The NXT & NXT UK Tag Team Championships have been unified.
Elton Prince and Kit Wilson (Pretty Deadly) won both sets of titles on Sunday at NXT Worlds Collide. They defeated The Creed Brothers (Brutus & Julius Creed), Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang), and Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs in a four-way elimination match.
The finish of the contest saw Damon Kemp turn on his Diamond Mine stablemate and hit Julius in the back with a chair. This allowed Prince to cover him for the win.
Briggs & Jensen was the first team eliminated after being pinned by Gallus. The Creed Brothers then eliminated Gallus, leaving just them and Pretty Deadly left in the match.
Earlier in the show, Diamond Mine’s Roderick Strong was discovered laid out in the parking lot. Our own Dave Meltzer reported recently that Strong is out with a legitimate injury.
Heading into the show, The Creed Brothers held the NXT tag titles while Briggs & Jensen held the NXT UK belts.
Pretty Deadly previously held the NXT Tag Team Championships from April 12 up until dropping them to the Creed Brothers at In Your House on June 4. Prince and Wilson also held the NXT UK Tag Team Championships from February 25, 2021, until dropping them to Moustache Mountain on December 9.
This week’s show was taped Wednesday at BT Sports Studios in London, England.
The show opened with a recap of last week’s “retirement promo” by Trent Seven and his subsequent sneak attack on former partner and best friend, Tyler Bate.
Smith & Carter in-ring segment
NXT UK Tag Team Champions Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter walked to the ring. Smith was wearing a brace on his right knee.
Smith talked about how he watched the finish of their title-winning match over and over and was amazed every time by the reaction the fans gave them. In the beginning of his NXT UK career, he had trouble winning matches and at times felt like no one had come to the shows to see him wrestle. That all changed when Carter joined the brand, they started teaming, and he finally saw light at the end of the tunnel.
That made it even harder to say what he was going to say next: he ruptured his MCL in that match and therefore had to vacate the titles. He apologized to Carter and told him that he was rooting for him to succeed in the singles division while he was away and would always have his back. Carter told him it was fine and not to worry. Smith vowed to be back and win the titles again. They then called out Sid Scala and relinquished the championship belts to him.
This brought out Die Familie who said they had not been pinned in the triple threat match for the titles and demanded the belts to be handed over. This brought out Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen who originally were scheduled to challenge Smith & Carter on this show. Next out were Mark Haskins & Wild Boar as well as Dave Mastiff & Jack Starz.
Scala then announced a four-way elimination match for the vacant titles in the main event of tonight’s show.
– Ahead of her match with Nina Samuels on the show, NXT’s Sarray visited with Meiko Satomura backstage. The champion welcomed her and they talked in Japanese. Satomura then turned to Emilia McKenzie and told her that Sarray wasn’t their only visitor as McKenzie will face Fallon Henley next week. Satomura hoped to see some fighting spirit.
– Sha Samuels was backstage and talked to Scala, asking him to overturn the decision of last week’s tag team match against Wolfgang and Damon Kemp. He said Wolfgang had used a scarf, which was a foreign object and the decision stands. Samuels started berating Wolfgang, who conveniently walked up behind him. They had words and Wolfgang offered a wager, so it looks like those two will meet again.
Isla Dawn beat Myla Grace (5:05)
They traded pinfall attempts early until Grace outsmarted Dawn, who came back by dropping Grace throat-first across the top rope. Dawn looked to get a submission victory, but Grace held her own and kept hitting moves.
Grace eventually missed a crossbody off the top, allowing Dawn to hit a head kick and a half nelson slam for the pinfall victory.
– Tyler Bate is taking a leave of absence after last week’s attack by Trent Seven.
– A video looked at Tiger Turan stalking Kenny Williams over the past few weeks.
– Noam Dar entered Scala’s office with the NXT UK Heritage Cup. He put it down on Scala’a desk and told him that he had beaten everybody that had challenged him and thought it was time to put the trophy on his mantlepiece and go for bigger challenges. Scala started to protest and Dar suggested one final farewell match in a stadium in front of thousands of fans, chanting “Please don’t go.” He told the bewildered Scala to get on it and demanded double pay for the match.
Sarray beat Nina Samuels (5:35)
Sarray started with a roll-up and immediately transitioned into a half crab, sending Samuels scrambling for the ropes. Sarray was on offense until Samuels caught her off a crossbody and hit a backbreaker.
Samuels illegally worked over Sarray in the ropes and continued dominating. Sarray came back with another roll-up, forearms, and a dropkick to Samuels’ knee. She eventually hit a basement dropkick on Samuels in the ropes and pinned her after an overhead exploder suplex.
– Blair Davenport will return from injury next week.
– Xia Brookside and Eliza Alexander harassed Sarray as she came backstage. They backed her against a wall, until Meiko Satomura power walked into the frame and they backed off. Satomura talked to Sarray in Japanese.
