Tag: dave mastiff

NXT UK results: Qualifying matches, Ilja Dragunov debuts

Posted on by Markus Gronemann

Taped April 19, 2019 at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland

Quick results —

Piper Niven squashed the debuting Jaimie Hayter in just under two minutes. Ilja Dragunov made his NXT UK debut, quickly beating Jack Starz and giving the fans a glimpse of what is to come from the Mad Russian.

Killer Kelly and Xia Brookside went to a no contest when Jinny came out and introduced “The Alpha Female” Jazzy Gabert, who went on to destroy Brookside.

Jordan Devlin and Dave Mastiff both won qualifiers and advanced to the fatal four-way match to decide a challenger for the WWE United Kingdom Championship. Mastiff was beaten down by Gallus after his match.

Full rundown —

– The episode opened with two graphics, announcing tonight’s two WWE United Kingdom Championship number one contendership qualifying matches. Joe Coffey was the first wrestler to qualify for the match last week.

Piper Niven pinned Jamie Hayter after a Michinoku Driver (1:48)

Hayter, 24, is from Southampton and has been active since 2015. She is a regular with Pro Wrestling:EVE and Revolution Pro (where she held the Women’s title for about six months) and also started doing tours with Stardom in 2018. She has wrestled all over the UK and regularly appears for the German Wrestling Federation out of Berlin.

Hayter started out aggressively, immediately grabbing Niven’s arm and trying to get her to the mat. Niven worked her way out of the move and received a slap, which didn’t sit well with her. A headbutt, flying body press, cannonball into the corner, and a Michinoku Driver later, Niven picked up the win.

– Toni Storm was interviewed by the press. She was asked about Nina Samuels talking about her leaving her family. She said if you mess with her head, she becomes dangerous.

Storm now wants the match worse than Samuels — and if Samuels wants her 15 minutes of fame, she will get that.

– Sid Scala was being interviewed as he entered the building. They asked him about WALTER vs. Pete Dunne and he talked about the qualifying matches, then Kassius Ohno entered and called Scala “Psycho Sid” and was being all amicable.

Ohno asked why he was overlooked and wasn’t in a qualifying match. He asked Scala what he would do about it. Scala said he’d talk to Johnny Saint and get back to Ohno next week.

Qualifying match for number one contender’s fatal four-way: Jordan Devlin pinned Ligero with Devlinside (10:30)

Devlin looked to work over Ligero’s arm and shoulder right away, but Ligero used his athleticism to escape. Devlin took back over, but again, Ligero managed to get a sunset flip powerbomb in for a two count, following up with a plancha over the top and a dropkick to Devlin’s face.

They fought back and forth until Devlin hit his uranage/standing moonsault combo for a near fall and followed up with a modified kneeling abdominal stretch and armbar.

Ligero, with his ribs hurt, got a second wind and came back with a dropkick off the top, but it was obvious that he was hurt and a tad slower than usual. Still, he got in an impressive pinning combination for another close two count. Ligero came off the top with a splash, but Devlin pulled his knees up, hurting Ligero’s ribs even more.

Devlin hit a beautiful moonsault, but this time, Ligero got his feet up, prompting Devlin to tumble to ringside. When coming back, Ligero took a bump onto the top rope but still managed to gain the upper hand as he followed up with a running sit-down powerbomb and another splash, but it wasn’t enough to put Devlin away.

As Ligero went for the tornado DDT, Devlin hit him with an enzuigiri to the back of the head, then hit Devlinside for the win.

– Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Devlin after the match. Devlin said this match didn’t need to happen, as he already was the number one contender. He said whatever way you shuffle the deck, you always fall short of the Ace.

– A video on WALTER aired. WALTER said he’s the Ring General and usually, there’s pressure on the champion, but he isn’t a normal guy and he never feels pressure. He said he appreciated Pete Dunne and liked the match with him and granted him a rematch because he was the first one to step up and ask.

WALTER said it’s good Dunne was training hard and will be prepared, but he will be prepared too.

– We saw Ilja Dragunov hyping himself up for his debut, which is next.

– Moustache Mountain were interviewed about WALTER vs. Dunne next week, which is being called the greatest rematch in NXT UK history. Trent Seven said that the greatest rematch would be Moustache Mountain taking on the Grizzled Young Veterans for the NXT UK Tag Team titles.

