WWE has officially confirmed Pretty Deadly’s first NXT UK Tag Team title defense.
Pretty Deadly (Sam Stoker & Lewis Howley) will defend their NXT UK Tag Team titles against Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan on NXT UK next Thursday (April 1). Pretty Deadly became the NXT UK Tag Team Champions by defeating Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) for the titles last month.
Williams & Jordan were set up as Pretty Deadly’s first challengers by defeating Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster on NXT UK two weeks ago. Jordan wasn’t happy that Williams, who also cheated in the match where they defeated Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter the previous week, used a low blow on Webster to help get the win.
In a segment on NXT UK last week, Williams informed Jordan that they were getting a Tag Team title shot. Williams said him cheating against Andrews & Webster was just a “knee-jerk reaction” and promised that he would stick to whatever rules Jordan wants. Jordan told Williams that they didn’t need to cheat to win.
A promo from Pretty Deadly aired on this week’s NXT UK. Stoker & Howley said their match against Williams & Jordan will be the first of many successful title defenses in the never-ending era of Pretty Deadly.
It was also announced on this week’s NXT UK that Trent Seven will be in Tyler Bate’s corner when Bate faces Noam Dar in a Heritage Cup rules match at NXT UK: Prelude in two weeks (Thursday, April 8). Sha Samuels will be in Dar’s corner. The winner of Bate vs. Dar will become the number one contender to A-Kid’s Heritage Cup Championship. NXT UK: Prelude will also feature WALTER defending his NXT United Kingdom Championship against Rampage Brown. The show will air on Peacock in the United States/the WWE Network everywhere else starting at 3 p.m. EST/8 p.m. BST.
For the first time since returning to WWE television, Jordan Devlin will defend his version of the NXT Cruiserweight Championship next week.
WWE has announced that Devlin will defend his NXT Cruiserweight Championship against Amir Jordan on next Thursday’s episode of NXT UK. The match was set up by a backstage segment that aired on NXT UK this week.
In the backstage segment, NXT UK assistant general manager Sid Scala announced that he and NXT UK general manager Johnny Saint have sanctioned defenses of Devlin’s title. Devlin interrupted Scala and asked if he should be thankful for that. Devlin said they should be thanking him for winning the Cruiserweight Championship and all he’s done for NXT UK.
Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams then walked up to Devlin and Scala. Williams said he picked up a little injury last week but will be happy to challenge Devlin once he’s better. Jordan said Williams might be injured, but he’s good to go. Jordan asked Williams if he was okay with Jordan challenging for the title. Devlin mocked Jordan for asking for permission. Devlin said he gets that Jordan is an ambitious guy and doesn’t want to be in a tag team. Devlin said that whenever Jordan and Williams sort out their little odd couple pairing, whoever it is should come and challenge him.
WWE lists Santos Escobar and Devlin as both being NXT Cruiserweight Champions. Escobar’s version of the title was introduced this spring when Devlin was unable to defend the championship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Escobar’s title was originally called the interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship, but WWE dropped the interim branding for the title during the tournament where Escobar was crowned champion.
Devlin returned to NXT UK TV last month for the first time since an allegation was made against him during the #SpeakingOut movement this June. NXT UK was on hiatus from March to September due to the pandemic.
Next Thursday’s NXT UK will also feature A-Kid vs. Trent Seven in the finals of the Heritage Cup tournament.
Kenny Williams won the Heritage Cup Wild Card triple threat match, beating his tag team partner Amir Jordan and Ashton Smith in a fun match. Williams will face Trent Seven in round one of the Heritage Cup tournament.
Jinny defeated Xia Brookside for the third time those two have met on NXT UK. Jinny cut a promo after and called herself the queen of NXT UK
Noam Dar defeated Alexander Wolfe 2-1 in a first round match in the Heritage Cup. Dar scored the first fall off a roll-up in round two, while Wolfe got a fall in round four after a bridging German suplex. Dar then hit the Nova Roller on Wolfe after special guest referee Pete Dunne had reprimanded Dar for cheating before the finish. After the match, Wolfe and Dunne got into it, leading to WALTER and Ilja Dragunov joining the fray.
