Taped April 19 and 20, 2019 at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland
Quick results —
Travis Banks defeated Joseph Conners in the final qualifying match for the number one contender’s fatal four-way. Noam Dar beat Mark Andrews in a rematch from two months ago, when both got stretchered out. Dar, after a brief babyface run, fell back into his old ways, feigning a knee injury and beating Andrews when he let his guard down.
Rhea Ripley called out Piper Niven in a promo, and Nina Samuels talked about wanting to face Toni Storm.
In the main event, WALTER successfully defended the WWE United Kingdom Championship against former champion Pete Dunne in a great match. WALTER got help from Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner, who seemed to form a stable with the big Austrian as the show went off the air.
Full rundown —
– The show opened with a video recapping WALTER’s WWE UK title win at NXT TakeOver: New York.
Qualifying match for number one contender’s fatal four-way: Travis Banks pinned Joseph Conners after the Kiwi Crusher (8:22)
Banks took Conners down right away with a waist lock takedown and kept working him over. Banks sent Conners to the outside, but got caught when he followed him out and was slammed into the steel steps at ringside.
From that point on, Conners took over, scoring a few near falls and submission attempts. Banks finally came back when he kicked Conner’s legs out on a corner charge, then he followed up with double knees to the back of Conners’ head and a dive to ringside. Conners came back with a springboard DDT and the two traded near falls in quick succession.
Banks finally hit A Slice of Heaven and followed up with the Kiwi Crusher for the win.
– Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Banks after the match and asked him about his chances. He talked about past scuffles with Joe Coffey and Jordan Devlin and said Dave Mastiff was really big. Banks said he’ll become the new number one contender.
– Nina Samuels talked about Toni Storm, saying that Storm was an easy victim to manipulate, that it was easy to get a title match, and Storm was the newest cast member of the Nina Samuels Show. Samuels said Storm lost all control and talked about all the congratulations her fans had sent her.
Samuels said her crowning achievement would be the NXT UK Women’s Championship. The two meet next week.
– Another graphic plugged tonight’s WALTER vs. Dunne main event.
– We took a look back at the Mark Andrews vs. Noam Dar match from two months ago, with Dar injuring his knee and both of them getting stretchered out.
Noam Dar pinned Mark Andrews after the Nova Roller (5:50)
They shook hands to start the match off, with Dar backing Andrews into the corner before they arrived at a stalemate. Andrews missed a body press and Dar got a near fall off a windmill backslide. Andrews hit an enzuigiri, then Dar evaded a 450, after which Andrews slid under Dar and tried a Pele kick but got caught in an ankle lock.
Andrews hit the Stun Dog Millionaire, but Dar escaped to ringside. Andrews followed up with a somersault plancha, and Dar looked to have tweaked his knee again. Andrews hesitated, giving Dar some time to recover.
Dar said he was ready, but then collapsed screaming when he tried to put weight on the knee off a whip-in. Andrews and Dar talked and shook hands, but Dar then attacked Andrews from behind as he turned his back. Dar hit the Nova Roller for the win.
– Radzi interviewed the Grizzled Young Veterans as they entered the arena. Zack Gibson said he was sure every Scottish indie wrestler wanted a title match, but they don’t make the matches and neither do the fans. He said they’d defend the titles whenever they felt like it.
– Nigel McGuinness and Vic Joseph were shown and talked about how people were really excited for the main event.
Rhea Ripley in-ring promo
Ripley came out and said she knows how everyone wants to see her in action, but it’s not going to happen. She said Piper Niven is supposedly a big deal in Scotland, but to her Niven is a wannabe superstar that reeks of fear. She said when Niven steps into the ring with her, nightmares will become reality.
– Kassius Ohno found a cameraman backstage and took him to meet Johnny Saint and Sid Scala. He called Scala “Sid Justice” and “Savvy Sid” and asked for news. Scala said they were about to talk to him later. Scala said Ohno would take on Jack Gallagher next week. Ohno seemed happy about the match.
– A split screen showed WALTER and Dunne preparing for their match backstage.
– A graphic plugged Storm defending her NXT UK Women’s title against Samuels in next week’s main event.
WWE United Kingdom Championship match: WALTER retained against Pete Dunne with a powerbomb (16:33)
WALTER came out to just a white Titantron that turned black once he walked to the ring, which was a cool look that underlines his no-nonsense approach at wrestling and disdain for showmanship.
There were dueling chants as the match started. WALTER backed Dunne into the corner right away. McGuinness noted that WALTER had taped some fingers together, musing whether it was because he likes throwing chops or if he was cautious about Dunne manipulating his finger joints.
Dunne started working WALTER’s left arm, getting the big man to the mat. WALTER escaped and threw a big chop, but Dunne managed to duck. WALTER took Dunne down off a side headlock, with McGuinness comparing his style to Bruiser Brody, Stan Hansen, and Terry Gordy. Dunne got in a dragon screw, which hurt WALTER’s knee and the champ went to ringside. Dunne walked right into a huge chop as he tried to stalk WALTER on the outside.
WALTER hit more chops, but Dunne evaded the last one and WALTER chopped the ring post. Dunne used the steps to his advantage and worked over WALTER’s bicep. WALTER then hit a big boot to end Dunne’s tomfoolery. For good measure, he followed up with a big shotgun dropkick that sent Dunne into the barrier.
WALTER then placed Dunne on top of the steel steps and proceeded to walk all over the Bruiserweight. He hit another chop, but Dunne managed to bend his fingers. The big Austrian then bullied Dunne with some kicks while he was down and locked in a chinlock. Dunne asked for more, then hit a big forearm that sent the champ down to the mat. He hit double knees to WALTER’s left thigh and transitioned into a kneebar.
WALTER escaped and tried hitting a German suplex, but Dunne flipped out of it as he was going over. Dunne locked in a modified octopus hold and started peeling off the tape from WALTER’s fingers, then turned the submission attempt into a crucifix bomb.
WALTER had enough and came back with a stiff clothesline and overhead suplex for a near fall, then locked in the Boston crab. Dunne twisted his way out of the move, hit a few kicks, and stomped WALTER’s head and transitioned into another submission until WALTER made the ropes.
Dunne managed to step on WALTER’s fingers from the top rope, then stopped WALTER when he was going up top. Dunne actually was able to lock in a top rope triangle, and when WALTER tried to powerbomb him off the top, Dunne turned it into a hurricanrana for a very close near fall.
Dunne German suplexed WALTER, but ran into a clothesline next. WALTER went for the big splash off the top rope, but Dunne got up and hit a forearm. He hit the Bitter End, then locked in a triangle, turned it around, and went to break WALTER’s fingers.
As WALTER looked ready to tap, Fabian Aichner suddenly ran out and put WALTER’s foot on the rope. As the ref was handling Aichner, Marcel Barthel hit the ring and clocked Dunne with the UK title belt. WALTER hit a powerbomb for the win.
Post-match, WALTER looked at them, then hit the Ring General pose and Barthel and Aichner followed suit as Antonín Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 played and the show faded to black.
Next week —
NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm defends her title against Nina Samuels. Kassius Ohno faces Jack Gallagher.
Submitted by Patrick Davenport from WWE’s house show in Newcastle, England on Saturday
– Natalya & Beth Phoenix defeated The Riott Squad
The crowd was very quiet considering this was the opener. Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott were representing the Riott Squad and Sarah Logan was absent.
Phoenix attempted to get the crowd hyped by doing a “We Will Rock You” style clap. Natalya picked up the submission win over Riott while both she and Phoenix did a dual Sharpshooter.
– Apollo Crews defeated Mojo Rawley
There was mild applause for Crews and a lot of heat for Rawley. They had a quick match where Crews pinned Rawley with a standing moonsault.
After the match, The Revival ran in, attacked Crews, and hit him with the Shatter Machine. They cut a promo trashing the fans and refusing to compete tonight. They were interrupted by Aleister Black & Ricochet.
– Aleister Black & Ricochet defeated The Revival
The crowd was really hot for Ricochet. Longest and best match of the night so far.
Ricochet took most of the beating until Black got the hot tag and mounted a comeback. Black pinned Scott Dawson after hitting Black Mass.
– WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER defeated Pete Dunne to retain his title
Dunne came out to a good pop, but it seemed as if not many people knew who WALTER was. Great, stiff match. Lots of loud chops and joint manipulation.
The match ended abruptly with WALTER pinning Dunne with a powerbomb.
– Elias then entered for a concert. He received a lot of applause from the Newcastle fans. He was asked to play “Wonderwall” and obliged, then followed that up with his own version of the song with lyrics that insulted Newcastle and their soccer team, which drew massive heat. He was interrupted by Finn Balor.
– Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor defeated Elias to retain his title
Balor was very over, though I didn’t think he was quite as over as Ricochet was previously. They had a quick match that saw Balor win via pinfall following a Coup de Grace.
Balor celebrated with the crowd going into the intermission
– Titus O’Neil defeated EC3
This match had a lot of crowd interest, with fans even doing dueling chants for the two wrestlers. O’Neil picked up a fairly dominant pinfall win with the Clash of the Titus.
– Raw & SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defeated Lacey Evans and Tamina in a triple threat match to retain the Raw title
The match was advertised online as having Alexa Bliss instead of Tamina. Lynch was very popular with the Newcastle faithful.
Tamina dominated a lot of the match. The finish had Tamina superkicking Evans out of the ring and attempting to do the same to Lynch, who dodged and locked her in the Dis-Arm-Her to retain.
