The card for NXT UK’s first TakeOver special is set.
Travis Banks vs. Jordan Devlin was officially announced for NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool on Wednesday’s go-home show for the special. TakeOver is taking place at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England this Saturday and will air live on the WWE Network.
Banks and Devlin’s feud continued with Devlin coming out dressed as Banks and trying to distract Banks during his match against Tyson T-Bone on the second of this week’s NXT UK episodes. After Banks won, there was a post-match angle where Devlin ran to the ring and brawled with him. Devlin bailed when Banks got the better of it, and their match was announced for TakeOver soon after that.
NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday. There will also be a 30-minute pre-show on the WWE Network starting at 1:30 p.m. Eastern. Here’s the card for the show:
WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne defending against Joe Coffey
NXT UK Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley defending against Toni Storm
Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) vs. Zack Gibson & James Drake in the finals of the NXT UK Tag Team title tournament
Episode twelve (taped October 13 at Plymouth Pavilions in Plymouth, England)
Quick recap
Fabian Aichner made his NXT UK debut, defeating Mark Andrews and looking good in the process. Isla Dawn beat Nina Samuels in a quick match, while Edie Dennis basically squashed Tucker. Jordan Devlin beat Flash Morgan Webster in a good main event match.
Also, Travis Banks returned from injury to confront Gallus, the new official name for the group of Wolfgang and the Coffey Brothers. In other news, Sid Scala officially was appointed assistant to NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint.
Full rundown
The show opened with a graphic about Tom “Dynamite Kid” Billington passing away. A scrolling message at the bottom of the screen also wished his family, friends and fans the best.
This was the first show from the third set of NXT UK tapings and saw a number of debuts and returns, the first of which happened in the first segment. Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang came out and Joe Coffey cut a promo in the ring. He said people had been calling them “ruthless”, then asked his brother for what other word they had been called. “Devious”, was the answer.
He asked Wolfgang for another term. “Underhanded”, was what Wolfgang told him. He said that this was absolutely right, he said that this was their kingdom and that they would be known as Gallus, which, according to Wikipedia means is a Lowland Scottish word for self-confident, daring, cheeky or stylish, impressive,
He said that this was their kingdom now and that there was no such thing as Big Strong Bois anymore. At that point, Travis banks came out and stood in the aisle. Joe Coffey asked him how he felt and that they had put him on the shelf. he dared Banks to get in the ring, noting that there were three of them and just one of him.
He then told him they could go one on one. Banks stormed the ring, but as he took Joe down, the rest of Gallus interfered and beat him down. Moustache Mountain ran out to make the save, sending the heels packing.
Nigel and Vic were in studio, talking about the last segment and then threw it to a backstage interview where Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Fabian Aichner, who made his debut here. He said that there were some of the best competitors in the world here and he was looking forward to mix it up with them, just as he had done in NXT.
A graphic informed us that Aichner would do battle with Mark Andrews next.
A TLC promo aired.
Radzi was back with Jordan Devlin. Devlin asked if he had seen how far he had pushed Pete Dunne in his own home town and that he was confident another title opportunity would not be too far away for him.
He said that he was the Irish Ace and he looked at the NXT UK roster like a deck of cards and when he shuffles that deck and pulls out Flash Morgan Webster, he sees the Joker. He threatened to rip off Webster’s anorak, throw his helmet in the fifth row and said that the Ace always trumps the Heart. (which makes basically no sense in any kind of card game, but I digress)
Fabian Aichner beat Mark Andrews in 9:19 after a spinning sit-out power bomb
Aichner of course is the current EVOLVE world champion. He hails from South Tyrol which is a German speaking autonomous province in northern Italy, which originally belonged to the Austrian-Hungarian empire (there, you learned something). He started in 2011 and trained in Germany with former WCW “Wunderkind” Alex Wright and his English father, Steve Wright.
