Ben Carter’s first appearance on WWE television will take place on next week’s episode of NXT UK.
WWE has announced that Carter will be the guest on Noam Dar’s Supernova Sessions talk show on NXT UK next Thursday (January 7). The appearance comes after it was officially confirmed earlier this month that Carter ha signed with WWE and joined the NXT UK roster.
Carter’s signing was announced via a video that aired on the December 17 episode of NXT UK. It included comments from William Regal, Ashton Smith, Wolfgang, Nigel McGuinness, Seth Rollins, and Sid Scala. Carter trained at Rollins and Marek Brave’s Black and Brave Wrestling Academy.
The 22-year-old Carter made multiple appearances on AEW programming this year.
This will be the second edition of Dar’s Supernova Sessions. The segment debuted earlier this month with A-Kid appearing as Dar’s guest.
Next week’s NXT UK is the first episode of the show of 2021. It will also feature Piper Niven and Jinny facing off in a number one contender’s match. The winner will get a future shot at Kay Lee Ray’s NXT UK Women’s Championship.
– The semifinals of NXT UK’s Heritage Cup tournament will kick off next week.
WWE has announced that Noam Dar vs. A-Kid in the semifinals of the Heritage Cup tournament will air on next Thursday’s episode of NXT UK. The winner will advance to face either Dave Mastiff or Trent Seven in the finals.
Dar advanced to the semifinals by defeating Alexander Wolfe in the first round of the tournament. A-Kid defeated Flash Morgan Webster in the first round.
Heritage Cup matches have the following rules:
There will be six rounds for Heritage Cup matches. Each round will be three minutes.
There will be 20-second breaks between each round.
All matches are two-out-of-three falls.
Falls can be won by pinfall, submission, or countout.
Once a fall occurs, the round ends.
Once someone has won two falls, they are declared the winner and they advance in the tournament.
If there’s a disqualification or knockout, the match ends without the need for two falls.
If a match goes the full six rounds, whoever is ahead on falls wins.
The Heritage Cup will be defended as a championship under the same rules following the tournament.
– It was also announced on today’s episode of NXT UK that Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) will face Sam Gradwell & Pretty Deadly (Sam Stoker & Lewis Howley) in a six-man tag match on NXT UK next Thursday. This is Joe Coffey’s first match since being suspended by WWE this June.
– A video that aired on this week’s NXT UK announced that Rampage Brown is coming to NXT UK. Brown is a former PROGRESS Wrestling World Champion and Atlas Champion. When he’ll be making his NXT UK debut wasn’t revealed.
Kenny Williams won the Heritage Cup Wild Card triple threat match, beating his tag team partner Amir Jordan and Ashton Smith in a fun match. Williams will face Trent Seven in round one of the Heritage Cup tournament.
Jinny defeated Xia Brookside for the third time those two have met on NXT UK. Jinny cut a promo after and called herself the queen of NXT UK
Noam Dar defeated Alexander Wolfe 2-1 in a first round match in the Heritage Cup. Dar scored the first fall off a roll-up in round two, while Wolfe got a fall in round four after a bridging German suplex. Dar then hit the Nova Roller on Wolfe after special guest referee Pete Dunne had reprimanded Dar for cheating before the finish. After the match, Wolfe and Dunne got into it, leading to WALTER and Ilja Dragunov joining the fray.
Full rundown —
The show opened with a graphic for tonight’s Heritage Cup tournament first round match: Alexander Wolfe vs. Noam Dar with Pete Dunne as the special guest referee. We then went to the Wild Card triple threat match to determine the final participant in the tournament. The winner of the triple threat will face Trent Seven in round one.
Heritage Cup Wild Card triple threat match: Kenny Williams defeated Ashton Smith and Amir Jordan after pinning Smith following a tornado DDT (9:25)
Kenny Williams was shocked that his tag partner Amir Jordan was in the match. Jordan and Williams briefly teamed up to get Smith out of the ring but then squared off. They traded roll-ups but then got hit by a double clothesline from Smith. All three men traded flash pin attempts before Jordan hit a crossbody on Smith for a two count.
Williams hit a springboard headbutt that threw Smith off the apron. He then followed with a dropkick through the ropes but got caught on a dive. Jordan also hit a dive, sending everyone tumbling.
Back in the ring, Smith took over and dominated the match, sending Williams to the outside. Smith then went for a superplex on Jordan, who went for a sunset flip instead and got the assist from Williams to hit a powerbomb on Smith.
Smith still was strong, sending Williams into Jordan and then hitting a Blue Thunder Bomb on Williams for a near fall. Jordan hit a flatliner on Smith for another near fall.
Jordan and Williams traded strikes. Smith threw Jordan to ringside but got hit with a hurricanrana by Williams. Smith hit a slam on Williams, but Jordan came off the top with a Swanton Bomb to break up the pin. Jordan then covered Williams for another near fall. Jordan was sent to the outside once more by a superkick from Smith. Williams countered a slam from Smith with a tornado DDT for the pinfall victory.
– A video aired on Jinny and Xia Brookside ahead of them facing off later tonight.
– In another video, Eddie Dennis talked about his superior intelligence and how he aligned with Pretty Deadly last week.
– A clip from earlier in the year where Mark Andrews was attacked backstage was shown. Nobody has taken credit for the attack still. Andrews walked into the arena with Flash Morgan Webster and said he was back.
Jinny submitted Xia Brookside with an STF (6:33)
Brookside escaped an arm twist, which Jinny mockingly applauded her for. Brookside escaped some more attempts, then hit a dropkick on Jinny. Jinny came back with a kick to the stomach and took Brookside down for a pinfall attempt. Brookside took Jinny down with a headscissors off the ropes, then went for a monkey flip that was either blocked or botched.
Brookside was aggressive with a corner attack and a number of pinning combinations for some near falls. Brookside figure foured Jinny’s legs and kicked at her knee, then continued working over the legs. As the referee was talking to Brookside, Jinny hit a hard right hand for another near fall.
Brookside looked for the Brookside Bomb but Jinny blocked, then snapped Brookside’s head on the top rope. Jinny then locked in a modified STF for the submission.
– After the match, Jinny said she was ruthless and people would witness the new Jinny — the queen of NXT UK.
– A graphic announced Flash Morgan Webster vs. A-Kid in a Heritage Cup first round match for next week. A video feature on A-Kid then aired.
– Another graphic announced that Kay Lee Ray will give a State of the Union address next week.
Heritage Cup first round match (special guest referee: Pete Dunne) Noam Dar pinned Alexander Wolfe after the Nova Roller in 2:56 of round five to win the match 2-1 (14:02)
Pete Dunne entered first, followed by Dar and Wolfe.
Round One —
Wolfe and Dar wrestled on the mat for the first 30 seconds with neither man getting the advantage. They traded more holds but still no man had the clear advantage. Wolfe locked in a cravat, then transitioned into a hammerlock. Dar hit a snapmare and a kick as the round concluded. Both men were handed water during the break.
Round Two —
They grappled for position and Dar stomped Wolfe’s feet. He took Wolfe to the mat and went for a pin, but Wolfe wasn’t in danger. Wolfe pushed Dar’s shoulders down to the mat for a number of pinfall attempts. Wolfe hit a headlock takeover and tried to grind Dar down. Dar got Wolfe down for a backslide for a near fall, then countered a DVD attempt into a roll-up at 2:48 of the round, scoring the first point in the match.
Round Three —
Wolfe immediately took Dar down, then locked in a number of submissions. Wolfe rolled up Dar but only scored a two count. They traded strikes and forearms as the time in the round ran out. As Dunne tried separating both men after the end of the round, Wolfe hit a vicious slap on Dar.
Round Four —
Dar came back with a kick to Wolfe’s knee, then took his legs out and went for another pin but only got two. Dar signaled for the Nova Roller, but Wolfe ducked, hit an axe kick, and then scored a fall with a bridging German suplex at 0:58 of the round to tie Dar 1-1.
Round Five —
Dar countered an attack into an omoplata, but Wolfe countered as well. They traded submission attempts until Dar rolled Wolfe over for another near fall. Wolfe kicked out of another pinfall attempt and Dar transitioned into another armbar. Wolfe hit a flying kneebar but Dar escaped. Dar rolled Wolfe up but grabbed the ropes, prompting Dunne to kick his hand.
As Dunne was checking on Wolfe, Dar hit the Nova Roller (which Dunne narrowly ducked) on Wolfe for the pin at 2:56 of the round. With Dar winning two falls, he got the win and advances to the second round of the tournament. He’ll face the winner of Flash Morgan Webster vs. A-Kid.
– After the match, Dunne refused to raise Dar’s hand. Dar then left. Wolfe berated Dunne in German, telling him he was the reason Wolfe lost the match. Wolfe then went to attack Dunne, who got the better of him by hitting a kick to the head and stomps to the face. Dunne then went for the Bitter End before WALTER came out.
Dunne and WALTER got into a shouting match and WALTER got into the ring, but Wolfe snuck up on Dunne and beat him up. WALTER went to powerbomb Dunne, but Ilja Dragunov ran in for the save and Dunne and Dragunov cleared the ring of Imperium. Dunne and Dragunov screamed at Wolfe and WALTER as the show went off the air. It looks like we may get a tag team match with those four down the line.
Next week —
The Heritage Cup continues with Flash Morgan Webster taking on A-Kid in a first round match. Plus, coming off her brutal title defense against Piper Niven from last week, NXT Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray will give a State of the Union address.