Full rundown —
The show opened with a graphic for tonight’s Heritage Cup tournament first round match: Alexander Wolfe vs. Noam Dar with Pete Dunne as the special guest referee. We then went to the Wild Card triple threat match to determine the final participant in the tournament. The winner of the triple threat will face Trent Seven in round one.
Heritage Cup Wild Card triple threat match: Kenny Williams defeated Ashton Smith and Amir Jordan after pinning Smith following a tornado DDT (9:25)
Kenny Williams was shocked that his tag partner Amir Jordan was in the match. Jordan and Williams briefly teamed up to get Smith out of the ring but then squared off. They traded roll-ups but then got hit by a double clothesline from Smith. All three men traded flash pin attempts before Jordan hit a crossbody on Smith for a two count.
Williams hit a springboard headbutt that threw Smith off the apron. He then followed with a dropkick through the ropes but got caught on a dive. Jordan also hit a dive, sending everyone tumbling.
Back in the ring, Smith took over and dominated the match, sending Williams to the outside. Smith then went for a superplex on Jordan, who went for a sunset flip instead and got the assist from Williams to hit a powerbomb on Smith.
Smith still was strong, sending Williams into Jordan and then hitting a Blue Thunder Bomb on Williams for a near fall. Jordan hit a flatliner on Smith for another near fall.
Jordan and Williams traded strikes. Smith threw Jordan to ringside but got hit with a hurricanrana by Williams. Smith hit a slam on Williams, but Jordan came off the top with a Swanton Bomb to break up the pin. Jordan then covered Williams for another near fall. Jordan was sent to the outside once more by a superkick from Smith. Williams countered a slam from Smith with a tornado DDT for the pinfall victory.
– A video aired on Jinny and Xia Brookside ahead of them facing off later tonight.
– In another video, Eddie Dennis talked about his superior intelligence and how he aligned with Pretty Deadly last week.
– A clip from earlier in the year where Mark Andrews was attacked backstage was shown. Nobody has taken credit for the attack still. Andrews walked into the arena with Flash Morgan Webster and said he was back.
Jinny submitted Xia Brookside with an STF (6:33)
Brookside escaped an arm twist, which Jinny mockingly applauded her for. Brookside escaped some more attempts, then hit a dropkick on Jinny. Jinny came back with a kick to the stomach and took Brookside down for a pinfall attempt. Brookside took Jinny down with a headscissors off the ropes, then went for a monkey flip that was either blocked or botched.
Brookside was aggressive with a corner attack and a number of pinning combinations for some near falls. Brookside figure foured Jinny’s legs and kicked at her knee, then continued working over the legs. As the referee was talking to Brookside, Jinny hit a hard right hand for another near fall.
Brookside looked for the Brookside Bomb but Jinny blocked, then snapped Brookside’s head on the top rope. Jinny then locked in a modified STF for the submission.
– After the match, Jinny said she was ruthless and people would witness the new Jinny — the queen of NXT UK.
– A graphic announced Flash Morgan Webster vs. A-Kid in a Heritage Cup first round match for next week. A video feature on A-Kid then aired.
– Another graphic announced that Kay Lee Ray will give a State of the Union address next week.
Heritage Cup first round match (special guest referee: Pete Dunne) Noam Dar pinned Alexander Wolfe after the Nova Roller in 2:56 of round five to win the match 2-1 (14:02)
Pete Dunne entered first, followed by Dar and Wolfe.
Round One —
Wolfe and Dar wrestled on the mat for the first 30 seconds with neither man getting the advantage. They traded more holds but still no man had the clear advantage. Wolfe locked in a cravat, then transitioned into a hammerlock. Dar hit a snapmare and a kick as the round concluded. Both men were handed water during the break.
Round Two —
They grappled for position and Dar stomped Wolfe’s feet. He took Wolfe to the mat and went for a pin, but Wolfe wasn’t in danger. Wolfe pushed Dar’s shoulders down to the mat for a number of pinfall attempts. Wolfe hit a headlock takeover and tried to grind Dar down. Dar got Wolfe down for a backslide for a near fall, then countered a DVD attempt into a roll-up at 2:48 of the round, scoring the first point in the match.