Ilja Dragunov pinned Jack Starz after the Torpedo Moscow (3:07)

Dragunov, 25, was born in Russia and moved to Dresden, Germany with his mother as a child. He started wrestling in 2012 and was trained by Axel Tischer (Alexander Wolfe) and Rick Baxxter in Dresden. He appeared for Next Step Wrestling and the German Wrestling Federation, before debuting in wXw in 2013.

Dragunov became wXw’s first Shotgun Champion, then also won the promotion’s Tag Team and World Unified Wrestling Championship (in one of the most emotional surprise returns of the past decade), along with the 2017 16 Carat Gold tournament, beating none other than WALTER in the finals.

After focusing on Germany for the first few years of his career, Dragunov made his debut for PROGRESS and PWG in 2018 and became a regular for PROGRESS, wrestling Dunne at their big Hello Wembley show in October 2018.

Dragunov’s career almost ended in 2013, as he broke his skull during a WWE tryout in November of that year and was kept out of action for almost a year after that. He brings a unique intensity and almost a desire for punishment to the ring and has immense charisma and good promo skills, which makes him work well both as a heel and a babyface.

Dragunov came out to a sort of Russian hymn, which sounded okay for his character. It sadly didn’t have the intensity of his usual music (which, since it stems from a computer game, can’t be used here).

Dragunov immediately started out with great intensity, grabbing Starz arm, driving him into the corner with a lariat, and proceeding to beat Starz down from one corner of the ring to the other. Starz briefly got his feet up on a corner charge and hit a few uppercuts, but Dragunov just smiled and enjoyed the pain.

Dragunov hit a number of lariats into the corner, then finished up with another one in the ring. He then flipped into the ring backwards and hit another lariat. He enjoyed some offense by Starz, then hit a standing senton. Dragunov did his UN-BE-SIEG-BAR (invincible) chant and put Starz away with the Torpedo Moscow for the win.

– Radzi interviewed Mark Andrews and Noam Dar backstage. They said they were not happy with how their last match ended and were looking forward to meeting in the ring. They shook hands and vowed that the best man would win.

Killer Kelly vs. Xia Brookside ended in a no contest (3:30)

Kelly worked over Brookside’s arm, but Brookside managed to escape repeatedly — only to be taken back down to the mat over and over. Brookside got a headlock takeover, but quickly found herself in some headscissors, which she escaped from by way of a headstand.

Kelly then escaped some headscissors of her own. They shook hands as a way to show respect, then suddenly the lights went down and Jinny’s music played.

Jinny stood in the aisle, then another theme played and “The Alpha Female” Jazzy Gabert came out. Brookside and Kelly bumped fists and made a pact to fight together, but Kelly left just as Gabert entered the ring. Brookside tried fighting Gabert, but quickly got disposed of with a Dominator. Jinny and Gabert then posed in the ring together.

– Johnny Saint announced via Twitter that Toni Storm would defend her NXT UK Women’s Championship against Nina Samuels

Qualifying match for number one contender’s fatal four-way: Dave Mastiff defeated Wolfgang with a running cannonball into the corner (4:36)

The two big men locked up and Mastiff quickly tackled Wolfgang down, then followed up with a running body press for a near fall. Wolfgang quickly came back with some offense in the corner and a shoulder block off the second turnbuckle, then went to lock in a full nelson, but Mastiff briefly powered out of the hold before getting caught again.

Mastiff eventually managed to flip Wolfgang over and hit a huge senton on the Scotsman.

Wolfgang came back with a double ax handle off the top and a huge slam, but then missed the Howling Senton off the top. Mastiff hit a release German suplex into the corner, then followed up with the running cannonball into the corner for the pin.

– Radzi entered the ring to interview Mastiff, but the Coffey Brothers ran out and Gallus proceeded to beat down Mastiff three-on-one. Joe and Mark held Mastiff down as Wolfgang hit the Howling Senton on him. Gallus’ music played as the show went off the air.

Next week —

In what is being billed as the biggest rematch in NXT UK history, WALTER will defend his WWE UK Championship against former champion Pete Dunne.

NXT UK results: Pete Dunne/Joe Coffey contract signing

Posted on by Markus Gronemann

Episode 22 (taped November 25, 2018 at the Liverpool Olympia in Liverpool, England)

Quick recap:

Toni Storm beat Deonna Purrazzo in a good opener, gearing up for her upcoming championship match against Rhea Ripley. The champ came out afterwards to stare Toni down. Wild Boar beat Josh Morrell in a short match. Eddie Dennis and Dave Mastiff brawled to a double DQ, so Johnny Saint booked them in a No-DQ match for the upcoming NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool.