Back in the ring, Aichner stopped Andrews, threw him high into the air and caught him for a backbreaker, which looked impressive. Nigel talked about Aichner’s trainer Steve Wright once wrestling Tiger Mask, in a similar display of strength and technique versus high flying. Andrews hit a standing corkscrew senton for a near-fall and turned a power bomb attempt into a huracanrana.
He once more tried his somersault over the roped but this time it ended in a hard face slam for him. Aichner turned him inside out with a clothesline and went for a brain buster which got turned into the Stunt Dog Millionaire. Andrews went up top but Aichner caught him mid-air and gave him a brain buster for a near fall.
Aichner then showed his athleticism with a spring board moonsault which missed. Andrews went for a moonsault of his own which got caught, but managed to turn it into a tornado DDT for a near fall of his own. He tried for a shooting star press but impressively managed to land on his feet as Aichner rolled to ringside.
Aichner pulled Andrews out and drove him into the steps, then followed with a running knee into the steel for good measure. This was a turning point, as Aichner supposedly embraced the dark side here. Andrews managed to get back in at 9 but got caught in a spinning sit-out power bomb for the pin.
This was a very good match and a great NXT UK debut for Aichner.
Vic and Nigel talked about the NXT UK Women’s championship tournament, which concluded last week.
A promo looked at Isla Dawn, the White Witch of NXT UK. She went by some ancient buildings and talked about her powers. A graphic announced Isla Dawn would meet Nina Samuels next.
A commercial for the AJ Styles WE 365 documentary aired.
Radzi was with Johnny Saint, asking him how he handled all the chaos going on in NXT UK right now. Johnny said that he knew he needed some help, so he had appointed Sid Scala as his assistant. At that point, Rhea Ripley walked up to them and towered over Scala.
She said they should be talking about her and find her some competition. Scala assured her that they were looking into it. Rhea at that point pinched him in the cheeks and mockingly stated tha the little assistant would be finding her an opponent. She walked off and told Johnny that she didn’t think much of his hired help.
Isla Dawn beat Nina Samuels in 3:20 after a gutwrench powerslam
They locked up and Isla managed to pull out of a head lock. Samuels took over with a chin lock and we were told that she had run the London marathon four times, so she had stamina. That was of little use, as Isla moved out of the way of a charging Samuels and hit some kickboxing kicks, a back drop driver and eventually her gut-wrench power slam for the quick win.
Some Eddie Dennis highlights aired and we were told that he would be in action against Tucker next
A WWE Shop commercial featuring the New Day aired; apparently there is a Book of Booty-Os. Sounds thrilling!
We saw highlights from last week’s tournament final between Rhea Ripley and Toni Storm. Toni talked about the crucial moment when her back got hurt off a spot of being thrown onto the edge of the apron (originally there was fear she would be out for a while with a back injury). She said that while Rhea was the first NXT UK Women’s champion, she herself would be the best champion and the the injury just made her stronger.
Eddie Dennis beat Tucker with the Next Stop Driver in 2:27
Denis was in control from the start with punches and hard whips. He hit his Black Hole Slam into a backbreaker on his knee, then locked Tucker in a cravat. Tucker briefly managed to come back with a back elbow from the second turnbuckle and a clothesline in the corner, but Dennis took his head off with a hard clothesline.
He hit the Severed Bridge into the corner and ended the match with the Next Stop Driver.
We were informed that Jordan Devlin would be in action next
A WWE Network promo aired
Johnny Saint announced via Twitter that Travis Banks would have a chance for retaliation against Gallus next week when he gets to face Wolfgang
Jordan Devlin beat Flash Morgan Webster in 12:04 after Ireland’s Call
Webster early on flipped out of some arm locks and they traded counters back and forth. Devlin eventually took over and kicked Webster into the corner. He hit his uranage/standing moonsault combination and taunted Webster. He picked the smaller man up and hit a backbreaker on his own shoulder, which looked impressive.