Round Three —
Wolfe immediately took Dar down, then locked in a number of submissions. Wolfe rolled up Dar but only scored a two count. They traded strikes and forearms as the time in the round ran out. As Dunne tried separating both men after the end of the round, Wolfe hit a vicious slap on Dar.
Round Four —
Dar came back with a kick to Wolfe’s knee, then took his legs out and went for another pin but only got two. Dar signaled for the Nova Roller, but Wolfe ducked, hit an axe kick, and then scored a fall with a bridging German suplex at 0:58 of the round to tie Dar 1-1.
Round Five —
Dar countered an attack into an omoplata, but Wolfe countered as well. They traded submission attempts until Dar rolled Wolfe over for another near fall. Wolfe kicked out of another pinfall attempt and Dar transitioned into another armbar. Wolfe hit a flying kneebar but Dar escaped. Dar rolled Wolfe up but grabbed the ropes, prompting Dunne to kick his hand.
As Dunne was checking on Wolfe, Dar hit the Nova Roller (which Dunne narrowly ducked) on Wolfe for the pin at 2:56 of the round. With Dar winning two falls, he got the win and advances to the second round of the tournament. He’ll face the winner of Flash Morgan Webster vs. A-Kid.
– After the match, Dunne refused to raise Dar’s hand. Dar then left. Wolfe berated Dunne in German, telling him he was the reason Wolfe lost the match. Wolfe then went to attack Dunne, who got the better of him by hitting a kick to the head and stomps to the face. Dunne then went for the Bitter End before WALTER came out.
Dunne and WALTER got into a shouting match and WALTER got into the ring, but Wolfe snuck up on Dunne and beat him up. WALTER went to powerbomb Dunne, but Ilja Dragunov ran in for the save and Dunne and Dragunov cleared the ring of Imperium. Dunne and Dragunov screamed at Wolfe and WALTER as the show went off the air. It looks like we may get a tag team match with those four down the line.
Next week —
The Heritage Cup continues with Flash Morgan Webster taking on A-Kid in a first round match. Plus, coming off her brutal title defense against Piper Niven from last week, NXT Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray will give a State of the Union address.
Taped on April 19 at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland.
Quick results —
A number of qualifying matches for a fatal four-way were announced, with the eventual winner getting the next shot at WALTER’s WWE United Kingdom Championship. Joe Coffey pinned Flash Morgan Webster in the first qualifier.
Moustache Mountain defeated The Hunt in a fun opener, and Nina Samuels quickly beat Kasey Owens. In the main event, The Grizzled Young Veterans successfully defended the NXT UK Tag Team titles against Kenny Williams and his surprise partner, Noam Dar, who replaced an injured Amir Jordan.
We never saw who injured Jordan, but it was strongly hinted it might have been the tag champs. We also got a glimpse at Pete Dunne training for his title rematch against WALTER, which will air in two weeks.
Full rundown —
The show opened with Sid Scala announcing a four-way match in four weeks to determine the next contender for the WWE UK Championship, which will either still be held by WALTER, or his challenger, former champion Pete Dunne.
Vic Joseph also said that the WALTER vs. Dunne rematch would air in two weeks.
Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) defeated The Hunt (Primate & Wild Boar) in 7:23
Primate ran wild early on Seven, but he managed to come back, throw Primate to the outside, and follow up with a dive on both members of The Hunt. Primate, none the worse for wear, went for a middle rope exploder on Seven right away once he was back inside.
The Hunt worked Seven over until he managed the hot tag to Bate. Bate hit a number of European uppercuts, an overhead belly-to-back suplex, and a running Shooting Star Press, then followed up with the airplane spin, eventually even throwing Wild Boar onto Primate.
Seven was back in and took over, but the Burning Hammer/flying knee combo was thwarted, resulting in The Hunt taking over once more. But a small mistake was all Moustache Mountain needed to hit a combined dragon suplex/springboard lariat for the win.
– Cameras went backstage for some breaking news, showing Kenny Williams helping an obviously injured Amir Jordan to the trainer’s room
Qualifying match for number one contender’s fatal four-way: Joe Coffey pinned Flash Morgan Webster in 6:05
Since they were in Glasgow, Coffey was super over with the crowd, who chanted “Let’s Go, Coffey!”