As Lynch was celebrating, she was attacked by the Riott Squad, who were then chased off by Natalya and Beth Phoenix. Phoenix and Natalya were then attacked by Evans and Tamina, allowing Lynch to make the save. The three babyfaces celebrated in the ring together to close the segment.
– Universal Champion Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns & Braun Strowman defeated Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley & Drew McIntyre
All the faces were the most over people of the night — big pops and recurring chants for all three.
Rollins, Reigns, and Strowman dominated early until Strowman was isolated and worked over by the heels. He eventually made the hot tag to Reigns, with the action picking up and getting speedy. Lots of finishers were exchanged until Reigns hit the spear on Lashley to pick up the win for his team.
NXT UK kicked off two straight nights of television tapings at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland today.
– Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness were live at the show to do commentary.
– Dark match: Kassius Ohno defeated Oliver Carter
– NXT UK Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan was confirmed for today. There will also be qualifying matches to decide who advances to a fatal four-way, which will determine a number one contender for the WWE United Kingdom Championship.
– Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) defeated Primate Jay Melrose & Wild Boar Mike Hitchman
– Joe Coffey defeated Flash Morgan Webster to qualify for the fatal four-way number one contender’s match
Gallus cut a promo on Dave Mastiff after the match. The crowd cheered Gallus in their home country despite them playing heel.
– Nina Samuels defeated Kasey Owens
Samuels then cut a promo on NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm.
– WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER defeated Pete Dunne to retain his title
Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner interfered, with Barthel hitting Dunne with the UK title belt.
– Piper Niven defeated Jamie Hayter
– Jordan Devlin defeated Ligero to qualify for the fatal four-way number one contender’s match
– Ilja Dragunov defeated Jack Starz
This was Dragunov’s televised NXT UK in-ring debut.
– It was shown that Amir Jordan had been attacked backstage.
– Xia Brookside vs. Killer Kelly ended in a no contest
Jinny and the debuting Jazzy Gabert interfered to cause the no contest.
– Dave Mastiff defeated Wolfgang to qualify for the fatal four-way number one contender’s match
Gallus attacked Mastiff after he won.
– Travis Banks defeated Joseph Conners to qualify for the fatal four-way number one contender’s match
Joe Coffey, Devlin, Mastiff, and Banks will be in the number one contender’s match.
– Rhea Ripley cut an in-ring promo saying she wouldn’t compete tonight. She insulted Piper Niven.
– NXT UK Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) defeated Kenny Williams & Noam Dar to retain their titles
Dar returned from injury and replaced Amir Jordan after the angle where Jordan was attacked earlier.
In what may have been a non-televised segment, Gallus attacked Williams & Dar. Moustache Mountain made the save, which led to Moustache Mountain, Williams & Dar defeating The Grizzled Young Veterans & Gallus.
The Coffey Brothers defeated Raul Mendoza & Humberto Carrillo in a fun opener. Dave Mastiff beat Kona Reeves in a battle of big men. Backstage after the match, Wolfgang confronted Mastiff and they came to blows before quickly being separated.
Rhea Ripley defeated Kacy Catanzaro and beat on her some more after the match. As Ripley berated Catanzaro backstage after, Piper Niven once again confronted Ripley.
Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams got an unsatisfying win over NXT UK Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans when the champs decided to walk out and take the countout loss.
After the matches, Pete Dunne spoke out and demanded his rematch with new WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER.
Full rundown —
A graphic announced our main event and it was also promised that we’d hear from Pete Dunne in the wake of his loss to WALTER at NXT TakeOver: New York.
The Coffey Brothers (Joe & Mark Coffey) defeated Raul Mendoza & Humberto Carrillo in 5:44 after a lariat
Carrillo showed off his athleticism early on but got pounced into the corner by Joe Coffey after a failed moonsault attempt. The Coffeys took over from there and Joe did his butterfly spin into a butterfly suplex.
Carrillo managed a hot tag and Mendoza ran wild for a bit on both heels. Mendoza and Carrillo hit stereo dives to opposite sides of the ring, taking out both Coffeys. They hit a beautiful moonsault/450 combination on Mark Coffey, but Joe made the save. Seconds later, Joe hit his lariat for the win.
– Kassius Ohno was interviewed backstage by Radzi Chinyanganya. Ohno said he was there to show everyone the authentic European and UK style. He picked on Ligero for taking up to three bookings in a day, saying quality counted above quantity.
– A recap of WALTER vs. Dunne aired with members of the roster giving their opinion. Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner said they had no opinion. Jordan Devlin said he couldn’t care less about a rematch between WALTER and Dunne. WALTER walked up to him and they had a brief staredown.
“Bomber” Dave Mastiff defeated Kona Reeves in 4:35 after a cannonball senton
They locked up and Reeves actually pushed Mastiff into the corner. They fought for position for a while and Mastiff finally took him down. Mastiff applied his kneeling abdominal stretch and rained down elbows on Reeves.
Mastiff went for the cannonball into the corner, but Reeves fled to ringside. Reeves actually had Mastiff in a submission, but he escaped, hit a running crossbody and a deadlift German suplex, then a missile dropkick into the corner. Mastiff followed with the cannonball senton into the corner for the win.
– Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster talked about Moustache Mountain.
– Radzi interviewed Mastiff as he went backstage. He was confronted by Wolfgang. They traded words and started shoving each other, but they were broken up before anything could happen.
Rhea Ripley defeated Kacy Catanzaro in 3:19 after hitting Riptide
Catanzaro showed off her athleticism, but Ripley rag-dolled her around. Ripley hit a delayed vertical suplex and held up Catanzaro for a long time. Catanzaro staged a brief comeback. She got caught off a body press but managed to turn it into a small package for a near fall. Ripley then quickly hit the Riptide for the win.
After the match, Ripley got back in the ring, locked Catanzaro in her inverted cloverleaf, and picked her up with the move, which looked impressive.
– Backstage, Ripley further confronted Catanzaro and started berating her, but Piper Niven walked up and Ripley walked off.
– Radzi tried to interview Jinny, but she just stared at him and walked off.
Non-title match: Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams defeated NXT UK Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) in 11:20 by countout
Gibson cut a promo, talking about how The Grizzled Young Veterans were the best tag team anywhere and the NXT UK Tag Team titles would soon be the most important titles in WWE.
Jordan looked good against both champions early on. Williams looked to pick up where his partner left off, but Gibson pulled Drake to safety at ringside. Williams ran wild for a bit but eventually was overwhelmed again by the heels.
Gibson threw Williams into the barriers on the outside, then locked in his sitting Cobra Clutch. Drake tagged in and further worked over Williams. Williams briefly managed to attack Gibson on the apron, who fell to ringside and grabbed at his only recently healed ear. Williams finally made the hot tag and Jordan ran wild on Drake.
Gibson waved Drake off, still grabbing his ear on the outside, but still managed to make the save on a pin attempt by Jordan and Williams. Jordan hit the Swanton Bombay, but Gibson pulled Drake to the outside while he was being covered.
Drake wanted to get back in the ring, but Gibson pulled him away and the champs walked off, taking the countout loss.
Pete Dunne speaks
Dunne said he would not walk away after just one loss. They showed clips of Dunne at various NXT and WWE events over the past two years. Dunne talked about all his successes: winning the WWE UK title, main eventing TakeOver, being on top in NXT, and being in the Royal Rumble and on Raw.
Dunne said he knew what it meant to be a champion and asked WALTER for a rematch.
Next week —
Kassius Ohno will face Ligero, while Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster will take on Tyler Bate & Trent Seven.
The Braehead Arena is hosting NXT UK tapings this Friday and Saturday.
WALTER defeated Dunne for the title at NXT TakeOver: New York. The finish of the match was WALTER powerbombing Dunne off the top rope and then hitting a top rope splash to become champion.
WALTER made his NXT UK debut at UK TakeOver: Blackpool in January and began his program with Dunne. He’s the third person to hold the WWE UK Championship since it was established in January 2017, joining Dunne and Tyler Bate.
Dunne held the title for 685 days before losing it to WALTER.
Jordan Devlin defeated Dan Moloney in a fun opener. Kassius Ohno talked about why he attacked Amir Jordan after their match last week, then ran down Travis Banks.
Rhea Ripley defeated Xia Brookside in a hard-fought match in which Brookside showed a lot of heart. As Ripley proclaimed to be the dominant woman in NXT UK, Piper Niven made her first appearance on NXT UK television to dispute that claim.
Mark Andrews and Noam Dar fought to a no contest, when an inverted rana by Andrews went awry, rendering both men unable to continue.
In the main event segment, Pete Dunne and WALTER signed the contract for their WWE United Kingdom Championship match at NXT TakeOver: New York.
Full rundown —
The show opened with a graphic announcing that Pete Dunne and WALTER would be signing the contract tonight for their upcoming WWE UK Championship match at NXT TakeOver: New York.
Jordan Devlin pinned Dan Moloney in 4:28 after a backdrop driver
Devlin took over right away and toyed with Moloney for a bit. Moloney came back by throwing Devlin into the corner and hitting a few chops and punches, but Devlin quickly turned things back around with his uranage/standing moonsault combination for a two count.
Moloney staged another comeback as he hit a high back body drop and threw Devlin to ringside, but the Irishman snapped Moloney’s neck on the rope and hit a springboard cutter for another two count. Devlin then stopped Moloney with a headbutt and hit his pull-up backdrop driver for the win.