NXT UK’s Heritage Cup tournament is set to begin next week.
The Heritage Cup tournament will kick off with a first round match between Alexander Wolfe and Noam Dar airing on next Thursday’s episode of NXT UK. Pete Dunne will be the special guest referee for the match.
Next week’s NXT UK episode will also feature a triple threat match to determine the wildcard entrant for the Heritage Cup tournament. The participants for the triple threat match haven’t been revealed. The wildcard entrant will round out the lineup for the eight-man tournament.
The drawing for the Heritage Cup took place on this week’s NXT UK. The first round matches for the tournament are:
Joseph Conners vs. Dave Mastiff
Wildcard entrant vs. Trent Seven
Flash Morgan Webster vs. A-Kid
Alexander Wolfe vs. Noam Dar
Dunne was a special guest for the drawing. Wolfe and Dar were the last two wrestlers to be drawn. Earlier in the show, Wolfe had knocked Dar’s phone out of his hands when he wasn’t paying attention to NXT UK assistant general manager Sid Scala talk to the tournament participants about the Heritage Cup draw. They went face-to-face after being drawn against each other and Dar tried to cheap shot Wolfe, but Dunne blocked it, snapped Dar’s fingers, and threw him out of the ring.
There was a backstage segment later in today’s episode where Scala was worried about maintaining order for Wolfe and Dar’s match. Dunne offered to be the special guest referee and Scala made it official.
Heritage Cup matches will have the following rules:
There will be six rounds for Heritage Cup matches. Each round will be three minutes.
There will be 20-second breaks between each round.
All matches are two-out-of-three falls.
Falls can be won by pinfall, submission, or countout.
Once a fall occurs, the round ends.
Once someone has won two falls, they are declared the winner and they advance in the tournament.
If there’s a disqualification or knockout, the match ends without the need for two falls.
If a match goes the full six rounds, whoever is ahead on falls wins.
After the tournament, the Heritage Cup will be defended as a championship under the same rules.
NXT UK is back after more than five months, taping from BT Sport studios in London, England. A good show with three fun matches picked up where things left off back in March.
NXT UK Tag Team Champions Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) defeated Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams in a non-title match. Good action and Williams continues to look impressive. After the match, most of the NXT UK tag team roster surrounded the ring.
NXT UK Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray and Piper Niven had a confrontation ahead of their title match next week.
Aoife Valkyrie defeated Isla Dawn in a rematch from earlier this year.
Ilja Dragunov defeated Noam Dar in a very good match. Both men look more jacked than before and had a stiff back-and-forth outing. Alexander Wolfe came out near the finish, but Dragunov thwarted him and picked up the win via Torpedo Moscow. NXT UK Champion WALTER then came out for a staredown.
Full rundown —
For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to events in March, NXT UK returned this week with a show taped at BT Sport studios, the home of the brand’s UK television partner.
A cool video opened up the show, with Shawn Michaels and Triple H talking about the hiatus and how hungry the talent is. A video ran down some of NXT UK’s top stars, interspersing match highlights with some of their thoughts.
A brief shot of the very cool looking studio setup was shown before the new intro video to the tune of Wargasm’s God of War aired.
Nigel McGuinness (remotely) returned to the commentary booth and called the show alongside Andy Shepherd (in the arena), instantly making this one of the best commentary teams on WWE television — if not the best.
After the intro, NXT UK assistant general manager Sid Scala was in the ring and welcomed us back. He was about to say what would kick off the show when Ilja Dragunov’s theme played and the Mad Russian walked to the ring.
Dragunov played to the very small crowd of probably local talent before apologizing to Scala, although in a very loud and direct way. Dragunov said he had been waiting for six months. He had been caged and isolated and was waiting for a battle. Noam Dar walked out and told Dragunov he needed some anger management therapy, which prompted Dragunov to dive on top of him and beat the ever loving hell out of the Scotsman. He took Dar’s head off with the Konstantin Special before referees broke the fight up.
Scala said he’d shuffle things around and Dragunov would face Dar in tonight’s main event.
Non-title match: NXT UK Tag Team Champions Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) defeated Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan when Wolfgang pinned Jordan after an enzuigiri/powerslam combo (10:53)
Coffey and Jordan started out and Coffey immediately took him down with a shoulder block. Jordan tried going for a hip toss, but he found himself on the wrong end of a backslide for a two count. Williams tagged in and came off the top onto Coffey’s arm. Coffey also tagged out and Wolfgang found himself worked over by both men. Wolfgang came back with a clothesline on Jordan before tagging in Coffey. He landed a flying European uppercut on Jordan, who found himself in peril in Gallus’ corner.
Wolfgang worked over Jordan’s arm and snuffed out any kind of counter attempt. Coffey was back in, stepping onto Jordan’s neck before trying a number of successive pinfall attempts. The champions kept working over Jordan, cutting the ring in half and keeping him on their side of it. Gallus hit a double-team monkey flip on Jordan before Wolfgang went for a slam but got hit with an enzuigiri, allowing Jordan to make the hot tag.
Williams hit a cool looking rope-assisted hurricanrana before kicking Coffey in the face and then in the chest, sending him to ringside. Williams then scrambled out of a gorilla press and countered into a sunset flip before Wolfgang got the upper hand again and slammed The Luckian to the mat. Coffey hit a German suplex for two before Williams went for a crucifix pin, followed by a slingblade. Williams took down Coffey, then Jordan hit a Swanton off the top and would have picked up the victory if Wolfgang hadn’t made the save.
Gallus then quickly came back with the enzuigiri/powerslam combo on Jordan for the victory.
After the match, Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster, The Hunt, Pretty Deadly, and Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter came out and all surrounded the ring. Imperium (Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) also appeared on the screen, so it looks like they were not in the UK for the tapings after all.
– A Saxon Huxley video aired, with him pushing his own face against a fence. He said his mind had begun to wander during isolation and it was a big mistake releasing him. He said he will be bringing a flood next week. It will be WALTER vs. Huxley on the show.
NXT UK Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray in-ring segment
KLR said she’ll be defending her title next week. She said this would be a day to rejoice, if she didn’t have to face Piper Niven. She said the two of them defined women’s wrestling in the UK and now they will face off for the title in a WWE ring. She said people will find out why KLR is just that little bit better than Niven.
This prompted Niven to walk out. Niven said she couldn’t remember a time when KLR talked so much. She said since KLR liked talking so much, she should tell everybody how often Niven had beaten her in Japan and in the UK already. Niven said she has KLR’s number.
KLR said that this was what Niven wanted to believe and that she would prove to the world that she’s better than Niven. She said that Niven had never beaten this KLR. She said that Niven should have known better than to trust her.
KLR went to hit Niven with the mic, but Niven blocked the shot and knocked KLR down. KLR immediately slunk away.
– A video on Isla Dawn and Aoife Valkyrie aired ahead of the next match.
Aoife Valkyrie pinned Isla Dawn after a leg drop off the top (5:44)
Dawn was looking to avenge her loss from earlier in the year here in this rematch. Valkyrie locked in a side headlock and took down Dawn. She countered with a leg vice before Valkyrie quickly escaped. Valkyrie connected with a spinning heel kick and went for a hip toss, but Dawn blocked it. Valkyrie hit a reverse crossbody block off the ropes and then went back to the side headlock. They ended up back on their feet and Valkyrie took Dawn down with a headscissors.
Dawn was quickly back on offense, locking in a double-arm submission. She then transitioned into a crossface attempt until Valkyrie powered out. Dawn went back to her initial submission attempt, then Valkyrie countered and hit a head kick. Valkyrie followed with a flurry of kicks, then hit a blockbuster for a near fall. Dawn rolled her up with a near fall of her own, but Valkyrie came back with a unique springboard kick off the ropes.
Valkyrie then went to the top rope and hit her axe kick leg drop to the back of the neck for the pinfall victory.
– Scala talked about the eight-man Heritage Cup tournament. There will be seven announced participants and one wild card entrant. A-Kid, Dave Mastiff, Noam Dar, Flash Morgan Webster, Joseph Conners, Alexander Wolfe, and Trent Seven are the confirmed participants.
– The Heritage Cup drawing was announced for next week, with it also being revealed that Pete Dunne will be a special guest for the drawing.
Ilja Dragunov defeated Noam Dar after hitting Torpedo Moscow (11:49)
Dragunov immediately took down Dar with a single leg, then looked for some ground and pound. Dragunov was using a fighter’s stance and they grappled for position for a bit. Both men seemingly used their time away from the ring during the pandemic to get even more jacked than before.
Dragunov took down Dar with a chop and hit a senton, then sent Dar fleeing to ringside off a charge. Dar tried getting the upper hand, but Dragunov would have none of it. They briefly battled on the top turnbuckle before Dragunov knocked Dar down, but Dragunov then fell victim to an attack on his leg, which sent him tumbling down into the ring.
Dar hit a Northern Lights suplex on Dragunov for a two count before working over Dragunov’s leg which he had targeted just moments before. He also worked over Dragunov’s arm for good measure, looking to dismantle the number one contender bit by bit. They traded strikes before Dragunov hit an Inoki-style dropkick to the head, followed by a wheelbarrow suplex. Dragunov hit a stiff lariat and went for a suplex, but Dar countered into an omoplata. Dar followed with an ankle lock attempt, but Dragunov broke free.