Coffey started out strong, sending Webster to the mat, then locking in a tight headlock. Webster actually got some boos when he got on a headlock of his own.
Webster took over with a springboard dropkick on Coffey while he was on the apron, then hit a standing somersault senton. Coffey smashed Webster into the corner a few times, then did his butterfly swing into a butterfly suplex. They went back and forth and Webster hit an impressive running body block onto Coffey, who was in the ropes and both men tumbled to the outside.
After another dive and the Rude Boy Block, Webster hit a knee strike for a near fall. Coffey hit a running pounce into the corner, then followed up with Best for the Bells for the win.
After the match, Gallus came out and did an in-ring promo, talking about how this was their kingdom. They said they ran this city, just as they run NXT UK. Wolfgang called out Dave Mastiff for next week, but the rest of the team held him back and told him to calm down and said they should focus on the fatal four-way instead.
– A video of Dunne training at the UK Performance Center for his rematch against WALTER aired.
– A video hyped the debut of Ilja Dragunov for next week.
Nina Samuels pinned Kasey Owens in 2:47
Samuels started beating Owens up right away and punished her with some submission attempts. Owens briefly came back with some striking offense and even scored a near fall. Samuels quickly came back with a tilt-a-whirl-backbreaker, doing further damage to Owens’ lower back. She followed up with the Nina Goroshi for the win.
Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Samuels in the ring after the match. She cut an insincere promo about how Toni Storm deserves to live her dream, then talked about how Storm abandoned her struggling single mother and her baby sister, just so she could live her rock and roll lifestyle.
– Dave Mastiff talked with some media representatives. He said that he would destroy Gallus’ kingdom next week when he takes on Wolfgang. As he was wrapping up, Kay Lee Ray walked up and vowed no one in NXT UK would forget the name Kay Lee Ray ever again.
– A highlight video for next week’s Ligero vs. Jordan Devlin and Dave Mastiff vs. Wolfgang qualifying matches aired.
NXT UK Tag Team Champions Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) defeated Kenny Williams & Noam Dar in 13:28 to retain their titles
Before the match, Gibson cut a promo, claiming he heard that Amir Jordan was injured. So unfortunately, there would be no Tag Team title match tonight and he was very disappointed. He told the fans to get their shoes back on and head home.
As Gibson kept talking, Williams’ entrance music started and he came out. He also had a mic in hand and confirmed that Jordan was injured. He said there still would be a title match tonight. This brought out Noam Dar as Williams’ partner — and the fans cheered for their countryman.
Dar and Williams stormed the ring and attacked the Veterans, sending them scurrying to ringside. The two teams brawled around ringside. Dar and Gibson ended up back in the ring and Dar hit a dropkick, then followed with a Northern Lights suplex for a near fall, while Williams and Drake still fought on the outside.
The champs then took over, singling out Dar and focusing on his previously injured knee. Drake caught Dar from leaping off to a hot tag, then locked in another kneebar.
Dar finally managed the hot tag and Williams ran wild, hitting a springboard reverse body press on Drake, then drove his head into the turnbuckle. He thwarted an attack by Gibson, hit his wrecking ball dropkick on Gibson on the outside, then skinned the cat back inside. Drake caught him on that, but Williams was able to turn it into a DDT. Williams then hit an impressive springboard Pepsi Plunge to the outside on both members of the Grizzled Young veterans. He hit a top rope elbow on Drake for a close two count.
Dar and Gibson both tagged back in. Dar tripped Gibson and locked in a kneebar, but Gibson managed to tag out to Drake. They went to double team Dar, but Williams pulled Gibson to the outside and Dar locked in another kneebar while Williams had Gibson in an ankle lock.
Gibson finally managed to escape and free Drake as well. An enzuigiri by Dar later, all four men were down again. Dar managed to cradle Drake for another near fall, but Drake kicked out and locked in a single-leg Boston crab. Dar was about to tap out, but Williams caught his hand and — seconds later — kicked Drake, forcing him to release the hold.
