Mandy Rose has unified the NXT and NXT UK Women’s Championship.
The 32-year-old won a triple threat match at NXT Worlds Collide on Sunday against Blair Davenport and Meiko Satomura. Rose entered the contest as the NXT Women’s Champion while Satomura held the NXT UK belt. The victory was Rose’s eighth defense of her title and the first time she’s won the NXT UK championship.
The finish of the match saw Satomura deliver a Scorpion Rising to Davenport before Rose hit both her opponents with Kiss By The Rose and pinned Davenport.
Satomura’s reign finishes at 451 days and nine successful title defenses. Alba Fyre (then known as Kay Lee Ray) held the title for 649 days but only defended it on six occasions during that time.
Rose becomes the fifth and possibly final wrestler to win the NXT UK Women’s Championship. Rhea Ripley was the inaugural champion in 2018 before dropping it to Toni Storm after a 139-day reign.
The show opened with a promo video, highlighting tonight’s main event match between Meiko Satomura and Blair Davenport.
NXT UK Tag Team title number one contender’s tournament: Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter defeated Symbiosis (Primate & T-Bone) (w/Eddie Dennis) (09:37)
Carter and Primate started out and Carter and Smith had Primate under control early, before he finally tagged in T-Bone. The babyface team used some double team magic to wear the bigger T-Bone down.
Symbiosis came back and went for a double suplex on Carter, but Smith pulled his partner out the move and to safety. Symbiosis finally found their groove and worked Smith over, focusing on his back.
Symbiosis scored a near fall on Smith after Primate hit a frog splash on him.
Carter finally received a hot tag and ran wild on bot opponents. He scored a near fall with a quebrada but Symbiosis quickly regrouped and focused on Smith once more. Smith rammed T-Bone into Primate who was on the top rope. He clotheslined T-Bone to the outside, where Carter took him out with a dive.
Smith then lifted Primate on his shoulders and Carter hit him with a Doomsday cutter for the pinfall victory.
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– Blair Davenport was shown warming up backstage.
– Pretty Deadly were asked about losing the tag team titles to Moustache Mountain. They complained about some other teams receiving a chance at the title in a tournament. Sam Gradwell then walked up and told them to stop whining and complaining and told them they had to take what they wanted around here.
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An absolutely fantastic video on Ilja Dragunov aired.
He was first shown training. He talked about how his intensity wasn’t his biggest strength, but his family was. They then showed him with his wife and son at home, preparing food and playing. He said sometimes when his son falls down, he asks him “why do we fall” and his son replies” to get back up”.
He said his family isn’t his weakness, it’s his strength as they played clips of Jordan Devlin insulting Dragunov, using his family to talk trash to Dragunov. This was great.
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– Noam Dar was watching the match between A-Kid and Nathan Frazer on his phone while Samuels had jotted down all the possible ways for Dar to win on a flip chart. They settled on Dar to beat Frazer in the 4th round for 11:1 odds.
– Die Familie cut a taped promo. Rohan Raja said that they were a family and Metehan talked about how the eye sees everything and now it sees them winning tag team gold. He said it was nice that Tyler Bate and Trent Seven were friends, but their bond was stronger.
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Xia Brookside beat Myla Grace (03:50)
Brookside played crybaby some more, escaping into the ropes and complaining when her arm got worked over. Grace kept her momentum and the crowd was audibly behind her. She hit a 619 on Xia who was sitting in the corner.
Xia pulled her off the ropes, hit a kick to the back and hit Broken Wings for the win.
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– A-Kid trained at the UK Performance Center and talked about wanting to recapture the NXT UK Heritage Cup.
– Jack Starz and Dave Mastiff cut a promo about how they would win the tag team titles in 2022.
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Amale was interviewed at the UK Performance Center about her amazing video package and detailing her story and how it exploded on social media. Mila Smidt entered and told her that her story was inspirational.
Jinny then entered and told her it was a pathetic sob story, then left to catch her limo. Stevie Turner looked on and said that Jinny had a point. Amale flipped her lid, pushed her against the glass door and berated her in French.
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A video package on WALTER aired, talking about how next week, he would make his “last stand” in NXT UK and have his final match on the brand. He then cut a promo and said that he dominated and brought back glory, respect and dignity to this sport.
He said he was told great things about Frazer and that he was the future of the brand. WALTER wasn’t impressed and like everyone else, Frazer was in it for himself and was taking the piss out of the sport. He said that every time, the Ring General steps into the ring, he comes out victorious.
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NXT UK Women’s Championship: Meiko Satomura (c) defeated Blair Davenport to retain the title (12:57)
Satomura started out with leg kicks, then turned a knuckle lock into a Judo hip toss. She followed with an arm drag and kneeling arm bar, further controlling her opponent. They finally exchanged strikes and Satomura kicked Davenport off the top rope to the outside as Davenport went for a springboard maneuver. The champion kept on offense, using a surfboard and more strikes, sending Davenport to ringside once more.