Dragunov hit the Konstantin Special for a close near fall before going back to the top rope, but he missed a foot stomp. Dragunov went for the Konstantin Special once more, but Dar had him scouted and countered, then kicked Dragunov to ringside. Dar followed up with the Super Nova, but Dragunov kicked out at 2.9. Dar tried another pin attempt and then locked in an armbar, but Dragunov powered out of the hold. Dragunov came back with chops to the neck.
Dragunov hit an impressive Gotch-lift suplex and then rolled backwards from a bridge to cover Dar, but Dar narrowly kicked out. Dragunov set up for Torpedo Moscow, but Alexander Wolfe then came to ringside and grabbed Dragunov’s leg. Dar used the distraction to try and roll up Dragunov. He kicked out, then sent Dar into Wolfe and followed up with Torpedo Moscow to get the win.
As Dragunov celebrated his victory, Imperium’s theme hit and WALTER walked out, staring down Dragunov, who dared him to step into the ring with him as the show went off the air.
Next week —
Kay Lee Ray defends her NXT UK Women’s Championship against Piper Niven, NXT UK Champion WALTER faces Saxon Huxley in non-title action, and the Heritage Cup drawing with special guest Pete Dunne takes place.
WWE has announced that “following the tournament, the NXT UK Heritage Cup will be defended as a championship under the same rules.”
**********
An eight-man tournament with British Rounds rules will soon kick off on NXT UK.
WWE announced today that the Heritage Cup tournament is coming to NXT UK. Seven of the eight participants for the tournament have been revealed. They are: Flash Morgan Webster, Noam Dar, Alexander Wolfe, A-Kid, Dave Mastiff, Joseph Conners, and Trent Seven.
Here are the rules for Heritage Cup matches:
There will be six rounds for tournament matches. Each round will be three minutes.
There will be 20-second breaks between each round.
All matches are two-out-of-three falls.
Falls can be won by pinfall, submission, or countout.
Once a fall occurs, the round ends.
Once someone has won two falls, they are declared the winner and they advance in the tournament.
If there’s a disqualification or knockout, the match ends.
If a match goes the full six rounds, whoever is ahead on falls wins.
More details for the tournament will be announced on NXT UK next Thursday (September 17). The episode will feature NXT UK’s return to new in-ring action for the first time since events were paused in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tapings for NXT UK’s return are being done at BT Sport studios in London, England with no fans in attendance.
Taped at Coventry Skydome in Coventry, England on March 6, 2020
Quick results:
Former ring announcer Andy Shepherd is the new color commentator for NXT UK alongside Nigel McGuinness
Finn Balor appeared in NXT and called out WALTER, then thwarted an attack by Imperium
Piper Niven vowed to do something about Kay Lee Ray, who she called ‘evil’
Pretty Deadly beat Dan Moloney & Dereiss Gordon; all four men looked good
Alexander Wolfe demanded a match with Balor for tonight and got it approved by Johnny Saint; Jordan Devlin also was told he’s defend his cruiserweight title against Travis Banks in two weeks in the same segment
Dave Mastiff, Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster got set up for next week
Noam Dar beat Ligero
Travis Banks promised to become cruiserweight champion
Dani Luna vs. Amale went to a no contest when Kay Lee Ray attacked both women
Finn Balor pinned Alexander Wolfe after a 1916 and survived another attempted attack by Imperium mid-match
Full rundown:
Nigel McGuinness and newly appointed NXT UK play-by-play announcer Andy Shepherd welcomed us to the show. Shepherd is the former NXT UK ring announcer and previously called some early UK Tournament shows. They were interrupted by the lights going out and Finn Balor’s music playing.
Balor came out, said his name and that he wasn’t hear to pop ratings but to call out WALTER. The champion’s music played and he came out and stared Balor down from ringside. The rest of Imperium appeared and Alexander Wolfe welcomed Balor to NXT UK, said this was Imperium’s domain and vowed to give Balor a welcome. Balor quickly disposed of Aichner and Barthel, then escaped a German suplex attempt by Wolfe and gave him a sling blade before ducking a clothesline by WALTER and escaping to ringside.
Piper Niven was interviewed earlier in the week. She talked about her and Toni Storm being like sisters and she had to come out during the Storm/Kay Lee Ray I Quit Match to talk some sense into Toni before she’d get crippled.
She said she never could have interfered in the match, as Toni would never have talked to her. She said when she comforted a sobbing Toni, she looked up at KLR and saw that she was evil. She vowed to do something about her.
A highlight video on Tyler Bate aired.
Pretty Deadly (Lewis Howley & Sam Stoker) beat Dan Moloney & Dereiss Gordon
Pretty Deadly threw their shirts at their opponents and beat them down. Moloney made a brief comeback against Howley and tagged Gordon, who showed some good athleticism. Stoker tagged back in and together, Pretty Deadly attacked Gordon once more.
An assisted uppercut had Gordon down for a near-fall as Pretty Deadly tagged in and out in quick succession. Gordon finally got the hot tag and Moloney ran wild on both members of Pretty Deadly. Pretty Deadly came back with Deadly Pretty (an assisted Codebreaker) on Moloney for the win.
Alexander Wolfe walked up to Johnny Saint and Sid Scala all agitated and demanded a match against Finn Balor. Saint just looked at him and nonchalantly said “OK”. Jordan Devlin then walked up and declared he was back in the UK. Scala informed him that he would defend his NXT Cruiserweight title against Travis Banks in two weeks.
Dave Mastiff, Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster were at the UK Performance Center when Gallus walked up to talk trash. They agreed to face off in a six-men match next week.
Noam Dar pinned Ligero
Ligero took over early after Dar tried evading him. Dar came back with a dropkick through the ropes onto Ligero on the apron, that sent Ligero to ringside. Dar worked over Ligero’s hand back in the ring, then applied a chinlock. and tugged away at Ligero’s mask.
Ligero threw Dar to ringside, then followed up with a plancha. After Ligero took over for a bit, he went for a handspring armdrag, but got caught in a Fujiwara armbar. Dar attacked Ligero’s legs, then hit the Nova Roller for the win.
Travis Banks was being interviewed about meeting Jordan Devlin for the Cruiserweight title. He promised to be the first ever Kiwi champion in NXT history.
Dani Luna and Amale went to a no contest
Luna threw Amale halfway across the ring, then took her down repeatedly. Amale came back with a hammerlock, but Luna lifted her up with one hand and hit a fall away slam. Just as Luna looked ready to deal out more punishment, Kay Lee Ray ran out and attacked both women for the no contest.
Kay Lee Ray said that now that she had successfully got rid of Toni Storm, she was here to let every girl in NXT UK know that this division belonged to her. Luna briefly attacked her but quickly got taken out with a Gory Bomb. KLR reiterated that the division belonged to her.
A video on Aoife Valkyrie aired, where she claimed every feather she wore stood for a battle she won to become who she was.
Finn Balor pinned Alexander Wolfe
Balor quickly took over with a hammerlock on the mat, then followed with a dropkick off a sunset flip roll-through. He followed up with a sitting cobra clutch but got backed into the corner. He kicked away at Wolfe and hit some chops. Wolfe came back with a backbreaker, then hit some punches.
As Wolfe locked in a waist lock, the rest of Imperium slowly walked to ringside. Wolfe rammed his shoulders into Balor in the corner, then locked in a bear hug. Balor came back with a double chop to the chest, then hit a running basement dropkick on Wolfe.
Balor repeatedly stomped Wolfe while locking eyes with WALTER. He hit a sling blade and went to attack out of the corner, but Barthel came in and grabbed his leg while Aichner looked to attack. Balor fought him off as the referee then ejected Imperium from ringside.
Wolfe hit an enzuigiri and went for a sit-down power bomb, but Balor escaped and hit a double foot stomp on Wolfe, who came back with a bridging German suplex. Balor escaped a fireman’s carry into a slop drop, then hit a running drop kick and hit the coup de grâce, followed by the 1916 for the pinfall victory.
Next week:
Dave Mastiff, Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster will face Gallus in six-men action.
Two TakeOver matches edged ever closer to being booked as Eddie Dennis and Trent Seven clashed in the ring, and Tyler Bate challenged Jordan Devlin after Devlin almost cost Bate his match against Noam Dar.
Amir Jordan returned from injury to pick up the win for his team when he and Kenny Williams defeated Pretty Deadly.
Full recap —
Nigel McGuinness and Tom Philips welcomed us to Hull, England for this episode of NXT UK.
Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan defeated Pretty Deadly (Sam Stoker & Lewis Howley)
Williams and Jordan started well with Jordan knocking Stoker down with a clothesline and Howley down with a strong crossbody. Jordan was making his return here after a shoulder injury, and that didn’t stop him hitting a suicide dive to Howley early on.
Howley distracted the referee while Stoker pulled Jordan off the middle rope, draping his previously injured arm over the top rope. Pretty Deadly took control from here, focusing on Jordan and his shoulder. McGuinness liked the look of Stoker and Howley, calling them handsome throughout the match.
Jordan fought back when a double team flapjack went wrong for Pretty Deadly. Williams got the hot tag and flew with a flying clothesline and a double suicide dive to the outside. A slingblade to Howley shortly after got a two count when Stoker broke up the pin.
Howley got a close two count when he rolled up Williams and grabbed the tights, then Williams had to dig deep and kick out again after a double team gutbuster. Williams fought back with a springboard double back elbow, and Jordan picked up the win moments later with a Swanton Bomb-ay.
– We had an exclusive from last week with Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner. They think it is a disgrace they need to fight in a ladder match at TakeOver: Blackpool II for the NXT UK Tag Team titles.