In the main event segment, WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne and Joe Coffey signed the contract for their upcoming match at TakeOver. After “talking to much” (according to Pete Dunne), Coffey got his fingers snapped but had the last laugh as he power bombed Dunne through the table in the ring and posed with the championship. All six members of British Strong Style and Gallus will meet next week, leading up to TakeOver.

Full rundown:

Toni Storm beat Deonna Purrazzo in 9:25 after Storm Zero

Toni took Donna down and locked in a guillotine, followed by a waist lock and Toni was victorious in a battle of hold and counter holds, then offered her hand to Deonna. Deonna then managed to escape head scissors by Toni via a headstand and refused to shake Toni’s hand afterwards. Toni hit a spin kick, followed by a running basement dropkick for a quick two count.

Toni locked in a combo STF/chin lock but Deonna made the ropes. Toni missed her running hip attack and Deonna started working over Toni’s left arm. Deonna eventually hit an STO and locked in a Koji Clutch, but Toni managed to turn it into a pinning combination. Toni eventually managed to stop Deonna’s momentum with a backstabber, but Purrazzo managed to stop a Storm Zero attempt, but got flattened after a head butt.

Deonna escaped Storm Zero once more, hit a back flip followed by a drop kick and locked in the Fujiwara arm bar until Toni finally managed to reach the ropes with her legs. They had a battle of chops and forearms until Toni managed to escape another Fujiwara arm bar attempt, hit a release German suplex and Storm Zero for the win.

Rhea Ripley came out after the match, got on the apron, stared Toni down and held the NXT UK Women’s Championship right in front of her.

A short video on WIld Boar aired.

Radzi interviewed Sid Scala and Johnny Saint about the other bracket of the NXT UK Tag Team Championship. Scala announced the semi-final match of Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster vs. Zack Gibson & James Drake for next week.

“Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman beat “Turbo” Josh Morrell in 3:04 after a frog splash

Morrell showed some athleticism early on, but Board countered with sheer craziness and took over, launching his own body all over the ring and into his opponent. Morrell managed to hit a sunset flip from the top rope but quickly got his momentum taken away as Boar hit a fireman’s carry into the corner, followed by a flying inverted senton and frog splash for the victory.

A Jospeh Conners video aired, talking about how there is no “we” in NXT UK, only himself. He vowed to break all the “shiny new toys” of the brand.

Travis Banks cut a backstage promo, saying that he loved his country as much as Jordan Devlin loved his.

Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner confronted Sid Scala backstage and demanded to be put in the NXT UK Tag Team Championship semi-finals match instead of Andrews & Webster. Scala told them they had just arrived and if the got involved in the match next week, they would be out of NXT UK as quickly as they had come in.

Eddie Dennis vs. “Bomber” Dave Mastiff went to a double DQ in 4:20

Dennis charged in with punches and whipped Mastiff into the corner numerous times. He followed with a number of kicks and stomps, until he charged right into Mastiff’s elbow. Mastiff wiped Dennis out with a running cross body, followed by a big dropkick after some pulling and pushing. Mastiff hit a few big elbows to the side of Dennis’ head. Dennis escaped to the outside and attacked Mastiff as he followed.

Dennis had Mastiff up for his splash mountain drop but Dennis escaped and hit a rolling fireman’s carry on the outside, but smashed into the ring steps as Dennis moved out of the way of his charge. Both men made it just back into the ring at the count of 9. Back inside, the two big men went at it with punches and would not stop so the referee disqualified them both.

After a brief shock, the two behemoths kept going at it until a number of referees and Sid Scala tried breaking them up with little success. Johnny Saint finally came out and made a no disqualification match between them for NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool.

A recap of last episode’s tag team main event of Moustache Mountain vs. Gallus with Joe Coffey and Pete Dunne getting involved aired; a match between all six members of Gallus and British Strong Style will take place next week.

Contract signing between Pete Dunne and Joe Coffey

Johnny Saint and Sid Scala were in the ring for the contract signing between WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne and Joe Coffey. Scala called out Coffey first, followed by the champ, who came out to a big ovation. Scala wanted them to sit down but neither man would oblige. Coffey finally took the mic and they both slowly sat down.