Kassius Ohno addressed his actions from last week
Kassius Ohno came out with a mic and said that NXT UK management told him to come out and explain his actions from last week. He said he wanted to make sure he didn’t come off phony and staged, so he read a totally phony apology off his smartphone.
Ohno said he shouldn’t have revived Amir Jordan just to knock him out again, but it just felt so good to do so. He said he could have gone anywhere, but chose to come to NXT UK. He said “some kid” came out after his match last week, a guy from New Zealand “mimicking a wrestler,” Travis Banks. Ohno has his eyes set on the prize — and if the Kiwi Buzzsaw ever found himself opposite Ohno in a ring, he would be a broken little buzzsaw.
– A video of Dave Mastiff in the gym aired. He talked about growing up and said he had to prove himself and never show weakness. Mastiff said that’s what he still does to this day.
– A graphic announced Toni Storm would defend her NXT UK Women’s Championship against Jinny in two weeks.
– A video of Jinny from the WWE tryouts in India aired. She said WWE chose her and not Storm to attend the tryouts, because Jinny was a better wrestler and the people needed a hero, which was her, not Storm.
Rhea Ripley pinned Xia Brookside in 7:21 after Riptide
Ripley laughed at Brookside, while Brookside looked a bit concerned. Ripley threw her around in the beginning, but Brookside briefly came back with a standing headlock. She got overwhelmed quickly, as Ripley slammed her and kept working her over.
Ripley hit a prolonged vertical suplex for a near fall. As she tried another suplex shortly afterwards, Brookside turned the attempt into a small package for a two count, then followed up with a number of dropkicks. Ripley eventually plucked her out of mid-air and tried her inverted cloverleaf, but Brookside made the ropes before she could apply the hold. Brookside then followed up with a twirling headscissors and double knees to the back of the head, sending Ripley head-first into the turnbuckles.
Brookside went to the top, but Ripley attacked her and went for a superplex. Brookside escaped from that attempt, put Ripley in the Tree of Woe, and hit a basement dropkick, then sent her to ringside and followed up with a high crossbody off the top to the outside.
Back in the ring, Brookside hit a top rope codebreaker for a near fall, and Ripley looked to be in trouble. Brookside went for a crucifix into a sunset flip, but Ripley wouldn’t budge and picked her up from the mat, then hit Riptide for the victory.
After the match, Ripley cut a promo, asking Brookside if she was serious. Ripley said she showed Brookside what her nightmare really was. Ripley said she was the dominant woman in NXT UK. At that point, the music of Piper Niven, the woman formerly known as Viper, hit and she came out as Ripley looked on in disbelief.
Ripley quickly left the ring as Niven entered. She looked at Ripley and said “The most dominant woman in NXT UK? Not anymore!”
– Radzi Chinyanganya found Isla Dawn backstage and asked her about what she makes of Niven. Dawn was quickly interrupted by Kay Lee Ray, who told her that them all being from Scotland doesn’t mean they’re all friends. Kay Lee Ray told Dawn that she might be next.
– A special look on WALTER aired, using footage from matches in PROGRESS, wXw, and NXT UK. A number of people — such as Aleister Black, Dave Mastiff, Drake Wuertz, and Robbie Brookside — commented on WALTER’s style and progress as a wrestler over the past few years.
– Radzi interviewed Trent Seven, asking him about the recent comments by Joe Coffey where Coffey referred to him as “dead weight.” Seven said that the Seven Nation Army was behind him and he was looking forward to shutting Coffey up.
– Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner were shown backstage, looking at a smartphone and being livid. They talked to each other in German and said “look at those to idiots.” Barthel prompted Aichner to turn the phone around, displaying the video of Kenny Williams and Amir Jordan in the gym from last week’s episode.
Barthel and Aichner said that there was nothing funny about the wrestling business and that it meant a lot more to them than to any of the fans. They proclaimed they would go through Jordan and Williams if that’s what it takes to get ahead. Barthel and Aichner said that to them, the mat is sacred.
Mark Andrews and Noam Dar went to a no contest in 12:35
Dar worked over Andrews’ arm and backed him into a corner. They tried to one-up each other, with each wrestler avoiding the others’ moves. After some back and forth, Dar crotched Andrews on the top rope and went for a quick cover. After some offense by Dar, Andrews came back with a sunset flip, a striking combination, and an enzuigiri.
Andrews followed with a running flip cover and Stomp 182, then hit a dive on Dar, who had fled to ringside. A corkscrew moonsault by Andrews hit its mark for a near fall, but he then missed a corner charge and quickly found himself in an ankle lock by Dar.
Andrews managed to escape and throw Dar to the outside once more, then hit a moonsault off the apron. He snapped Dar’s neck on the top rope, but got kicked mid-move as he attempted to springboard back into the ring.
Dar hit a running snapmare that sent Andrews into the steel steps at ringside. Both men took some time to recover and Dar locked in another ankle lock back in the ring. Andrews eventually made the ropes, but he sold his knee from the move. He hit an enzuigiri off a dragon screw attempt and hit a moonsault on Dar, but landed on his knees in the process. They traded punches and Andrews got a backslide for another near fall.
Andrews hit Stundog Millionaire off a counter for another two count, then hit an inverted rana but slipped off and crashed into Dar’s knee, prompting both men to writhe on the mat in pain. Referee Drake Wuertz threw up the X sign and had the doctor check out Dar. He ruled the match a no contest, as neither wrestler could continue.
Dar and Andrews were both stretchered off by the medical crew as they threw their thumbs up for the crowd.
– A video for the upcoming NXT UK tapings in April, July, and at Download Festival in June aired, followed by a recap of the previous match.
– A graphic announced Isla Dawn vs. Kay Lee Ray and Trent Seven vs. Joe Coffey for next week.
Pete Dunne vs. WALTER contract signing
Johnny Saint and Sid Scala came to the ring among “Johnny Saint” chants. Scala quickly introduced the challenger, WALTER, who came out wearing a black coat, shirt, and dress pants. He shook Saint’s hand but otherwise looked all business.
Dunne came out looking similarly serious and the two opponents faced off over the table. Scala repeatedly had to ask them to take their seats, which they eventually did without taking their eyes off each other. Scala called it the biggest match in NXT UK history and one which the European wrestling scene had demanded. It would now take place over the biggest weekend in wrestling.
Scala asked WALTER if he wanted to say anything, but WALTER pushed the microphone on the table in front of him away, signed the contract, and pushed it over to Dunne.
Dunne decided that he was not going to stay as silent as the Ring General and said “You don’t have to say anything. It’s not just the WWE Universe that wants this match. I want this match. And at TakeOver: New York, you’re going to know what everyone else here has known for the past 647 days. I am the Bruiserweight and NXT UK belongs to me. And the WWE UK championship is and always will be mine.”
As Dunne turned to leave, WALTER decided to reply (initially in German): “Peter. Deine Zeit ist abgelaufen. (Peter. Your time is up). Don’t look at me like that, you know exactly I could just reach over and put you through that table. Like I just said, your time is up. And in New York City, the reign of the Bruiserweight will end. Because this title is mine.”
Dunne and WALTER then faced off one final time as the show went off the air.
Next week —
Kay Lee Ray faces Isla Dawn and Trent Seven takes on Joe Coffey.
Johnny Saint and Sid Scala announced that Pete Dunne would defend his WWE United Kingdom title at TakeOver: New York, prompting Dunne to come out and demand the match be against WALTER.
After a few weeks of building up the match, Eddie Dennis beat Ligero. The Wild Boar & Primate appeared as a new team called The Hunt and quickly destroyed Lewis Howley & Sam Stoker. Kassius Ohno, technically in his NXT UK debut (at least in the actual UK — he was on the show against WALTER in a match taped at Royal Rumble Axxess a few weeks ago), beat Ashton Smith and attacked him post-match, prompting Travis Banks to come out.
In an excellent main event, Tyler Bate defeated James Drake, cementing British Strong Styles’ claim to an NXT UK Tag Team title rematch.
Full rundown —
– The show was opened by NXT UK general manager Johnny Saint and his assistant Sid Scala with an important announcement. They announced that Pete Dunne would be defending his WWE UK title at NXT TakeOver: New York over WrestleMania weekend.
Scala said the question is now who Dunne will defend the title against. But before he could come to that, Dunne came to the ring, grabbed the mic, and just said: “Give me WALTER!” before leaving again.
– Toni Storm was being interviewed backstage about what Jinny had said about her last week. Storm laughed and said that while they were very different, they both really love gold. Storm said she has the NXT UK Women’s Championship — while Jinny only has the kind of gold you can buy in a store.
Storm said that when Jinny is in the ring with her, Jinny actually has to work hard. As Storm went down the stairs, she passed Rhea Ripley and they gave each other the stink-eye. Ripley said she heard what Xia Brookside said about her last week and called her out.
Eddie Dennis pinned Ligero in 9:10 after hitting the Severn Bridge and the Next Stop Driver
They started off strong with Ligero showing some speed on offense, but he got caught when launching himself over the top onto Dennis on the outside. Dennis unceremoniously slammed him on the apron.
From that point, Dennis took over and just beat up Ligero mercilessly, almost knocking him out with a stiff forearm. Ligero managed to get back on his feet and hold onto the ropes, hitting an innovative facebuster onto his thigh from a lucha style counter. This time around, Ligero hit his mark on launching himself over the top rope and hit a nice hurricanrana on Dennis on the outside in the process.