Davenport used her ringside position to her advantage though, kicking Satomura straight on the jaw as she went to leave the ring, almost knocking her out. She hit a draping DDT off the apron to the floor, then quickly went for a pin but only score a two count. She hit a running basement dropkick for another near-fall, then locked in a chin lock.
Meiko finally made another stand, hitting a vicious suplex on Davenport, then locked in an STF, but Davenport managed to lock in a Fujiwara arm bar from the hold. Davenport went for the Falcon Arrow, but couldn’t get it and received a DDT instead. Meiko went for a Pelé kick, but Davenport caught her leg and locked in an STF of her own. She followed with more kicks and a running knee that sent Satomura through the ropes. Davenport hit a double foot stomp off the top on Satomura’s back as she was on the apron. Satomura evaded the V-Trigger, then hit two consecutive Death Valley Bombs for a two count. Satomura went for Scorpion Rising, but Davenport evaded and hit a knee for another two.
Davenport went for the Falcon Arrow once more, but Meiko evaded it and went for another Death Valley Bomb. Davenport turned it into a sunset flip, but Satomura reversed it, sat down and scored the pinfall victory.
As Satomura celebrated, Davenport attacked her from behind and hit three consecutive V-Triggers. She posed with the belt, then threw it onto Satomura and told her. she’d see her again.
Final Thoughts —
The main event was very good and told a great story. Meiko finally prevailed, showing ring prowess, but it was through a roll up and not a deciding move. Davenport’s attack prolonged the program afterwards.
The tag team match was a typical high level match.
The other women’s match was more of a showcase for Xia Brookside’s new heel personality.
The video package on Ilja Dragunov and his family was outstanding.
Next week —
WALTER’s Last Stand: WALTER vs. Nathan Frazer
NXT UK Tag Team Championship number one contender’s tournament: Die Familie vs. Jack Starz & Dave Mastiff
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.
The show opened with a video hyping up tonight’s main event between Meiko Satomura and Jinny
Rampage Brown defeated Flash Morgan Webster (07:13)
They showed clips of Webster slapping Wolfgang and Sha Samuels to set up matches in the past and last week’s failed attempt to do the same to Rampage Brown.
Brown threw Webster around early, then caught him mid-air on a leapfrog attempt and took him down hard with a slam. He threw Webster across the ring with a vertical suplex, followed with a gorilla press and a Saito suplex that almost took Webster’s head off.Webster managed to turn a Doctor Bomb into a guillotine , then DDT’s Brown onto his knee. He hit a flying hurricanrana off the top that sent Brown to ringside.
Webster followed with a dive but Brown caught him. He escaped, then hit a second dive into a DDT that sent both men into the barricades. Webster hit a swanton bomb onto a kneeling Brown for a near-fall, then followed with chops and elbows.
Brown finally turned Webster inside out with a lariat, then hit the Doctor Bomb for the win.
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Satomura kneeled with her belt in her hands in deep thought as Emilia McKenzie watched on
A recap video of Pretty Deadly costing Tyler Bate the NXT Heritage Cup against Noam Dar from last week aired.
Tyler Bate was interviewed about his loss last week when Trent Seven ran up. He apologized to Bate and Bate forgave him, after Seven said he needed to hear him say it. Seven then was excited and told Bate he spoke to Johnny Saint and he agreed to slide them into the number one contender triple threat match for the NXT UK Tag Team titles next week, which will now be a four way between Moustache Mountain, Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter, Symbiosis and Jack Starz & Dave Mastiff. Bate said that was cool. Seven appeared way more excited than Bate though.
Sid Scala was interviewed about tonight’s main event when Xia Brookside came into the office. She asked if she could challenge the winner of tonight’s title match between Meiko Satomura and Jinny. Scala said he wasn’t sure how to word it, but her recent matches had not warranted such an opportunity. Brookside was upset and said that this was unfair and Satomura had asked the women’s locker room to step up, which was what she was doing. She then proceeded to call her “daddy” (Robbie Brookside), and complained to him about Scala.
Angel Hayze defeated Isla Dawn by DQ (02:17)
This was Hayze’s NXT UK debut. The 20-year old Scot started wrestling in 2016 and appeared primarily for ICW and Premier British Wrestling (where she also was trained) in her home country. “The Young Lioness” also was the last Scottish School of Wrestling champion before they folded in 2018 and had matches in Pro Wrestling: EVE, British Championship Wrestling and TNT Extreme Wrestling. She is part of the She-Wolves stable with Kasey Owens, Lana Austin, Molly Spartan and Rhio.