– Ligero was backstage talking about Kassius Ohno, saying he has had nothing but respect for him since they met years ago. He talked about them fighting earlier this year in New York and Ohno cheating to win that match. Ligero said it didn’t matter how much respect he had for Ohno because Ohno had none for him. They will meet in two weeks.
– Trent Seven then came to the ring for a promo. He talked about Eddie Dennis and the recent situation with Michael May. This brought out Dennis, who stood on the stage and stared at Seven while he talked about Dennis’ time off with an injury.
Dennis got closer to the ring while Seven talked about the early days of NXT UK. But when Dennis slowly got into the ring, he sucker-punched Seven with the microphone right in the forehead, cutting him open. Dennis then said, “I’ll see you at TakeOver: Blackpool.”
– We then had a video package for the Kay Lee Ray vs. Toni Storm vs. Piper Niven triple threat NXT UK Women’s Championship match for TakeOver. Niven doesn’t like what her friends have become, and both Ray and Storm promised to leave with the title.
Jinny (w/ Jazzy Gabert) defeated Amale
Jinny made short work of the “French Hope,” pummeling her from the get-go and locking in a rowing boat submission that nearly got the job done after only a minute. Amale just got to the ropes, but Jinny continued her onslaught with stomps to the chest.
Amale briefly fired back with a dropkick and a kick in the corner, but Jinny fought her off and hit the Makeover for the win.
Gabert flattened Amale with a short-arm clothesline after the bell. Jinny demanded another… and another, but Gabert had second thoughts after Jinny demanded the third and walked out on her so-called accomplice.
– WALTER announced that in two weeks time Alexander Wolfe will face Ilja Dragunov for the psychological advantage going into TakeOver.
Tyler Bate defeated Noam Dar
A fantastic match that went back and forth right until the end. They had a good technical start that eventually migrated into both going for their signature moves but neither connecting with any. A good tease of what these two can do together.
Bate made Dar put on the brakes with a headstand in the corner and then sent the Scotsman to the outside. Back inside, while applying a headlock, Bate grabbed his boot and hit Dar over the head with it, but then ate a dropkick to his face when he tried a second headstand in the corner.
Dar took control but couldn’t put Bate away, frustratingly calling the referee a “dafty.” Bate fought back but was caught with a penalty kick to the leg, a running dropkick while on the apron, and then a running snapmare into the steel steps on the outside. Bate just got in at the referee’s count of nine but went straight into some stiff kicks to the chest until catching one and firing up.
Bate pummeled Dar with right hands and a knee lift. He then came flying off the middle rope with a back elbow. He charged the corner with uppercuts and hit an exploder suplex. He eventually nipped up to hit a standing Shooting Star Press for a close two count.
Dar caught Bate out of nowhere with an ankle lock but rolled through for a pinfall attempt. They then exchanged various pin attempts before Dar locked in an omoplata stretch on the mat.
Back on their feet, Bate hit a belly-to-back suplex for another two count but got caught again when he went for another standing Shooting Star. Dar reversed the Bop-Bang into a flatliner, but Bate kicked out at the last moment.
Bate caught Dar with a kick and then hit the ropes shoulder-first looking for his big clothesline, but Dar caught him coming off the ropes with his Champagne Super-kneebar. Bate just got to the ropes in time.
Dar looked like he had the match wrapped up with two big kicks to the head, but Bate kicked out again. Bate hit his rolling kick, then knocked Dar to the outside and followed up with a big dive over the top rope to the floor.
They exchanged forearms inside the ring as the toll of the match was showing on both. Dar went for kicks again. Bate ducked and hit his big clothesline this time, but he only got another close two count.
Jordan Devlin then appeared and distracted Bate. Dar rolled him up — but Bate still kicked out. After a big right hand, Bate hit the Tyler Driver 97 and picked up the win.
Devlin immediately slid right into the ring after the bell, but Bate stopped him in his tracks. As Devlin backed away up the ramp, Bate challenged Devlin to a match at TakeOver. Devlin didn’t respond, but this will probably be added to the card.
Taped at The Brentwood Centre in Brentwood, England on October 4, 2019
Quick results:
Imperium had words with Gallus, who mocked the most dominant stable in NXT UK and claimed the brand was their kingdom.
The Grizzled Young Veterans beat Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter in a good match, then also had word with Gallus backstage.
Xia Brookside said she wanted a piece of Kay Lee Ray.
Travis Banks and Ligero went to a draw off a double pin in another entertaining match.
In the main event, Trent Seven and Noam Dar had their long-awaited rematch, with Trent Seven being victorious in a great and action packed bout.
NXT UK will take place at 4 PM GMT/11 AM ET next week, due to Crown Jewel taking place during its usual time slot. It might be 5 PM GMT or 12 PM ET though, as Europe switches from summer time to regular time this Saturday night and for a few weeks, the time difference between the UK and the US will be four instead of five hours.
Full rundown:
Imperium in-ring segment
The show opened with Imperium coming out in full force. Barthel said: “Imperium continues to proof that we are the most dominant force on this brand. Speaking of dominance, the most impressive and most dominant champion of NXT UK history wished to address his kingdom.” WALTER then took over and continued: “There is no man and there is no group that can continue with the might of Imperium. We are here to show you that this mat is sacred to us…”
At that point Gallus came out and laughed at Imperium, mocking WALTER calling NXT UK his kingdom and made fun of Imperium’s motto of “the mat is sacred.” Joe Coffey said they wanted to come out and congratulate Imperium on getting rid of British Strong Style. Mark Coffey said “Since day one, since Jolly Wolly set foot in NXT UK we said that Gallus was coming for gold. NXT UK is our kingdom. You’re either Gallus, or you against us” The crowd chanted Jolly Wolly and the two groups glared at each other.
Xia Brookside shot a selfie vide at the NXT UK Performance Center and talked about beating Nina Samuels last week. She talked about Kay Lee Ray costing her a title shot when she eliminated her from the contendership battle royal back in June. She said she wanted to get her revenge.
Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) beat Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter after hitting Ticket to Ride on Smith (7:54)
Smith early on showed his power, picking Drake up from the mat and hitting a dropkick, before he pulled him up for a ripcord slam into a suplex. After a tag, Carter took over with a ushigoroshi off an electric chair setup. Drake finally managed to tag Gibson, but got hit with with an overhead belly-to-belly by Carter after he back flipped off Gibson in the corner.
Drake finally took over with punches and threw Carter to ringside where Gibson picked him up and Drake launched himself over the top rope with an elbow. The Veterans took turns working over Carter, who finally hit a quebrada and tagged in Smith, who ran wild. Gibson pulled Drake out of the ring, but Smith hit a somersault plancha on both of them.
He hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for a near-fall, but got overwhelmed off a blind tag. Drake took out Carter in the corner, by launching himself off Smith’s back and hitting a flying kick. The Grizzled Young Veterans then hit Ticket to Mayhem on Smith for the pin fall victory.
The Veterans proceeded to beat their opponents down after the match, but Mark Andrews an Flash Morgan Webster made the save and scared them away.
Tyler Bate was interviewed about his future backstage. He mentioned new faces like Ilja Dragunov and Oliver Carter, but said he was especially interested in A-Kid and seeing where he would go.
We saw that during the break, the Grizzled Young Veterans made their way backstage and were confronted by Gallus. Gibson told them not to get used to their belts and worry less about Imperium and more about them. Gallus shrugged them off.
El Ligero and Travis Banks wrestled to a draw after a double pin (7:49)
Ligero had the advantage early on, getting Banks down with a pinning combination of a test of strength. banks took over with a wrist lock and an arm bar, wearing Ligero down. Ligero caught Banks in mid-air for another cover, but couldn’t kep him down. Banks came back with a small package off a suplex attempt, as both men traded pinning combinations.
Banks hit a flying knee and a barrage of chops but Ligero powered up and both exchanged chops, elbows and hard shots. Ligero finally hit a kick to to Banks that sent the Kiwi Buzzsaw tumbling to the mat. Ligero missed a senton, allowing Banks to go for a Slice of Heaven, but Ligero rolled him up, then went for another elaborate pinning combination and followed with a back slide.
They battled for another backslide and both rolled over, prompting the referee to count both men’s shoulders to the mat for the double pin.They shook hands after the referee declared the bout a draw.
A video recap aired of the brewing dispute between Jordan Devlin and Dave Mastiff, a graphic then plugged them facing off next week.
Another graphic plugged the debut of A-Kid for next week, which was a blatant lie as he already debuted on April 20 with long-time partner Carlos Romo, losing a squash match to Gallus.
Trent Seven beat Noam Dar pinned Burning Hammer (13:10)
Dar hit a baseball slide on Seven’s head as he rolled into the ring, then threw him into the ring steps and tied his hand to the ring post using Seven’s trademark towel before hitting a basement dropkick to Seven’s head. The referee checked on Trent as he was writhing in pain. The referee asked is he wanted to start the match to which Seven agreed.
As the bell rang, Seven hit a hard lariat on Dar right away for a near fall, then ran wild, making sure to protect his injured arm. He went for the Burning hammer, but Dar raked his eyes and charged Seven in the corner, but got caught with a one-armed slam. Seven went to the top rope, but Dar came flying in and took out his legs, sending Seven crashing down hard. Dar followed with fisherman’s buster, then snapmared the senior member of Moustache Mountain into the ropes.