Ligero hit a splash from climbing up onto the ropes in the middle of the ring for a near fall, but he missed a somersault plancha off the top, prompting Dennis to strike him down again. Ligero countered the Next Stop Driver and hit an enzuigiri. Ligero got caught off his springboard DDT off the ropes, but he managed to turn it into a Code Red for another near fall.
Dennis stopped another aerial attack attempt short and hit an impressive deadlift vertical superplex off the middle rope. He followed up with the Severn Bridge and finally hit the Next Stop Driver for the victory.
– Amir Jordan talked to Kenny Williams backstage and they argued about whether they deserved a shot at the Tag Team titles and who would talk to Saint about it. Williams instead prompted him to put in the work in the gym to do a sort of pull-up/push-up on a rack. It ended with Jordan wanting Williams to dance with him, prompting Williams to walk off. So, no idea if they’ll get their title shot or not.
The Hunt (Primate Jay Melrose & Wild Boar Mike Hitchman) defeated Lewis Howley & Sam Stoker in 2:37 after a pounce/backdrop driver combination
Howley and Stoker came out wearing dress shirts, while The Hunt came out wearing boar and gorilla masks respectively and looked like a real killer team right from the get go.
Primate started out with Stoker and hit an overhead suplex before tagging out. Boar threw him around a bit before tagging back out as The Hunt hit a double slam and Primate threw Boar onto Stoker.
Primate had his way with Stoker and the Hunt tagged in and out in quick succession, hitting one innovative move after the other on their opponents. It ended with Boar hitting a pounce on Howley, then throwing him into Primate — who transitioned the momentum into a high-angle back drop driver for the win.
Kassius Ohno pinned Amir Jordan in 4:16 after a ripcord elbow to the back of the head
They bumped fists to start out before Ohno quickly started working the arm and applying wristlocks and hammerlocks on the ground in order to demonstrate his knowledge of the European style.
Jordan tried to slam Ohno but couldn’t get him up. He managed to throw Ohno out of the ring, but got caught with a thigh to the head on a dive attempt. Ohno suplexed him for a near fall, then locked in a submission. Jordan escaped but once more failed on an attempt of a Samoan drop.
Jordan came back with some offense and finally hit the move, but only got a two count off it. Ohno hit a boot to the face and a back senton, then hit the ripcord elbow to the back of the head for the win.
After the match, Ohno talked to Jordan and helped him to his feet. He did Jordan’s raised arm pose and offered his fist for another fist bump, but then quickly hit another spinning elbow, knocking Jordan out again.
Travis Banks came out and briefly had words with Ohno before looking out for Jordan. Ohno tried entering the ring again but got scared off by Banks and finally left.
– Gallus were shown in a pub. Joe Coffey said they need to re-establish dominance again in order to stay on top.
Tyler Bate pinned James Drake in 10:58 after the Spiral Tap
They started out quick — but neither one could get an advantage. Drake worked over the arm, but Bate escaped and hit a standing dropkick. Bate got Drake up for the airplane spin, but Drake escaped after a few rounds and sent Bate to the outside. Drake rammed Bate into the barriers and took over once they were back inside.
Bate eventually came back with a flurry of punches, a standing hurricanrana, and a high-angle back body drop. He hit a knee lift off a reversal, then followed with a flying European uppercut and an exploder suplex. Drake moved out of the way of a standing Shooting Star, but Bate landed on his feet and just hit another one that connected like it was nothing.
Drake managed to pull Bate out of the ring, but he got sent into the dasher boards on a reversal. Drake then hit a front face slam from a tombstone position for a near fall to even the odds again.
They traded roll-up attempts and jackknife covers until Bate connected with his springboard lariat off the ropes. Drake countered out of the Tyler Driver ’97 and hit a running dropkick into the corner for another near fall.
Drake missed a 450 off the top but landed on his feet, only to eat an exploder into the corner. Bate then hit the Spiral Tap off the top for the victory.
– As Bate was celebrating, the cameras went backstage and Scala and Saint confirmed that WALTER would indeed challenge Dunne for the WWE UK title at NXT TakeOver: New York.
Wolfgang pinned Flash Morgan Webster, while Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams were successful against Saxon Huxley & Tyson T-Bone.
Kay Lee Ray made her NXT UK debut and quickly beat Candy Floss. Noam Dar also made his presence on the brand known and got on Mark Andrews’ bad side.
In the main event, WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne & WALTER beat the Coffey Brothers in a very good match that led to a dramatic scene between Dunne and WALTER as the show went off the air.
Full rundown —
– Sid Scala and Johnny Saint entered the arena and were stopped by a reporter asking them what to expect. They said Kay Lee Ray would make her debut and WALTER would team with Pete Dunne to take on the Coffey Brothers. After the opening, a graphic of that match was shown.
Wolfgang pinned Flash Morgan Webster in 5:25 after the Caber Toss
Webster started off strong with quick offense but was stopped once Wolfgang threw him into the turnbuckles and took over. After some minutes of being pummeled, Webster came back with consecutive dives on Wolfgang, including a somersault plancha.
Back in the ring, Webster hit a somersault senton on a crouching Wolfgang. The big Scot tried some sort of aerial attack as well, but an enzuigiri from Webster sent him toppling to ringside.
Webster tried swinging around the post with a kick, but he got caught and slammed to the mats at ringside and powerbombed into the post. After that, Wolfgang hit the Caber Toss for the victory.
That was not enough for Wolfgang, as he shoved the referee aside and attacked Webster some more until he was finally sent out of the ring. He jaw-jacked with a fan before going to the back.
– A graphic announced that we’d hear from Kassius Ohno next.
– A short highlight clip on the Coffey Brothers aired.
– Ohno said that it was mind-blowing that the guy to bring an authentic European style to NXT UK was an American. He said he had rounds matches in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK and stood toe to toe with the likes of William Regal and Robbie Brookside.
Ohno said the current guys grew up on Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels and not Marty Jones. He said they’d experience British wrestling at his hands.
Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams defeated Saxon Huxley & Tyson T-Bone in 5:57 after Jordan hit the Swanton Bomb-ay on Huxley
Williams and Huxley started out, and as the bigger man pummeled Williams, he quickly found himself on the lower end of a lucha-style roll-up. The faces briefly dominated both their opponents — until Jordan found himself in the bad guys’ corner and was hit by a hard clothesline by T-Bone on a distraction.
T-Bone worked Jordan over for a few minutes, but Jordan was able to hit an enzuigiri and made the hot tag.
Williams ran wild on both heels, including hitting a bulldog on Huxley into the turnbuckle. Williams and Jordan then hit stereo dives on both men on opposite sides of the ring. Williams took Huxley down and Jordan hit the Swanton Bomb-ay for the win.
– A video on future NXT UK tapings in April, July, and at Download Festival aired.
– Jinny was being interviewed. She said she was sick and tired of hearing Toni Storm’s name. She doesn’t care about Storm — she only cares about the NXT UK Women’s title. She ended the interview and walked off in disgust.
– Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness discussed Jinny’s statement, then transitioned into a video on Eddie Dennis.
– Dennis said he’d face Ligero next week — a man who he respects, but who is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’ll be the victim of the “Malevolent Welshman” Eddie Dennis.
Noam Dar promo
Dar walked to the ring for a promo. He said he was back in NXT UK and was here to stay. Dar said he kept an eye on the brand. It has been doing pretty well and it will do better when they take the show to the “most beautiful place in the UK” — Glasgow, Scotland.
Dar mocked the crowd as they started booing. He said the roster had been doing an okay job, but the brand needed him. He said the contract was signed and he was here to stay, unlike other UK wrestlers who went to 205 Live and were sent packing.
Mark Andrews, who was one of the names Dar mentioned as failing on 205 Live, came out and was upset. As Dar was looking to cheap shot him, Andrews attacked him and sent him packing.
– A promo taped at the NXT UK Performance Center with Xia Brookside aired. She said her name had at times made it difficult for her. She said she hated bullies and the biggest bully was Rhea Ripley and she’d not be bullied around anymore.
– A graphic announced Kay Lee Ray’s debut was next.
– A video package on The Wild Boar and Primate aired and promised the hunt would begin next week.
– A short highlight video on Pete Dunne and WALTER aired.
Kay Lee Ray defeated Candy Floss in 2:18 after a Widow’s Peak Slam
Kay Lee Ray started out with arm twists and ringers, then applied a keylock and rammed Candy Floss into the corner. She kept working the arm and had Candy in pain. Candy rolled her up, but she quickly got overwhelmed again.
Kay Lee Ray hit a chop, a crescent kick, and then a Widow’s Peak into a face slam for the quick win.
– Moustache Mountain talked about their progress in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. They called out the Grizzled Young Veterans for their rematch.
– A graphic plugged the main event.
– Sid Scala announced Tyler Bate vs. James Drake as next week’s main event.
WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne & WALTER beat The Coffey Brothers in 16:20 after WALTER powerbombed Mark Coffey for the pin
The Coffeys came out with Wolfgang, while WALTER and Dunne entered separately. Dunne and Mark Coffey started out — and Dunne quickly started working over Mark’s wrist and arm.
Mark tried the same, but Dunne escaped and punished Mark. WALTER asked for a tag and got it, then demonstrated how to properly separate a man from his arm. He brushed off a chop by Mark, who tagged out to his brother.
WALTER escaped from a side headlock, then egged Joe on to try and shoulder block him down. On the third attempt, WALTER swung into the ropes, then quickly applied a Gojira clutch before easily tackling Joe to the mat.
Dunne came in, but WALTER quickly wanted back in and had his way. As the future opponents took turns chopping Joe, they faced off but quickly got attacked again. They hit stereo slams on both Coffeys onto the apron before facing off in the ring again.