– Trent Seven will address the “NXT UK Universe” next week.
In an elimination match, Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs beat Dave Mastiff & Jack Starz, Mark Andrews & Wild Boar, and Die Familie (Teoman & Rohan Raja) to win the vacant NXT UK Tag Team titles (18:15)
All participants were in the ring as the show returned from break. Wild Boar dropped the black contact lens look.
Haskins and Starz started out with some technical wrestling, until Raja blind tagged in. Jensen and Board had a longer encounter next and Jensen hit a huge powerslam. Briggs and Jensen went for some double team action until Teoman came in and beat up on Boar.
Die Familie took turns working over Boar until he finally made the tag to Mastiff. Mastiff and Starz double-teamed Teoman for a while. Mastiff held Teoman up for a vertical suplex for a long time and then threw him down.
Briggs and Mastiff faced off next until Die Familie interfered and got thrown to ringside for their troubles. The two big men threw everyone else off the apron as well and faced off but quickly got attacked by Teoman and Raja again.
Haskins briefly stopped him and hit a shooting star press off the top to the outside on everyone for good measure. Some quick action with Wild Boar and Jack Starz followed next. Andrews almost had Starz pinned after another shooting star, but Mastiff narrowly saved him.
Seconds later, Starz pinned Haskins after a small package at the 9:35 mark, eliminating Haskins and Wild Boar from the match.
Die Familie immediately attacked Starz, including Charlie Dempsey hitting an uppercut at the outside as the referee was distracted. Dave Mastiff was in next and beat down both Jensen and Briggs while Dempsey hit another suplex on Starz on the outside. Rohan Raja used the confusion to hit Seek & Destroy on Mastiff and eliminate both he and Starz at 12:14.
Die Familie stomped away at Briggs until Jensen made the save. Die Familie used some nefarious team tactics to cut Jensen down to size. Finally, stereo hot tags were made and Briggs ran wild on Raja and Teoman. Dempsey got on the apron, allowing Raja to hit a backstabber on Briggs followed by an assisted power slam that looked like it might lead to a finish. Jensen made the save once more.
Teoman locked in the crossface on Briggs who eventually managed to turn the move into a pin for a near fall. He back body dropped Teoman about 20 feet into the air and tagged in Jensen. The two big men hit stereo big boots on Teoman and Dempsey on the apron and hit an ugly incarnation of a high/low on Raja to score the final elimination and become the new NXT UK Tag Team Champions.
Henley came out to celebrate with them after the match as they posed with the belts.
Final Thoughts:
The main event was a lot of fun as Brooks & Jensen did not look out of place and had some charm as the two giants. Smith’s injury is unfortunate as he and Carter never even got to have one title defense. I hope he will be back soon and I could see Carter get mixed up with some of the more prominent names on the roster. He is really good and they certainly need someone who can work after all the recent departures towards NXT 2.0.
Sarray also looked good in her show debut while Dawn vs. Grace mostly was just there.
The backstage segments really spiced the show up as well.
Dates have been set for the next NXT UK Women’s Championship and NXT UK Tag Team Championship matches.
Women’s Champion Meiko Satomura will defend her title against Xia Brookside on the December 2 episode of NXT UK. That match was announced on today’s episode of the show. Brookside has been involved in a storyline where she has power and influence over authority figure Sid Scala given she is the daughter of NXT coach Robbie Brookside.
On the December 9 edition of NXT UK, Pretty Deadly’s Lewis Hower and Sam Stoker will defend their Tag Team Championships against Moustache Mountain’s Tyler Bate and Trent Seven. Bate and Seven won a four-way number one contender’s match on the November 11 episode of the show to set up the title bout.
Previously announced, the NXT UK Championship will also be on the line on the December 2 episode, as Ilja Dragunov defends the title against top contender Rampage Brown.
NXT UK Heritage Cup No. 1 Contenders Tournament semifinals: Noam Dar defeated Kenny Williams 2-1 in round 5 (14:46)
Round 1
They took each other down early in the round. Williams grabbed Dar’s hair as Dar tried to escape from a headlock. Williams attacked Dar’s arm as he head him in a wristlock after the bell.
Round 2
Williams hit a few elbows at the start of the round. He worked over Dar’s arm until Dar managed to kick his knee. Williams sold his knee, but it was a ruse as he rolled up Dar for a pin at 1:23 of the round. Williams 1-0
Round 3
Williams kept beating Dar down. Dar took back over and further attacked Williams’ knee. Williams got a small package for a two count, but got caught in a knee bar and was saved by the bell as the round ended.
