Taped at The Brentwood Centre in Brentwood, England on October 4
Quick results:
– Ilja Dragunov beat Saxon Huxley and was intently watched by Alexander Wolfe, his actual former trainer.
– Aichner & Barthel beat The Hunt in a very good match.
– Xia Brookside scored an upset win over Nina Samuels.
– Gallus conquered the NXT UK tag team titles, beating Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster in a tremendous match.
Full rundown:
The show opened with a video recapping Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster at TakeOver and then focused on their history with Gallus, leading up to their title defense tonight.
Ilja Dragunov pinned Saxon Huxley (5:23)
Dragunov started off strong with an elbow and a senton. He was in control until Huxley caught him off a bodypress and applied a chin lock. Dragunov came back with hard chops and punches in the corner. He suplexed Huxley into the ring as he was on the apron and then hit a high angle German suplex off a body lock. Alexander Wolfe of Imperium came out at that point to watch the match.
Huxley caught Dragunov off a Konstantin Special attempt and suplexed him and then covered him for a near fall. Dragunov sent Huxley to the outside and then hit a top rope clothesline to the outside. He followed that up with a senton off the top and followed with Torpedo Moskau for the win. Wolfe smiled and applauded him from the aisle when Dragunov noticed him.
At that point, Imperium’s music played and Wolfe’s smile vanished. Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner came out and it looked like the three men would face off with Dragunov. However, Barthel and Aichner just walked to Dragunov’s left and right and went into the ring for their upcoming match.
Imperium (Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel) beat The Hunt (Primate & Wild Boar) (7:54)
Primate and Aichner started and got into a battle of hard hits. Barthel and Wild Boar were in next and The Hunt quickly sent both members of Imperium to ringside. Barthel slammed Boar as Primate went for a dive but got caught by Aichner who slammed him into the stairs and hit the running knee ot the face. Barthel kicked a mud hole into Boar as Aichner took over. They hung Boar upside down in the ropes and hit stereo dropkicks on him from in and outside the ring.
Barthel worked over Boar until he managed to make the hot tag. Primate took out both members of Imperium but the Europeans quickly foiled his plans and Barthel hit an Air Raid Crash for a two count. Primate hit a spear on Aichner as Boar hit a senton into the corner on Barthel. They hit stereo diving headbutts on Aichner.
Barthel pulled him out of the ring and they quickly regrouped, hitting the European Bomb on Primate for the win.
— Alicia tried to interview Rhea Ripley when Piper Niven came up and asked her about interfering in her match last week. Ripley said she didn’t like Niven but could co-exist with her if they could make a tag team match with Jinny and Jazzy Gabert happen. Niven was left speechless.
— Gallus were shown warming up backstage.
Xia Brookside pinned Nina Samuels (4:06)
Samuels applied a wrist lock but Brookside quickly escaped and applied one of her own. They went back and forth for a bit until Xia got the upper hand and sent Samuels to the outside. Nina came back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, then slammed Xia into the corner and went for a cover. Samuels locked in a full nelson and then worked over Xia’s back. They traded roll-ups, leading to Xia using her quickness to evade some more offense. Samuels went for a roll up off a whip-in, but Xia countered and sat down on Samuels, hooking the legs for the surprise win.
— We saw a hype video for A-Kid, promising we would soon see the young Spaniard in action.
— Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster were shown warming up backstage.
Jordan Devlin in-ring segment
Devlin came out in street clothes. He said many people called him arrogant, but he was here to set the record straight. He said that arrogant meant that he thought that he was better than he was, but he knew he was better than anyone else. He ran down a few names in the back when Dave Mastiff came out. Devlin kept berating him on the mic. As Mastiff grabbed the mic from him, Devlin decked him with a hard right, then tried to it Devlinside him, but could not get him off the mat. Mastiff then came back with a senton and talked down to Devlin who was writhing on the mat in pain.
— A video recapped the storyline between Noam Dar and Trent Seven from the past couple of weeks.
— Travis Banks vs. Ligero and Noam Dar vs. Trent Seven were announced for next week.
Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) beat Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster to win the NXT tag team titles (12:30)
The champs hit dropkicks to the challengers right away, sending them to the outside where they followed up with somersault planchas. Andrews then hit a suicide dive on Coffey and tagged in Webster. They sent Wolfgang over the top and then Andrews hit a dropkick off a pounce attempt by Coffey and tagged Webster. They hit their somersault senton/moonsault combo. Wolfgang eventually came back in and evened the odds, attacking Andrews.