Dawn hit a head kick early on, but then was outwitted by the smaller Hayze, who got a roll-up for a two count. Dawn took back over with power moves and kicks in the corner. She hit a backdrop driver that landed Hayze right on her head. She then planted her knee in Hayze’s back while pulling her hair. The referee started counting her out and she wouldn’t release her grip, leading to a disqualification.
Dawn then hit a fireman’s carry into a spinning side slam on Hayze after the match.
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Jinny got ready for her match backstage with Joseph Conners
A video aired of A-Kid receiving some media attention in his native Spain, including news clips and interviews. Sam Gradwell watched the footage on his phone and was not impressed, saying he had been to Spain, it had been too hot and his phone got nicked. He said was a real fighter, not A-Kid.
Subculture were backstage, talking to Flash Morgan Webster about his match tonight. He said at one point, there was a moment where he saw doubt in Rampage Brown’s eyes. Stevie Turner then walked up and berated them, saying she was four-dimensional and was always two levels above and two steps ahead of each of them, especially Dani Luna. Luna then got in her face and said she could two-step whatever she wanted, but if she got into the ring with her, Luna would only need three seconds.
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Ilja Dragunov in-ring segment
Dragunov said that words cannot express going from being totally destroyed to overcoming what nobody expected him to overcome. This feeling of coming home and giving his son a kiss, an seeing the smile when he realized that his father was a champion now. The feeling of getting rid of all the self-doubts he has as everyone else, but he was right because now weakness is relevant if you put everything you have into your strengths.
He said he was the face of NXT UK and was ready to put the brand on another level. He said whenever he steps into the ring, he fights like his life depends on it, but he needed next-level competitors. He thanked A-Kid and said this was exactly what he was. He pushed him and forced him to give his very best. He said he can’t wait for the next one and he was always hungry. He concluded saying “Long Live the Czar” when Rampage Brown’s music played and he walked out.
Brown said Dragunov was the man right now, he beat WALTER and took A-Kid to his limits, but him and Ilja had some unfinished business and would love to fight him for the title. Ilja said Brown was not the first giant trying to take him down and the last one was bigger, but he respected him and fighting him sounded like a great idea.
He extended his hand and Brown shook it, but then flattened him with stiff lariat. Brown than told him “I don’t need your respect son, I just need your title.” He then posed with the belt over the fallen champion.
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Meiko Satomura and Emilia McKenzie were ready to walk to the ring. They passed Jinny and Joseph Conners in the hallway and Jinny called out to Satomura to enjoy her last night of being the final boss. Blair Davenport then walked up and wished both of them luck, but said it didn’t matter who won, because she was back now and was putting all of them on notice.
Teoman and Rohan Raja were at a dinner table. Raja asked what Teoman thought about Gallus and said he was looking forward to their upcoming fight. Teoman said he was too. Rohan said that people called the match family against family and Teoman said that they were family, Gallus was not. Rohan asked about Joe Coffey and Teoman told him not to worry, because “the eye is always watching.”
Nathan Frazer was watching a match from Mark Andrews and said he was one of the best. Subculture then walked in and noticed what he was watching. Andrews was happy and Frazer said he actually wanted to test himself against Andrews some time. Andrews told him they should do it and Frazer was stoked.
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NXT UK Women’s Championship: Meiko Satomura (w/ Emilia McKenzie) defeated Jinny (w/ Joseph Conners) to retain the title (12:42)
Jinny backed her into the ropes, but Meiko ducked a punch and hit a first leg kick, then followed up with more. Jinny eventually took over, working over Satomura’s arm with submission holds and locking in a tight head vice. Satomura eventually escaped and the two women traded strikes and Jinny got a two count with a floatover pin. She went for a Kimura but Meiko escaped and punished Jinny with more kicks, until Jinny hit a dragon screw.
Jinny went for a single leg Boston, but Meiko kicked her off, then took her down and hit a handstand knee drop for a two count. Jinny hit more kicks and started working over Satomura’s legs. Meiko went for a springboard reverse crossbody off the turnbuckles, but Jinny caught her with a strike in mid-air and scored another near fall, then locked in the single leg Boston Crab. Meiko eventually escaped, but was quickly overpowered by more kicks from Jinny.
The champion came back with a striking combination and enzuigiri. She followed with a handspring knee drop on Jinny’s head. She went on the turnbuckles once more, but Jinny kicked her legs out and hit the Makeover off the turnbuckles for another close near fall. She locked in the single leg Boston crab once more, but Satomura inched her way to the ropes.
Jinny missed the ripcord rolling kick and Satomura hit a frog splash off the top for a close near fall. Meiko locked in an STF, but this time, Jinny made the ropes. Conners tried to distract the referee, but McKenzie hit a stunner on him on the apron. Meiko survived more offense, then hit a Pelé kick and Death Valley Bomb for another two count.
