Tag: Josh Morrell

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.