Gallus worked over Andrews with Wolfgang ramming him into the corner off his shoulders and Coffey decking him with a hard shot. He took out Webster on the apron and locked in a chinbar as Joe Coffey walked out and watched the match from the entrance. Andrews finally got the hot tag and Webster ran wild, hitting a quebrada on Wolfgang and disposing of Coffey before hitting a dive on Wolfgang.
He hit a somersault dive on both members of Gallus as Joe Coffey frantically paced the aisle. Andrews hit the assisted standing 450 on Coffey. Coffey kicked out and Gallus cae back with a uranage and choke slam on Webster. They hit an assisted slingshot/Samoan Drop followed by a moonsault by Wolfgang but Andrews made the save, nicking the referee in the head in the process. Andrews hit a barrage of strikes on both men, then tagged out. Webster hit Wolfgang with a knee to the jaw and a head butt, but Wolfgang came back with a double clothesline and collapsed as Joe Coffey continued to look on.
Both teams regrouped in their corners until they clashed again. Andrews turned a slingshot into the Stunt Dog Millionaire and then proceeded to kill Wolfgang with a knee assisted poison rana, followed by a somersault senton by Webster on Coffey for a near fall. On the outside, Wolfgang launched Andrews horizontally into the ring post as Webster (in the ring) went for a Welsh Dragon which missed.
Wolfgang hit the Glasgow Sendoff, followed by their enzuigir/powerslam finish for the pin, win, and title change. Joe Coffey entered the ring and Gallus shook hands and posed as the show went off the air.
Next week:
Travis Banks faces off with Ligero while Noam Dar and Trent Seven continue their ongoing feud with another match.
A six-man tag match looks to have been added to the lineup for this week’s NXT.
WWE posted a video today where WALTER challenged Kushida to find two partners and face Imperium in a six-man tag this Wednesday. This will be the second episode of NXT since it moved to being a live two-hour show.
On NXT’s live premiere last week, there was an angle where Imperium’s Marcel Barthel, Fabian Aichner & Alexander Wolfe took out Denzel Dejournette before he was scheduled to face Kushida. WALTER then joined his stablemates, but his promo was interrupted by Kushida. Kushida avoided Imperium’s attacks and fought them off.
WWE hasn’t announced which three Imperium members will be taking part in the six-man tag match.
The segment with Imperium and Kushida was part of the second hour of last week’s NXT. This Wednesday’s show will again air live on USA Network for the first hour and then switch to streaming live on the WWE Network for the second hour. NXT will move to airing live on USA for both hours starting on Wednesday, October 2.
Matt Riddle vs. Killian Dain in a street fight, Dominic Dijakovic vs. Keith Lee, and the return of Dakota Kai have been announced for this week’s NXT. The winner of Riddle vs. Dain will become the number one contender to Adam Cole’s NXT Championship.
Miles, who is an Army veteran and former University of Maryland football player, was making his NXT debut here and cut a promo before the match. Grimes won quickly with a double stomp.
– Bronson Reed defeated Austin Theory
This was also Theory’s NXT debut. He took the mic before the match and ran down the previous match and Miles for not getting the job done.
They had a good back-and-forth match with some impressive moments by both. Theory hit a great dropkick and standing moonsault. Reed hit his big splash from the top to win it.
– The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) defeated The Outliers (Dorian Mak & Riddick Moss) w/ Robert Stone
– Matt Riddle defeated Jeet Rama
They threw each other around until Riddle hit the Bro Derek to win it.
– Kassius Ohno defeated Danny Burch in a British Rounds match
This was the first British Rounds match in NXT US history.
Ohno explained the rules and they had the basketball scoreboard active for this. We had six rounds that were three minutes each. There was a 30-second break between each round. To win the match, a wrestler must earn two pinfalls or two submissions (or one of each) or win via knockout. If none of that happens after six rounds, the wrestler with the most falls is the winner.
It went to the sixth round before Ohno scored the win. A very unique match for the Florida loop that did have a lot of action along with the suspense.
– Io Shirai defeated Mia Yim
Physical match that will translate well to TV when these two go at it again. They each escaped the other’s finishers, then Shirai was able to score a pin deep in the match.
– Imperium (WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER, Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) defeated The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake, Steve Cutler & Jackson Ryker)
Great physical and violent action here, with it building to WALTER facing off with Ryker. It was teased early but didn’t happen until the end when they exchanged big strikes and moves. WALTER destroyed Blake with a powerbomb to get the pin. This was a special one.
Taped April 20, 2019 at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland
Quick results —
Jazzy Gabert & Jinny defeated Xia Brookside & Isla Dawn, then Ilja Dragunov answered Joseph Conners’ challenge and quickly was victorious in an intense match.
