toned down/more grounded version was an improvement. His matches vs Zayn are fantastic. I can only think this is more how he has wrestled since his time in WWE. If that's the case then, I definitely will need to see more recent stuff (some day!).

I really dug his bout vs Balor that I saw recently:

---edit: Just heard the news that he's passed. Terrible news. He's really one of my favorite guys from the late 2000's and on. 

[TheBean]

Wanted to share my favorite matches of his:

PAC vs. Claudio Castagnoli (PWG BOLA '07 - Block B Quarterfinal): Spectacular at times, Claudio was a fantastic base for PAC's moves. Likewise, PAC moved and bumped brilliantly for Double C. Very good match!

El Generico vs. PAC (PWG ASW V Nt. 1 2007): Classic PWG title match. Heck I don't need to qualify it with "PWG title match." It's a straight up classic match. It is very much a go for broke, empty the gas tank with the pedal to the metal match. PAC is excellent as always and he hits everything perfectly despite doing some of the most insane stuff. No knock on Jack Evans but he's been replaced with a better model. Honestly I think Ricochet is/was redundant if on the same show as PAC. Anyhow, PAC is one step ahead of Generico. He's pulling counters and reversals out of thin air... which is usually something that the Generic One does. He's got to stop the Brit with brute force.

Kaz Hayashi vs PAC (PWG ASW V Nt. 2 2007):  This was a great junior fireworks match from what I saw. PAC really is one of the standout wrestlers of 2024 for me. Lotsa big moves, cool counters and just about everything I wanted...except the first half of the match Hayashi had a great weekend in SoCal as did PAC.

Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw vs Naruki Doi/Pac (DGUSA Uprising 2010): The Pac vs Quack opening is a thing of beauty. Things never really let up and while not as poetic as the first few minutes, this was awesome go-go bananas shit. Doi seemed to be the most tame of the bunch but he kicked things up and all four dudes were on fire by the end. I should note no one sold a thing beyond getting knocked down for a pin or rolling out of the ring for safety. That goes without saying for many of these tag matches. It's just the style so I can't use it as a criticism. I bring it up because that's really the only "flaw"... this was as bat shit of a Dragon Gate style tag as you can get...even more notably with one native Dragon Gate wrestler! At 15 minutes it ended on a perfect note. This was a classic in my book.

Masato Yoshino/Pac vs CIMA/Dragon Kid (DGUSA - United NYC 2011): Yeah that was a sick finish! And this was a great match overall. It wasn't trying to be a barn burner from start to finish and I can appreciate that as this was a 20 minute match. Eventually they kicked it into high gear and it was flawless. The PAC/Yoshino team is insane. And while I have seen a good bit of the Kid/CIMA team they are kinda the gold standard for teams in DGUSA. They have the moves, the character, the history etc. 

Masato Yoshino/Pac vs YAMATO/Akira Tozawa (DGUSA Fearless 2011): Holy crap! This was sweet! One of those matches where it builds from pretty good -> great -> classic match by the time the bell is rung. I thought Yoshino was taking the night off but, I guess he was just conserving energy. Pac did a phenomenal job here as he really did the lion's share of the work during the early & middle portions of the match. I would say Yamato & Tozawa shared their duties pretty equally. Things picked up in the final portion and it really elevated this to a classic. Glad I got to see another Pac/Yoshino match as well as more Yamato & Tozawa.

Neville vs Cesaro (NXT 03/05/15): Not gonna lie, I threw the horns a few times during this one 🤘 It was awesome. Cesaro was like Steven Regal in his precise brutality yet he did his own thing. He used his freakish strength in ways Regal could only dream of. He showed a mean streak that I really don't remember seeing as Claudio. Cesaro is a meaner, more aggressive, more calculated version of Castagnoli. Then, Neville, is a more grounded and focused version of PAC. When he tried his flying moves, they were done out of desperation rather than exhibition. It's wonderfully surprising when Cesaro stops those "hail mary" moves dead in their tracks. This is a wicked twist as Neville has been the man in my NXT viewing. Cesaro seems like the end to all of that. I LOVED THIS ONE. What's crazy is that this was a Dark Match and it only seems to be officially available on the first NXT DVD set (which I have). Find this anyway you can because I think it's an All Time Classic. Highest Recommendation.

GAORA's Dragon Gate archives has a few PAC matches that I hope to check out.