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Aaron Neil's Luck: Has the "Real Deal" Slipped Up?

Posted: Mar 27th 2007 By: CMBurnham

Aaron Neil's determination has always been focused on being a champion. And he's accomplished that in several federations, both in tag team competition and singles. But it's been a bit of a drought in recent months. Neil lost the IZW title to Michael Barry in September, 2006 and hasn't felt championship gold around his waist in Oklahoma since then. After 6 months, it seems like all his well-thought out plans have collapsed and brought nothing buy humiliation. Or have they?

If nothing else can be said about Neil, he certainly knows how to surround himself with people to run interference for him. And when you're targeting people such as Barry or Outlaw, you should probably have some backup. Neil has been the beneficiary of repeated shots at the IZW Title due to the fact that he's a proud member of Impact, Inc., which includes IZW owner John Zorthos and IZW commissioner Bernie Donderwitz. But even though he has gotten multiple title shots, he hasn't been able to capitalise on them, as evidenced in his most recent match against Barry in a 10-foot steel cage. Neil entered knowing that it was possible that this could be his last shot and so he was prepared to dish out the punishment and walk out a 3-time IZW Champion. But in an error that was almost comical, Neil used a roll of tape to attempt to tie Barry's hand to the top rope of the ring, only to discover after he was done that he had affixed his own hand to the ring rope. This allowed Barry to deliver some unprotected shots to Neil and then leave, retaining his IZW gold.

But the IZW Title isn't the only title Neil has focused on since the beginning of 2007. He also targeted the MSWA Oklahoma Title, then held by Outlaw. And while he wasn't able to win the title from the wiley veteran, he did manage to cost Outlaw the gold in February when he threw powder in Outlaw's eyes and Tyler Bateman pinned him. Outlaw swore revenge and has been chasing Neil ever since. At this week's MSWA show, Outlaw came out to talk with MSWA & SWCW ring announcer Jesse Storm. He said Aaron Neil was on his mind, not titles or money and he was challenging him to a match. Neil arrived limping to the ring and said that while he couldn't wrestle to due to an injury, he had an opponent for Outlaw, one who was undefeated in MSWA. This turned out to be Jeff Knight, who had scored a win over Aaron Neil in February. He did the same to Outlaw this month, thanks to interference from Neil, who grabbed Outlaw's branding iron and threatened to hit him with it. This brought out MSWA commissioner Halo, who pointed out that Neil wasn't limping anymore and there was no paperwork regarding an injury on his desk, so he put together a handicap match for Neil against the New Age Syndicate later that afternoon.

When the time came for the handicap match, Neil came to the ring accompanied by Jeff Knight. This brought out Outlaw, who knocked Knight out from behind and then stayed at ringside to make sure no more shenanigans occurred. It was a nice idea, but it didn't work. Outlaw tried to gain a little revenge on Neil by throwing powder in Neil's eyes, but Neil ducked and the powder went into the eyes of Scott Sanders, which allowed Neil to pin him and win the match. Outlaw tried to apologise to the NAS, but ended up on the receiving end of a double flatliner from the twins. Again, Neil went for Outlaw's branding iron and again Halo came out. This time, he announced that this feud would end on April 15 when there would be a blindfold match between these 2 men. This upset Neil, who shoved Halo, prompting Halo to deliver a Claw Bomb to the Real Deal.

It's unclear at this time whether the New Age Syndicate's actions were premeditated or not. The Sanders twins have been known to associate with rough characters, including the Disciples of Allah. As for Neil, he now has the NAS, Jeff Knight and presumably Impact, Inc. backing him up in MSWA while they continue their invasion. With all this talent surrounding him, it seems like he's certainly stacked the deck to achieve whatever he wants in either federation.