Coffey said that there would be a change of the guard in NXT UK. Coffey asked Johnny and Scala to back off, because he wanted a moment with Dunne. He said that the NXT UK brand was his and the title would soon be his too. He said Dunne was champion for too long and that he only still had the title because he had not been here before. He said now was the time to claim his throne.

Coffey signed the contract but as he was done, Dunne grabbed his fingers and broke them. He said Coffey talked too much and he would see him at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool. The rest of Gallus came out and Coffey used the distraction to hit Dunne in the throat and power bombed him through the table, then picked up the WWE UK Championship and posed with it in the ring as his music played and the show went off the air.

Next week:

Zack Gibson & James Drake battle Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews in the second semi-final for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship. Also, British Strong Style will meet Gallus just days before NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool.

NXT UK results: Ripley vs. Purrazzo, Marcel Barthel debuts

Posted on by Markus Gronemann

Episode 20 (taped November 24, 2018 at the Liverpool Olympia in Liverpool, England)

Quick recap —

James Drake & Zack Gibson beat beat “Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman & Primate in a fun opener. Eddie Dennis destroyed Dave mastiff’s opponent before the match could start, sending a message to his rival. Marcel Barthel made his NXT UK debut and looked tremendous against Mark Andrews. Rhea Ripley defended her NXT UK Women’s Championship against Deonna Purrazzo in an excellent main event; when she attacked Purrazzo after the bell, Toni Storm came out for the save. 

Full rundown —

We kicked the show off with a split screen, showing Rhea Ripley and Deonna Purrazzo preparing for their match backstage

James Drake & Zack Gibson beat “Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman & Primate in 4:55 after hitting Ticket to Ride on Hitchman

Primate, who also wrestles as Jason Prime is a former six year veteran of the British Army, and served in the household cavalry for the Royal Family. He chose his ring name because his father, who passed on since, used to say that wrestlers in the ring looked like gorillas. He started in 2014 and was trained by Rampage Brown. He wrestled mostly for Defiant/WCPW, but also other groups such as ICW and PROGRESS among others. He is a former Defaint/WCPW Hardcore and tag team champion.

Gibson and Hitchman started out. There were light Gibson chants. Hitchman escaped from a wrist lock and took over with an arm lock but got thrown on his head. Drake came in but was hit by a senton by Hitchman, who tagged in Primate. Primate hit a clothesline in the corner. Gibson blind-tagged Drake and threw Primate to the outside, then picked him up and Drake launched himself onto Primate over the top to the outside. Gibson locked in his sitting cobra clutch, then tagged Drake who struck him down with a forearm.

They worked over Primate for a while until he managed to throw Gibson over the top and suplex Drake to make the quick tag. “Wild Boar” ran wild for a bit, including a senton on Drake and a pop-up power bomb. Hitchman missed a senton into the corner when Gibson pulled Drake out of the way. They hit Ticket to Ride, their finish where Drake throws the opponent into Gibson’s codebreaker for the win.

Afterwards, Gibson cut a promo in the ring to a mix of boos and light chants. He said the NXT UK tag team titles were right around the corner and he knew a thing or two about winning tournaments. He said he loved his city but he absolutely hated the people of Liverpool. He said not to blame this on him, as the fans turned on him as soon as he got some success. He was the only one to represent Liverpool as no body else in the arena could. He said they were the top tag team in the world, soon to be recognized as the NXT UK Tag Team champions.

A graphic announced Marcel Barthel vs. Mark Andrews; this was followed by a WrestleMania commercial

Moustache Mountain were interviewed backstage about their match with Gallus next week and NXT TakeOver in Blackpool. They said they would become the first-ever NXT UK Tag Team champions.

Dave Mastiff vs. Josh Morrell never got started

Morrell is also known as “Turbo” Josh Terry and previously wrestled Lio Rush on 205 Live. He was trained by current NXT assistant coach Johnny Moss and made his debut at just 16 years old and wrestled for Discovery Wrestling and target Wrestling among others. 

Mastiff came out first, followed by Morrell, who immediately got attacked by Eddie Dennis and slammed into the lights on the entrance ramp. mastiff was furious in the ring but the referee held him back. Dennis smiled and went backstage.

Joseph Conners was in a video segment, talking about how there was a mod, a time traveler and a luchador in NXT UK and how they were all just new, shiny toys. He knew how that felt like, because two years ago, he was just one of these news toys as well before he got bad, scratched and discarded. So if he can’t be any of these toys, he’d make sure they would be as bad and scratched as he was. 