After a near fall, he locked in a sitting abdominal stretch. He threw Webster to ringside and smashed him into the apron before rolling him back inside. He taunted Webster some more and answered Webster’s comeback with a face rake. he screamed that Webster didn’t belong on his level nor into his ring.
Webster his the Modern Knee and consecutive dropkicks, followed by an enzuigiri into the corner and followed up with a huracanrana off the top rope. Devlin then did his pull-up by the arms into a backdrop driver spot, which always looks cool. Webster came back with a head-butt that sent Devlin to the outside. Webster followed him with a baseball slide and managed to avoid getting rammed into the steps and hit the Rude Boy Block off the steps on the outside.
He went for a somersault senton but Devlin got his kneed up and eventually landed Ireland’s Call for the victory.
Episode eleven (taped August 26 at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England)
Quick recap
Pete Dunne successfully defended his WWE UK championship against Jordan Devlin in an outstanding main event, as both men delivered and had a great match. In women’s tag team action, the young up-and-comers Xia Brookside & Millie McKenzie beat the debuting Charlie Morgan & Killer Kelly in a fun match. Eddie Dennis kept his undefeated streak, beating Ashton Smith in another fun match. Joseph Conners beat former tag team partner Saxon Huxley in a slobber knocker mean guy match. All in all an entertaining episode.
Full rundown
Show opened to a graphic promoting the NXT UK women’s title finals next week, when Toni Storm meets Rhea Ripley. Another graphic informed us that Pete Dunne would defend his WWE UK title against Jordan Devlin tonight.
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Xia Brookside & Millie McKenzie beat Charlie Morgan & Killer Kelly in 5:13 when Xia pinned Morgan with a bridging pin
Charlie Morgan, who was trained by Danny Collins and the Knight wrestling family (Paige, her brothers and parents), started out in 2011. She wrestled for all the major UK women’s promotions, such as WAW, Bellatrix and Pro Wrestling: EVE. She also performed for PROGRESS, RevPro and Southside Wrestling Entertainment among others and is a former Bellatrix and EVE champion. She is openly gay and had her coming out at a Pro-Wrestling EVE show in 2017. She also was born prematurely at only 28 weeks old.
Morgan and Xia started out and Xia took her down with a top wrist lock. After some back and forth, Morgan escaped with an impressive headstand. Xia hit a huracanrana and a drop kick and tagged McKenzie, who came in with a swinging neck breaker. Kelly managed to tag in but also quickly got locked in a Fujiwara arm-bar style submission which looked like Millie almost ripped her shoulder out of the socket.
Kelly came back with a surfboard attempt that ended with Millie’s face firmly getting planted in the mat after a hard stomp to the back of the head. Millie eventually came back with a release German suplex, after which both women tagged out. Xia hit a chin breaker and double knees into the corner on Morgan.
She went to the top, but Kelly pulled her off. Meanwhile Millie came in and hit a hard spear on Charlie Morgan, who then got pinned by Xia using a bridging pin.
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We saw Pete Dunne backstage, preparing for his upcoming match.
There was a graphic for Eddie Dennis vs. Ashton Smith, followed by a TLC promo.
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Eddie Dennis beat Ashton Smith in 6:00 after the Neck Stop Driver
This match had been built up for a few weeks, with Dennis telling Smith to watch his debut match and Smith then interrupting Dennis’ backstage interview.
Dennis took Smith down early, but Smith escape and locked in a head lock for a bit. He flipped out of a back suplex attempt, did a leap frog over the much taller Dennis, hit a drop kick that rocked the bigger man and finally a leg lariat that briefly took him down and to ringside. Smith tried a dive as a follow-up, but Dennis caught him mid-move and gave him a black hole slam on the apron.
Back in the ring, Dennis used his judo background and threw Smith, then locked in a cravat and held it for quite a while. Smith finally escaped and hit a springboard dropkick on Dennis who was on the apron. A somersault plancha connected and back in the ring, Smith hit a leg lariat from the top for a near-fall.