Dar locked in a modified STF and worked over Seven’s fingers, mocking Pete Dunne in the process. He crotched Seven on the top rope, sending the older man tumbling to ringside. Dar kept mocking British Strong Style, this time grabbing an imaginary moustache and trying to hit a Tyler Driver ’97, but Seven escaped the move.
Seven hit a snap dragon suplex and followed with a suicide dive on Dar on the outside. Seven went to the top rope, but favored his knee. he hit a corkscrew senton, but Dar rolled out of the way. Dar avoided the Seven Star Lariat and hit a Flatliner for a two count. They ended up on the apron with Dar hitting a number of kicks before getting his leg caught.
Seven feigned an attack, then hit a DDT on the apron for a near fall of his own. Both men tried for Seven Star Lariats but neither could hit the move, until Seven evaded on, hit a snap German suplex and finally hit the move, but Dar kicked out of the cover on two.Seven missed a kick into the ropes, after which Dar took out his legs and hit a double foot stomp on Seven’s injured knee.
Dar locked in a knee bar and kicked at Seven, who was on the verge of submission and narrowly reached the ropes. Dar got Trent’s towel and put it around his shoulders, mocking Seven some more. Seven rolled him up with a schoolboy, but could only achieve a two-count.
Dar then took another page out of Pete Dunne’s book with a kick to the back of the neck for a near fall of his own. Seven then hit a square punch to the jaw, snapped Dar’s fingers and finally hit the Burning Hammer (and grabbing back his towel mid-move) for the victory.
Next week:
Jordan Devlin will face Dave Mastiff and A-Kid makes his proper, singles match debut. The show will air at 4 PM GMT/11 AM ET next week. Or an hour later, since WWE obviously can’t figure out the summer/regular time switchover in Europe this weekend.
The lineup for NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff looks to be officially set.
Two matches were announced for the special on this week’s NXT UK episode. Travis Banks will face Noam Dar, and NXT UK Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) will defend their titles against Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) and Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster in a triple threat match.
In storyline, Andrews & Webster earned their way into the Tag Team title match after getting wins on the past two episodes of NXT UK. Webster defeated Mark Coffey on the episode that aired last Wednesday, while Andrews defeated Drake on this week’s show.
Motorpoint Arena Cardiff is hosting UK TakeOver on Saturday, August 31. It’s the second TakeOver special in NXT UK history.
Here’s the updated card for UK TakeOver: Cardiff:
WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER defending against Tyler Bate
NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm defending against Kay Lee Ray
NXT UK Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) defending against Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) and Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster in a triple threat match
Travis Banks vs. Noam Dar
Dave Mastiff vs. Joe Coffey in a last man standing match
Taped on April 19 at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland.
Quick results —
A number of qualifying matches for a fatal four-way were announced, with the eventual winner getting the next shot at WALTER’s WWE United Kingdom Championship. Joe Coffey pinned Flash Morgan Webster in the first qualifier.
Moustache Mountain defeated The Hunt in a fun opener, and Nina Samuels quickly beat Kasey Owens. In the main event, The Grizzled Young Veterans successfully defended the NXT UK Tag Team titles against Kenny Williams and his surprise partner, Noam Dar, who replaced an injured Amir Jordan.
We never saw who injured Jordan, but it was strongly hinted it might have been the tag champs. We also got a glimpse at Pete Dunne training for his title rematch against WALTER, which will air in two weeks.
Full rundown —
The show opened with Sid Scala announcing a four-way match in four weeks to determine the next contender for the WWE UK Championship, which will either still be held by WALTER, or his challenger, former champion Pete Dunne.
Vic Joseph also said that the WALTER vs. Dunne rematch would air in two weeks.
Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) defeated The Hunt (Primate & Wild Boar) in 7:23
Primate ran wild early on Seven, but he managed to come back, throw Primate to the outside, and follow up with a dive on both members of The Hunt. Primate, none the worse for wear, went for a middle rope exploder on Seven right away once he was back inside.
The Hunt worked Seven over until he managed the hot tag to Bate. Bate hit a number of European uppercuts, an overhead belly-to-back suplex, and a running Shooting Star Press, then followed up with the airplane spin, eventually even throwing Wild Boar onto Primate.
Seven was back in and took over, but the Burning Hammer/flying knee combo was thwarted, resulting in The Hunt taking over once more. But a small mistake was all Moustache Mountain needed to hit a combined dragon suplex/springboard lariat for the win.
– Cameras went backstage for some breaking news, showing Kenny Williams helping an obviously injured Amir Jordan to the trainer’s room
Qualifying match for number one contender’s fatal four-way: Joe Coffey pinned Flash Morgan Webster in 6:05
Since they were in Glasgow, Coffey was super over with the crowd, who chanted “Let’s Go, Coffey!”
Coffey started out strong, sending Webster to the mat, then locking in a tight headlock. Webster actually got some boos when he got on a headlock of his own.
Webster took over with a springboard dropkick on Coffey while he was on the apron, then hit a standing somersault senton. Coffey smashed Webster into the corner a few times, then did his butterfly swing into a butterfly suplex. They went back and forth and Webster hit an impressive running body block onto Coffey, who was in the ropes and both men tumbled to the outside.
After another dive and the Rude Boy Block, Webster hit a knee strike for a near fall. Coffey hit a running pounce into the corner, then followed up with Best for the Bells for the win.
After the match, Gallus came out and did an in-ring promo, talking about how this was their kingdom. They said they ran this city, just as they run NXT UK. Wolfgang called out Dave Mastiff for next week, but the rest of the team held him back and told him to calm down and said they should focus on the fatal four-way instead.
– A video of Dunne training at the UK Performance Center for his rematch against WALTER aired.
– A video hyped the debut of Ilja Dragunov for next week.
Nina Samuels pinned Kasey Owens in 2:47
Samuels started beating Owens up right away and punished her with some submission attempts. Owens briefly came back with some striking offense and even scored a near fall. Samuels quickly came back with a tilt-a-whirl-backbreaker, doing further damage to Owens’ lower back. She followed up with the Nina Goroshi for the win.
Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Samuels in the ring after the match. She cut an insincere promo about how Toni Storm deserves to live her dream, then talked about how Storm abandoned her struggling single mother and her baby sister, just so she could live her rock and roll lifestyle.
– Dave Mastiff talked with some media representatives. He said that he would destroy Gallus’ kingdom next week when he takes on Wolfgang. As he was wrapping up, Kay Lee Ray walked up and vowed no one in NXT UK would forget the name Kay Lee Ray ever again.
– A highlight video for next week’s Ligero vs. Jordan Devlin and Dave Mastiff vs. Wolfgang qualifying matches aired.
NXT UK Tag Team Champions Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) defeated Kenny Williams & Noam Dar in 13:28 to retain their titles
Before the match, Gibson cut a promo, claiming he heard that Amir Jordan was injured. So unfortunately, there would be no Tag Team title match tonight and he was very disappointed. He told the fans to get their shoes back on and head home.
As Gibson kept talking, Williams’ entrance music started and he came out. He also had a mic in hand and confirmed that Jordan was injured. He said there still would be a title match tonight. This brought out Noam Dar as Williams’ partner — and the fans cheered for their countryman.
Dar and Williams stormed the ring and attacked the Veterans, sending them scurrying to ringside. The two teams brawled around ringside. Dar and Gibson ended up back in the ring and Dar hit a dropkick, then followed with a Northern Lights suplex for a near fall, while Williams and Drake still fought on the outside.
The champs then took over, singling out Dar and focusing on his previously injured knee. Drake caught Dar from leaping off to a hot tag, then locked in another kneebar.
Dar finally managed the hot tag and Williams ran wild, hitting a springboard reverse body press on Drake, then drove his head into the turnbuckle. He thwarted an attack by Gibson, hit his wrecking ball dropkick on Gibson on the outside, then skinned the cat back inside. Drake caught him on that, but Williams was able to turn it into a DDT. Williams then hit an impressive springboard Pepsi Plunge to the outside on both members of the Grizzled Young veterans. He hit a top rope elbow on Drake for a close two count.
Dar and Gibson both tagged back in. Dar tripped Gibson and locked in a kneebar, but Gibson managed to tag out to Drake. They went to double team Dar, but Williams pulled Gibson to the outside and Dar locked in another kneebar while Williams had Gibson in an ankle lock.
Gibson finally managed to escape and free Drake as well. An enzuigiri by Dar later, all four men were down again. Dar managed to cradle Drake for another near fall, but Drake kicked out and locked in a single-leg Boston crab. Dar was about to tap out, but Williams caught his hand and — seconds later — kicked Drake, forcing him to release the hold.
Gibson and Williams traded offense and Dar sacrificed himself to take a codebreaker by Gibson off the second rope. Williams rolled through on Gibson for another close near fall.
As Dar was looking to finish the match, Drake pulled him to the outside and slammed his knee into the ring post. Drake blind-tagged in and hit a running dropkick onto Williams as Gibson held him in the corner. Gibson then hit Helter Skelter, followed by a 450 by Drake for the win.
Next week —
Two fatal four-way qualifiers take place, as Dave Mastiff faces Wolfgang and Jordan Devlin meets Ligero. Also, the debut of Ilja Dragunov on NXT UK TV.
It appears that WWE has officially taken the first steps towards Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair all being involved in the main event of WrestleMania 35.
An angle where Vince McMahon suspended Lynch for 60 days and announced that Charlotte would be taking her place at WrestleMania closed last Monday’s episode of Raw. Charlotte aligned with Vince and fully turned heel, with Vince calling her someone with charisma, someone with charm, and someone who knows their lane and stays in it.