Gibson and Williams traded offense and Dar sacrificed himself to take a codebreaker by Gibson off the second rope. Williams rolled through on Gibson for another close near fall.
As Dar was looking to finish the match, Drake pulled him to the outside and slammed his knee into the ring post. Drake blind-tagged in and hit a running dropkick onto Williams as Gibson held him in the corner. Gibson then hit Helter Skelter, followed by a 450 by Drake for the win.
Next week —
Two fatal four-way qualifiers take place, as Dave Mastiff faces Wolfgang and Jordan Devlin meets Ligero. Also, the debut of Ilja Dragunov on NXT UK TV.
Episode twelve (taped August 26 at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England)
Quick recap
Rhea Ripley was crowned the inaugural NXT UK Women’s champion, beating Toni Storm in a hard-fought battle. Story of the match was Toni injuring her back early on, so she couldn’t hit Storm Zero and fell victim to Rhea’s Riptide in the end. In other matches, Tyler Bate (replacing Sid Scala) beat Joe Coffey by DQ when Mark Coffey and Wolfgang interfered, leading to a brawl between Gallus (the new name for Wolfgang & the Coffey Brothers) and British Strong Style. Ligero beat Dan Maloney in a fun match and Zack Gibson & James Drake beat Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams.
Full rundown
The show opened with a recap of the NXT UK Women’s Championship tournament, leading down to the two final participants. Nigel and Vic talked some more about the tournament in the studio, as we saw Rhea Ripley and Ton Storm warm up for their match backstage.
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Tyler Bate (replacing Sid Scala) beat Joe Coffey by DQ in 9:47 due to outside interference
Coffey was supposed to face Sid Scala, who came out in a suit and with a microphone and said he had not been medically cleared to compete. He said Johnny Saint had given him permission to introduce his replacement, who was Tyler Bate.
Bate got right down to business, attacking Coffey with strikes and a punching battle ensued. A dropkick by Bate sent Coffey to the outside and Tyler followed up with a tope and after some back and forth on the outside, hit a flying European uppercut off the ring steps. At that point, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang came back out which distracted Bate and he got smashed into the ringside barriers.
He couldn’t lift up Coffey for the airplane spin and Coffey took over, hitting a butterfly swing into a butterfly suplex, before applying a double arm stretcher submission. Bate eventually reversed out of it, but got backed into the corner and ate a high belly-to-belly overhead suplex for his troubles.
A striking battle was won by Bate, as he hit a huracanrana and a standing shooting star press for a two-count, Mark Coffey got on the apron, which distracted Tyler Bate and Joe went for a pop-up power slam. Trent Seven came to the ring at that point to even the odds somewhat. Coffey missed a reverse body press off the top and Bate hit his neck-and-shoulders springboard lariat and managed to pick up Coffey for an airplane spin, even doing a squat in the middle of it, before spinning him some more in the other direction.
Coffey briefly got a few more shots in, but was wiped out with a rolling kappa kick. Bate set up the Tyler Driver ’97 but Wolfgang and Mark Coffey interfered for the DQ.
Trent Seven got in the ring to help out his mate, but the heels took over, until Pete Dunne’s music hit and he stormed out to a big pop and evened the odds. The heels were sent to ringside, briefly tried to come back into the ring but were finally driven off by British Strong Style.
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A graphic announced Dan Maloney facing Ligero next
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Ligero beat Dan Maloney after a springboard swinging DDT in 5:13
Maloney slapped Ligero right away and received a leg kick in return. He then picked up Ligero for a suplex and put him down on the apron, but Ligero flipped back into the ring and hit a dropkick for a quick cover. He went for a huracanrana but Maloney caught him and held him in position, but before he could capitalize, Ligero escaped and hit a flying huracanrana off the middle rope for a near fall.
A spine buster briefly stopped Ligero and a submission slowed the match down. Maloney briefly took over but missed a leg drop off the second turnbuckle. Ligero came back with a Rey Mysterio style seated senton off the top, followed by an enzuigiri. Ligero hit an assisted Sliced Bread, bouncing off the top rope and Maloney rolled ot the outside.
