– Mansoor Al-Shehail (w/ Shadia Bseiso) defeated Daniel Vidot
Bseiso introduced Mansoor tonight and taught the crowd the word “welcome” in Arabic. Vidot missed a spear in the corner, allowing Mansoor to cradle him for the pin.
– Eric Bugenhagen did an air guitar solo. The fans love this man and he doesn’t even have to wrestle.
Great match — it got a “This is awesome” chant late. Barthel and Aichner worked over Lorcan until he could make a hot tag to Burch, who hit a ripcord stunner and set up the double-team spike DDT to win it.
Taped January 25-27 at Royal Rumble Axxess at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona
Quick rundown —
Jack Gallagher beat Tyler Bate, Grizzled Young Veterans defended their NXT UK tag team titles, beating Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch and WALTER beat Kassius Ohno.
Full results —
The show opened right with out first match, Tyler Bate vs. Jack Gallagher, making his NXT UK debut.
Tyler Bate pinned “Gentleman” Jack Gallagher in 9:46 after a roll-up
They had a great scientific babyface match with lots submissions and mat wrestling.
Bate applied a wrist lock right away but Gallagher managed to escape and took Bate down for a one-count. They went into mat-wrestling with submissions and counters withing the first minute and Gallagher gave Bate some trouble with a leg vice which Bate eventually escaped from. Gallagher showed his submission prowess and training under Billy Robinson with some unique submission attempts that had Bate cringing on the mat.
Gallagher kept working on Bate’s knees and ankles and Bate didn’t really have an answer to being tied into a pretzel at will at that point and even was slightly limping after continued submissions. Bate eventually came back with an arm lever extension and went for an airplane spin, but Gallagher quickly escaped and locked in another submission until Bate managed to reach the ropes. They ended up in round-and-round roll-ups that had both men and the referee dizzy until Bate finally managed to pick up the win with a surprise roll-up.
We saw a training session at the NXT UK Performance Center where Robbie Brookside ran some drills involving a few wrestlers, including Travis Banks. Jordan Devlin suddenly appeared, pulling Banks off the apron and attacked him on the outside until Brookside and the other wrestlers broke it up.
We took a short look at WALTER’s dominance in NXT UK.
A video hyping the “Nina Samuels” show aired.
Eddie Dennis cut a promo at the NXT UK Performance Center and said that people wondered what happened to him after losing to Dave Mastiff at TakeOver. He said when he retuirns, he would take down the roster one by one.
WALTER pinned Kassius Ohno in 8:37 after a power bomb
These two faced off in wXw (at a 16 Carat Gold tournament final no less), PROGRESS and even WWE at WrestleMania weekend last year.
They went for a test of strenght right away and WALTER showed his dominance early. Ohno took a swing but looked concerned right away, He applied a head lock but WALTER easily escaped and started working over Ohno’s arm.Ohno foolishly chopped WALTER who just looked at him, then smashed his big frame into the American, sending him crashing to the mat. He hit a big boot, sending Ohno to ringside. They traded forearms on the outside until WALTER picked him up and smashed him onto the apron.
Ohno went back in the ring and as WALTER tried to pull him back outside, he stomped on the Austrian’s head and hit a senton on his arm. Ohno applied a cravat and forced the big man to his knees, but WALTER eventually body slammed his way out of the hold. They traded forearms, chops and slaps. Ohno managed to weigh WALTER down on a German suplex attempt but caught a chop to the back for his troubles and then got German suplexed like he deserved to be.
Ohno managed to roll through on a sleeper hold for a two-count. Ohno went up for a moonsault but WALTER rolled out of the way. WALTER then hit a Shotgun dropkick and the power bomb for the victory.
Ligero was shown at the NXT UK Performance Center and replied to Joseph Conners comments from last week. A match between the two was announced for next week.
After their brawl that was shown earlier, a Falls Count Anywhere match between Jordan Devlin and Travis Banks also was announced for next week.
Grizzled Young Veterans beat Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch in 13:09 when Dann Burch was pinned after Ticket to Mayhem
Lorcan and Drake started out and Drake worked Lorcan’s arm right away. Oney escaped and made the tag, with Burch taking over until Gibson blind-tagged in and the champs took over, with Gibson first slamming Burch and then slamming his own partner on top of him. Lorcan came back in on a hot tag and ran wild for a bit, until Drake put a thumb into his eye and the heels proceeded to beat Lorcan down on the outside.
Back inside, Gibson applied his kneeling cobra clutch and tagged Drake, who knocked Oney down with a stiff forearm, then applied a nerve hold. The champs quickly tagged in and out and isolated Lorcan for a few minutes, until Oney finally manged to thwart his opponents and make the hot tag to Danny Burch. He ran wild, then hit consecutive German suplexes on both Grizzled Young Veterans, followed by a flying dropkick on Gibson and a power bomb on Drake for a near fall.
Drake managed to escape a cutter attempt off the ropes, allowing the champs to take over. Gibson hit Ticket to Ride on Burch, but the British veteran managed to kick out. Gibson had Burch on his shoulders but he escaped, hit head butts on both opponents and tagged Lorcan. The faces hit a Doomsday Device for another near fall that was broken up, when Gibson back body dropped Lorcan onto Burch. Lorcan and Gibson faced off, with each having an opponent in a submission and started trading strikes. Lorcan ran wild, hitting a crazy somersault plancha on both opponents. Lorcan and Burch hit a double high angle DDT on Drake for a very close near fall.