The show didn’t sell out, even in one of WWE’s best markets. The show had more good than bad, with the highlight being the main event, the men’s Chamber match where Daniel Bryan retained and the crowd got so strong behind Kofi Kingston in the Mustafa Ali slot that Vince McMahon changed plans for Fast Lane to put Bryan vs. Kingston on top.
The show was the brainchild of Motoko Baba, to run a big Baba celebration show in 2019, 20 years after his early 1999 death. With her passing away last year, it was her nieces and nephews who put the show together.
All but one count of Mark Hunt’s lawsuit against the UFC, Dana White and Brock Lesnar on the grounds they conspired against him to allow a juiced up Lesnar to fight him at UFC 200 was thrown out of court.
The 2020 Royal Rumble will take place on 1/26 at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Most likely that would also mean Takeover on 1/25 at the Toyota Center, Raw on 1/27 and Smackdown on 1/28.
FOX this weekend started advertising 10/4 as the debut of the new Friday Night Smackdown show.
“Fighting with My Family,” the Dwayne Johnson Seven Bucks Entertainment movie about Growing Up as Paige, which has its big national release on 2/22, has gotten great word-of-mouth so far.
Chris Jericho noted that while he and Gedo are on the same page, that New Japan management hasn’t talked with him about a new deal.
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Dave Meltzer has sent in the following in regards to injuries that took place over the weekend:
There was an injury scare last night as Drew McIntyre seemed to have suffered a knee injury during a house show in Tupelo, MS. The match had to go home early, but he is believed to be fine.
Noam Dar suffered what could possibly be a serious knee injury suffered in a match against Mark Andrews during the NXT UK tapings yesterday. He is to be examined in the US when he comes back.
Mark Andrews was knocked out during the match with Dar. It may be a concussion, but the belief is that it wasn’t too serious.
Aleister Black said his goodbyes to NXT during a house show in Daytona Beach, Florida this weekend. He along with the other call-ups will still be part of the NXT TV tapings at least through the next TakeOver.
Dave Schilling, who has written in the past for Bleacher Report, VICE and The Guardian says that he will be joining the WWE creative team next month.
The Rock surprised moviegoers who were watching Fighting With My Family in Atlanta, appearing at a screening of the movie.
Nikki Bella won the WIN award this weekend for best actress in a reality series.
Pro Wrestling
David Finlay wrote on Twitter yesterday that he dislocated his shoulder during the ROH tag team title match on 2/23, writing “Thanks to everyone for all the positive vibes! I did dislocated my shoulder last night but it’s back in now. I’ll see a doctor when I’m home to see what the damage is but hopefully it’s nothing too serious. Thanks again to everyone. See you in the mountains!”
All Japan announced the blocks for this year’s Champion Carnival, which starts on April 4 and runs through April 29.
Block A has Kento Miyahara, Kengo Mashimo, Yuma Aoyagi, Zeus, Gianni Valletta, Ryouji Sai, Dylan James, Shuji Ishikawa,Yuji Okabayashi
Block B has Joe Doering, Jake Lee, Naoya Nomura, Yoshitatsu, Daichi Hashimoto, Sam Adonis, Suwama, Takashi Yoshida, Joel Redman
WALTER vs. David Starr, Fenix vs. Rey Horus, Axel Dieter Jr. vs. Maris Al-Ani, Pentagon Jr. vs. Mark Davis, Timothy Thatcher vs. Lucky Kid, Ilja Dragunov vs. Daisuke Sekimoto, Chris Brookes vs. Shigehiro Irie, and Jurn Simmons vs. Avalanche in a falls count anywhere match are the first round matches in this year’s wXw 16 Carat Gold tournament. The tournament is taking place from March 8-10, with those first round matches happening on the first night.
Starrcast LLC has applied a trademark for the term “Dead Man Talking.”
This week’s MLW Fusion episode is available on YouTube. It has Aerostar vs. Rey Horus, Mance Warner making his debut against Jimmy Yuta, and Rich Swann vs. Lance Anoa’i.
Ed in San Antonio presents the WRESTLEMANIAWeekend Events (more to be added):
Sunday, April 6th, at 12:00 pm: Lunch (all you can eat) at Churrascaria Plataforma ($90 per person), located at 316 W. 49th street in Manhattan. Purchase tickets here~!
Luxury Bus to MetLife Stadium for Wrestlemania: We will depart from the Hilton Midtown (site of Wrestlecon) located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas. Departure time is 4:00 pm and will return from MetLife approximately 30 mins after the event. Times are subject to change, and cost $67.00 per person for the round trip. Purchase tickets here~!
A member of the WWE main roster wrestled at Sunday’s Insane Championship Wrestling show in Glasgow, Scotland.
Killian Dain appeared at ICW’s Fight Club event on Sunday night and defeated Mikey Whiplash. Heading into the show, ICW had announced that Whiplash would be facing a wrestler from WWE.
As Big Damo, Dain was a World Champion for ICW prior to joining WWE. Dain also took part in SmackDown’s house show in Glasgow earlier on Sunday, which was the final stop on this month’s WWE European tour.
ICW announced on Sunday that WWE’s Noam Dar will be in action at Fear & Loathing XI at the SSE Hydro on December 2. He’ll team with Wolfgang & BT Gunn in a six-man tag match against British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven).
Dar also returned to ICW at Shug’s Hoose Party 4 night one in 2017, teaming with Sha Samuels to defeat Bram & Joe Coffey.
WWE decided to air a doubleheader of NXT UK on Halloween, but it remains to be seen if this is a one-time thing or if they do this on a regular basis now. My recap of the second episode will be posted later Thursday.
Noam Dar, Zack Gibson, and Mark Andrews continued to impress with Dar and Gibson having a very good main event match that went more than 20 minutes. The main stories on the doubleheader were Danny Burch being built up as the newest challenger for Pete Dunne’s WWE UK title (they will face off next week), while the Coffey Bros. continue to be built up as monster heels, laying waste to Flash Morgan Webster, Mark Andrews and Travis Banks (who, it was implied, was attacked by the brothers in a backstage segment).
We also saw the regular NXT UK in-ring debuts of Trent Seven, Saxon Huxley, Flash Morgan Webster, Mark Coffey, Danny Burch, Sam Gradwell, Isla Dawn and of course, Jordan Devlin. Webster and Devlin both looked very good in their matches.
They have aired all the matches from the inaugural July 28th taping by now and all of the matches on the second part of the two show block were from July 29th. It looks like they will be finishing up with the matches taped there by episode six. If they keep the “four matches per week” formula, they have enough material for another 13 weeks after that, and they have two more tapings scheduled for November, so that should be good for another six episodes which will get us right into WrestleMania week.
WWE also holds a big tryout camp in Cologne on November 9th aimed at the German talent pool with lots of wXw stars attending, so hopefully we will find out more on the plans for an NXT Germany brand and also learn if, and how, NXT in the UK and Germany may interact in the future.
Episode 3 show recap:
The show opened with a graphic for our main event, Noam Dar vs. Zack Gibson, after the latter called out the former during his in-ring promo last week amidst nuclear heat with GM Johnny Saint making the match for tonight.
Trent Seven defeated Saxon Huxley in 5:10 with the Burning Hammer
Seven, the oldest member of British Strong Style at age 37 (well, 36 when this was taped), is an interesting character. An actor by trade (he even appeared in Transformers: The Last Knight), he started wrestling in 2008 and is part-owner of the Wolverhampton Fight Club: PRO promotion. He also bought his own ring in order to properly train and also is one of the trainers of Tyler Bate, who he’s been teaming with as Moustache Mountain since late 2015.
He mostly wrestled for Fight Club: PRO early on, but also worked for CZW in the U.S. and Big Japan Pro Wrestling in 2012 and for wXw in Germany in 2011 and 2012. In 2015, he became a regular for ICW in Scotland and by 2016, he was a regular in ICW, PROGRESS, and RevPro. He made his WWE debut at the inaugural WWE UK title tournament in January of 2017, defended his ICW world title at WrestleMania Axxess the same year, and became a regular for WWE in the UK and on NXT. He and Bate won the NXT tag team titles at Royal Albert Hall on June 19th before losing it back to The Undisputed Era two days later in Orlando in a five star classic.
“Muscle Cat” Huxley started out in 2009 and trained under Brian Kendrick, Marty Jones, and Lance Storm and wrestled indies in the U.S. and all over Europe. He’s also had matches in PROGRESS and Southside, is a regular for Megaslam Wrestling, and is the current champion for True Grit Wrestling.
Huxley had an on-screen promo, vowing that “the beast will emerge” and was in control early until Seven escaped and threw a few chops, but was eventually blocked. Seven feigned a chop and hit a quick DDT for a near fall. Saxon hit a nice looking Thesz Press for a takedown and was in control, eventually locking in a cobra clutch, which was more of a resthold than a proper submission attempt. Seven eventually countered out of it and hit his Seven Star Lariat, a snap dragon suplex and the Burning Hammer for the victory.
***
Nigel McGuinness and Vic Joseph talked about the Coffey Brothers and we saw a video showing their recent path of destruction. There also was another video plugging the November NXT UK tapings before Radzi Chinyanganya talked to Flash Morgan Webster who said his game plan was simple, his style was innovative, and the Coffeys had been a thorn in his side for a long time. He vowed that he would end that tonight, closing with “In Mod we trust”.