In a tremendous main event, Imperium (WALTER, Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) defeated British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) when Alexander Wolfe made his NXT UK debut, joining his colleagues from the European mainland and helping them gain the victory in this important bout.
Full rundown —
The show opened with a great video montage, analyzing the formation of Imperium and their budding feud against British Strong Style. The two teams will clash in our main event tonight.
Jazzy Gabert & Jinny defeated Isla Dawn & Xia Brookside with Jinny pinning Dawn after a Dominator by Gabert (4:15)
Jinny and Dawn started out, with Dawn gaining the upper hand off an arm lock. The babyface team worked well together early on, causing Jinny some trouble until she finally tagged Gabert.
The Alpha Female didn’t mess around, immediately locking a standing armbar on Brookside and ragdolling her around from one side of the ring to the other. Brookside tagged Dawn and she went to town on Gabert, but also quickly got caught with some strikes by the former MMA fighter.
Gabert hit a Dominator on Dawn, then tagged Jinny so she could get the pinfall victory for her team. Jinny and Gabert posed on the apron after the match.
– A very good video on Ligero aired. He talked about his childhood, telling a story on how he was born with one eye closed and only had surgery to correct the issue when he was eight years old. Ligero discussed how he was ridiculed at school for his look. He chose to wrestle under a mask, as it gave him more confidence and it made him more memorable and made him stand out more than anyone else to the fans.
– Kenny Williams was interviewed and asked about Noam Dar. He said Dar always was a cheater, but it didn’t concern him. He said he faces Kassius Ohno next week and only needs his luck.
Ilja Dragunov defeated Joseph Conners after hitting the Torpedo Moscow (4:48)
They started out with an intense lockup with neither man being able to get an advantage. Dragunov chopped Conners down and hit a standing senton, then applied a brutal neck crank, following up with some strikes. Dragunov hit an Inoki-style jumping head kick.
Conners briefly took over with a few strikes of his own, then locked in an armlock, but Dragunov powered out, much to Conners’ disbelief. Dragunov hit a running lariat into the corner, but Conners countered his second attempt at the move, then hit a sunset bomb into the corner.
Dragunov quickly recovered, caught a springboard attack by Conners, and hit a Death Valley Bomb into the turnbuckle. He hit a huge overhead back suplex, then did his UN-BE-SIEG-BAR chant in the corner and hit the Torpedo Moscow for the victory.
– Toni Storm was being interviewed about Kay Lee Ray. She said everyone was looking for the “shiny-shiny” but it was staying “home sweet home.”
– A graphic announced a women’s battle royal for next week to determine the number one contender for Storm’s NXT UK Women’s Championship.
– A video feature on Travis banks aired. He talked about being very relaxed out of the ring, in a stark contrast to his intense in-ring persona. Banks said he’s very goal-oriented and wanted to be the first Kiwi wrestler in Royal Albert Hall “in about 50 years,” but lost in the UK number one contender’s tournament to Zack Gibson.
Banks said his shoulder injury got him focused and set things into perspective. He said it was frustrating not being able to wrestle at NXT UK TakeOver in Blackpool, when Jordan Devlin attacked him before the match.
Banks said winning the fatal four-way was what he was working towards, and now he has a shot at WALTER. he said it would take more than a chop or a powerbomb to beat him. He said it would be great to win the WWE United Kingdom Championship — and it would be even cooler to win it from WALTER.
– The Hunt were shown bursting out of the locker room, uttering animalistic noises. They screamed that next week, the hunt would be on for Gallus.
Imperium (WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER, Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel) defeated British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven)
Moustache Mountain came out to their music, then Pete Dunne’s music played and he came out and joined them on the stage. While Bate and Seven interacted with the fans, Dunne entered the ring and was all business.
Imperium came out, doing the Ringkampf pose (which I probably should start calling the Imperium pose) to a blank, white Titantron that eventually turned black to read “Imperium – WALTER – Barthel – Aichner.”
Dunne and Aichner started and Dunne immediately started beating up Aichner, but the man from South Tyrol came back with a lariat from out of the corner and knocked Dunne down. Dunne took back over, working over Aichner’s arm, then tagged in Bate and they attacked Aichner’s arms together.
Barthel tagged in and quickly took over, pounding Bate into the mat. Seven tagged in and they hit a double-team fireman’s carry slam/somersault senton on Barthel. Barthel took back over, then tagged in the champion.
WALTER immediately took over, but Seven ducked a chop and hit a number of chops of his own. After a quick intermezzo by Aichner, WALTER finally hit a chop that flung Seven to the mat as if he was struck by lightning.