Drake rolled up Burch with his feet on the ropes and Gibson holding him down from the outside but Burch still managaged to kick out. The Grizzled Young Veterans then finally hit Ticket to Mayhem on Burch for the win and a successful title defense.
Next week:
Jordan Devlin meets Travis Banks in a falls count anywhere match and Ligero faces Joseph Conners in a rematch from a few weeks ago.
Mendoza ran wild on both Barthel and Aichner after a hot tag before winning with a driver.
– Punishment Martinez defeated Rick Boog
The South of Heaven chokeslam got Martinez the win.
– Mia Yim defeated Jessamyn Duke
Yim won with a low angle Seoul Food.
– Aleister Black defeated Jaxson Ryker by DQ
Johnny Gargano caused the disqualification. Black recovered and hit the Black Mass on Ryker.
– Matt Riddle defeated Kassius Ohno
Great action here, with a roll-up finish to leave more out there for the future. Riddle hit a delayed German suplex during the match, Ohno used a cyclone kick, and they had strike exchanges. These two are great together.
– Lacey Lane defeated Reina Gonzalez
Lane hit a flatliner to win a hard-fought match.
– Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish & Roderick Strong) defeated Otis Dozovic, Tucker Knight, Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan
There was comedy early with Heavy Machinery having their way with Undisputed. An airplane spin with jump rope action was a sight to see.
Undisputed scored the win and continued their beatdown before being run off so the good guys could celebrate with the crowd to close the show.
Episode five (taped July 29 at Cambridge Corn Exchange in Cambridge, England)
Quick recap —
Pete Dunne defended his WWE United Kingdom Championship against Danny Burch in a hard-hitting strong-style affair that may have been the best match on NXT UK yet. The Coffey Brothers and Wolfgang took out Ashton Smith before his match, setting up a six-men tag team match in the main event next week against Smith, Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews.
Eddie Dennis made his debut and looked good against Sid Scala, Ligero defeated James Drake in a fun match, and Dave Mastiff continues to look like a monster, squashing Damien Weir in under 90 seconds.
Full rundown —
The show opened up with a graphic of our main event: Pete Dunne defending his WWE UK title against Danny Burch. We then went straight to our first match.
“Bomber” Dave Mastiff pinned Damien Weir after a cannonball in 1:27
Weir is better known as Chief Deputy Dunne on the UK scene and often competes in a tag team, the Anti-Fun Police. He started out in 2010 and is a regular with Attack! Pro, Kamikaze Pro, Southside Wrestling, IPW:UK, PROGRESS, RevPro, and others. He’s also the current IPW:UK Tag Team Champion with Los Federales Santos Jr. and the current Kamikaze Pro Tag Team Champion in a mixed tag team with Millie McKenzie.
Mastiff beat his NXT UK record of disposing of Sid Scala on the first episode by 31 seconds here. Weir tried hitting a body press right away, but just bounced off the “Bomber.” Mastiff hit a senton, an impressive looking deadlift vertical suplex into a slam, dragged Weir into the corner, hit a cannonball, and picked up the victory.
**********
Nigel McGuinness and Vic Joseph recapped Wolfgang joining the Coffey Brothers last week after his match with Mark Andrews and beating down Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster. We were promised a statement by the new trio later on.
There was a short highlight video on Ligero while he talked about being from Leeds and wearing a mask to stand out. This was followed by a video on James Drake, who said he had traveled around the world to make sure he became an elite sports entertainer and how he was a completely different man now. He was focused more than ever and if anyone stood in his way, he would go through them.
After a WWE Network promo, we got another video on Jinny. She said that she was the fashionista of NXT UK and had more money than all other wrestlers combined. Well, good for her, she might be able to give Brock Lesnar a few tips then.
We also saw Danny Burch warm up for his main event match.
**********
Ligero defeated James Drake in 5:48 after a springboard DDT
Drake started training at 14 and made his debut in 2010. He teamed with Axl Rage as The Blackpool Blonds and Blond Jovi early on. He currently teams with Zack Gibson as the Grizzled Young Veterans, mostly in PROGRESS and Future Shock Wrestling. They’ve held the Tag Team titles in both promotions before.
Drake competed for All Star Wrestling earlier in his career on a regular basis and was a regular for Grand Pro Wrestling as well. He’s also known as “Mr. Mayhem” — and we were being told he adopted more of a “grit your teeth” mentality recently. He might consider asking Pete Dunne about wearing a mouth guard then.
They started off with a good old-fashioned lock up, jockeying for position early on. Fans chanted “He’s got his own face on his ass” at Ligero, who has a picture of his mask on the back of his trunks.
Drake took things to the mat with a smooth headlock takeover. Ligero hit a spinning heel kick and eventually threw Drake to ringside. Back in the ring, Ligero hit a Code Red Bomb for a near fall and after trading some reversals, followed it up with a springboard spinning DDT off the middle rope for the victory in a good match.