WALTER took over on Joe before Dunne came back in again and swiftly hit a dropkick to Joe’s knee. Dunne went for a surfboard, but he settled on driving Joe’s knees down into the mat. A blind tag by Mark led to him hitting a German suplex on a surprised Dunne. Joe rammed WALTER into the barricades on the outside.
The heels took turns working Dunne over in the ring as WALTER slowly got back up on the apron. After a backbreaker by Joe, Mark stomped a fallen Dunne. Dunne briefly recovered to hit a snap German on Mark. Dunne could not make the tag, but he managed to do so seconds later.
WALTER ran wild on both Coffeys, breaking a double clothesline to hit a lariat and a leaping Gojira clutch, a running big boot, a German, and a sit-down splash all in short succession. Joe hit a German on WALTER, but he quickly was slammed to the mat with a huge uranage overhead slam.
Dunne was back in and Joe tried for a step-up back body press, but he got punched out of mid-air by Dunne. Mark hit a Polish Hammer on Dunne, but WALTER blind tagged in and hit a shotgun dropkick, a butterfly suplex, and finally locked in a Boston crab while Dunne hit a plancha on Joe at ringside.
Joe tried chopping WALTER, who didn’t flinch but released the hold and chopped a hole in Joe’s chest. The Coffeys managed to hit a kind of Doomsday Device, prompting Dunne to make the save.
As WALTER had Mark in a Gojira clutch, Joe tried to pull him to safety — but the power of WALTER led to Joe actually getting pulled over the rope into the ring and ending up in a waist lock by his brother. Dunne snapped Joe’s fingers on the top rope and WALTER hit a huge double German suplex on both Coffeys.
As chaos broke out, Joe grabbed the UK title and went to hit Dunne with it but got thwarted. Mark picked up the title and went to hit Dunne with it. Dunne moved as WALTER went for a big boot that hit Mark, who was swiftly powerbombed for the victory.
The announcers speculated on whether WALTER was aiming the boot at Dunne or was actually trying to save him from the attack.
WALTER and Dunne faced off with the UK title on the mat between them. As Dunne went to slowly pick it up, WALTER stepped on it, then picked it up, looked at it for a long time, and finally handed it to Dunne before walking off.
Next week —
Tyler Bate faces James Drake, Eddie Dennis takes on Ligero, and Kassius Ohno aims to teach the NXT UK roster about the proper British style of wrestling.
Editor’s note: This article references spoilers from NXT UK episodes that have yet to air.
The WWE United Kingdom Championship will be on the line at NXT’s WrestleMania weekend TakeOver special.
At Saturday’s NXT UK television tapings in Coventry, England, Johnny Saint announced that Pete Dunne will defend his UK title at TakeOver: New York. Dunne told Saint and Sid Scala to give him WALTER.
WALTER debuted at UK TakeOver: Blackpool last month, confronting Dunne after Dunne had defended his title against Joe Coffey. A matchup between Dunne and WALTER has been building since then. They teamed together at yesterday’s NXT UK tapings, with Dunne and WALTER having a staredown after the match and WALTER stepping on Dunne’s title belt.
This will be the first time the UK title has been defended on the main card of an NXT United States TakeOver event since Dunne defeated Tyler Bate to become champion at TakeOver: Chicago in May 2017.
The Barclays Center in Brooklyn is hosting TakeOver: New York on Friday, April 5.
Taped January 25-27 at Royal Rumble Axxess at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona
Quick rundown —
Toni Storm and Rhea Ripley had a confrontation in the ring, with Storm getting the better of it leading into their NXT UK Women’s Championship match next week.
205 Live’s Noam Dar beat Jordan Devlin with some help from Travis Banks, while Jinny defeated NXT’s Mia Yim. In the main event, WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne beat Wolfgang in a non-title match.
Full results —
– Toni Storm came out with the NXT UK Women’s Championship and talked about how she beat Rhea Ripley at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool and would kick her ass again.
This brought out a very angry Ripley, who said that Storm had merely gotten lucky. Ripley brought up that she was the first-ever NXT UK Women’s Champion. She was sick and tired of being compared to Storm — people should compare Storm to her.
Ripley said she hated Storm’s stupid hair, face, and — most of all — that Storm has her championship. Storm asked if they had talked enough, took Ripley down, and started beating on her. Ripley quickly retreated to ringside.
– A graphic announced Noam Dar vs. Jordan Devlin was next.
Noam Dar pinned Jordan Devlin in 10:17 with a roll-up
They traded offense early on until Dar took over with a takedown and a headbutt. Devlin came back with his uranage/standing moonsault combo. Devlin hit a high inverted backbreaker and started working Dar over with forearms.
Devlin stayed on the offensive and hit a suplex for a two count. Moments later, he missed a reverse body press off the second turnbuckle, allowing Dar to take over and follow with a release Northern Lights suplex. He caught an enzuigiri by Devlin and turned it into an ankle lock, but Devlin escaped and hit the Irish Ace Cutter for a near fall.
Devlin managed to hold on after being thrown over the top, but Dar kicked his legs from under him, sending him to ringside. Dar hurt his ankle when trying to kick Devlin against the ring steps, prompting Travis Banks to come out. That allowed Dar to send Devlin into the steps.
Devlin rolled up Dar and put his feet on the rope, but Banks was there to push them off. Devlin decked Banks but was distracted enough to allow Dar to roll him up for the victory.
After the match, Devlin attacked Dar and hit his pull-up backdrop driver on him. Banks then pulled Devlin out of the ring and they brawled to the back.
– A graphic announced a match between WALTER and NXT’s Kassius Ohno airing in two weeks. Storm defending her NXT UK Women’s Championship against Ripley will air next week.
Jinny pinned Mia Yim with her feet on the rope in 7:57 after hitting a kick to the face
They traded submissions early with Jinny slightly gaining the upper hand. Yim followed up with a number of roll-ups for some near falls. Jinny hit a running hurricanrana, but Yim cartwheeled out of it.
Yim went for an armbar, but Jinny reached the ropes before any real damage could be done. Jinny repeatedly slapped Yim and rammed her face into the mat. Jinny caught Yim in a seated wheelbarrow surfboard, but Yim managed to get her fingers on the bottom rope.
Yim then took over with strikes, kicks, and a cannonball in the corner for another near fall, then followed up with a German suplex into the corner, sending Jinny to the outside. As Jinny came back into the ring, she managed to hit a kick on Yim and pinned her with her feet on the rope.
– A graphic announced The Coffey Brothers taking on Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews for next week.
Non-title match: WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne submitted Wolfgang with an armbar in 10:43
Wolfgang threw his jacket at Dunne as the match started. They battled for position until Dunne shoved Wolfgang to the mat. After some stalling by Wolfgang, he hit Dunne with a stiff forearm that knocked the champ down.
After some back and forth, Dunne came back with an attack to Wolfgang’s knee from the turnbuckle. He went for a heel hook, but Wolfgang escaped. They ended up at ringside as Wolfgang further beat down Dunne. Dunne came back with attacks on Wolfgang’s fingers and arm and went for a double wristlock but ate a stiff gutbuster for his trouble.
Dunne finally came back with a rope-assisted release German suplex and a striking combination. He backflipped over Wolfgang and hit an X-Plex for a near fall.
Dunne stomped on Wolfgang’s head. He locked in a triangle and started bending Wolfgang’s fingers but got picked up and powerbombed into the corner. Wolfgang followed up with a suplex but couldn’t quite get the victory.
Wolfgang went to the top but got dropkicked in the face and then superplexed by Dunne. Dunne looked to snap Wolfgang’s fingers, but the big Scot escaped and hit a gutbuster. As Wolfgang went for the Howling (his somersault senton off the top), Dunne caught him in mid-air with an armbar and forced him to tap out.
Next week —
Toni Storm looks to defend her NXT UK Women’s Championship against Rhea Ripley in a rematch from NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool. The Coffey Brothers also take on Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews.
WWE’s first-ever NXT UK TakeOver special takes place at 2 p.m. Eastern time (7 p.m. GMT/8 p.m. CET for those in Europe) in Blackpool, England today.
In the main event, Pete Dunne is looking to defend his WWE UK Championship and carry on his 603-day reign against Joe Coffey. The feud between these two has been brewing for months now, with both men’s respective groups, British Strong Style and Gallus, getting involved.
Dunne snapped Coffey’s fingers during a contract signing a few weeks ago and got powerbombed through a table for his troubles. Most recently, Gallus were victorious over British Strong Style in a six-man tag team match during the go-home show for this TakeOver special. This should be a hard-hitting match with both men wanting to prove they can carry the main event of the brand.
On the undercard, Dunne’s BSS brethren, Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven), are facing Zack Gibson & James Drake in the finals of a tournament for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship in what should be a strong match. Bate and Seven beat Gallus in the semifinals, while Gibson & Drake defeated Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster.
In a rematch of the finals from another tournament, NXT UK Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley will defend her title against Toni Storm. These two had a great match back in August, when Ripley first won the title and Storm legitimately injured her back during the match and was out of action for about a month. Both women have looked strong in recent matches on NXT UK, so I expect another good match between them.
Dave Mastiff will take on fellow monster Eddie Dennis in a no DQ match. Mastiff initially beat Dennis a few months ago in their first match and the feud has been brewing ever since, with both men attacking the other and a second match ending in a double disqualification. This is a modern take on an unstoppable force meeting an unmovable object and will be a proper mean guy match.