Aichner was in next, working over the weakened Seven, including hitting a high-angle Saito suplex. WALTER was back in and after a quick retaliation by Seven, the Austrian giant hit a hard boot, then beat up Bate in the corner just for good measure. Dunne ducked his attack, but couldn’t do any damage to WALTER from the apron.
Imperium did a good job of isolating Seven and methodically picking him apart. Barthel was back in and aggressively asked Seven “Was ist los mit dir?” (“What’s up with you?”). Aichner was back in, locking a body scissors on Seven and trying to get a choke in, but Seven managed to turn it into a pinfall attempt.
Seven finally hit an enzuigiri and managed to tag out to Dunne while Aichner tagged WALTER. Dunne took over, but WALTER held his own. Dunne did his back flip from the top, but WALTER had him scouted well and hit a hard chop to the back. Dunne and WALTER traded high German suplexes, after which both men were down.
They both managed to tag out and it was Bate and Aichner next. Bate hit a jumping European uppercut on Aichner, then caught Barthel in an exploder and suplexed him onto Aichner. He got the airplane spin on Aichner and then Barthel and was looking to do the same to WALTER, but he was saved by Aichner. Bate briefly held his own against all three members of Imperium.
Aichner hit a backstabber on Bate, while Barthel came off the second turnbuckle with a double foot stomp as Aichner held Bate in position. Bate managed to hit both Aichner and Barthel with his springboard double lariat, then managed to tag out to Seven, even though WALTER tried to hinder him from doing so.
Dunne hit the Bitter End on WALTER, followed by a corkscrew plancha by Bate, but Barthel made the save for WALTER.
A man dressed in black with a hoodie and a face mask slowly walked out as Seven accidentally hit the referee, sending him out of the ring. The masked man got into the ring and unmasked as Alexander Wolfe, then hit a Liger Bomb on Bate as WALTER rolled the referee back into the ring. Barthel covered Bate for the victorious fall.
After a brief pause, Wolfe joined his new Imperium brethren in the ring and they did their pose as the show went off the air. Of course, Wolfe as Axel Tischer/Axeman was an integral part of wXw in Germany from 2009 to 2015 and also is a part of the Ringkampf stable/brand, alongside WALTER, Barthel, Veit Müller, and formerly(?) Timothy Thatcher.
Next week —
A battle royal to determine the next contender for Toni Storm’s NXT UK Women’s Championship will take place and Kenny Williams faces Kassius Ohno. Both matches, along with a number of others, are probably being taped over the weekend at Download Festival in Donington Park in Leicestershire.
Taped April 20, 2019 at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland
Quick results —
WALTER, Marcel Barthel, and Fabian Aichner declared that they would be known as Imperium henceforth. Pete Dunne and British Strong Style attacked them, which led to a wild brawl.
Gallus beat Team WhiteWolf in a quick squash that really didn’t allow the two Spaniards to show what they can do in the ring. Kassius Ohno defeated Jack Gallagher in controversial fashion in a clinic of the British style.
In the main event, Toni Storm defended her NXT UK Women’s Championship against Nina Samuels.
Full rundown —
The show opened with a highlight video of last week’s WALTER vs. Pete Dunne main event, including scenes of Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel helping WALTER retain the WWE United Kingdom Championship.
After the opening, Antonín Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 played and WALTER, Barthel, and Aichner made their way to the ring. As they got ready to address the crowd, the fans started chanting “We want Dunne.”
Barthel, who has some of the best facials in the business right now, took his sweet time before beginning to talk: “We are here to lead you to a better NXT UK. We are here to raise our flag and restore the honor and professionalism of our sport. We are the ones to lead. And we are the ones who hold true power.”
Aichner continued: “Pete Dunne can only get you so far. And British Strong Style has expired. Because none of them had the ability to lead NXT UK in the right direction. And now, the responsibility lays in our hands.”
WALTER concluded: “To us, this mat is sacred. And from this day forth we shall be known as Imperium. And soon, NXT…”
At that point, Dunne’s music interrupted the Ring General and he walked out, backed up by Moustache Mountain. The two teams began brawling, eventually crashing into a cameraman and taking out the feed.
Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness were on screen next, throwing it to Radzi Chinyanganya interviewing Sid Scala. He announced that Johnny Saint and himself had decided that Imperium would face off with British Strong Style in two weeks.
Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) beat Team WhiteWolf (A-Kid & Carlos Romo) when Wolfgang pinned Romo after a power slam/kick combo (3:27)
A-Kid at just 22 has had two highly talked about matches, against Zack Sabre Jr. and Will Ospreay. He started wrestling in 2012 in his native Spain, where he primarily competed for White Wolf Wrestling, an upstart indie with a rabid fan base.
