I was surprised to see this old familiar face on the June 5th episode of WWE NXT (available only on the WWE Network). Justin Gabriel has returned to action!
We see that he isn’t quite as chesty and pumped as in the past, and he’s now wearing pants that cover his legs rather than his usual bikini briefs. Maybe he is just a regular guy after all — not a Superhero.
Then we see his opponent is the amazing, muscular High-Flyer named Adrian Neville — the current NXT Champ. Oh no — our poor Gabriel has been lured into a trap! He was only invited back to the ring to get destroyed and make Neville seem like an even tuffer bad-ass!
Sure enough, it takes little time for Neville to seize control and force Gabriel down to a Beg-for-Mercy position on his knees. How sad (and kind of hot) to see the former Superstar reduced to a groveling jobber.
The story of this match is the Fall from Grace of the aging Gabriel — the veteran who lost his dominant position to a new, improved version of the Super-Stud.
Tale of the tape: Neville is 27; Gabriel is 33. Neville is pumped and hard (look at those fuckin meathook arms!); Gabriel, not so much.
Neville’s finishing move — the Corkscrew Shooting Star Press — is more dangerous and effective than Gabriel’s old 450 Splash. And on the way to the ring, the commentators described this match as an “opportunity” for Gabriel.
The one-sided dominance of young Neville is apparent as he uses his talented feet to stomp and kick Gabriel into submission — the angel gets his wings clipped.
Gabriel’s future is now cloudy as he is forced to put over the young up-and-comer, and forced to wear long pants over his tight little briefs to avoid up-staging the Next Big Thing. How can he perform his wild, high-flying moves in those long, loose pants?! How can he hold our attention with his best assets covered up?
One thing Gabriel does better than Neville (better than most wrestlers in the sport) is suffer. My oh my, those pearly whites on display as his lips curl back in anguish, that brow furrowed in anxiety, that handsome bearded face made to show signs of weakness and pain.
Part of me (the sadistic part) hopes they keep Gabriel on the roster for years, letting each new crop of young NXT hopefuls dust him off and use him as a practice toy, putting him in holds like this so we can watch him suffer.
Sorry — when I watch a good hot pro wrestling match, I sometimes get impure thoughts like that…
In this Battle of the Flashy High Flyers, Neville out-maneuvers and out-classes poor Gabriel at every turn, even pulling down the ropes causing Gabriel to spill out of the ring. The “Capetown Werewolf” then portrays the Broken Jobber, squirming around and showing off his bare torso on the dirty floor.
The camera, meanwhile, blesses us with plenty of facials — Neville looking intense and demonic like he wants to bite the throat of the angelic Justin Gabriel, whose long hair spills down around him as his handsome face tells the story of his torture and humiliation.
We soon notice that poor Gabriel’s good looks have been damaged by the aggressive young hothead. A swelling above his right eye has added a hideous battle wound to his otherwise perfect features.
Not only was Gabriel brought back to be physically overpowered — made to appear inferior and washed up compared to the spectacular new champion — but now he was also physically maimed. He now has a souvenir to remind him of the most humiliating night of his life, when he had to bend over (rhetorically speaking) and take it in the rear from the new young stallion, Adrian Neville.
Sure enough, the young Daredevil sails, twisting and flipping off the top rope, to land his stunning, deadly Corkscrew Shooting Star Press (aka the “Red Arrow”). You can watch some short clips of Neville’s spectacular finishing move here and here.
You can also watch a 2 minute video of the best moments of Neville destroying and humiliating Gabriel in this NXT match, including the final nail in the coffin — the dreaded Red Arrow finishing maneuver. Poor Gabriel never really had a chance.