Jordan Devlin also will face Travis Banks in what will be a great platform for both men to showcase their in-ring prowess. The story here is a simple one, in that the patriotic Irishman is blaming his opponent from New Zealand of not loving his home country as much as Devlin loves his.
There will also be a pre-show on the WWE Network starting at 1:30 p.m. Eastern (6.30 GMT/7.30 CET).
**********
Pre-show:
Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness opened the show with shots of the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool and ran down the card. A number of recap videos summarized the stories behind the individual matches.
A video on the new WWE UK Performance Center aired, with highlights of Paul Levesque’s speech and sound bits by Charlotte Flair, Finn Balor and Pete Dunne.
Radzi Chinyanganya had breaking news from backstage and they showed a video of Travis Banks the arena and getting attacked by Jordan Devlin, throwing him into a stack of backstage ramps and a wall, looking to injure Banks’ left knee. Radzi stated that Banks had been medically cleared for his match with Devlin though.
Main show:
A video recapped the history of NXT UK talent, starting with the original UK Championship tournament from Blackpool in January of 2017 leading to this first NXT UK TakeOver.
1. NXT UK Tag Team Championship tournament finals: James Drake & Zack Gibson beat Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) in 23:46 after hitting Ticket to Mayhem on Seven
This was a great opener, showcasing the strengths of all four men. Story of the match was Seven first injuring his left arm on a dive, then also getting his knee attacked and eventually succumbing to the heels.
Bate and Seven were wearing red and black tights, in a tribute to the British Bulldogs. Johnny Saint presented the NXT UK tag team titles in the ring.
The fans were crazy right from the get-go, cheering on Tyler Bate and taking off their shoes to show their disdain for Gibson. Early story was Bate countering Gibson’s offense, including impressively flipping backwards through a bridge on his neck on a pinning attempt. Moustache Mountain were on offense in the first few minutes, including Bate cat and mousing his way around Drake in a way that I’m sure made Johnny Saint proud.The heels finally took over around the 7 minute mark by outsmarting Seven outside the ring, and Gibson nailing him in the throat.
Gibson and Drake hit their move where Gibson picked up Seven for a backbreaker on the outside and Drake dove over the top rope onto him. Seven bled from the back of the head, courtesy of a stiff elbow by Drake. Seven was in trouble for a few minutes until he finally managed a hot tag to Bate, who managed to pick up first Drake and eventually both Drake and Gibson for an airplane spin to massive “Big Strong Boi” chants. He also gave Drake and exploder from the apron onto Gibson on the outside, following by a running shooting star from the apron on both on the outside. In another hommage to the Bulldogs, Seven hit a running power slam, followed by a diving headbutt by Bate.
Gibson foiled a snap dragon/lariat combo by hitting a Ticket to Ride on Seven, then Helter Skelter, followed by a 450 by Drake for a close near fall. Gibson then locked in Shankly Gates on Seven and Drake managed to lock in the same move to Bate as he tried to make the save, until Bate managed to pick Drake up and slam him into Gibson as we entered the home stretch of the match. Moustache Mountain finalls hit the snbapdragon/lariat, but Seven’s arm was injured so the move didn’t it with full force and Drake kicked out. Gibson pulled Bate off the apron on his shoulders and Drake speared him on a dive in a “holy shit” kind of moment. Gibson and Drake finally hit Ticket to Mayhem on Seven to become the NXT UK tag team champions.
Johnny Saint and Sid Scala were out to congratulate the new champs.
“The Irish Ace” Jordan Devlin vs. “The Kiwi Buzzsaw” Travis Banks never took place
The scene of Devlin attacking Banks as he arrived at the building aired again before the match. Banks came out slightly limping, wincing as he crouched down during his entrance, slapping his knee repeatedly. Banks immediately attacked Devlin before the bell as he came down the ramp. Devlin threw Banks into the steps knee first before they kept brawling around ringside. Devlin repeatedly attacked Banks’ knee, kicking it on the steel steps. NXT UK Assistant GM Sid Scala came out with a number of referees to break things up. They eventually took Banks backstage as Devlin cut a promo in the ring. Johnny Saint came out and talked to Scala, and stated they had a backup plan as they were afraid Devlin might try something like that.
Finn Balor then came out as a replacement and the place exploded. Balor of course, is Devlin’s original trainer.
2. Finn Balor beat “The Irish Ace” Jordan Devlin in 11:45 after hitting Coup de Grâces
The gist of the match here was Devlin taking his former trainer to the limit, thwarting Coup de Grâces three times before finally succumbing to the move. They had a fast-paced, technical match with lots of hard hits and often countering or mirroring each other’s offense.
They went face to face when Devlin slapped Balor, who responded with a striking combination. He went for Coupe de Grâces right away, but Devlin rolled out of the ring, thwarted Balor’s comeback and worked him over around ringside, before mocking Balor’s pose in the ring. Balor eventually took back over and went to the top for Coup de Grâces again but Devlin dropkicked him off the rope and to the outside, where he almost was counted out.
They traded chops until Devlin quickly hit his uranage/standing moonsault combo for a two count. Both men traded abdominal stretches and the story was that neither could get a real advantage over the other, as they knew each other’s moves so well. Devlin eventually hit a head butt and his pull up high angle back drop driver for a near fall.
Balor hit a penalty kick from the apron on Devlin and went up for Coup de Grâces a third time but again got thwarted. Devlin hit a beautiful moonsault but Balor got his knees up. Fourth time was the charm, as Balor finally hit Coup de Grâces for the win.
– Luke Menzies, a rugby player from 2007-2017, was shown in the crowd. Menzies signed in May of 2018 and has been on NXT but not NXT UK television yet.
3. No Disqualification: “Bomber” Dave Mastiff beat Eddie Dennis in 10:43 after hitting a rolling cannonball senton through a propped up table
This was the hard-hitting weapons match most people expected. Dennis was dominant throughout the match, using a cane, chair and table to beat down Mastiff and also exposed the floor on the outside. Mastiff fought back throughout the match and eventually managed to smash Dennis through a table for the win.
They started trading strikes, ending with Mastiff hitting a running cross body. They ended up outside and Dennis ended up being thrown in the steps. Mastiff waisted little time and pushed the steps into the ring, but Dennis got a Singapore cane from under the ring and clanked Mastiff in the skull with it, then hit a Russian leg sweep with the aid of his newly found weapon.
Mastiff took a number of licks with welts visibly building up, until he got hold of the weapon and used is against his nemesis. Dennis finally caught Mastiff off another cross body and hit a Black Hole Slam onto the steel steps for a near fall. After a chair got introduced, Dennis used a mistake by Mastiff and picked him off the ropes for the Severn Bridge, which looked impressive. Dennis got a table, which prompted a loud “tables, tables, tables” song by the fans, to the tune of “No Limit”, the 1990’s Eurodance hit.
Mastiff hit a rolling fireman’s carry on the exposed arena floor, followed by a senton. Dennis came back with the Next Stop Driver, which also was an impressive feat of strength. He tried another Severn Bridge, looking to smash Mastiff into a table propped up in the corner but he managed to escape, hit a release German and his rolling cannonball senton through the table for the victory.
– they showed Kay Lee Ray from Scotland and “Alpha Female” Jazzy Gabert from Germany in the audience. Both were in the 2017 Mae Young Classic. Ray was reported to be signing with WWE in recent weeks while Gabert was offered a deal back in 2017 but didn’t clear medicals due to herniated discs. She had surgery to fix that problem and was part of the recent WWE tryouts in Cologne, Germany as a spectator.
4. NXT UK Women’s Championship: Toni Storm beat Rhea Ripley (c) in 14:49 with Storm Zero to win the title
This was a hard-hitting strong style match with both women looking good. Toni was in trouble for most of the match as Rhea was dominating her for minutes at a time. This was a redemption story for Toni who won the Mae Young Classic before challenging for this title and eventually overcoming the odds against her bigger and stronger opponent.
They circled each other for a while, then Rhea attacked but neither woman could get an early advantage. Rhea fled from Toni but got wiped out by a dive from the challenger. Rhea started working over Toni’s back, trying to capitalize off her old injury and locked in some body scissors to put pressure on her lower back and hips. Rhea kept being the dominant force of the match with repeated suplexes, slams and legdrops, then rag dolled Toni around the ring.
Storm finally came back with a big head butt of a whip that put both women down. They traded strikes and transitioned into the Frye-Takayama spot. Storm got the better of it and hit tow Germans, but couldn’t get Storm Zero. Rhea tried for Riptide as well, but Toni thwarted that attempt as well. They traded submission holds with Ripley’s inverted clover leaf and Storm going for an ankle lock, then hitting a hip attack and a German suplex hold for a near fall.
Ripley hit Riptide around the 12 minute mark for a very close near fall. Ripley continued to beat her down with short arm clotheslines, but Toni escaped on the third attempt and hit Storm Zero for a near fall of her own. Storm then escaped another Riptide attempt and hit Storm Zero to win the NXT UK Championship for the first time. Toni went and celebrated with the fans in the crowd.
– Charlotte Flair was shown watching the show in the crowd.
5. WWE UK Championship: “The Bruiserweight” Pete Dunne (c) beat “The Iron King” Joe Coffey in 34:15 by submission from a sitting triangle and joint manipulation
This was a tremendous, highly dramatic match with both guys giving everything they had, taking a few brutal bumps and a number of near falls. Both were exhausted by the end and both hit thier finishers numerous times to no avail until Dunne finally managed to make The Iron King submit.