He then hit a drop kick on Dennis, who was sitting on the top rope, but failed a superplex attempt as Dennis slipped beneath him and picked him up for the Severed Bridge, a Razor’s Edge style buckle bomb. He followed that his the Neck Stop Driver for the win.
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We took a look back at Joseph Conners turning on Saxon Huxley last week and were informed that this match was next. Also, a WWE Shop commercial aired.
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Joseph Conners pinned Saxon Huxley in 5:16
These two had a mean guy match, right out of a Vinny V dream sequence. The first 90 seconds or so were just punches and kicks, as Huxley tore into Conners with punches and Conners came back with body shots. Huxley got whipped into the corner, but stormed right back out with a shoulder block. Conners came back with a clothesline and more punches, then draped Huxley over the ropes in the corner and rained down some more punches on him. Huxley came back with a knee lift and a dropkick.
Conners escaped an over-the-shoulder power bomb attempt and hit some more. you guessed it, punches. Huxley briefly got the upper hand with a clothesline but Conners hit a nice sit-out spine buster for another near fall. He grabbed Huxley by the hair and screamed “this is my world, you are just visiting” at him, before finishing him off with a kind of reverse-spinebuster-face slam type of move.
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Nigel and Vic were in studio as we got a Toni Storm video with sit-down segments and in-ring highlights, including her winning the Mae Young Classic this year. She said that she always had felt pressure, but if you wanted to be a history maker that’s what it took. Her whole life led up to this point and that this was not something she wanted but she needed.
She said that she was going to be the first NXT UK Women’s champion, after nine years of hard work and sacrifices. She concluded by saying that it was Toni Time.
We saw Jordan Devlin prepare backstage, followed by a WWE 2K19 commercial.
Next, we took a look at Rhea Ripley. She came to the UK to rip the women’s division apart, and that Toni would just be another victim. Toni’s last step was Rhea Ripley, her name was going to be on the NXT UK Women’s title. She will be the first champion and this is where it all ends.
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WWE UK Championship: Pete Dunne (c) submitted Jordan Devlin in 15:07
They locked up right away and Dunne immediately took him down with an arm bar and kept working the arm, but Devlin head scissored his way out amd slapped Dunne, prompting and immediate slap back from Dunne. Dunne tried stomping Devlin’s elbow and forearm, but Devlin rolled out of the way. A monkey flip by Dunne sent Devlin flying. then the champ followed with a hard forearm and an even stiffer lariat.
Dunne worked over Devlin’s arm and when to manipulate his fingers as well. Dunne tried his backflip off the turnbuckle on a whip but Devlin caught him and gave him a back stabber for a two count, which established Dunne’s lower back being hurt. Devlin hit his uranage/standing moonsault combo for a two count.
Dunne came back with a running enzuigiri into the corner, after successfully completing his backflip this time around. Dunne went for a German but got countered and Devlin hit a German of his own, which Dunne flipped over on and landed on his feet and hit a snap German of his own. He followed that by suplex into an arm bar, but Devlin escape by rolling up Dunne.
Devlin hit a running kick that had Dunne down in the corner and in an impressive spot, Devlin pulled Dunne up from the corner by the arm, straight into a backdrop driver for another two count.
After missing a standing moonsault, Dunne stomped his hand but then ran into a Spanish Fly out of nowhere. Devlin couldn’t capitalize on the momentum though, as Dunne immediately locked in a Koji clutch. The action spilled to ringside, and as Dunne tried to stomp Devlin’s arm on the ring steps, Devlin pulled his legs away and Dunne crashed onto the steel steps face-first. Devlin then hit a Spanish Fly off the steps onto the floor, which looked brutal.
They both narrowly got back in the ring at 9. After a double stomp on Devlin’s fingers, Dunne went for the Bitter End, but Devlin countered it into a reverse huracanrana for another near-fall. A quebrada by Devlin was stopped mid-air by a forearm smash by Dunne, who hit the Bitter End, but on landing, hurt his back even more and couldn’t go for the pin. They both were on the apron and Devlin shoved Dunne hard into the ring post back first.