Meiko then hit Scorpion Rising and another Death Valley Bomb to finally score the pin and the win.
Meiko and Emilia celebrated after the match and waved Jinny and Conners goodbye as the show went off the air.
Final Thoughts:
A really good episode with a great main event match. Satomura is a legend and Jinny has come a long way over the past few years. They also did a good job of establishing Davenport as the next major challenger. It will also be interesting what role “crybaby” Xia Brookside will play down the line.
The opening match established Rampage Brown as a monster once more and the angle with Ilja Dragunov was good. Ilja’s promo was excellent and Brown showing some heelish tendencies was very well done.
The other women’s match was mostly just there to further establish Isla Dawn as a lunatic.
Next week:
NXT UK Tag Team Championship number one contenders Fatal Four-Way: Moustache Mountain vs. Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter vs. Jack Starz and Dave Mastiff vs. Symbiosis
Another title match has been added to next week’s episode of NXT UK.
Meiko Satomura will defend the NXT UK Women’s Championship against Stevie Turner on the Thursday, August 19 episode. The match was made official on today’s episode of the show.
In a promo package hyping the match on this week’s NXT UK episode, Satomura stated that Turner needed to be taught respect, while Turner said that she represents the future of the NXT UK brand.
Satomura has held the NXT UK Women’s title since defeating Kay Lee Ray on the show’s June 10 episode. Turner is a relative newcomer to NXT UK, debuting in an episode that aired in April of this year. She has picked up wins over Aleah James and Laura Di Matteo in her last two appearances on the show.
Next week’s show will also feature an NXT UK Tag Team Championship match, as Pretty Deadly (Lewis Holey and Sam Stoker) defend their titles against Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate and Trent Seven).
NXT UK airs Thursdays at 3 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock in the United States and is also available on demand.
Episode twelve (taped August 26 at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England)
Quick recap
Rhea Ripley was crowned the inaugural NXT UK Women’s champion, beating Toni Storm in a hard-fought battle. Story of the match was Toni injuring her back early on, so she couldn’t hit Storm Zero and fell victim to Rhea’s Riptide in the end. In other matches, Tyler Bate (replacing Sid Scala) beat Joe Coffey by DQ when Mark Coffey and Wolfgang interfered, leading to a brawl between Gallus (the new name for Wolfgang & the Coffey Brothers) and British Strong Style. Ligero beat Dan Maloney in a fun match and Zack Gibson & James Drake beat Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams.
Full rundown
The show opened with a recap of the NXT UK Women’s Championship tournament, leading down to the two final participants. Nigel and Vic talked some more about the tournament in the studio, as we saw Rhea Ripley and Ton Storm warm up for their match backstage.
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Tyler Bate (replacing Sid Scala) beat Joe Coffey by DQ in 9:47 due to outside interference
Coffey was supposed to face Sid Scala, who came out in a suit and with a microphone and said he had not been medically cleared to compete. He said Johnny Saint had given him permission to introduce his replacement, who was Tyler Bate.
Bate got right down to business, attacking Coffey with strikes and a punching battle ensued. A dropkick by Bate sent Coffey to the outside and Tyler followed up with a tope and after some back and forth on the outside, hit a flying European uppercut off the ring steps. At that point, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang came back out which distracted Bate and he got smashed into the ringside barriers.
He couldn’t lift up Coffey for the airplane spin and Coffey took over, hitting a butterfly swing into a butterfly suplex, before applying a double arm stretcher submission. Bate eventually reversed out of it, but got backed into the corner and ate a high belly-to-belly overhead suplex for his troubles.
A striking battle was won by Bate, as he hit a huracanrana and a standing shooting star press for a two-count, Mark Coffey got on the apron, which distracted Tyler Bate and Joe went for a pop-up power slam. Trent Seven came to the ring at that point to even the odds somewhat. Coffey missed a reverse body press off the top and Bate hit his neck-and-shoulders springboard lariat and managed to pick up Coffey for an airplane spin, even doing a squat in the middle of it, before spinning him some more in the other direction.
Coffey briefly got a few more shots in, but was wiped out with a rolling kappa kick. Bate set up the Tyler Driver ’97 but Wolfgang and Mark Coffey interfered for the DQ.
Trent Seven got in the ring to help out his mate, but the heels took over, until Pete Dunne’s music hit and he stormed out to a big pop and evened the odds. The heels were sent to ringside, briefly tried to come back into the ring but were finally driven off by British Strong Style.
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A graphic announced Dan Maloney facing Ligero next
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Ligero beat Dan Maloney after a springboard swinging DDT in 5:13
Maloney slapped Ligero right away and received a leg kick in return. He then picked up Ligero for a suplex and put him down on the apron, but Ligero flipped back into the ring and hit a dropkick for a quick cover. He went for a huracanrana but Maloney caught him and held him in position, but before he could capitalize, Ligero escaped and hit a flying huracanrana off the middle rope for a near fall.