Coffey came out with the rest of Gallus. but they did not accompany him down the ramp while Dunne came out on his own. Coffey stood with his arms folded in the ring while Dunne looked on disgusted.
They traded arm and wrist locks early until Dunne briefly took over with some of his sadistic joint manipulation and submission attempts. Coffey tried for his discus lariat early but Dunne avoided it. Dunne kept going for moves that would weaken Coffey’s arms and hands. Coffey impressively transitioned a double wrist lock into a deadlift vertical suplex, but Dunne managed to swing back down and lock the move in again until Coffey finally hit a suplex to escape.
Dunne took a nasty spill on his face on a throw to the outside but quickly hit a back flip over Coffey off the steps and an enzuigiri to stun his challenger, but found himself on the receiving end of a high angle slam onto the rampway. Coffey took over the match at that point, primarily working over Dunne’s back until the Bruiserweight managed to stage a comeback with a number of hard strikes and hitting a moonsault quebrada to the outside and an X-Plex back in the ring but it was obvious his back was hurt. This led to Coffey hitting a big powerbomb for a close near fall, then locked in a Boston crab. It briefly looked like Dunne actually had passed out but he finally managed to make the ropes in dramatic fashion.
In a unique spot, they traded head butts to the shoulders and eventually, went both down. Dunne avoided the lariat, then hit an STO and locked in the Koji Clutch. Dunne then transitioned into an ankle lock off a deadlift into a tombstone by Coffey. Both men went for their finishers but neither could hit it, until Dunne finally managed to hit the Bitter End but Coffey kicked out at 2.9. They fought on the apron and Coffey hit a sit-down powerbomb onto the apron as both men fell to ringside and just made it back inside by 10.
Coffey rained down blows and stomps on the champion but the champ got his second win and came back with stomps of his own. In the melee that followed, Coffey hit the lariat, but Dunne again kicked out just barely as the crowd started going crazy. Dunne locked in an armbar which he managed to keep on even when Coffey lifted him onto the top rope and finally managed to slam him down with one arm.
Both men looked exhausted as the match went into what appeared to be its home stretch. They traded blows once more and Dunne had Coffey in the ropes but Coffey managed a come back with a Mount Everest German suplex for another near fall. Coffey then went for the Bitter End, but Dunne escaped and hit a Bitter End of his own but couldn’t get the pin as Coffey rolled out of the way. Coffey finally hit the discus lariat from the apron but it looked like he didn’t catch Dunne with full force.
They battled on the top rope and both fell down, with Coffey taking a nasty spill to the outside, then a few minutes later the same spot led to both tumbling to the outside and into the barrier but somehow made it back into the ring. Dunne hit a discus lariat and Bitter End but still couldn’t get the win. Dunne then locked in an arm bar and bent the fingers to finally make Coffey tap out.
– As it looked like the show was about to go off the air, the familiar tune of “Aus der Neuen Welt”, Antonín Dvořáks’ 9th symphony hit and The Ring General WALTER made his way down to the ring as Pete Dunne looked shocked. He entered the ring and stared down the champ. Joe Coffey tried to get back in the ring but the Austrian powerhouse nonchalantly kicked him in the head and hit the Ringkampf pose while Dunne stood there with the WWE UK Championship dangling from his mouth. WALTER then left and slowly walked down the ramp again, having made his intentions clear to dethroned the Bruiserweight after more than 600 days.
Episode 22 (taped November 25, 2018 at the Liverpool Olympia in Liverpool, England)
Quick recap:
Toni Storm beat Deonna Purrazzo in a good opener, gearing up for her upcoming championship match against Rhea Ripley. The champ came out afterwards to stare Toni down. Wild Boar beat Josh Morrell in a short match. Eddie Dennis and Dave Mastiff brawled to a double DQ, so Johnny Saint booked them in a No-DQ match for the upcoming NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool.
In the main event segment, WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne and Joe Coffey signed the contract for their upcoming match at TakeOver. After “talking to much” (according to Pete Dunne), Coffey got his fingers snapped but had the last laugh as he power bombed Dunne through the table in the ring and posed with the championship. All six members of British Strong Style and Gallus will meet next week, leading up to TakeOver.
Full rundown:
Toni Storm beat Deonna Purrazzo in 9:25 after Storm Zero
Toni took Donna down and locked in a guillotine, followed by a waist lock and Toni was victorious in a battle of hold and counter holds, then offered her hand to Deonna. Deonna then managed to escape head scissors by Toni via a headstand and refused to shake Toni’s hand afterwards. Toni hit a spin kick, followed by a running basement dropkick for a quick two count.
Toni locked in a combo STF/chin lock but Deonna made the ropes. Toni missed her running hip attack and Deonna started working over Toni’s left arm. Deonna eventually hit an STO and locked in a Koji Clutch, but Toni managed to turn it into a pinning combination. Toni eventually managed to stop Deonna’s momentum with a backstabber, but Purrazzo managed to stop a Storm Zero attempt, but got flattened after a head butt.
Deonna escaped Storm Zero once more, hit a back flip followed by a drop kick and locked in the Fujiwara arm bar until Toni finally managed to reach the ropes with her legs. They had a battle of chops and forearms until Toni managed to escape another Fujiwara arm bar attempt, hit a release German suplex and Storm Zero for the win.
Rhea Ripley came out after the match, got on the apron, stared Toni down and held the NXT UK Women’s Championship right in front of her.
A short video on WIld Boar aired.
Radzi interviewed Sid Scala and Johnny Saint about the other bracket of the NXT UK Tag Team Championship. Scala announced the semi-final match of Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster vs. Zack Gibson & James Drake for next week.
“Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman beat “Turbo” Josh Morrell in 3:04 after a frog splash
Morrell showed some athleticism early on, but Board countered with sheer craziness and took over, launching his own body all over the ring and into his opponent. Morrell managed to hit a sunset flip from the top rope but quickly got his momentum taken away as Boar hit a fireman’s carry into the corner, followed by a flying inverted senton and frog splash for the victory.
A Jospeh Conners video aired, talking about how there is no “we” in NXT UK, only himself. He vowed to break all the “shiny new toys” of the brand.
Travis Banks cut a backstage promo, saying that he loved his country as much as Jordan Devlin loved his.
Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner confronted Sid Scala backstage and demanded to be put in the NXT UK Tag Team Championship semi-finals match instead of Andrews & Webster. Scala told them they had just arrived and if the got involved in the match next week, they would be out of NXT UK as quickly as they had come in.
Eddie Dennis vs. “Bomber” Dave Mastiff went to a double DQ in 4:20
Dennis charged in with punches and whipped Mastiff into the corner numerous times. He followed with a number of kicks and stomps, until he charged right into Mastiff’s elbow. Mastiff wiped Dennis out with a running cross body, followed by a big dropkick after some pulling and pushing. Mastiff hit a few big elbows to the side of Dennis’ head. Dennis escaped to the outside and attacked Mastiff as he followed.
Dennis had Mastiff up for his splash mountain drop but Dennis escaped and hit a rolling fireman’s carry on the outside, but smashed into the ring steps as Dennis moved out of the way of his charge. Both men made it just back into the ring at the count of 9. Back inside, the two big men went at it with punches and would not stop so the referee disqualified them both.
After a brief shock, the two behemoths kept going at it until a number of referees and Sid Scala tried breaking them up with little success. Johnny Saint finally came out and made a no disqualification match between them for NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool.
A recap of last episode’s tag team main event of Moustache Mountain vs. Gallus with Joe Coffey and Pete Dunne getting involved aired; a match between all six members of Gallus and British Strong Style will take place next week.
Contract signing between Pete Dunne and Joe Coffey
Johnny Saint and Sid Scala were in the ring for the contract signing between WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne and Joe Coffey. Scala called out Coffey first, followed by the champ, who came out to a big ovation. Scala wanted them to sit down but neither man would oblige. Coffey finally took the mic and they both slowly sat down.
Coffey said that there would be a change of the guard in NXT UK. Coffey asked Johnny and Scala to back off, because he wanted a moment with Dunne. He said that the NXT UK brand was his and the title would soon be his too. He said Dunne was champion for too long and that he only still had the title because he had not been here before. He said now was the time to claim his throne.
Coffey signed the contract but as he was done, Dunne grabbed his fingers and broke them. He said Coffey talked too much and he would see him at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool. The rest of Gallus came out and Coffey used the distraction to hit Dunne in the throat and power bombed him through the table, then picked up the WWE UK Championship and posed with it in the ring as his music played and the show went off the air.
Next week:
Zack Gibson & James Drake battle Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews in the second semi-final for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship. Also, British Strong Style will meet Gallus just days before NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool.
A few words on wXw’s history and current situation with WWE —
On December 24, 2000, wXw Extreme Wrestling Party, a minor independent wrestling show took place at the Roxy in Essen, Germany, a dingy club in the middle of nowhere in the industrial Ruhr area.
While most of the participants on that show have long since drifted into obscurity, two names still stand out today: a young Swiss wrestler — calling himself “Double C” — made his pro wrestling debut in that show’s opening match just three days shy of his 20th birthday and would go on to become known as Cesaro in WWE.
The referee that night, Tassilo Jung, would — along with a few other people — go on to buy the promotion from its founder, HATE (Peter Wichers), become its acting managing director, and help transform it from an ECW ripoff featuring a number of backyard wrestlers into the leading independent promotion in mainland Europe.