They both got to the top rope and Devlin hit a Super Spanish Fly for a 2.99 cover. Dunne got up in a fighting stance, but Devlin hit a head butt that took both men down. Devlin removed Dunne’s mouth guard and hit a super kick for another close near-fall.
Devlin went for a moonsault, but got caught in a triangle on impact. He managed to briefly touch the ropes, but Dunne rolled over with the triangle still locked in, bent Devlin’s fingers apart, then grabbed the remaining fingers and bent them as well, forcing Devlin to tap.
Devlin sulked backstage, as the Bruiserweight celebrated in the ring.
Episode nine (taped August 25 at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England)
Quick recap —
Ligero and Jordan Devlin had a very good main event match. Toni Storm and Rhea Ripley advanced in the NXT UK women’s tournament, joining Dakota Kai and Jinny in the second round. Eddie Dennis and Mark Andrews also were victorious and Ashton Smith challenged Dennis to a match.
Full rundown —
A graphic informed us about tonight’s main event of Ligero taking on Jordan Devlin. We got a quick recap of the NXT UK women’s title tournament and went to Xia Brookside taking on Rhea Ripley.
Rhea Ripley beat Xia Brookside in 4:13 after the Riptide
The “Mosh Pit Kid” Rhea Ripley at just 22 years old (21 when this was taped) has a football (soccer) background and hails from the land Down Under, where she started out at Riot City Wrestling at just 16 years of age, where she eventually won the women’s title twice.. She moved on to Japan in 2015, competing for Diana and REINA and eventually participated in the Mae Young Classic in 2017 and returned again in 2018.
Xia Brookside is the 20-year-old daughter of NXT trainer Robbie Brookside and started out in 2015 with All Star Wrestling. She wrestled for IPW:UK, ICW, RevPro, GWF (in Germany), Defiant and Southside among others and first went to Japan to wrestle for Stardom in 2017. She is a former IPW:UK women’s champion and part of the current Southside tag team champions with Sean Kustom in a mixed team and also competed in the 2018 Mae Young Classic.
Ripley pushed Xia away as she went to shake her hand and proceeded to power the smaller woman down. Xia went for some head scissors in the corner, but Ripley picked her up and buckle bombed her into the turnbuckles before hitting a delayed vertical suplex. Rhea then applied a variation of the clover leaf, using just her hands and picked Xia up almost completely from that position which looked both cool and impressive.
Xia eventually managed to counter and dive between Ripley’s legs and threw Rhea into the turnbuckles head-first in the process. Xia hit a bulldog, tilt-a-whirl head scissors and double knees into the back of Ripley’s head. She went for a body press, but Rhea caught her and transitioned into the Riptide, a pump-handle power bomb for the win.
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We saw Toni Stom and Isla Dawn backstage, preparing for their match.
A graphic informed us that Eddie Dennis would be in action tonight, followed by a NXT UK taping commercial.
Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed James Drake and Zack Gibson backstage, asking about why Drake helped Zack against Trent Seven last week. Gibson stopped him, told him he had known Drake for 13 years and this was just a friend helping a friend. He then threw their names into the hat for the NXT UK tag team title tournament and stated that no team could come close to beating them and nonchalantly ended the interview.
Nigel and Vic discuss the interview and throw it to a WWE.com Exclusive video of the Coffey Brothers and Wolfgang continuing their attack on Moustache Mountain backstage last week, seemingly injuring Seven’s hand in the process.
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Eddie Dennis beat Jack Starz in 3:16 with the Neckstop Driver
Starz is a Robbie Brookside and Dan Collins trainee, who started in 2012 and wrestled for All Star Wrestling, Kamikaze Pro and Preston City Wrestling, among others. He also is a former Kamikaze Pro tag team champion.