**********
Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Toni Storm backstage and asked her how she prepared for Dakota Kai, as the two will meet in the next episode. She said that she went into the match with the intention to win. Well, duh! She said Kai and her had similar goals, as far as the NXT UK Women’s Championship is concerned, but that it was just not going to happen for Kai.
Kai showed up and interrupted the interview, stating that she respects everything Storm has done, but as good as she was going to be, Kai was just going to be a little bit better. Storm replied that in that case, the best woman may win. They shook hands on it.
An Ashton Smith video aired. He talked about how there wasn’t a person that he couldn’t beat.
Zack Gibson did a short promo, announcing that he would be back to face the debuting Amir Jordan on the next episode and was soon to be Number One.
**********
Ashton Smith vs. an unannounced opponent never took place
Smith came out for a match, but we never found out who he was supposed to face. He was wiped out by the Coffey Brothers and Wolfgang, who unceremoniously threw him to the back. Joe Coffey was on the mic and said that since Royal Albert Hall, they have been imposing their will on anyone and everyone, no one liked them and they didn’t care.
At Royal Albert Hall, Joe Coffey had an epiphany, he liked surrounding himself with people who had the same mentality, whether it was blood or someone who took pride in doing things his way, like Wolfgang. He said the mantra for this brand was “We are NXT UK,” but he believes that there’s a hierarchy and if you’re not on their level, they will dispose of your weakness. There would be no more British Strong Style and certainly no more “big strong bois” in the future.
Joe closed by saying “No one likes us, we don’t care, from now on, it’s a pack mentality, divide and conquer, this is our kingdom!”
**********
A graphic said that Eddie Dennis would debut next.
Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews were backstage in front of NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint’s office and said they’ve had problems with the Coffeys for a long time now, now they got Wolfgang involved and they were sure that the Coffeys also had attacked Travis Banks. Ashton Smith showed up and wanted to join them in seeing Saint.
**********
Eddie Dennis defeated Sid Scala in 3:30 with the Next Stop Driver
“The Pride of Wales,” Eddie Dennis stands 6’5″ and started wrestling 10 years ago. A teacher by trade, he went on to become the youngest headmaster in the UK at the time, but left his position to wrestle full-time. He started out with Pete Dunne and Mark Andrews, but focused on his original career while they had some more international success earlier on.
A regular in PROGRESS, RevPro, Attack! Pro, Kamikaze Pro, Pro Wrestling Chaos, and others, Dennis is a former ATTACK! and ATTACK! 24/7 Champion, as well as a former PROGRESS Tag Team Champion with Mark Andrews as FSU (Friends Stand United or F**k S**t Up).
Dennis started strong, kicking his smaller opponent and had him in a cravat, from which he hit some vicious knees. He hit a knee drop for a near fall, but Scala kicked out. Scala came back with some offense, hitting a few slaps and a high crossbody, but couldn’t keep Dennis down for the pin. Dennis hit a buckle bomb and the Next Stop Driver for the quick victory.
**********
We saw Pete Dunne walking to the ring backstage, followed by a WWE Story Time ad.
A graphic announced Toni Storm vs. Dakota Kai for next week. There also was a tweet by Johnny Saint, announcing a six-man tag team match for our main event of the next episode, pitting the Coffey Brothers & Wolfgang against Mark Andrews, Flash Morgan Webster & Ashton Smith.
**********
WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne defeated Danny Burch in 16:14 by submission to retain his title
This was a stiff, hard-hitting, strong-style match that also had a lot of submissions and overall told a great story. Burch was portrayed as the grizzled veteran last week who suffered numerous setbacks throughout his career and now finally was on his way to win his first major title from the young up-and-comer, who wrestles a similar style as the one he helped establish over the past 15 years.
They locked up and traded submissions attempts early, but neither man could get the clear advantage. Dunne hit a stiff kick on an early exchange, and received retribution in the form of a hard slap to the neck a few seconds later. Dunne started working on Burch’s fingers and wrist early on, which would be an ongoing story of the match.
Burch hit a nice overhead toss in the early minutes and also took Dunne down brutally from a leapfrog attempt. Dunne rolled to ringside, checked a kick by Burch, and pulled him to the outside, where he hit an X-Plex to the apron that looked like no fun at all. Dunne continued working the arm and Burch came back with an enzuigiri and a missile dropkick from the middle rope for a near fall.
Dunne came back with a stiff forearm that knocked the veteran halfway across the ring. Dunne did his backflip off the middle rope off a reversal, hit a kick to Burch’s jaw, and then jumped on his left arm from the middle ropes, causing further damage. They spilled to ringside and Dunne slammed Burch’s hand on the ring steps, but missed a stomp, causing Burch to pull his feet out so Dunne took a face-first bump onto the steel, followed by a German suplex by Burch on the outside.
Back in the ring, Dunne went for a triangle but trapped the right arm instead of the left one he had been working on, causing Burch to power out and hit a buckle bomb. Burch went for a top rope German suplex, but Dunne managed to bend his fingers to escape, only for Burch to hit it anyway. Dunne tried flipping over in mid air, but still landed hard on his face and knees, which led to a near fall.
They had another striking battle, which Dunne ended by hitting an enzuigiri and an X-Plex. He immediately transitioned into an armbar. Burch countered out into a cross face, which Dunne managed to counter into a pinning attempt. Burch went for another German suplex, but this time Dunne managed to flip through it and hit a kick to the back of Burch’s head.
