WWE Cruiserweight Championship Elimination Match: Neville [c] vs. Austin Aries vs. Akira Tozawa vs. The Brian Kendrick vs. Cedric Alexander vs. Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger (surprise entrant)
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The reason for Liger’s appearance in this match is purely historical. Liger is the face of cruiserweight wrestling, and he is one of the biggest pioneers of the style. His involvement in this match would serve to elevate the title’s importance. In the same way that Sting challenging for the WWE Championship in 2015 was also a big deal of the same sort.
Of course, Liger wouldn’t do much in this match (due to his age, of course), and would serve mainly to hit a few big moves before getting eliminated by Neville (who’d play the monster heel in this match). This move would cause the audience to turn on Neville hard, as Liger’s one of the most respected wrestlers in cruiserweight history. Neville pinning him would do wonders in elevating Neville’s credibility as a defending champion, to be sure.
The match would then pick up in pace, with multiple high-flying moves done both inside the ring and out of it. One by one, the remaning wrestlers would get a brief moment of dominance, before being eliminated by someone else. The Brian Kendrick would eliminate Cedric Alexander (also getting more boos), Akira Tozawa would eliminate Kendrick, and Neville would make Tozawa submit.
This would leave us with Neville vs. Austin Aries. The two of them would then engage in a brutal singles match, both exchanging various submission holds and power moves. Ultimately, Neville would come very close to winning, but Aries would simply be the better wrestler on this night. Aries would hit two discus elbows, and then lock in his Last Chancery for the submission, the win, and the championship.
Winner & New WWE Cruiserweight Champion: Austin Aries