***
Flash Morgan Webster defeated Mark Coffey (w/Joe Coffey) in 6:16 via crucifix pin
Webster, from Wales, is nicknamed “The MODfather of Professional Wrestling” for his love of that particular 60s fashion trend from the UK. He started in 2010 and is a regular for ATTACK! Pro, PROGRESS, RevPro, and Southside among others and also wrestled in PWG in 2017 and 2018 and for CHIKARA before that. He’s held titles in ATTACK! Pro and RevPro and is the current Dragon Pro tag team Champion with fellow NXT UK wrestler “Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman as The 198.
Coffey from Scotland, the younger of the Coffey Brothers by about two years, was trained by Killian Dain and Finn Bálor and, together with his brother, attended the ZERO1 Dojo in Japan. Starting out in 2010, he is a regular for ICW and the current ICW Zero-G champion, a title he held twice before and is also a four-time former ICW tag team champion (with Jackie Polo) and wrestled for other smaller promotions throughout the UK.
Coffey started out with rough body shots before Webster broke out some lucha with arm drags and a huricanrana and hit a nice somersault senton. Mark came back with an uppercut after his brother distracted Webster and took over from there. Webster countered a corner whip into a beautiful twisting qebrada and a knee threw Coffey to ringside. When Joe got up on the apron, Webster jumped around the ring post into a huricanrana on Mark at the floor, which also looked amazing.
He later slipped on an enzuigiri attempt from the middle rope, but caught it nicely and hit the move once he was down on the mat. He attacked Joe who was on the apron again and then escaped a suplex attempt by Mark into a quick crucifix pin for the win. The brothers went on to attack him post-match, but Mark Andrews and Travis Banks came out for the save and the Coffeys fled from ringside.
***
We got short promos by Danny Burch and Sam Gradwell for their upcoming match. Burch asked “If you’re not here to beat the man, what’s the point of being here?” while Gradwell said he’d be the “Thunderstorm” and we saw clips of Pete Dunne attacking him back in early 2017 at the inaugural UK title tournament.
We got a short video for WWE Custom Tees, followed by a video about Jinny, a woman who probably wouldn’t be caught that in any kind of WWE custom tee. They showed her in different outfits, strolling across the streets of London (I presume) and she said she’d teach people a lesson they’d never forget.
***
Danny Burch defeated Sam Gradwell in 4:05 with a draping DDT
Burch, from London, started out in 2003 as Martin Stone and trained at the FWA Academy under Mark Sloan. He quickly became a regular for IPW:UK where he held the world title on three occasions and started to appear for wXw in Germany by 2007 where he won the wXw Tag Team Championship with Doug Williams and was a regular until 2010. He wrestled all over Europe and the UK and also went to the U.S. for CHIKARA in 2008. In late 2011, he signed a developmental deal with WWE and started out in FCW and first appeared on NXT television in 2013.
By late April of 2014, he was released by WWE and wrestled briefly for Impact, but emerged again on NXT television in July of 2015, albeit without a contract. He was part of the WWE United Kingdom title tournament in early 2017 and is now both a member of the NXT UK roster and a regular on NXT on their Florida house show loop and television.
Gradwell started in 2009 and mostly wrestled for Grand Pro Wrestling out of Wigam, home of the famous Snake Pit, where he held a number of titles and is the current British Champion. He trained under Johnny Saint, Robbie Brookside, and Marty Jones. He appeared at the 2017 WWE UK title tournament, where he was brutally attacked by Pete Dunne before their match the next day.
These two started out with a slug fest and Gradwell dropped a headbutt on a prone Burch, who came back with a snap German suplex, but ate a Falcon Arrow for his troubles. Burch came back with a headbutt of his own after another stiff exchange and draped Gradwell on the top rope before hitting a DDT for the win.
Post-match, Burch was interviewed in the ring by Radzi Chinyanganya. He said it was amazing to be back in the UK and that he was a proud Englishman to chants of “UK, UK” which he said meant so much to him. He traveled the world for 15 years, was in the prime of his career and the best shape of his life, and wanted the attention of Pete Dunne now. He said, “I was British Strong Style while you were running around in your nappies with snot running down your nose” (well, technically Dunne was around 9 or 10 when Burch started, but the line got a great pop anyway). He closed by saying “I sit in a corner. Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough”.
We saw Zack Gibson and Noam Dar prepare for their upcoming match, followed by a Susan G. Komen promo and Vic and Nigel throwing it to a Jordan Devlin video package where he said he was the highest property in sports entertainment and the most explosive and aggressive guy on the roster. He’ll debut on the next episode. We also found out that Travis Banks would face Wolfgang on the next episode.
Zack Gibson defeated Noam Dar in 21:09 with Helter Skelter
These two almost got at it last week before Johnny Saint broke things up and ordered the match for this week. Dar was in control early and was mockingly teasing taking his shoes off (fans take their shoes off in protest of Gibson on a regular basis). We were told that there was some dispute between various regions of the UK with Gibson being from the working-class North and Cambridge, where this was taped, being more of a middle-class town.
The story of the match was Dar working over Gibson’s left knee and ankle while Gibson worked Dar’s left shoulder area. Dar started this with an Indian Deathlock, which Gibson escaped from and went for a shoulder lock and Dar had a hard time escaping that. He eventually did and they traded pin attempts. As they both were running the ropes, Dar swept Gibson’s leg and followed it with a dropkick right onto Gibson’s kneecap on the outside, using the barrier for leverage. Gibson came back with a brutal key lock driver, targeting Dar’s shoulder and continued to work it over. Dar managed to kick Gibson off the middle rope, again hurting his knee and followed up with a Northern Lights suplex and a Fisherman’s suplex for near falls.
Gibson hit a lung blower off the top and then went to ringside, picked Dar up from the apron, and powerbombed him on the ramp. Dar narrowly made it back into the ring at 9. Gibson went for the Shankly Gates, but Dar made the ropes. Dar went back to work the knee and hit a double foot stomp on Gibson’s leg, which was draped over the bottom rope. Gibson went for another lung blower off the top, but Dar turned it into an ankle lock in mid-air. Gibson twisted out and grabbed Dar’s ear. Dar went for another double foot stomp but missed, Gibson rammed him into the post and hit Helter Skelter for the win in a very good match.
Some background on the writer: “I’ve been following wrestling in Europe ever since I first saw the likes of Fit Finlay, Tony St. Clair, Franz Schuhmann and, yes, even Otto Wanz of the olf CWA at the famous “Heumarkt” back in 1994 and have been a regular for wXw in Germany since 2010 where I first got to enjoy many of the fine men and women now part of this roster. I’ll do my best to keep these reports both informative and entertaining and am looking forward to any feedback or thoughts on both the reviews and NXT UK in general on Twitter.”
We open up with a very nice montage of some of the highlights from WWE’s past in the UK with clips from SummerSlam 1992 in Wembley, including Lennox Lewis coming to the ring with the British flag, interspersed with clips of some of the current NXT stars and with Triple H announcing the start of the NXT UK brand.
Joseph Vic and Nigel McGuinness welcome us and inform us about tonight’s main event which will see WWE UK champion Pete Dunne defending his title against Noam Dar, who made his surprise return from injury at the United Kingdom Championship Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall back in June.
We go to the ring for our very first match (remember this kids, as it may become the answer to a trivia question one day). The Cambride Corn Exchange looks small but very cool and the taping looked quite a bit darker than other WWE products, giving the show a sort of an individual, underground character right away. It reminded me of one of the early Raws from the Manhattan Center back in the day with a very intimate setting.
Joe Coffey (w/ Mark Coffey) pinned Mark Andrews (7:38)
As both competitors enter the squared circle, we take a look back at the UK Championship Tournament at Royal Albert Hall from June 19 where the Coffey Brothers attacked the three non-winners of a no. 1 contender’s four-way for the WWE UK title after that match had concluded. The men in question were Mark Andrews, Flash Morgan Webster, and Travis Banks.
The Coffey Brothers are two massive dudes from Scotland and have been around for almost 10 years and have been regulars for ICW, who, of course, have a working relationship with WWE. Andrews also is a veteran of 11 years and has competed all over the world like for PROGRESS, Impact, and ATTACK Pro, Pete Dunne’s UK promotion.
Coffey tried to use his strengh to immobilize the smaller Andrews, but he managed to repeatedly flip out of some armlocks until Coffey overpowered him. Andrews hit some armdrags and a great-looking springboard huricanrana. Coffey hit a mean pounce, a seemingly very European kind of body check as it’s also a popular tool for other Euro big men such as Avalanche and Dante, the former tag team partner of Aleister Black. Coffey continued to show his brute strength by grabbing Mandrews by the neck, spinning him around a few times just for the heck of it, and hitting a butterfly suplex.
Nigel mentions that Joe actually was Kurt Angle’s opponent at the latter’s last singles match for ICW back in 2016. While Mark distracted the ref, Joe takes Andrews out with a stiff clothesline, forcing him out of the ring. Back in the ring, Mandrews channeled his best inner football (soccer to the non Euros) player and slid under a clothesline attempt on his knees and hit a quick enzuigiri, followed by a very cool combination of some double knees in the corner, a lucha roll-up, double foot stomp and a standing, twisting moonsault for a near-fall.
Coffey quickly recovered and launched himself at Andrews with a running/diving headbutt into the corner, followed by a quick powerslam that almost got him the win. He went for a vertical suplex, but Andrews countered it into the Stuntdog Millionaire, before hitting the top rope. Mark pulled his brother to ringside and assumed safety, but Andrews hit a big moonsault on both of them. Andrews, grasping at victory, went to the top again but Mark once more proved to be a major distraction as he grabbed at hs leg, leading to a Joe overhead belly-to-belly from the middle rope and a brutal lariat for the pin.