Round 4
Dar rolled up Williams with his legs on the ropes, but the referee caught him. Williams speared Dar in the knee, then removed the turnbuckle. as the referee reprimanded him, Dar grabbed a water bottle and tossed it to Williams, then alerted the referee. He used the distraction to lock in the knee bar for the submission. Dar 1-1
Round 5
Dar scored a near fall off a back elbow. Williams got a near fall off a clothesline. Williams looked to finish him off, but Dar rolled to ringside. Williams followed him, but as he went to return to the ring, Sha Samuels popped out from under the ring and grabbed his leg.
Dar used that opportunity to hit the Nova Roller on Williams as he was trapped, getting the pin and the win at 2:27 of the round. Dar wins 2-1
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Gallus were warming up backstage when Jordan Devlin walked by and got under Joe Coffey’s skin
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Ilja Dragunov addresses the NXT UK locker room —
Sid Scala was in the ring and introduced Ilja Dragunov, who appeared on the video wall.
Ilja said he was happy for the very first time in a long time. He said he made the impossible possible and was absolutely unbesiegbar (invincible). He was looking forward to coming back to the UK and his most interesting question was who would be the person trying to take his championship away from him.
At that point Nathan Frazer walked out and said he wanted to take the initiative and asked “why not me?”. Rampage Brown then came out, talked about what he had done to Joe Coffey and how Ilja was a violent man. A-Kid finally appeared and said he should be getting the first title match.
Scala then made a three-way between them with the winner getting the shot.
Brown bumped into Frazer on his way out, who pulled him back in. They brawled and Brown was the last man standing.
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Jinny and Joseph Conners walked to their dressing room. Isla Dawn was in there, doing scary witch stuff. She had drawn a pentagram with lipstick on a mirror. Still scarier than Alexa Bliss and her doll.
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Moustache Mountain were backstage. Bate said it was exciting to have a new champion and he was keeping an eye on the number one contender situation and the Heritage Cup. Seven interrupted him and talked about the Tag Team title situation. Bate looked taken slightly aback, but quickly got on board.
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Emilia McKenzie defeated Stevie Turner (05:19)
Turner backed her into the corner, then shoved her, but McKenzie shoved her back and aggressively worked over her arm.
Turner came back with stomps in the corner, then kicked her head as she was in the ropes. McKenzie came back with clotheslines and a spear for another two count. Turner hit a side effect for another two.
McKenzie hit a rope-assisted German suplex, followed by running knees for the pinfall victory.
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Wolfgang and Teoman talked about their Heritage Cup tournament match next week. Wolfgang joked about the eye and suggested they leave their family members backstage for the match. Teoman said he learned on the streets you had to take out the biggest guy in the neighborhood to earn respect.
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A vignette on a new talent called Charlie Dempsey aired. Dempsey is Bailey Matthews, the son of William Regal.
It was in black-and-white and he was watching old British wrestling footage. He said that an inspiration of his once said the body was like a ladder and you had to work it up and down.
He said he was training in the British style and was going to show us things we never saw before. He is coming soon.
Dempsey wrestled Tyler Bate on NXT UK back in February.
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They showed what happened after the previous match; Blair Davenport ran in and destroyed Stevie Turner. She addressed Sid Scala and told him to reinstate her or bad things were going to happen.
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NXT UK Tag Team Championship: Pretty Deadly (Sam Stoker & Lewis Howley) defeated Gallus (Joe & Mark Coffey) to retain the titles (14:23)
Howley and Mark Coffey started, with Coffey getting the better of their exchange. Both tagged out and Joe Coffey worked over Sam Stoker for a bit. Pretty Deadly eventually outsmarted Mark Coffey and wore him down. Joe Coffey had Stoker under control, when Pretty Deadly used some questionable tactics to gain the upper hand and hit a GTS/codebreaker combo.
Thy had Joe under control for a few minutes. Eventually, he made the hot tag to Mark, who ran wild for a bit. Some tags later, it was near falls galore, after which all four ended up at ringside where they took each other out.
Joe Coffey then hit a shotgun dropkick off the top on Howley for a close near fall. He followed with the Glasgow Sendoff into the corner, then hit All the Best for the Bells, but Stoker made the save from the pin. Joe crashed into the ring post and Mark almost got the win with a crucifix.
Pretty Deadly then hit Spilled Milk on Mark Coffey for the successful title defense.
Final Thoughts —
The Noam Dar/Kenny Williams match was fun.
Emilia McKenzie looked dominant against Stevie Turner and the Blair Davenport storyline adds intrigue down the line.
The three way to determine Ilja Dragnov’s first challenger should be tons of fun and hard-hitting. Each of the three would be great against him.
The tag match was really good and Pretty Deadly might be the best tag team signed with a major promotion nobody ever heard about.
Next week:
NXT UK Championship number one contender three-way: Nathan Frazer vs. Rampage Brown vs. A-Kid
NXT UK Heritage Cup number one contender tournament semifinals: Teoman vs. Wolfgang