Ligero kept pushing, hitting a somersault senton on the bigger man and finally back in the ring, hit a springboard swinging DDT for the win.
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A graphic announced the upcoming tag team match, pitting Zack Gibson and James Drake against Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams. This was followed by a WWE Shop commercial
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Zack Gibson & James Drake beat Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams in 8:26 when Gibson pinned Williams after hitting Ticket to Ride
“Shoes off, if you hate Gibson” chants could be heard immediately, as the fans held their shoes into the air. Gibson and Williams started out and Gibson locked in a cravat and a side headlock right away and tagged his partner in crime. Williams rolled up Drake and hit a springboard back elbow before tagging out himself. Jordan hit a high hip toss and a drop kick and did his dance.
After being hit by a cross body and a drop kick, Drake was blind tagged by Gibson on a whip-in and the Grizzled Young Veterans hit a double chop to Amir’s throat.
Gibson locked in his seated cobra clutch variant and Drake tagged back in, while Amir was still in the hold. Amir played face in peril for a while, as the heels tagged in and out in quick succession. Gibson slammed Drake on top of Jordan for a two count. After some taunting and more beat downs, Drake finally missed a running dropkick into the corner and Amir managed the hot tag to Williams, as Drake tagged in Gibson.
Williams ran wild for a bit, hitting a dropkick on Gibson and taking out Drake on the apron. He hit a lucha-style roll-through into a face buster on Gibson for a near fall.
Gibson managed to tag back out and the heels went for a double back suplex on Williams, but Jordan pulled him down and hit a dropkick on Gibson as Williams hit a superkick on Drake, which sent both men to the outside. Williams hit a running dropkick through the ropes, but held on to the top rope and skinned the cat back inside, before hitting a double topés with Jordan.
Williams went to the to rope, but Gibson rammed Amir into the steps on the outside, distracting Williams and giving Drake a chance to push him off. With Amir being take out, the heels hit Ticket to Ride, a throw from a tombstone position by Drake into a codebreaker by Williams for the win.
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A split screen saw Rhea Ripley and Toni Storm walk to ringside for the main event.
Johnny Saint’s music hit and he came out carrying the NXT UK Women’s championship, followed by a WrestleMania ticket commercial.
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NXT UK Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley pinned Toni Storm in 9:28 after hitting Riptide to become the inaugural champion
This really was the battle of music styles, as the 80’s rocker, Toni Storm faced the Mosh Pit Kid, Rhea Ripley.
Ripley shoved Storm right away and hit her double arm sign of the horns pose. Toni retaliated with a firearm, slap, spin kick and running boot, sending Rhea crashing into to corner, where she promptly got hit with a hip attack by Toni and rolled to ringside. Toni followed up with a plancha between the middle and lowest rope.
Rhea recovered quickly and whipped Storm into the barriers back first, then briefly rolled back into the ring and stomped hard into Toni’s back on her way back out. This started telling the story of the match, which was Toni not being able to hit some of her signature moves due to her lower back being injured.
Toni came back with some knee strikes and forearm smashed and went for Strong Zero on the apron, but couldn’t lift Ripley up and got back body dropped on the apron. Toni barely made it back into the ring at 8 and Ripley was onto her right away with some ground and pound. Toni came back into the match, but quickly got stopped again with a knee breaker off a headlock attempt.
Ripley locked in her modified clover leaf, putting further pressure on Toni’s knees and lower back. Storm eventually made the ropes for a break, but Ripley kicked her left wrist hard, which still was clutching to the ropes.
Storm came back with some right hand slaps and went for the German suplex, but couldn’t lift Ripley due to her back problems. Ripley went for a back suplex, but Toni escaped and finally hit a snap German and picked Ripley up for a second one. Ripley eventually countered an attempt for a third one, but Toni hit a head butt and finally hit the third German suplex into a bridge for a near fall. She followed up with a running kick, a hip attack into the corner and flying double knees into the corner for another two count.
Ripley briefly took over but missed a corner charge and crashed into the post. Toni tried a bridging pin, but her momentum actually helped Ripley kicking out. Toni went for the Storm Zero, but got back body dropped over the top to the outside. where Ripley threw into the barriers a few more times and managed to get another two count back in the ring. She went for Riptide but Toni managed to escape the move and went for Storm Zero, but again, couldn’t get Ripley up due to her injured back.