A spine buster briefly stopped Ligero and a submission slowed the match down. Maloney briefly took over but missed a leg drop off the second turnbuckle. Ligero came back with a Rey Mysterio style seated senton off the top, followed by an enzuigiri. Ligero hit an assisted Sliced Bread, bouncing off the top rope and Maloney rolled ot the outside.
Ligero kept pushing, hitting a somersault senton on the bigger man and finally back in the ring, hit a springboard swinging DDT for the win.
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A graphic announced the upcoming tag team match, pitting Zack Gibson and James Drake against Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams. This was followed by a WWE Shop commercial
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Zack Gibson & James Drake beat Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams in 8:26 when Gibson pinned Williams after hitting Ticket to Ride
“Shoes off, if you hate Gibson” chants could be heard immediately, as the fans held their shoes into the air. Gibson and Williams started out and Gibson locked in a cravat and a side headlock right away and tagged his partner in crime. Williams rolled up Drake and hit a springboard back elbow before tagging out himself. Jordan hit a high hip toss and a drop kick and did his dance.
After being hit by a cross body and a drop kick, Drake was blind tagged by Gibson on a whip-in and the Grizzled Young Veterans hit a double chop to Amir’s throat.
Gibson locked in his seated cobra clutch variant and Drake tagged back in, while Amir was still in the hold. Amir played face in peril for a while, as the heels tagged in and out in quick succession. Gibson slammed Drake on top of Jordan for a two count. After some taunting and more beat downs, Drake finally missed a running dropkick into the corner and Amir managed the hot tag to Williams, as Drake tagged in Gibson.
Williams ran wild for a bit, hitting a dropkick on Gibson and taking out Drake on the apron. He hit a lucha-style roll-through into a face buster on Gibson for a near fall.
Gibson managed to tag back out and the heels went for a double back suplex on Williams, but Jordan pulled him down and hit a dropkick on Gibson as Williams hit a superkick on Drake, which sent both men to the outside. Williams hit a running dropkick through the ropes, but held on to the top rope and skinned the cat back inside, before hitting a double topés with Jordan.
Williams went to the to rope, but Gibson rammed Amir into the steps on the outside, distracting Williams and giving Drake a chance to push him off. With Amir being take out, the heels hit Ticket to Ride, a throw from a tombstone position by Drake into a codebreaker by Williams for the win.
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A split screen saw Rhea Ripley and Toni Storm walk to ringside for the main event.
Johnny Saint’s music hit and he came out carrying the NXT UK Women’s championship, followed by a WrestleMania ticket commercial.
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NXT UK Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley pinned Toni Storm in 9:28 after hitting Riptide to become the inaugural champion
This really was the battle of music styles, as the 80’s rocker, Toni Storm faced the Mosh Pit Kid, Rhea Ripley.
Ripley shoved Storm right away and hit her double arm sign of the horns pose. Toni retaliated with a firearm, slap, spin kick and running boot, sending Rhea crashing into to corner, where she promptly got hit with a hip attack by Toni and rolled to ringside. Toni followed up with a plancha between the middle and lowest rope.
Rhea recovered quickly and whipped Storm into the barriers back first, then briefly rolled back into the ring and stomped hard into Toni’s back on her way back out. This started telling the story of the match, which was Toni not being able to hit some of her signature moves due to her lower back being injured.
Toni came back with some knee strikes and forearm smashed and went for Strong Zero on the apron, but couldn’t lift Ripley up and got back body dropped on the apron. Toni barely made it back into the ring at 8 and Ripley was onto her right away with some ground and pound. Toni came back into the match, but quickly got stopped again with a knee breaker off a headlock attempt.
Ripley locked in her modified clover leaf, putting further pressure on Toni’s knees and lower back. Storm eventually made the ropes for a break, but Ripley kicked her left wrist hard, which still was clutching to the ropes.
Storm came back with some right hand slaps and went for the German suplex, but couldn’t lift Ripley due to her back problems. Ripley went for a back suplex, but Toni escaped and finally hit a snap German and picked Ripley up for a second one. Ripley eventually countered an attempt for a third one, but Toni hit a head butt and finally hit the third German suplex into a bridge for a near fall. She followed up with a running kick, a hip attack into the corner and flying double knees into the corner for another two count.
Ripley briefly took over but missed a corner charge and crashed into the post. Toni tried a bridging pin, but her momentum actually helped Ripley kicking out. Toni went for the Storm Zero, but got back body dropped over the top to the outside. where Ripley threw into the barriers a few more times and managed to get another two count back in the ring. She went for Riptide but Toni managed to escape the move and went for Storm Zero, but again, couldn’t get Ripley up due to her injured back.