A lariat by Burch turned Dunne inside out, but Dunne came back with kicks and proceeded to stomp a mud hole into Burch. Dunne was signaling to end the match, but Burch suddenly popped up, hit a headbutt to Dunne’s shoulder, and his draping DDT that won him his last NXT UK match. Dunne kicked out at 2.9.
Burch locked in the crossface once more and even managed to roll back into the middle of the ring as Dunne was inching closer to the ropes. In desperation, Dunne gouged Burch’s face to finally break the hold and hit the Bitter End, but Burch kicked out of that one too, which got a big pop.
Dunne locked in a triangle, this time trapping the left arm. He rolled over on top of Burch’s head and proceeded to his finger-breaking spot and twisted the injured fingers and wrist with the triangle still locked in, forcing Burch to tap out.
Burch looked devastated but acknowledged Dunne on leaving the ring while the champ posed with his title as the show went off the air.
WWE decided to air a doubleheader of NXT UK on Halloween, but it remains to be seen if this is a one-time thing or if they do this on a regular basis now. My recap of the second episode will be posted later Thursday.
Noam Dar, Zack Gibson, and Mark Andrews continued to impress with Dar and Gibson having a very good main event match that went more than 20 minutes. The main stories on the doubleheader were Danny Burch being built up as the newest challenger for Pete Dunne’s WWE UK title (they will face off next week), while the Coffey Bros. continue to be built up as monster heels, laying waste to Flash Morgan Webster, Mark Andrews and Travis Banks (who, it was implied, was attacked by the brothers in a backstage segment).
We also saw the regular NXT UK in-ring debuts of Trent Seven, Saxon Huxley, Flash Morgan Webster, Mark Coffey, Danny Burch, Sam Gradwell, Isla Dawn and of course, Jordan Devlin. Webster and Devlin both looked very good in their matches.
They have aired all the matches from the inaugural July 28th taping by now and all of the matches on the second part of the two show block were from July 29th. It looks like they will be finishing up with the matches taped there by episode six. If they keep the “four matches per week” formula, they have enough material for another 13 weeks after that, and they have two more tapings scheduled for November, so that should be good for another six episodes which will get us right into WrestleMania week.
WWE also holds a big tryout camp in Cologne on November 9th aimed at the German talent pool with lots of wXw stars attending, so hopefully we will find out more on the plans for an NXT Germany brand and also learn if, and how, NXT in the UK and Germany may interact in the future.
Episode 3 show recap:
The show opened with a graphic for our main event, Noam Dar vs. Zack Gibson, after the latter called out the former during his in-ring promo last week amidst nuclear heat with GM Johnny Saint making the match for tonight.
Trent Seven defeated Saxon Huxley in 5:10 with the Burning Hammer
Seven, the oldest member of British Strong Style at age 37 (well, 36 when this was taped), is an interesting character. An actor by trade (he even appeared in Transformers: The Last Knight), he started wrestling in 2008 and is part-owner of the Wolverhampton Fight Club: PRO promotion. He also bought his own ring in order to properly train and also is one of the trainers of Tyler Bate, who he’s been teaming with as Moustache Mountain since late 2015.
He mostly wrestled for Fight Club: PRO early on, but also worked for CZW in the U.S. and Big Japan Pro Wrestling in 2012 and for wXw in Germany in 2011 and 2012. In 2015, he became a regular for ICW in Scotland and by 2016, he was a regular in ICW, PROGRESS, and RevPro. He made his WWE debut at the inaugural WWE UK title tournament in January of 2017, defended his ICW world title at WrestleMania Axxess the same year, and became a regular for WWE in the UK and on NXT. He and Bate won the NXT tag team titles at Royal Albert Hall on June 19th before losing it back to The Undisputed Era two days later in Orlando in a five star classic.
“Muscle Cat” Huxley started out in 2009 and trained under Brian Kendrick, Marty Jones, and Lance Storm and wrestled indies in the U.S. and all over Europe. He’s also had matches in PROGRESS and Southside, is a regular for Megaslam Wrestling, and is the current champion for True Grit Wrestling.
Huxley had an on-screen promo, vowing that “the beast will emerge” and was in control early until Seven escaped and threw a few chops, but was eventually blocked. Seven feigned a chop and hit a quick DDT for a near fall. Saxon hit a nice looking Thesz Press for a takedown and was in control, eventually locking in a cobra clutch, which was more of a resthold than a proper submission attempt. Seven eventually countered out of it and hit his Seven Star Lariat, a snap dragon suplex and the Burning Hammer for the victory.
***
Nigel McGuinness and Vic Joseph talked about the Coffey Brothers and we saw a video showing their recent path of destruction. There also was another video plugging the November NXT UK tapings before Radzi Chinyanganya talked to Flash Morgan Webster who said his game plan was simple, his style was innovative, and the Coffeys had been a thorn in his side for a long time. He vowed that he would end that tonight, closing with “In Mod we trust”.