Ripley tried for Riptide again, finally hit the move and pinned Toni Storm for the win and the championship.
Johnny Saint and Triple H entered the ring to congratulate Ripley and hand her the title. Rhea hugged both men and they celebrated in the ring together as the whole NXT UK roster came out on the stage to applaud the new champion as the show went off the air.
In a WWE.com exclusive video, Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Rhea Ripley in the ring. She said that this was so unreal and that she really wished she could catch her breath, but she couldn’t. She said Toni, you are a legend and I love you so much. She thanked everyone for coming out and said that it meant the world to her. The fans chanted “you deserve it” and she smiled and said, she was not going to lie, she might.
She thanked all the women who fought so hard for this and said that they were finally making history. This prompted chants of “British Wrestling”. She said she sould continue to rip everyone apart and then went to the top of the stage to pose with Johnny Saint, Triple H and the whole NXT UK roster.
Episode seven (taped August 25 at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England)
Quick recap
Triple H and Johnny Saint announced the NXT UK Women’s championship tournament, which begins next week. Wolfgang beat Ashton Smith in the main event, further establishing himself and the Coffey Brothers as a force to be reckoned with. Tyler Bate beat James Drake in the match of the show, while Jordan Devlin looked good in beating Sid Scala and we had Saxon Huxley & Joseph Connors beat Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams. A fun show, especially the Bate match, but really not a must-see episode.
Full rundown
Triple H and all the women of NXT UK – Dakota Kai, Nina Samuels, Toni Storm, Isla Dawn, Rhea Ripley, Xia Brookside, Jinny and Millie McKenzie – were out on the stage to open the show. The way this was shot, Ripley, who really only is 5’7″ looked huge compared to the other women, both in height and massiveness. Triple H called out Johnny Saint, who unveiled the new NXT UK Women’s championship. The tournament for this new title will begin on the next episode.
There was a look back to when Wolfgang and the Coffey Bros. attacked Ashton Smith a few weeks back. A graphic announced that Smith and Wolfgang would face off in tonight’s main event. Also announced was Tyler Bate vs. James Drake. After a promo announcing WrestleMania 35 tickets going on sale, we went to our first match.
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Jordan Devlin beat Sid Scala in 3:13 with the Island’s Call
Devlin locked up right away and backed Scala into a corner, screaming “you don’t belong here” at him. Scala briefly fired back, but was hit with Devlin’s uranage/standing moonsault combination. Devlin kept working Scala over and launched himself over the ropes from the apron with a beautiful somersault cutter. He went for the Island’s Call, but Scala turned it into a sunset flip. Devlin kicked out but Scala hit a jumping neck breaker and went for a body press off the top. He jumped into a dropkick by Devlin, which looked to have missed by a mile. This set up a successful Island’s Call for the victory for the Irishman.
Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Devlin in the ring post-match, telling him that this was a dominant performance and if we had seen the real Jordan Devlin yet. Devlin fired back to not make him laugh and that the last thing concerning him was having those people here know who he was. Whenever he’s backstage, he’s asking himself who all the people back there think they are, especially the guy running around as a luchador, even though he is from Leeds, so who does Ligero think he is? I have a feeling these two will square up in the coming weeks.
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After a look at Moustache Mountain’s promo from a few weeks back, Nigel and Vic talked about the upcoming NXT UK tag team titles and how we’d be seeing some teams form. In fact, two of those teams would have a match next, when Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams face Saxon Huxley & Joseph Connors.
After a WWE Network promo, we got a video introducing us to Tyson T-Bone, who said he’d been traveling up and down the country, beating people and that he was the biggest, baddest and meanest WWE UK (he didn’t say NXT UK) wrestler. He’ll debut next week.