Ripley tried for Riptide again, finally hit the move and pinned Toni Storm for the win and the championship.
Johnny Saint and Triple H entered the ring to congratulate Ripley and hand her the title. Rhea hugged both men and they celebrated in the ring together as the whole NXT UK roster came out on the stage to applaud the new champion as the show went off the air.
In a WWE.com exclusive video, Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Rhea Ripley in the ring. She said that this was so unreal and that she really wished she could catch her breath, but she couldn’t. She said Toni, you are a legend and I love you so much. She thanked everyone for coming out and said that it meant the world to her. The fans chanted “you deserve it” and she smiled and said, she was not going to lie, she might.
She thanked all the women who fought so hard for this and said that they were finally making history. This prompted chants of “British Wrestling”. She said she sould continue to rip everyone apart and then went to the top of the stage to pose with Johnny Saint, Triple H and the whole NXT UK roster.
Episode seven (taped August 25 at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England)
Quick recap
Triple H and Johnny Saint announced the NXT UK Women’s championship tournament, which begins next week. Wolfgang beat Ashton Smith in the main event, further establishing himself and the Coffey Brothers as a force to be reckoned with. Tyler Bate beat James Drake in the match of the show, while Jordan Devlin looked good in beating Sid Scala and we had Saxon Huxley & Joseph Connors beat Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams. A fun show, especially the Bate match, but really not a must-see episode.
Full rundown
Triple H and all the women of NXT UK – Dakota Kai, Nina Samuels, Toni Storm, Isla Dawn, Rhea Ripley, Xia Brookside, Jinny and Millie McKenzie – were out on the stage to open the show. The way this was shot, Ripley, who really only is 5’7″ looked huge compared to the other women, both in height and massiveness. Triple H called out Johnny Saint, who unveiled the new NXT UK Women’s championship. The tournament for this new title will begin on the next episode.
There was a look back to when Wolfgang and the Coffey Bros. attacked Ashton Smith a few weeks back. A graphic announced that Smith and Wolfgang would face off in tonight’s main event. Also announced was Tyler Bate vs. James Drake. After a promo announcing WrestleMania 35 tickets going on sale, we went to our first match.
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Jordan Devlin beat Sid Scala in 3:13 with the Island’s Call
Devlin locked up right away and backed Scala into a corner, screaming “you don’t belong here” at him. Scala briefly fired back, but was hit with Devlin’s uranage/standing moonsault combination. Devlin kept working Scala over and launched himself over the ropes from the apron with a beautiful somersault cutter. He went for the Island’s Call, but Scala turned it into a sunset flip. Devlin kicked out but Scala hit a jumping neck breaker and went for a body press off the top. He jumped into a dropkick by Devlin, which looked to have missed by a mile. This set up a successful Island’s Call for the victory for the Irishman.
Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Devlin in the ring post-match, telling him that this was a dominant performance and if we had seen the real Jordan Devlin yet. Devlin fired back to not make him laugh and that the last thing concerning him was having those people here know who he was. Whenever he’s backstage, he’s asking himself who all the people back there think they are, especially the guy running around as a luchador, even though he is from Leeds, so who does Ligero think he is? I have a feeling these two will square up in the coming weeks.
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After a look at Moustache Mountain’s promo from a few weeks back, Nigel and Vic talked about the upcoming NXT UK tag team titles and how we’d be seeing some teams form. In fact, two of those teams would have a match next, when Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams face Saxon Huxley & Joseph Connors.
After a WWE Network promo, we got a video introducing us to Tyson T-Bone, who said he’d been traveling up and down the country, beating people and that he was the biggest, baddest and meanest WWE UK (he didn’t say NXT UK) wrestler. He’ll debut next week.
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Saxon Huxley & Joseph Conners beat Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams in 4:46 when Connors hit Don’t Look Down on Williams for the pin
We saw everyone but Conners on NXT UK before, because he got injured in a match with Kenny Williams during the first day of the July tapings and the match was stopped, never making air. He started out in 2006 and was trained by Robbie Brookside, among others. He’s a mainstay at Southside Entertainment Wrestling and competes for other promotions such as Defiant, PROGRESS, ICW, IPW:UK and Preston City Wrestling. He’s a 3-time former SWE Heavyweight champion and three-time SWE tag-team champion and also was Defiant champion, back when it was WCPW.
Williams came out wearing old-school red and blue 3D glasses and we were told that Jordan chose wrestling over an arranged marriage by his mother. Oh well, good for him I guess. Huxley and Amir started out and Amir escaped some take down by flipping out, kipping up and doing his funny foreign man dance, because stereotypes. He tagged in Williams who quickly got distracted for the heel advantage. Conners tagged in and we were told that he lost part of his left ear in a bar fight years ago, where he was “left for dead”.