Marcel Barthel beat Mark Andrews in 9:48 after hitting the Landungsbrücken

Marcel Barthel, 28, is a  second-generation wrestler from Germany and the son of legendary German wrestler Axel Dieter, who wrestled all over Europe from 1955 to 1987 and passed away in 2015 at the age of 81. He joined NXT in mid-2017 and has been a regular on their Florida house show loop and also appeared a few times on NXT television.

They locked up and Barthel took him down immediately with a wrist lock. Barthel continued to school Andrews on the mat, locking in a hammerlock. Andrews from the bottom got Barthel into a headlock while still in the move, but Barthel did a head stand into a neck bridge to escape. Andrews eventually managed to escape and hit a few arm drags and a hurricanrana. Barthel came back with a punch to the gut and showed his striking prowess, being a former boxer.

Barthel caught Andrews on a whip, picked him up on an roundabout slam onto his face, then followed up with a knee to the face for a two-count. Barthel locked in a head lock on the mat, transitioning into a chin lock. Andrews escaped, but got his head slammed into the mat for his troubles. Barthel hung Andrews face-down off the second rope then hit a baseball slide right to Andrews’ face, then stopped for a Ringkampf pose on the second rope. Andrews hit a few strikes, but ate a running European uppercut into the corner in return. Barthel locked in a head-and-arm submission and screamed “Nein!” as Andrews tried to escape. Andrews eventually tried to roll through for a two-count.

Andrews followed up with a few chops, slid under a clothesline and hit an enzuigiri that put Barthel down. He followed with double knees into the corner, a roll through and Stomp 182, then tried for a standing moonsault, but Barthel again screamed “Nein!” and rolled out of the ring. Barthel avoided a plancha but Andrews finally hit a somersault body block off the ring steps. As Andrews rolled Barthel back into the ring, Fabian Aichner came out and distracted him, leading to Barthel cradling Andrews once he was back inside for a near-fall.

Barthel went for another European uppercut in the corner but Andrews got up for an enzuigiri. Barthel then hit a slam for another near-fall. Barthel went for a suplex but Andrews turned it into Stunt Dog Millionaire. Andrews went up for the shooting star press, but Barthel rolled out of the way and Andrews landed on his knees. As Andrews hit another enzuigiri from the apron and went for a springboard, Barthel pushed him off the rope to the outside. Aichner at the point hit a running knee on Andrews against the barricade.

Barthel then hit a modified “Landungsbrücken” (fisherman release belly-to-back suplex; the original ends with him bridging) for the victory. Aichner got into the ring after the match and he and Barthel shook hands.

In a WWE.com exclusive, Mark Andrews said that he didn’t lose to Marcel Barthel but to Barthel and Fabian Aichner and is sick and tired of Aichner constantly interfering in his matches

A video on Toni Storm aired, focusing on her Mae Young Classic victory and her then demanding an NXT UK Women’s title match during the last episode; she talked about moving to the UK to get better opportunities and the UK meant everything to her

Doomsday by the Architects is the official NXT Uk TakeOver: Blackpool theme song

A video on Travis Banks aired.

WWE NXT UK Women’s Title: Rhea Ripley (c) defeats Deonna Purrazzo in 11:22 after Riptide

Deonna Purrazzo started out in 2013 and was trained by Rip Rogers and the D2W Wrestling Academy. She appeared on NXT TV as early as 2015 and was part of the 2018 Mae Young Classic. She also wrestled for Ring of Honor, Stardom, Impact, SHIMMER, WSU, RISE, RevPro, GCW and numerous others and held some indy women’s titles.

Rhea Ripley’s previous theme song Final Straw seems to have been replaced by a new one called Brutality, which can’t hold a candle to the old one.

Purrazzo started ff string with a running boot to the head and a head scissors take down, then began to work over Ripley’s arm. Rhea came back with hard forearm strikes, but Deonna got a two-count with a poor woman’s version of a La Magistral cradle. She followed this up with a dropkick to the hip of Ripley which sent the champ to the outside. As she followed, she ended up on Ripley’s shoulders and got her face planted on the apron, then got thrown into the barricade.

Ripley got her opponent down to the match with strikes and kicks, then posed with on foot on top of her fallen opponent, before picking her up for a vertical delayed suplex and another two-count. She locked on body scissors and continued to taunt Purrazzo. Deonna briefly managed to transition into a pin but only got a one-count, before eventually managing to pry Rhea’s legs apart and escape the hold. Rhea followed that with some ground and pound. Purrazzo went for a sunset flip but Rhea rolled through, stomped her in the chest and locked in her reverse Clover Leaf.