***
Flash Morgan Webster defeated Mark Coffey (w/Joe Coffey) in 6:16 via crucifix pin
Webster, from Wales, is nicknamed “The MODfather of Professional Wrestling” for his love of that particular 60s fashion trend from the UK. He started in 2010 and is a regular for ATTACK! Pro, PROGRESS, RevPro, and Southside among others and also wrestled in PWG in 2017 and 2018 and for CHIKARA before that. He’s held titles in ATTACK! Pro and RevPro and is the current Dragon Pro tag team Champion with fellow NXT UK wrestler “Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman as The 198.
Coffey from Scotland, the younger of the Coffey Brothers by about two years, was trained by Killian Dain and Finn Bálor and, together with his brother, attended the ZERO1 Dojo in Japan. Starting out in 2010, he is a regular for ICW and the current ICW Zero-G champion, a title he held twice before and is also a four-time former ICW tag team champion (with Jackie Polo) and wrestled for other smaller promotions throughout the UK.
Coffey started out with rough body shots before Webster broke out some lucha with arm drags and a huricanrana and hit a nice somersault senton. Mark came back with an uppercut after his brother distracted Webster and took over from there. Webster countered a corner whip into a beautiful twisting qebrada and a knee threw Coffey to ringside. When Joe got up on the apron, Webster jumped around the ring post into a huricanrana on Mark at the floor, which also looked amazing.
He later slipped on an enzuigiri attempt from the middle rope, but caught it nicely and hit the move once he was down on the mat. He attacked Joe who was on the apron again and then escaped a suplex attempt by Mark into a quick crucifix pin for the win. The brothers went on to attack him post-match, but Mark Andrews and Travis Banks came out for the save and the Coffeys fled from ringside.
***
We got short promos by Danny Burch and Sam Gradwell for their upcoming match. Burch asked “If you’re not here to beat the man, what’s the point of being here?” while Gradwell said he’d be the “Thunderstorm” and we saw clips of Pete Dunne attacking him back in early 2017 at the inaugural UK title tournament.
We got a short video for WWE Custom Tees, followed by a video about Jinny, a woman who probably wouldn’t be caught that in any kind of WWE custom tee. They showed her in different outfits, strolling across the streets of London (I presume) and she said she’d teach people a lesson they’d never forget.
***
Danny Burch defeated Sam Gradwell in 4:05 with a draping DDT
Burch, from London, started out in 2003 as Martin Stone and trained at the FWA Academy under Mark Sloan. He quickly became a regular for IPW:UK where he held the world title on three occasions and started to appear for wXw in Germany by 2007 where he won the wXw Tag Team Championship with Doug Williams and was a regular until 2010. He wrestled all over Europe and the UK and also went to the U.S. for CHIKARA in 2008. In late 2011, he signed a developmental deal with WWE and started out in FCW and first appeared on NXT television in 2013.
By late April of 2014, he was released by WWE and wrestled briefly for Impact, but emerged again on NXT television in July of 2015, albeit without a contract. He was part of the WWE United Kingdom title tournament in early 2017 and is now both a member of the NXT UK roster and a regular on NXT on their Florida house show loop and television.
Gradwell started in 2009 and mostly wrestled for Grand Pro Wrestling out of Wigam, home of the famous Snake Pit, where he held a number of titles and is the current British Champion. He trained under Johnny Saint, Robbie Brookside, and Marty Jones. He appeared at the 2017 WWE UK title tournament, where he was brutally attacked by Pete Dunne before their match the next day.
These two started out with a slug fest and Gradwell dropped a headbutt on a prone Burch, who came back with a snap German suplex, but ate a Falcon Arrow for his troubles. Burch came back with a headbutt of his own after another stiff exchange and draped Gradwell on the top rope before hitting a DDT for the win.
Post-match, Burch was interviewed in the ring by Radzi Chinyanganya. He said it was amazing to be back in the UK and that he was a proud Englishman to chants of “UK, UK” which he said meant so much to him. He traveled the world for 15 years, was in the prime of his career and the best shape of his life, and wanted the attention of Pete Dunne now. He said, “I was British Strong Style while you were running around in your nappies with snot running down your nose” (well, technically Dunne was around 9 or 10 when Burch started, but the line got a great pop anyway). He closed by saying “I sit in a corner. Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough”.
We saw Zack Gibson and Noam Dar prepare for their upcoming match, followed by a Susan G. Komen promo and Vic and Nigel throwing it to a Jordan Devlin video package where he said he was the highest property in sports entertainment and the most explosive and aggressive guy on the roster. He’ll debut on the next episode. We also found out that Travis Banks would face Wolfgang on the next episode.
Zack Gibson defeated Noam Dar in 21:09 with Helter Skelter
These two almost got at it last week before Johnny Saint broke things up and ordered the match for this week. Dar was in control early and was mockingly teasing taking his shoes off (fans take their shoes off in protest of Gibson on a regular basis). We were told that there was some dispute between various regions of the UK with Gibson being from the working-class North and Cambridge, where this was taped, being more of a middle-class town.
The story of the match was Dar working over Gibson’s left knee and ankle while Gibson worked Dar’s left shoulder area. Dar started this with an Indian Deathlock, which Gibson escaped from and went for a shoulder lock and Dar had a hard time escaping that. He eventually did and they traded pin attempts. As they both were running the ropes, Dar swept Gibson’s leg and followed it with a dropkick right onto Gibson’s kneecap on the outside, using the barrier for leverage. Gibson came back with a brutal key lock driver, targeting Dar’s shoulder and continued to work it over. Dar managed to kick Gibson off the middle rope, again hurting his knee and followed up with a Northern Lights suplex and a Fisherman’s suplex for near falls.