Amir was face in peril for a while, until he managed to hit an enzuigiri and made the hot tag. Williams hit a cool spot where he hit a shotgun dropkick onto Conners on the outside, then skinned the cat back into the ring and hit a suicide dive on Huxley on the other side of the ring. He missed a DDT from the top rope and was hit by a brutal sunset bomb by Conners into the corner, followed by Don’t Look Down for the victory for the heel team.
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After another graphic for Bate vs. Drake and a promo for the NXT UK tapings in ten days we were shown the brackets for the NXT UK Women’s championship tournament and got nice graphics for everybody, including when they made their WWE/NXT debuts.
This was followed by an interview with Trent Seven by what looked like a number of journalists. He was asked his opinion on Zack Gibson and said that while it was impressive how Gibson won the UK tournament at Royal Albert Hall, he couldn’t get the job done against Pete Dunne and had been calling out the other members or British Strong Style ever since. When asked if he was challenging Gibson, he said that he was a pro wrestler and a sports entertainer and told Gibson to have a go. Those two will face off on the next episode.
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Tyler Bate beat James Drake in 8:30 with the Tyler Driver ’97
Drake has a picture of his face on his trunks, so he received the “he’s got his own face on his arse” chant from the UK crowd here. They traded arm twisters early, which Bate flipped out of, followed by a dropkick and a suplex escape over the top rope onto the apron and hit a big chop. Drake punched Bate off the turnbuckle to the outside. Bate escaped a lengthy chin-lock sequence by backing Drake into the corner and hit a beautiful standing huracanrana, followed by a spinning elbow off the second turnbuckle.
Drake charged into Bate in the corner, but got caught and received an overhead suplex for his troubles, followed by a running Shooting Star Press. Drake flipped over the ropes onto the apron but when Bate teased a suicide dive, Drake jumped to ringside, and Bate launched himself back into the ring with the top rope between his neck and shoulders spot, before hitting an actual dive.
Back in the ring, Bate hit a backdrop driver for a near fall. The first attempt at the Tyler Driver ’97 got turned into a back body drop and Drake hit a running dropkick into the corner for a near fall. A second attempt at a dropkick failed though, as Tyler moved, hit his springboard lariat off the ropes and finished his night with a Tyler Driver ’97 for the victory.
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After a WWE Shop commercial, we had another look at all the women in the tournament, which will start next week.
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Wolfgang (w/ Joe & Mark Coffey) defeated Ashton Smith
Wolfgang won in 5:29 after a modified fisherman’s suplex. The crowd was behind Smith all the way, chanting to his entrance and generally being very cheerful. Smith hit things off with a cravat, but ate some punches from “The Last King of Scotland” for his troubles. He came back with a nice dropkick, head scissors and a springboard tomahawk chop, but then jumped right into a gut buster as he went for a body press off the top. Wolfgang dominated the back and forth exchange that developed from there and stopped Smith in his tracks with a bear hug.
Smith eventually fought out, hit a clothesline, then leapfrogged Wolfgang as he charged out of the corner, landed on the second turnbuckle and hit a reverse enzuigiri for some momentum. This didn’t last long, as Wolfgang launched Smith into the air, then launched himself at a stunned, seated Smith with a running senton and finally hit a modified fisherman’s suplex into a slam for the victory.
Wolfgang and the Coffeys posed in the ring as the show went off the air.
When Evolution was first announced, WWE listed the NXT United Kingdom Women’s Championship as one of the titles that would be defended at the pay-per-view.
The participants weren’t advertised in advance and the match didn’t air live, but the NXT UK Women’s title was defended tonight. Rhea Ripley defeated Dakota Kai to retain the title at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York shortly before the Evolution main card started. ESPN.com noted that it was a fast-paced match that had a lot of energy from the crowd.
Ripley’s title win has yet to air on the WWE Network. She won the championship in an eight-woman tournament at NXT UK’s television tapings in Birmingham, England in August. She defeated Xia Brookside and Kai to get to the finals, then defeated Toni Storm to become the inaugural champion.
Since winning the title, Ripley has also been defending it at NXT’s house shows in Florida.
NXT’s United Kingdom brand was at NEC Birmingham on Sunday for the second of two straight days of television tapings. The show featured the semifinals and finals of the tournament to crown the first NXT UK Women’s Champion.
– Rhea Ripley defeated Dakota Kai in an NXT UK Women’s Championship tournament semifinal match
– Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster defeated Joseph Conners & Saxon Huxley
Conners beat down Huxley after this, setting up a match for later.