This was a glorified squash, with the much taller Dennis toying with his much smaller opponent, patting him on the head to start the match. Starz came back but got caught when attempting a body press, which Dennis turned into a back breaker. A series of European uppercuts actually got the big man down to one knee before Starz missed a dropkick when Dennis stepped out of the way. Starz received a big buckle bomb out of a splash mountain position for his troubles and was pinned after a Neckstop Driver.
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After a WWE Shop commercial, we got another WWE.com Exclusive, this time showing a backstage confrontation between Dave Mastiff and Tyson T-Bone ffrom last week. A Tweet by NXT UK GM Johnny Saint conformed a match between the two behemoths for the next episode.
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Mark Andrews pinned “Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman in 5:28 after a shooting star
Boar hit an amateur-style suplex takedown early and worked over Andrew’s arm. Andrews kipped up and eventually flipped out of the hold using the top rope and used some arm drags and a huracanrana for his comeback. Boar escaped to ringside, Andrew hopped the ropes and attempted a moonsault body block, but Boar wasn’t where Andrews expected so he landed on his feet on the floor and got dropped face first on the apron for his troubles.
Hitchman used his body as a weapon with a number of senton variations and a jumping head butt into Andrews’ back. Andrews slid on his knees beneath an attack by the Boar, hit an enzuigiri that sent Hitchman to the outside and this time hit his moonsault body block off the apron perfectly. Back in the ring, he hit a nice springboard somersault seated senton for a two count.
They traded full nelsons until Boar flipped Andrews over with a half-and.half suplex. Hitchman eventually missed a frog splash but still managed to turn Andrews inside out with a stiff clothesline. A suplex attempt got turned into the Stunt Dog Millionaire by Andrews, who finished things off with a beautiful shooting star press.
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Nigel and Vic threw us to an interview with Eddie Dennis. Radzi talked about Dennis being undefeated to which he replied that Starz didn’t even knock him off his feet once. Ashton Smith interrupted, telling Dennis he watched his match last week. Dennis freaked out, telling Smith not to touch him, asking if he knew who he was and telling Smith he’d destroy him.
After a commercial for the Dean Ambrose documentary, we took a look a the women’s title tournament again.
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Toni Storm beat Isla Dawn in 4:07 with the Strong Zero
Isla started strong, hitting a running dropkick into the corner at the bell, followed by a backdrop driver and double knees for a near fall. SHe followed with stomps and kicks, a running knee and then transitioned into the Rings of Saturn, from which Toni eventually escaped. Storm came back with strikes and kicks of her own and took Isla down with a big left boot, followed by a hip attack.
She got stopped by a head kick from Isla though that got her down on her knees, but she quickly transitioned into a release German suplex and quickly hit the Strong Zero (the tiger driver variant this time) for the win. Afterwards, she helped up a devastated Isla Dawn.
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After a WWE 2K19 promo, graphics informed us that both Rhea Ripley vs. Dakota Kai and Toni Storm vs. Jinny would be on the next episode.
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Jordan Devlin beat Ligero in 11:45 with the Island’s Call
This was a very good match, with both guys looking impressive again. They traded arm locks early and Ligero managed to get a two count early on. Ligero escaped to ringisde as Devlin was charging at him, so Devlin bumped into the ropes and Ligero swept his legs. Ligero hit some head scissors and a side kick before falling victim to Devlin’s uranage/moonsault combination. Devlin went for a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker but Ligero turned it into a body block, followed by a running kick and a Code Red for another close call.
Devlin came back with a running knee into the corner and then, in an impressive spot, pulled Ligero up into the air and hit a backdrop driver in one swift motion. Devlin then escaped to ringside when Ligero was on the top rope, so Ligero tried a baseball slide, charged Devlin who moved, jumped up and did a hand stand on the apron, bounced back off the ropes and took Devlin down with another pair of head scissors.