A-Kid recently started wrestling full-time in the UK, working primarily for RevPro, but also Defiant, PROGRESS, and ATTACK Pro, as well as GWF and wXw in Germany. His partner, Romo, actually was partially trained by A-Kid, starting out in 2014. He also has been more active in the UK scene lately, working for RevPro, Attack Pro, Fight Club: PRO, and Defiant, among others. Both were also part of some shows over WrestleMania weekend this year and have been working as a team in the UK since last fall.
Wolfgang attacked Romo right away, and Gallus quickly took turns working the young Spaniard over. A-Kid was tagged in, but bounced off Coffey and received a choke slam for his troubles. Mark locked in a full nelson and started throwing the smaller man around a few times, concluding with a big slam.
A-Kid evaded a knee drop and managed the hot tag, but Romo got his head separated from his shoulders. Wolfgang finished him off with a power slam, assisted by a kick from Coffey for the win.
Hopefully Team WhiteWolf will be back at a future taping — they’d have great matches with the likes of Moustache Mountain, Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster, and Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan.
– Radzi interviewed Xia Brookside and asked about Jinny and Jazzy Gabert attacking her. Isla Dawn walked up and offered to team up with Brookside against Jinny & Gabert.
– Joseph Conners cut a backstage promo, challenging Ilja Dragunov for a future match. It seems like Conners’ health is not one of his primary concerns.
– A video recapped the qualifying matches for the fatal four-way to establish the new number one contender for WALTER’s WWE UK Championship.
– We saw Toni Storm getting ready for her championship match in tonight’s main event
Kassius Ohno pinned Jack Gallagher after the roaring elbow (12:35)
McGuinness analyzed both competitors and predicted it would be a clash of technical wrestling and submissions vs. striking ability. Ohno took Gallagher down with a hip throw and locked in an armbar, but Gallagher made the ropes. They transitioned into mat wrestling, with Gallagher showing his technical prowess.
Ohno used his size to his advantage, leveraging Gallagher into another armbar, which eventually got countered into a headscissors. They traded unique submission attempts and chain wrestling moves with neither man being able to get a clear advantage over the other.
Gallagher did a headstand in the corner, then flipped over a charging Ohno and rolled into a ball. Instead of trying to gain some hold on Gallagher, Ohno just stomped him. Gallagher at that point started bleeding from the nose from a stiff shot by Ohno. Ohno hit a big boot on Gallagher for a near fall.
As Ohno was looking for the rolling elbow, Gallagher headbutted his wrist and followed up with body shots, targeting Ohno’s arm and eventually locking in an armbar and transitioning into another one. Gallagher hit another headbutt, but Ohno managed to hit a senton before falling down.
As Gallagher went for a forearm off the ropes, Ohno hit the roaring elbow, knocking Gallagher out for the pin, even though Gallagher’s foot was under the ropes, which the referee missed.
– Piper Niven was interviewed by some reporters, who asked about Rhea Ripley stating that Niven couldn’t stop talking about her. Niven said she came here to fight, not to talk and she would face Ripley if she was up for it.
– A recap video of Imperium and British Strong Style brawling earlier tonight aired, including a graphic of the two teams facing off in two weeks.
– Next week will feature the number one contender’s fatal four-way between Travis Banks, Joe Coffey, Dave Mastiff, and Jordan Devlin.
NXT UK Women’s Championship match: Toni Storm retained against Nina Samuels after Storm Zero (9:45)
Samuels started out showing some athleticism, but the champion hit a boot that sent Samuels to ringside, then followed up with a dropkick and a number of uppercuts. Samuels came back with a kick as the referee broke them up in the corner. Samuels took over, bending Storm backwards over the top rope.
Samuels proceeded to work over Storm’s previously injured back, which seemed to be successful for a while. Storm came back with a release German suplex, then locked in a modified STF, but Samuels made the ropes.
They traded offense on the apron. Samuels eventually got the upper hand with a head kick over the top rope, then launched herself back into the ring with a corkscrew splash. Storm hit a headbutt into Samuels as she was charging at her and got a near fall off it, but it was obvious she also hurt her own head from the move.
Storm followed up with a bridging German suplex for another near fall. Samuels came back with a cradle for another two count and a butterfly into a backbreaker for a pinfall attempt, then a top rope dropkick for another one.
Storm finally came back with another headbutt, then hit two flow-over suplexes and finally Storm Zero to retain her title.
Next week —
Joe Coffey, Jordan Devlin, Travis Banks, and Dave Mastiff battle it out in a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the WWE United Kingdom Championship.