– Dave Mastiff defeated Tyson T-Bone
– Toni Storm defeated Jinny in an NXT UK Women’s Championship tournament semifinal match
Storm advanced to face Ripley in the main event to decide the first champion.
– Xia Brookside & Millie McKenzie defeated Killer Kelly & Charlie Morgan
Brookside and McKenzie won with a roll-up.
– Eddie Dennis defeated Ashton Smith
– Joseph Conners defeated Saxon Huxley
– NXT United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne defeated Jordan Devlin to retain his title
This was said to be an excellent match.
– El Ligero defeated Dan Moloney
– Tyler Bate defeated Joe Coffey by DQ
Bate, Trent Seven, and Pete Dunne had a standoff with Joe & Mark Coffey and Wolfgang after the match.
– Zack Gibson & James Drake defeated Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams
– Rhea Ripley defeated Toni Storm to become the first NXT UK Women’s Champion
The referee checked on Storm after this, though that may have been playing into the story of the match. Triple H and NXT UK general manager Johnny Saint presented Ripley with the title.
The first NXT United Kingdom Women’s Champion was crowned at today’s television tapings in Birmingham, England.
Rhea Ripley defeated Toni Storm in the finals of an eight-woman tournament to become the first champion. Triple H and NXT UK general manager Johnny Saint came to the ring and presented the title to Ripley after the match.
The tournament began at yesterday’s tapings, with Ripley defeating Xia Brookside, Storm defeating Isla Dawn, Jinny defeating Millie McKenzie, and Dakota Kai defeating Nina Samuels in the first round. Ripley beat Kai in the semifinals and Storm advanced over Jinny.
The 21-year-old Ripley, who is from Adelaide, Australia, made her WWE debut in last year’s Mae Young Classic and has been a regular on NXT house shows. She’s also one of the participants in this year’s Mae Young Classic.
WWE has yet to reveal when and where the NXT UK series will be airing. When announcing October’s Evolution pay-per-view, the company noted that the NXT UK Women’s Championship would be one of the titles defended on the show.
NXT’s United Kingdom brand was in Birmingham, England today for the first of two straight nights of television tapings. The first round of the eight-woman tournament to crown the inaugural NXT UK Women’s Champion took place, with the semifinals and finals being held tomorrow.
Dark match —
– Killer Kelly defeated Charlie Morgan
– With the tapings being held as part of Insomnia gaming festival, Xavier Woods appeared and announced that Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate will be part of the roster for WWE 2K19.
NXT UK TV taping spoilers —
– Jordan Devlin defeated Sid Scala
Devlin cut a promo on El Ligero after.
– Joseph Conners & Saxon Huxley defeated Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams
– Tyler Bate defeated James Drake
– Wolfgang (w/ Joe & Mark Coffey) defeated Ashton Smith
– Dakota Kai defeated Nina Samuels in an NXT UK Women’s Championship tournament first round match
– Tyson T-Bone defeated Jake Constantino
– Dave Mastiff defeated Dan Moloney
– Jinny defeated Millie McKenzie in an NXT UK Women’s Championship tournament first round match
– Zack Gibson defeated Trent Seven
James Drake took out Bate at ringside. Joe & Mark Coffey and Wolfgang then attacked Bate and Seven after the match.
– Rhea Ripley defeated Xia Brookside in an NXT UK Women’s Championship tournament first round match
– Eddie Dennis defeated Jack Starz
– Mark Andrews defeated Wild Boar
– Toni Storm defeated Isla Dawn in an NXT UK Women’s Championship tournament first round match
Kai vs. Ripley and Storm vs. Jinny will be tomorrow’s semifinals.
– Jordan Devlin defeated El Ligero
After the match, Devlin said NXT United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne is on his radar.
– NXT United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate defeated Wolfgang & Mark Coffey
NXT’s United Kingdom brand will be crowning its first Women’s Champion in Birmingham, England this weekend.
WWE has announced that a two-day tournament to determine the first champion will be held at NXT UK’s television tapings on Saturday and Sunday. Toni Storm, Jinny, Dakota Kai, Rhea Ripley, Xia Brookside, Isla Dawn, Millie McKenzie, and Nina Samuels are advertised for the tournament.
In the press release for October’s Evolution pay-per-view, WWE noted that there would be an NXT UK Women’s Championship match on the show. The Raw, SmackDown, and NXT Women’s titles will also be defended at Evolution, and the finals of the Mae Young Classic will be held after being set at the tapings for the tournament earlier this month.
When NXT UK was announced in June, it was confirmed that the brand would have its own Women’s and Tag Team titles. Those are in addition to the UK Championship, which is held by Pete Dunne.
This weekend’s tapings are taking place at NEC Birmingham as part of the Insomnia gaming festival. WWE released a trailer for NXT UK this past Saturday but hasn’t announced where it will be airing or when it will premiere.