Back inside Ligero went to the top again, but Devlin hit an enzuigiri and got on the ropes as well. Ligero eventually threw him down and tried a splash but got caught in Devlin’s knees. Devlin hit a beautiful standing Spanish Fly for a near fall and went for Island’s Call, but Ligero turned it into a victory roll. They battled up on top once more, but this time Ligero managed to throw Devlin off and hit the splash for another near-fall.
They battled on the apron and on top of the steps, but Devlin kicked Ligero’s legs way and he took a dive onto the steel steps. Devlin hit a moonsault off the second turnbuckle to the outside and back in the ring followed things up with a running knee and the Island’s Call for the victory.
Afterwards, Devlin screamed into the camera that Pete Dunne was on his radar as the credits rolled.
Episode seven (taped August 25 at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England)
Quick recap
Triple H and Johnny Saint announced the NXT UK Women’s championship tournament, which begins next week. Wolfgang beat Ashton Smith in the main event, further establishing himself and the Coffey Brothers as a force to be reckoned with. Tyler Bate beat James Drake in the match of the show, while Jordan Devlin looked good in beating Sid Scala and we had Saxon Huxley & Joseph Connors beat Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams. A fun show, especially the Bate match, but really not a must-see episode.
Full rundown
Triple H and all the women of NXT UK – Dakota Kai, Nina Samuels, Toni Storm, Isla Dawn, Rhea Ripley, Xia Brookside, Jinny and Millie McKenzie – were out on the stage to open the show. The way this was shot, Ripley, who really only is 5’7″ looked huge compared to the other women, both in height and massiveness. Triple H called out Johnny Saint, who unveiled the new NXT UK Women’s championship. The tournament for this new title will begin on the next episode.
There was a look back to when Wolfgang and the Coffey Bros. attacked Ashton Smith a few weeks back. A graphic announced that Smith and Wolfgang would face off in tonight’s main event. Also announced was Tyler Bate vs. James Drake. After a promo announcing WrestleMania 35 tickets going on sale, we went to our first match.
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Jordan Devlin beat Sid Scala in 3:13 with the Island’s Call
Devlin locked up right away and backed Scala into a corner, screaming “you don’t belong here” at him. Scala briefly fired back, but was hit with Devlin’s uranage/standing moonsault combination. Devlin kept working Scala over and launched himself over the ropes from the apron with a beautiful somersault cutter. He went for the Island’s Call, but Scala turned it into a sunset flip. Devlin kicked out but Scala hit a jumping neck breaker and went for a body press off the top. He jumped into a dropkick by Devlin, which looked to have missed by a mile. This set up a successful Island’s Call for the victory for the Irishman.
Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Devlin in the ring post-match, telling him that this was a dominant performance and if we had seen the real Jordan Devlin yet. Devlin fired back to not make him laugh and that the last thing concerning him was having those people here know who he was. Whenever he’s backstage, he’s asking himself who all the people back there think they are, especially the guy running around as a luchador, even though he is from Leeds, so who does Ligero think he is? I have a feeling these two will square up in the coming weeks.
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After a look at Moustache Mountain’s promo from a few weeks back, Nigel and Vic talked about the upcoming NXT UK tag team titles and how we’d be seeing some teams form. In fact, two of those teams would have a match next, when Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams face Saxon Huxley & Joseph Connors.
After a WWE Network promo, we got a video introducing us to Tyson T-Bone, who said he’d been traveling up and down the country, beating people and that he was the biggest, baddest and meanest WWE UK (he didn’t say NXT UK) wrestler. He’ll debut next week.
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Saxon Huxley & Joseph Conners beat Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams in 4:46 when Connors hit Don’t Look Down on Williams for the pin
We saw everyone but Conners on NXT UK before, because he got injured in a match with Kenny Williams during the first day of the July tapings and the match was stopped, never making air. He started out in 2006 and was trained by Robbie Brookside, among others. He’s a mainstay at Southside Entertainment Wrestling and competes for other promotions such as Defiant, PROGRESS, ICW, IPW:UK and Preston City Wrestling. He’s a 3-time former SWE Heavyweight champion and three-time SWE tag-team champion and also was Defiant champion, back when it was WCPW.