Gibson hit a lung blower off the top and then went to ringside, picked Dar up from the apron, and powerbombed him on the ramp. Dar narrowly made it back into the ring at 9. Gibson went for the Shankly Gates, but Dar made the ropes. Dar went back to work the knee and hit a double foot stomp on Gibson’s leg, which was draped over the bottom rope. Gibson went for another lung blower off the top, but Dar turned it into an ankle lock in mid-air. Gibson twisted out and grabbed Dar’s ear. Dar went for another double foot stomp but missed, Gibson rammed him into the post and hit Helter Skelter for the win in a very good match.
– The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) defeated The Forgotten Sons (Jaxson Ryker & Wesley Blake)
– Candice LeRae defeated Aliyah
LeRae won with the lionsault.
– Lars Sullivan defeated Raul Mendoza
There was a “Lars is gonna kill you” chant from the audience. Mendoza was great on offense, but Sullivan picked up the win. Sullivan came back after the match and dropped Mendoza with two Freak Accidents.
– NXT North American Champion Ricochet defeated Velveteen Dream to retain his title
Good match. Ricochet won with a cross-legged Michinoku driver.
Sane got the pin on Gonzalez after hitting the Insane Elbow.
– NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa defeated Kassius Ohno to retain his title
It was announced that William Regal made this a title match. They had a great match that went about 18 minutes. Ohno is awesome. Ciampa retained with a brutal rope-hung DDT.
– Johnny Gargano, Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch defeated The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole & NXT Tag Team Champions Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong)
Gargano submitted Strong to get the win. Cole is so over.
The Undisputed Era’s Tag Team Championship challengers have been announced for NXT TakeOver: Chicago.
Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong will be defending their titles against Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch at the special. Alongside Pete Dunne, Lorcan and Burch have been involved in a program with the Undisputed Era heading into TakeOver. The championship match was announced last night after being set up when Burch pinned O’Reilly in a six-man tag on the episode that aired the previous week.
TakeOver: Chicago will be held at the Allstate Arena on June 16th as part of Money in the Bank weekend. It’s just a few days before WWE’s United Kingdom brand shows at Royal Albert Hall on June 18th and 19th, and there will be NXT North American, Women’s, and Tag Team title matches on the second night in London.
The Big News: Danny Burch pinned Kyle O’Reilly, winning the six-man tag team main event for his team over the Undisputed Era.
The Medium News: Lars Sullivan laid claim to the number one contender status, destroying both Ricochet and Velveteen Dream during their match.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Candice LeRae slapped Tommaso Ciampa, but Ciampa still declared victory in his war on Johnny Gargano.
**********
The show began with the biggest heel in wrestling, Tommaso Ciampa, coming out to Johnny Gargano’s music. The fans popped for Gargano’s music and went crazy in anger upon seeing the bearded visage of Ciampa.
Ciampa said Gargano may have won the battle, but Ciampa would always win the war — and that’s why Gargano’s sitting at home in a neck brace. Piece by piece, Ciampa has broken him. He’s broken his mind, body, and spirit and now Johnny Wrestling is gone and Ciampa has won.
Candice LeRae walked out, snatched the mic out of Ciampa’s hand, and asked Ciampa who he was. She thought she knew Ciampa but doesn’t recognize what he’s become. He’s obsessed with ruining their lives and she doesn’t know why. LeRae stated that she is done trying to figure him out. He is a monster that LeRae will never forgive. While her husband’s future may be uncertain, Ciampa will know that Johnny Gargano was better than him.
Ciampa said maybe he is better, but that boy is not half the man Ciampa is. That’s why Gargano sent his cute, precious wife out to confront him instead. He said LeRae has always been more of a man than Gargano. Ciampa dared her to “mess him up” and was about to wonder how she could marry such a loser when LeRae slapped the taste out of his mouth.
Ciampa smiled at her and slithered away. As LeRae walked away, Ciampa mouthed “I win.”
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Lacey Evans defeated Brandi Lauren
Lauren is also known by Kayci Quinn and Ava Storie and has wrestled for both Shine and Impact Wrestling. Evans has new theme music and wasn’t very lady-like as she literally stepped over Lauren before hitting a middle rope moonsault. Evans then won with The Lady’s Right, which was literally just her punching Lauren in the face with her right hand.
Kairi Sane appeared out of nowhere (just off stage right) with a forearm to attack Evans as revenge for an Evans sneak attack from a few weeks ago. Sane threw her back in the ring and went up top for the Insane Elbow, but Evans rolled out of the ring and ran for her life.
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Aleister Black was walking around Full Sail University earlier and talked about potentially facing both Ricochet and Velveteen Dream for the NXT Championship. We’re supposed to believe, if this was real, that Black flew all the way from home to walk around an empty college campus before flying home.
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Dakota Kai was doing her weekly interview about being scared of Shayna Baszler. Kai said that Nikki Cross, who was cackling nearby last week, was crazy. She started talking about her strength and conditioning programming when Cross came flying into the picture and demanded to know when Kai was going to challenge Baszler.