Deonna eventually reached the ropes, then managed to evade a clothesline into the corner and pull Rhea’s leg out for a quick pin. Ripley came back with a drop kick to the head and Purrazzo rolled gto ringside while Ripley posed in the ring. Ripley went for a suplex but Purrazzo escaped to the apron mid-move, then hit a kick and a somersault plancha. Purrazzo hit an STO and transitioned into a Koji clutch right away. Ripley tried to escape and managed to turn the hold into a pin, forcing Purrazzo to release the hold.

They traded strikes and chops until Ripley managed to throw Purrazzo on her face off a whip-in. Ripley put her up on the top for a superplex but Purrazzo held on and tried going for a sunset bomb, but this time Ripley held on to the rop ropes. She tried punching down onto Deonna who moved and used Rhea hurting her hand and releasing her grip into a German suplex off the middle turnbuckle, leading to both women being down. Purrazzo kept hitting strikes, then followed with a takeover STO for a near-fall. Purrazzo went crazy on Ripley in the corner, but her aggression was out of control as Ripley managed to pull her head-first into the turnbuckle. She followed up with Riptide for the win.

As Purrazzo got up, Ripley hit her with a kick to the face, then managed to beat her down in the corner until Toni Storm came out to make the safe, sending Rhea packing. Rhea posed with her title on the ramp as Toni stared her down from the ring. Toni and Deonna bumped fists as the show went off the air.

In a WWE.com exclusive interview, Radzi asked Rhea Ripley is she was concerned about Toni Storm. She said he should ask Toni is she was concerned about her, then asked “How dare you?” and sprayed water in his face

Next week:

Moustache Mountain face Gallus in the semi-finals of the NXT UK Tag Team Championship tournament.

NXT UK results: Dave Mastiff vs. Eddie Dennis

Posted on by Markus Gronemann

Episode 16 (taped October 14 at Plymouth Pavilions in Plymouth, England)

Quick recap:

The two undefeated monsters of NXT UK clashed, as Dave Mastiff met Eddie Dennis in the main event, with the Bomber reigning victorious in a fun hoss fight. Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) were victorious over Ashton Smith & Ligero in a quest to qualify for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship Tournament. Jinny managed to beat Xia Brookside, while Joseph Conners squashed Jack Starz in a quick match. Rhe Ripley will make her first NXT UK Women’s Championship defense next week, facing the “White Witch of NXT UK”, Isla Dawn.

Full rundown:

– The show opened up with a split screen of Dave Mastiff and Eddie Dennis warming up for their match backstage, while Vic and Nigel talked about the main event

Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) beat Ashton Smith & Ligero in 5:37 when Coffey pinned Smith after an enzuigiri

Ligero and Wolfgang started out, and the Leeds Luchador frustrated the bigger man with a spin kick and a drop kick but got caught on a body press attempt. He quickly tagged out to Smith and both men hit a double drop kick on Wolfgang. Ligero got himself caught on a spinning DDT attempt but managed to escape until Mark Coffey distracted him and a forearm to the back of the head sent him to ringside.

The heels worked Ligero over until he managed to throw Wolfgang out of the ring and made the hot tag to Smith. Smith ran wild for a bit and hit a springboard back elbow on Coffey, but Wolfgang eventually pulled him out of the ring. Ligero then hit a somersault senton to the outside onto Wolfgang, jumping over Smith who was hanging in the ropes.

Back in the ring, Smith tried and O’Connor Roll on Coffey but he managed to kick out, hit a double hammer to the chest followed by an enzuigiri for the win.

– We took a look back at Isla Dawn challenging Rhea Ripley last episode. Both women were backstage with Johnny Saint and Sid Scala, who announced the match for next week. The women had a stare down, with Rhea saying “See you next week” and walked off

– A graphic announced Joseph Conners to be in action next, followed by a TLC promo.

– Radzi was backstage with Gallus after their match. They said that they set a standard and were the team to beat. Joe Coffey said that he was concerned with Pete Dunne and was going to rip the WWE UK Championship from his mouth. But first, he would meet Travis Banks and squash him like a bug.