Williams came out wearing old-school red and blue 3D glasses and we were told that Jordan chose wrestling over an arranged marriage by his mother. Oh well, good for him I guess. Huxley and Amir started out and Amir escaped some take down by flipping out, kipping up and doing his funny foreign man dance, because stereotypes. He tagged in Williams who quickly got distracted for the heel advantage. Conners tagged in and we were told that he lost part of his left ear in a bar fight years ago, where he was “left for dead”.
Amir was face in peril for a while, until he managed to hit an enzuigiri and made the hot tag. Williams hit a cool spot where he hit a shotgun dropkick onto Conners on the outside, then skinned the cat back into the ring and hit a suicide dive on Huxley on the other side of the ring. He missed a DDT from the top rope and was hit by a brutal sunset bomb by Conners into the corner, followed by Don’t Look Down for the victory for the heel team.
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After another graphic for Bate vs. Drake and a promo for the NXT UK tapings in ten days we were shown the brackets for the NXT UK Women’s championship tournament and got nice graphics for everybody, including when they made their WWE/NXT debuts.
This was followed by an interview with Trent Seven by what looked like a number of journalists. He was asked his opinion on Zack Gibson and said that while it was impressive how Gibson won the UK tournament at Royal Albert Hall, he couldn’t get the job done against Pete Dunne and had been calling out the other members or British Strong Style ever since. When asked if he was challenging Gibson, he said that he was a pro wrestler and a sports entertainer and told Gibson to have a go. Those two will face off on the next episode.
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Tyler Bate beat James Drake in 8:30 with the Tyler Driver ’97
Drake has a picture of his face on his trunks, so he received the “he’s got his own face on his arse” chant from the UK crowd here. They traded arm twisters early, which Bate flipped out of, followed by a dropkick and a suplex escape over the top rope onto the apron and hit a big chop. Drake punched Bate off the turnbuckle to the outside. Bate escaped a lengthy chin-lock sequence by backing Drake into the corner and hit a beautiful standing huracanrana, followed by a spinning elbow off the second turnbuckle.
Drake charged into Bate in the corner, but got caught and received an overhead suplex for his troubles, followed by a running Shooting Star Press. Drake flipped over the ropes onto the apron but when Bate teased a suicide dive, Drake jumped to ringside, and Bate launched himself back into the ring with the top rope between his neck and shoulders spot, before hitting an actual dive.
Back in the ring, Bate hit a backdrop driver for a near fall. The first attempt at the Tyler Driver ’97 got turned into a back body drop and Drake hit a running dropkick into the corner for a near fall. A second attempt at a dropkick failed though, as Tyler moved, hit his springboard lariat off the ropes and finished his night with a Tyler Driver ’97 for the victory.
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After a WWE Shop commercial, we had another look at all the women in the tournament, which will start next week.
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Wolfgang (w/ Joe & Mark Coffey) defeated Ashton Smith
Wolfgang won in 5:29 after a modified fisherman’s suplex. The crowd was behind Smith all the way, chanting to his entrance and generally being very cheerful. Smith hit things off with a cravat, but ate some punches from “The Last King of Scotland” for his troubles. He came back with a nice dropkick, head scissors and a springboard tomahawk chop, but then jumped right into a gut buster as he went for a body press off the top. Wolfgang dominated the back and forth exchange that developed from there and stopped Smith in his tracks with a bear hug.
Smith eventually fought out, hit a clothesline, then leapfrogged Wolfgang as he charged out of the corner, landed on the second turnbuckle and hit a reverse enzuigiri for some momentum. This didn’t last long, as Wolfgang launched Smith into the air, then launched himself at a stunned, seated Smith with a running senton and finally hit a modified fisherman’s suplex into a slam for the victory.
Wolfgang and the Coffeys posed in the ring as the show went off the air.