Kai was scared of Cross in a different way as Cross ordered her to face her fear.
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Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream ended in a no contest
An unofficial number one contender’s match if there ever was one. It would have been hard to believe one year ago when this gimmick debuted that Velveteen Dream would be as over as he is.
This match was five minutes of Dream proving he was at Ricochet’s level, as he matched The One and Only move for move and they set up what was promising to be a good match. They collided head-to-head in the corner, but before either man could get up, Lars Sullivan ran in for the attack!
Sullivan squashed both men before laying them out with separate Freak Accidents. Sullivan made motions that he wants the NXT Championship and is the true top contender.
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Kona Reeves defeated Raul Mendoza
Reeves was back to take on Mendoza this week and has now added a necklace with a giant “K” on it. He threatened the ring attendant about what would happen if something were to happen to his jacket. He didn’t care about his alleged 24-karat gold necklace, but the jacket you could buy at almost any store, that was important.
Reeves has been watching his Ted DiBiase tapes as he used both a fist drop and the falling elbow from the middle rope before slapping on the Million Dollar Dream. Mendoza made a hot comeback but did a springboard right into a boot to the face and Reeves won with the Hawaiian Drop.
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Cathy Kelley was trying to get comments from Mr. William Regal when Ricochet and Velveteen Dream both showed up and stated they were both going to ask for a match with Sullivan. They went into Regal’s office together.
It was announced later that Sullivan will face Ricochet & Velveteen Dream in a two-on-one handicap match next week.
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Earlier today, Heavy Machinery talked about taking their mothers out for Mother’s Day when TM61 walked up wanting to go out drinking. Heavy Machinery didn’t want to drink with cheaters. TM61 made a fat joke and a match was made for next week.
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Pete Dunne, Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch defeated The Undisputed Era
Dunne started the match by angrily stalking Strong, so Strong wisely tagged out as the match got underway. I am sure this will come as a shock to you, but this was as fine of a six-man wrestling match as you will see.
Undisputed Era got the heat on Burch until Strong began openly mocking Dunne, so Burch grabbed him in a waist lock until Dunne could tag in and hit an amazing punch to the face. Dunne had his way with his former temporary tag team partner until Cole and O’Reilly distracted him long enough for Strong to take over.
Lorcan got the second hot tag and lit into the heel trio. Burch tagged in and we had a double team on Strong. Dunne hit Cole and Cole flew into space as this broke into a six-way brawl. Strong threw Lorcan into Dunne, sending those two crumbling to the floor. Burch then had to fight the Undisputed Era three-on-one.
Burch more than held his own and we ended up with a triple submission. That led to Strong booting Lorcan out of his single leg crab, sending Lorcan into the standing crucifix that Dunne had on Cole and they fell onto the crossface that Burch had on O’Reilly. Got all that?
Strong and O’Reilly ended up doing their own miscommunication spot and, almost shockingly, Burch pinned O’Reilly with a wheelbarrow DDT. It was so unexpected that no one reacted until the referee counted three. I honestly think they have won maybe one tag team match in the year they have teamed, so no one recognized their finish.
So, that does it for this week. We are on the road to TakeOver: Chicago and until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers.
After regularly appearing at NXT house shows and on television for the past year, Danny Burch is officially back with WWE on a full-time basis.
Burch, who is known as Martin Stone outside of WWE, revealed the news during a speech at Beyond Wrestling’s show in Worcester, Massachusetts yesterday. Revolution Pro Wrestling had previously announced that he wouldn’t be able to make their May 11th event at York Hall.
Burch was in WWE developmental earlier this decade before being released in 2014. He later did enhancement work for the company and appeared in last year’s United Kingdom Championship tournament, losing to Jordan Devlin in the first round. In NXT, he was put in a tag team with Oney Lorcan after they had faced each other a couple of times on TV.
At the latest set of NXT tapings, Burch appeared and, along with Lorcan and Pete Dunne, was involved in a feud against the Undisputed Era. The next tapings will be at Full Sail University on May 9th and 10th.
The Big News: Roderick Strong will wrestle Drew McIntyre next week and, if he wins, he gets a match with Bobby Roode after TakeOver.
The Medium News: Eric Young returned to assist SAnitY in once again laying out The Authors of Pain.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas was made official for TakeOver.
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As the show began, Nikki Cross was in the ring screeching for The Authors of Pain to come out. Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain came in through the crowd as Akam and Rezar stormed down the aisle. Suddenly, as Akam got in the ring, Eric Young returned and attacked Rezar in the aisle.
Young zip-tied Rezar to the guardrail and all three male members of SAnitY laid out Akam in the ring. Rezar finally dragged the guardrail into the ring, but he was no match for Wolfe, Dain, and Young.
Wolfe and Young gave Akam a double-team neckbreaker, and for one of the first times ever, someone stood tall over The Authors of Pain. SAnitY posed with the NXT Tag Team titles before walking away.
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You know what we haven’t had in a few months? A contract signing! That will be rectified next week as Asuka and Ember Moon put their signatures on the dotted line to make their match at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III official.