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Saxon Huxley & Joseph Conners beat Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams in 4:46 when Connors hit Don’t Look Down on Williams for the pin
We saw everyone but Conners on NXT UK before, because he got injured in a match with Kenny Williams during the first day of the July tapings and the match was stopped, never making air. He started out in 2006 and was trained by Robbie Brookside, among others. He’s a mainstay at Southside Entertainment Wrestling and competes for other promotions such as Defiant, PROGRESS, ICW, IPW:UK and Preston City Wrestling. He’s a 3-time former SWE Heavyweight champion and three-time SWE tag-team champion and also was Defiant champion, back when it was WCPW.
Williams came out wearing old-school red and blue 3D glasses and we were told that Jordan chose wrestling over an arranged marriage by his mother. Oh well, good for him I guess. Huxley and Amir started out and Amir escaped some take down by flipping out, kipping up and doing his funny foreign man dance, because stereotypes. He tagged in Williams who quickly got distracted for the heel advantage. Conners tagged in and we were told that he lost part of his left ear in a bar fight years ago, where he was “left for dead”.
Amir was face in peril for a while, until he managed to hit an enzuigiri and made the hot tag. Williams hit a cool spot where he hit a shotgun dropkick onto Conners on the outside, then skinned the cat back into the ring and hit a suicide dive on Huxley on the other side of the ring. He missed a DDT from the top rope and was hit by a brutal sunset bomb by Conners into the corner, followed by Don’t Look Down for the victory for the heel team.
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After another graphic for Bate vs. Drake and a promo for the NXT UK tapings in ten days we were shown the brackets for the NXT UK Women’s championship tournament and got nice graphics for everybody, including when they made their WWE/NXT debuts.
This was followed by an interview with Trent Seven by what looked like a number of journalists. He was asked his opinion on Zack Gibson and said that while it was impressive how Gibson won the UK tournament at Royal Albert Hall, he couldn’t get the job done against Pete Dunne and had been calling out the other members or British Strong Style ever since. When asked if he was challenging Gibson, he said that he was a pro wrestler and a sports entertainer and told Gibson to have a go. Those two will face off on the next episode.
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Tyler Bate beat James Drake in 8:30 with the Tyler Driver ’97
Drake has a picture of his face on his trunks, so he received the “he’s got his own face on his arse” chant from the UK crowd here. They traded arm twisters early, which Bate flipped out of, followed by a dropkick and a suplex escape over the top rope onto the apron and hit a big chop. Drake punched Bate off the turnbuckle to the outside. Bate escaped a lengthy chin-lock sequence by backing Drake into the corner and hit a beautiful standing huracanrana, followed by a spinning elbow off the second turnbuckle.
Drake charged into Bate in the corner, but got caught and received an overhead suplex for his troubles, followed by a running Shooting Star Press. Drake flipped over the ropes onto the apron but when Bate teased a suicide dive, Drake jumped to ringside, and Bate launched himself back into the ring with the top rope between his neck and shoulders spot, before hitting an actual dive.
Back in the ring, Bate hit a backdrop driver for a near fall. The first attempt at the Tyler Driver ’97 got turned into a back body drop and Drake hit a running dropkick into the corner for a near fall. A second attempt at a dropkick failed though, as Tyler moved, hit his springboard lariat off the ropes and finished his night with a Tyler Driver ’97 for the victory.
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After a WWE Shop commercial, we had another look at all the women in the tournament, which will start next week.
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Wolfgang (w/ Joe & Mark Coffey) defeated Ashton Smith
Wolfgang won in 5:29 after a modified fisherman’s suplex. The crowd was behind Smith all the way, chanting to his entrance and generally being very cheerful. Smith hit things off with a cravat, but ate some punches from “The Last King of Scotland” for his troubles. He came back with a nice dropkick, head scissors and a springboard tomahawk chop, but then jumped right into a gut buster as he went for a body press off the top. Wolfgang dominated the back and forth exchange that developed from there and stopped Smith in his tracks with a bear hug.
Smith eventually fought out, hit a clothesline, then leapfrogged Wolfgang as he charged out of the corner, landed on the second turnbuckle and hit a reverse enzuigiri for some momentum. This didn’t last long, as Wolfgang launched Smith into the air, then launched himself at a stunned, seated Smith with a running senton and finally hit a modified fisherman’s suplex into a slam for the victory.
Wolfgang and the Coffeys posed in the ring as the show went off the air.