Joseph Conners beat Jack Starz in 2:16 with Don’t Look Down

This was basically a squash. Starz refers to him as the Self Made Machine, but Conners wasn’t impressed, grabbed his ear and yanked him down to the mat. He sent Starz into the ropes and hit a backbreaker as Starz came bouncing back. Conners worked him over, went to ringside and pounded on Starz who was on the apron.

Starz got a brief hope spot in and hit some European uppercuts, but that was ended quickly. Conners then hit a sunset bomb into the corner and followed up with Don’t Look Down fpr the quick win.

– Radzi was backstage with Xia Brookside, who said while she may not be the most experienced wrestler in NXT UK, Jinny better get read to “fly with Brookside”. Jinny then turned up, looked at Xia, turned away with a disgusted look on her face and walked off.

– There was a commercial for the Royal Rumble Axxess shows; no word on if any NXT or NXT UK talent would be on those events.

– A video package for Saxon Huxley and Tyson T-Bone aired, where Huxley said that T-Bone was violent, destructive and almost as twisted as he was. He also talked about his shadow being rooted in hell, channeling his best inner Undertaker from the 1990s. T-Bone and Huxley concluded that they would be the NXT UK tag team champions.

Jinny beat Xia Brookside in 4:13 after hitting her with A Touch of Couture

Xia wanted to shake Jinny’s hand, but she kicked it away. Xia went for a headlock and took her down, but Jinny quickly locked on a head vice with her legs, from which Xia escaped via head stand. Jinny kept working Xia’s arm, but Xia came back and eventually hit a huracanrana from the corner, followed by a dropkick and a cross body from the second turnbuckle.

Jinny came back with the Fashion Disaster, which is her STO into the corner. Jinny went to bend Xia’s arms backwards, working over her back until Xia managed to roll through on the move and escape. She hit a chin breaker, followed by a bulldog and a head scissors takedown.

As Jinny was propped up in the corner, Xia hit a running double knee to the back of the head and went for a surfboard variant, but her back gave out and Jinny rolled through on the move, sending Xia into the ropes. As she got back up, Jinny hit A Touch of Couture, her rolling kick, for the win.

– A Dave Mastiff video package aired, and a graphic announced Mastiff vs. Eddie Dennis next, followed by a WWE Custom Tees ad.

– Zack Gibson and James Drake came out for a short in-ring promo. Gibson said that people got a tiny glimpse of what they could do when they beat Jordan and Williams and that they would soon be recognized as the NXT UK tag team champions.

– An Eddie Dennis video package aired, where he said that NXT UK meant everything to him as he could apply his trade here; this was followed by a WWE Network commercial.

– A graphic announced Rhea Ripley defending against Isla Dawn next week.

“Bomber” Dave Mastiff beat Eddie Dennis in 11:47 after a cannonball into the corner

Mastiff pushed him into the corner early. Dennis tried for some shoulder blocks, but Mastiff wouldn’t budge. Dennis tried some striking but was stopped by a drop kick by the big man. Mastiff trapped Dennis’ arms and rained down some elbows on his jaw. Dennis was back on offense a little later but got mowed down by a running cross body block by Mastiff.

Mastiff missed a senton, allowing Dennis to recover, hot a running boot, followed by a kick to the jaw that sent “the Bomber” to ringside. Dennis kicked him off the apron as he tried to re-enter the ring, but a second kick showed no effect, so Dennis slid out of the ring and pulled Mastiff off the ring.

When they came back to the ring, Dennis applied a cravat but Mastiff eventually powered out, hit a head butt and eventually a big superplex. After exchanging some more strikes, Mastiff hit a Finlay roll and a senton for a near fall. Mastiff stepped things up with a bridging German suplex for another close two count.

Mastiff tried to hit the cannonball into the corner, but Dennis got up, caught him in mid-air and hit a black hole slam for a near fall. He tried to get the big guy up for his Severed Bridge into the corner, but Mastiff back body dropped out of it. Dennis was on the apron and put his upper body through the ropes, but Mastiff pulled him back into the ring and into the ropes.

Mastiff set Dennis up for another superplex attempt, but he escaped and got Mastiff up for the Severed Bridge. Mastiff escaped the move. A hard clothesline by Dennis led to another near-fall. Mastiff cut him off, hit a snap mare followed by a head butt, a release German suplex and eventually the cannonball senton into the corner to end Eddie Dennis’ undefeated streak and pick up the win.

Next week:

Rhea Ripley will defend the NXT UK Women’s championship against Isla Dawn and more tag teams will be in action.