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Earlier today, Billie Kay and Peyton Royce were planning on giving us an iconic makeup tutorial when Ruby Riot randomly showed up in the hallway, ruining the shot. After making fun of Riot, they were in a bad mood and didn’t do their tutorial.
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The Street Profits defeated Chris & JC Metro
This was the long awaited debut of The Street Profits. Angelo Dawkins had spent several years as a TV jobber and this is his first actual push, as he teams with Montez Ford. Dawkins still does that weird, unexplained thing where he wears two headbands.
The Metros were trained by The Dudleys and dress like greasers, but they didn’t even act like greasers and were just dressing the part.
Dawkins lost a headband as him and Ford did a series of moves to Chris Metro, but the dastardly jobbers got the brief advantage with a punch to the stomach. Dawkins ran over Chris with a spear and gave JC a Sky-High, followed by Ford hitting a frog splash for the pin.
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Aleister Black was leaving the arena last week when he was attacked by Hideo Itami. Itami failed and Black seemed to not even be trying to fight as four people dragged Itami away kicking and screaming.
This led to an announcement for Black vs. Itami in 10 days at TakeOver.
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The dapper NXT general manager, Mr. William Regal, was mid-ring after commercial to introduce the combatants in the main event at TakeOver. I did not have my stopwatch out this time, but Roode only took about two minutes to get to the ring with his own personal security. The security was there to stop a raving lunatic like Roderick Strong from running out.
Roode told McIntyre that he (Roode) is entitled. He doesn’t need a second chance like McIntyre. He came in a year ago and has done everything he said he was going to do, from changing NXT to becoming the face of the brand. Whether McIntyre likes it or not, this is Roode’s NXT, stating “this is not we, this is me.”
McIntyre said Roode is a prototype and has had an amazing year, but there is one big problem and that is that he is an ass. McIntyre is starting to pity Roode because he believes the crap coming out of his own mouth. McIntyre vowed to Claymore Roode back down to reality, and in Brooklyn Roode will be staring across the ring at the new NXT Champion.
Strong stormed out onto the stage to announce that he is not done with Roode. Strong said this is not about the NXT title, but about Roode disrespecting Strong’s fiancee, family and Strong as a man. Strong said he wants to fight Roode and asks if he is a man.
Mr. Regal tried multiple times to stop Strong from mouthing off, but Roode snapped and screamed that he’ll give Strong everything he wants. He’ll give him a match with Roode, he’ll give him a title shot — if Strong beats McIntyre next week. Regal put Roode in his place, but McIntyre said he wants the match.
Regal still hesitated, but finally succumbed to the pressure and booked the match for next week.
So, next week it is Drew McIntyre vs. Roderick Strong. If Strong wins then he gets Roode in a match after TakeOver. Also, regardless of whether he wins or loses, McIntyre will still challenge Roode at TakeOver.
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Kayla Braxton interviewed Johnny Gargano. Gargano said he was a little nervous wrestling last week, but he thought back to the Brooklyn crowd last year and how the reaction DIY got from the crowd helped lead to all their successes. Gargano announced that he wants a match at TakeOver: Brooklyn.
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Danny Burch defeated Oney Lorcan
This was a rematch of a hard-hitting bout a few weeks ago where Lorcan defeated Burch. They began with some very intense grappling. The wrestling portion of our evening ended as Burch tripped Lorcan on a leap frog, which I guess for them is fighting words.
They exchanged some hard European uppercuts and Lorcan drove Burch into the turnbuckles harder than you’ve ever seen anyone take that move. Burch got tired of being hit, so he booted Lorcan in the mush and hit a missile dropkick.
Burch hit a hooking lariat, which is allegedly his finish. I don’t believe he’s ever won a match on NXT TV, but he has a finish. Lorcan kicked out of that and the Tower of London. Burch hit a knee to the face and several hard chops, but Lorcan tripped him up and went for a half-crab.
Lorcan kicked at Burch to try to turn him over, but Burch repeatedly booted him in the face over and over again. Lorcan put on the full Boston crab, but Burch rolled through and picked up the shocking win.
If this is not Burch’s first TV win, he’s definitely won less than five. Burch went for the handshake, but Lorcan slapped it away and began walking away. Lorcan then stopped himself, returned to center ring, and shook Burch’s hand. Burch held the ropes open for Lorcan as he left.
It was 8:49 and I was getting ready to sign off and thank you all for reading when they suddenly informed us that Lorcan vs. Burch was not the main event.
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Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated No Way Jose
This was the second week in a row that we got a main event that wasn’t announced during the show. Jose took longer than Bobby Roode to get to the ring as he went into the crowd to fiesta before the match. Why is it okay for him to party immediately before his match, but it’s not okay for Almas to party after his match?
Zelina Vega is Thea Trinidad’s new name and she is there to force Almas to take the match seriously. When Almas did his thing where he just lays in the ropes, Jose kicked him off and then Almas got yelled at for doing that.
I guess that worked because the match didn’t last much longer. Almas hit the running double knees in the corner and picked up the win with the hammerlock DDT. Vega did allow him to preen to the camera after winning, which was nice of her. Vega went to the announcer’s table and yelled at them that Almas now deserves the spotlight for winning.
Vega said Almas is going to accept Gargano’s open challenge for TakeOver. Next week is the go-home show for TakeOver, and until then, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