This was a very fun mean guy/quick guy match that showcased the strengths of both guys. Post-match, the Coffeys went to attack Andrews, but Flash Morgan Webster came out with his helmet in hand for the save.
Next, we saw Mustache Mountain (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) entering the arena with their gear bags, followed by a non-UK WWE Shop commercial.
Next was a video package on Eddie Dennis, who told us he was longtime friends with the likes of Andrews and Dunne and how, when they all started out together, it wasn’t about wrestling in front of thousands but who had the best stories to tell. He closed by saying he had some good stories.
Mustache Mountain promo
The “Big Strong Bois” came out to a great ovation and lots of chants once they got in the ring. Trent Seven thanked Cambridge and, channeling his inner Tony Schiavone, called this day the greatest day in British wrestling history which was, of course a lie, as everyone knows that day will be the day that Big Daddy finally gets voted into the Observer Hall of Fame. Of course, he meant everybody witnessing the birth of NXT UK which, granted, is a pretty big deal. He said how at the sold out Royal Albert Hall, he and Tyler Bate won the NXT tag team titles and while they may no longer be the champs, Triple H mentioned the NXT UK tag team titles and wondered if there even were any teams in NXT UK beside themselves.
Seven said that Bate was the youngest ever WWE UK champion and Bate, to a good pop, joked how maybe Seven could become the oldest. Seven said that they want opposition and how the people in the back should buddy up and find a partner so that they’d get some challengers. He closed by saying that this was their NXT UK.
We saw Dunne backstage, preparing for his match with Dar later on. This was followed by a quick video package on Dave Mastiff, who called himself the best heavyweight wrestler in the world today. He said he was read to show the world what he was made of.
We got a SmackDown UK tour promo for shows this coming November, followed by Vic and Nigel back in the studio, talking about the return of Dar. We saw Dar warm up for his match backstage as well.
Dave Mastiff pinned Sid Scala (1:58)
“Savvy” Sid Scala has been around since 2013 and was, among others, trained by NXT Performance Center coach Robbie Brookside and Johnny Kidd. He wrestled for IPW:UK and PROGRESS and a bunch of smaller UK indies. Mastiff is actually a veteran of the scene, debuting in 2002 and has been wrestling for PROGRESS, IPW:UK, RevPro, ICW, wXw, and Preston City Wrestling among many others in Europe. He also originally was part of the new World of Sport promotion for their New Year’s Eve show last year.
Scala was not very savvy here as this was mostly an impressive squash. Crowd chanted “Mastiff’s gonna kill you” right from the get-go and, well, they were just about right. Scala tried some forearms, which were nonchalantly no-sold by the 23 stone (which Nigel was nice enough to explain were 322 lbs and I am nice enough to explain are 146 kilogram for any non-UK Euro readers) beast. Mastiff smashed him into a corner, threw him halfway across the ring and smashed his elbow into the side of Scala’s neck just for the heck of it.
Scala made the mistake of trying a comeback, only to get shot down by a shotgun dropkick by the big man. He picked Scala up from the map for an impressive deadlift release German suplex and then hit a cannonball in the corner to pick up the win in just under two minutes.
We got an Evolution promo but no mention the NXT UK women’s title would be defended there, probably because it hasn’t been introduced on this show yet. We also were informed that “Dusted” by the Astroid Boys was the opening theme for NXT UK.
Nina Samuels was interviewed backstage before her match. She wants to win the NXT UK women’s title (which is the first and I believe the only time it was mentioned here) and wants to do so at the expense of Toni Storm.
Toni Storm pinned Nina Samuels (4:10)
Samuels was wearing pink and black which we were told was as a tribute to Bret Hart. She debuted in 2014 and has been wrestling for Pro-Wrestling EVE, PROGRESS, RevPro, and Preston City Wrestling among others. Storm technically made her debut at age 13 for IPWA in Australia before moving in with her grandmother in the UK to improve her wrestling. She also spent a few months with then-boyfriend Tyler Bate to train at the wXw Academy in Germany in 2016, before getting into Stardom in Japan where she honed her skills even more and even held the SWA and the World of Stardom title. She also collected women’s world titles in PROGRESS and wXw and was/is part of both editions of the WWE Mae Young Classic. She also is a huge fan of Mötley Crüe if you’re not enamored with her enough at this point.
Storm lost no time and went straight for a side headlock takeover, which Nina countered into a headlock of her own, but Toni, in a display of athleticism, spun and bridged out of it. They traded some strikes but Storm once more prevailed with some palm strikes, slaps, and a spin kick to the midsection, but crashed face-first into the corner. Samuels applied a unique looking chin bar, leaning into Storm’s neck and pulling her chin with the other hand.
She followed it up with a tilt-a-whirl-backbreaker, which didn’t quite look crisp. Storm came back from that with a beautiful snap German suplex, a running hip attack into the corner, and the Storm Zero (a Celtic Cross into a neckbreaker onto her knee) for the win in just 4:10. I guess she wasn’t allowed to hit the Strong Zero, her usual snap piledriver finish.
We had a promo for Raw in Manchester this November, advertising a bunch of matches that will probably not happen, but also Ronda Rousey’s UK television debut. We will also see Tyler Bate take on Wolfgang in the main event next week.
NXT UK Champion Pete Dunne pinned Noam Dar (11:35)
Johnny Saint, the NXT UK General manager, is in the ring for the main event. A fun fact as told by Jim Smallman of PROGRESS during his stand-up show during wXw’s World tag Team League weekend recently: Johnny Saint, age 77, lives in a mean part of England that has a big heroin problem and lots of shady characters on the streets. He still goes for a run every morning and when asked by Smallman if he ever got mugged, he replied “No, but I am very much looking forward to the day somebody tries.” What a beautiful man!
Dar, of course, has been in WWE for a few years now, appearing in the Cruiserweight Classic back in 2016, and in 205 Live. Before that, he was a regular with ICW, Preston City, Premier British Wrestling, and British Championship Wrestling among others. Dunne, at only 24, has been wrestling since he was nine, runs his own promotion, and has been wrestling on a regular basis for PROGRESS, Fight Club: Pro, RevPro, wXw, OTT, ICW, and pretty much ever other major European promotion as well as PWG and other U.S. indies, Michinoku Pro in Japan, and MCW in Australia. He’s won titles in PROGRESS, OTT, wXw, and of course, WWE’s UK title, which he has held for almost 17 months now.
Both men are in the ring to big “Bruiserweight” chants for Dunne, but then again people would chant “Dar-Dar-Dar Dar-Da-Dar-Dar-Da-Dar” to the sound of the Imperial March from Star Wars later on. When the ref held the belt up, Dunne threw his coat at Dar as he is wont to do. Dunne taunted Dar with his own “pinky finger” gesture. The crowd sang happy birthday to Dar, who turned 25 that day.
They started out with a roundabout to get into position for a backslide, which Dar eventually got. A hard clothesline by Dunne turned the Israeli-Scot inside out and the Bruiserweight stepped into a mean submission, half surfboard, half a way to bend some of Dar’s fingers, which would be a repeated theme here. Dunne ran into the corner and looked for a back flip off the top/middle ropes, but Dar scouted him well and clipped his knee, forcing Dunne to crash and burn. Dunne recovered and hit his Ex-Plex and succeeded wih his back flip out of the corner on the second try, but Dar kept targeting his knee and hit a nice German suplex.
Dunne hit a nice Liger-Bomb-style sitdown power bomb for a two count but went on to twist Dar’s nose. It came down to Dar repeatedly working over Dunne’s knee while Dunne was looking to attack and bend Dar’s fingers every chance he got. The were fighting on the apron when Dar hit a sick-looking release snap fisherman’s suplex, which catapulted Dunn onto the apron and Dar to ringside. They both were exhausted and only made it back to the ring at nine to a dramatic pop. Dunne once again snapped Dar’s fingers but he come back with a European uppercut, thrown with the other arm.
They did a cool exchange of submission with Dunne going for a triangle, which Dar countered into a half crab. Dunne reversed that into an armbar attempt, but Dar turned that into an ankle lock which Dunne turned into a pinfall attempt. They both went for a stiff forearm and both men went down. Dunne got a standing double-wristlock, but Dar reversed it and once more took out Dunne’s knee. Dunne tried for the Bitter End, but Dar got a kneebar on and had Dunne at the verge of defeat, but the Bruiserweight reached the ropes. Dunne then bent Dar’s pinky finger to a sick degree and bent a few more fingers and stepped on them before hitting the Bitter End for the pin in 11:35.
Post match, Dunne offered his hand but when Dar was about to grab it, he pulled it away and gave Dar his own pinky finger salute which Dar did back and the show went off the air.
**********
All in all, this was a pretty fun first episode and a great showcase for Joe Coffey, Mark Andrews, Dave Mastiff, Noam Dar and of course, Pete Dunne. The women’s match was good but very short and Toni Storm can do a lot more when she’s in with the right opponent and has enough time to deliver. I’m very much looking forward to next week and am very curious how this brand develops for WWE and how it might change the European wrestling landscape. Also, it will be interesting to see how NXT and NXT UK talent will interact in the future and if UK talent will be a part of TakeOvers in the future or if they even get their own TakeOver style event at any point.