As the promotion celebrates its coming of age 18 years later, it is at a crossroads: it is home to WALTER (Walter Hahn), arguably the best wrestler to come out of mainland Europe in the past 30+ years, if not ever, and the only wrestler currently a full-time employee for a promotion in Germany. Walter is the head trainer at their own wXw Academy and an international darling of the independent wrestling scene.
wXw employs a small number of people who give it their all on a regular basis to run a full-time touring promotion, a streaming service, a wrestling school, and a full merchandising department, along with doing press work, sending out tickets, and editing a number of live events and other shows for said network. It promotes some of the best shows in mainland Europe and runs 16 Carat Gold, one of the top tournaments with some of the best talent in the world.
And, a few months ago, wXw started a partnership with WWE. As WWE goes on to focus more on Europe, starting with the UK where they have similar deals with PROGRESS and ICW, their embrace might well turn into a stranglehold.
WALTER has since signed a deal with WWE, albeit only for their NXT UK (and probably NXT Europe, if it ever comes to that) brand, following in the footsteps of fellow wXw alumni Axel Tischer (Alexander Wolfe), Tommy End (Aleister Black), and Axel Dieter Jr. (Marcel Barthel). As WWE recently ran a multi-day tryout camp in Cologne, Germany, a number of others, such as hard-hitting Ilja Dragunov or big-man Jurn Simmons may follow.
wXw also toned down some of their other engagements, such as direct ticket sales and running a merchandising department and online shop, relying more on outside partners for such tasks and stating a medical burnout of managing director Christian Jakobi as the main reason for these steps, as manpower gets stretched even thinner with the boss out of commission for the time being.
wXw has also spun out their video library into another company, giving longtime supporters and employees the chance to buy into this new company. While this was mostly explained as a strategic business decision, it also means that there might be a nice cash-out opportunity for those proprietors if the library ever got sold (presumably to WWE).
And people are starting to ask how big events such as 16 Carat Gold or the annual World Tag Team League may transform in 2019 and beyond, as WWE starts implementing policies such as wrestlers under contract to NXT UK no longer being allowed to be shown on streaming or DVD releases and also not being permitted to wrestle people under contract with other promotions, such as Ring of Honor, Impact, or New Japan.
This might mean that while wXw could book some of the big NXT UK names, they might not be able to properly use them in tournaments to partially draw off the fact that it can produce unique matches not to be seen anywhere else in the world, much as is the charm of promotions such as PWG.
For the time being though, things still look rosy for fans of the promotion, as WWE lent Germany’s own Marcel Barthel back to wXw so he could reunite with his Ringkampf brethren, WALTER and Timothy Thatcher, to face British Strong Style at yesterday’s 18th Anniversary show (Barthel also was at last year’s Anniversary event, together with fellow Ringkampf member Axel Tischer/Alexander Wolfe for a brief run-in, but that segment only was visible for the live audience).
That match, with five of the six participants under WWE deals, will be shown on wXw’s streaming service, along with matches involving other WWE-contracted wrestlers such as Toni Storm and Killer Kelly. The intrigue of the six-man match, along with an overall strong card, proved to be a big draw, as wXw sold 1,100 tickets to the show at the Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen, Germany. They initially were sold out with a capacity for 900, but managed to squeeze in 200 additional fans after some changes with the production setup and moving the merchandise area to another part of the building.
In fact, things look so rosy that Axel Dieter Jr., as he was announced instead of his (real) WWE name of Marcel Barthel, went on to confirm himself for next year’s 16 Carat Gold Tournament, stating that this was the only major accomplishment he ever failed to achieve during his run with wXw over the years.
Live report —
The show unfortunately was plagued by similar injuries to two key participants in title matches, with both David Starr and wXw Shotgun Champion Marius Al-Ani suffering shoulder injuries wrestling for other promotions shortly before the event.
Absolute Andy was scheduled to defend against Starr, then it was announced he would be wrestling a mystery opponent. When Al-Ani’s injury was announced, the match was changed to Andy defending against Al-Ani’s original Shotgun title challenger, Lucky Kid.
That match also featured an in-ring appearance by German UFC fighter Nick Hein (14-4, 1 NC) who is somewhat of a controversial figure and was basically booed out of the building whenever he said or did anything, and Absolute Andy, the company’s biggest heel was frenetically cheered when the angle got physical. This was a strange — and many thought unnecessary — twist to an otherwise very good match.
Pre-show match: Julian Pace defeated Timo Theiss after a Code Red
Fun match with a good dynamic. Pace was accompanied by Norman Harras, a fellow wXw Academy student. Theiss and Harras had teamed up a few weeks back, but Theiss attacked Harras after the match. The story was Pace using his speed and quickness against the larger opponent. Pace won with his Code Red finisher.
Theiss shook his hand afterwards, but then wanted to attack Pace from behind and Harras sent him packing.
– They did an angle where a big present was sent out, courtesy of the wXw office. Pre-show hosts Sebastian Hollmichel and Daniel Mallmann were in the ring to open it up when The Crown (Jurn Simmons and Alexander James) came out to berate them, resulting in Mallmann getting slammed into the package.
Avalanche and Emil Sitoci came out to make the save and threw the shirts from the present into the crowd.
Gauntlet match: RISE (Tarkan Aslan & Da Mack) won the wXw Tag Team titles by last eliminating the former champions Jay FK (Jay Skillet & Francis Kaspin) when Aslan hit Skillet with a chain
The Crown (Simmons & James) started with Avalanche & Sitoci. The faces ran wild early, but were eventually cut off and pinned after an assisted curb stomp, which is The Crown’s finish.
Next out were the babyface portion of RISE (Pete Bouncer & Ivan Kiev), who managed to beat The Crown.
The actual champs, Jay FK, were out next. Shotgun Champion and member of the heel RISE faction, Marius Al-Ani, interfered and tried to attack RISE with brass knuckles. But when he got caught, he knocked out Jay Skillet instead, so RISE got disqualified.
Finally, the heel RISE faction, Da Mack & Tarkan Aslan, were out. The crowd was mostly behind Jay FK in that heel vs. heel match. Eventually, Aslan hit Skillet once more with brass knuckles for the victory.
Post-match, the face faction of RISE came back out, attacked the heels, and challenged them to a “Käfigschlacht” (one-ring War Games style cage match with an open roof) for Back to the Roots XIX in January. The match — Pete Bouncer, Ivan Kiev & Lucky Kid vs. Da Mack, Tarkan Aslan & Marius Al-Ani — was later confirmed.
Three-way dance: Yuu defeated Killer Kelly and Alpha Female (Jazzy Gabert) when she submitted Alpha Female
Both faces went after Alpha Female right away but were fought off. Alpha Female gave both opponents consecutive choke bombs for near falls. Yuu then went toe-to-toe with both other wrestlers. At one point, Alpha Female picked up Kelly from a bridge after she German suplexed Yuu and hit a move, which was a cool spot.
Yuu threw Kelly from the ring and locked in a kata hajime on Alpha Female for the submission win. Looks like she is being groomed for a Women’s title match.
Doug Williams’ Hall of Fame induction
Karsten Beck (who is a former World Champion but retired due to a brain tumor and now heads the ring crew) and Felix Kohlenberg (co-owner of wXw) inducted Williams. They told some nice stories, including Beck saying he always picked up Williams from the airport, except the last time Williams was over, which he immediately pointed out to him. He said the early generation of wXw wrestlers learned a lot from Williams and he was a big influence early on.
Kohlenberg said that without Williams, there would be no 16 Carat, as he was one of the foundations they built the early tournaments around. He said Williams always liked them and was seeing their spirit and wanted to help, so he portrayed wXw better than they had any right to at the time and brought over a bunch of UK wrestlers, such as Martin Stone (Danny Burch in NXT) or Sha Samuels. He also made it possible to book Misawa and Kobashi back in 2005.
Kohlenberg said Williams was one of the best in the world, which was what they claimed about the early tournaments, but whenever Williams was in, it was true.
Williams came out and hugged both men. He said that he recognized the promotion’s spirit early and loved the fans and loved coming back and seeing the promotion grow. He gave a rather brief speech, but what he said sounded genuine and from the heart.
wXw World Unified Wrestling Champion Absolute Andy defeated Lucky Kid to retain his title after hitting A-Klasse (a dominator)
This was the match where Nick Hein got involved. It was great as a match — but weird as an angle in many peoples’ opinion.
Hein, a former police officer in Germany for 11 years, quit the job in 2014 to focus on MMA. Since then, he has been very vocal and critical about the way the police are being trained and prepared for the job in Germany, which he views as being inefficient and inadequate (he states that many criminals now train in martial arts and pose a physical challenge to police officers).
I’m pretty sure Hein is not a xenophobe (he actually is married to a Japanese woman who he has a child with), but he certainly comes across as partially racist and fairly right-wing on social media, where he is very active and vocal about crimes committed by refugees and especially bashes politicians on the left of the spectrum.
The way he portrays himself and the language and arguments he uses certainly rubs a lot of people the wrong way. There was controversy about the whole thing on social media ever since he was announced by wXw, and people went as far as to try and stage a walkout when he would come out.
wXw has in the past always been a very open and welcoming company, always stating there is no place for racism, sexism, homophobia, and other prejudicial behavior in wrestling and especially their promotion. In fact, one of the slogans they use on merchandise is “Love Wrestling — Hate Racism.”
Hein was announced before the match and came out, even wearing one of the shirts mentioned above. He was booed the most loudly of anyone on the card from the moment he came out and when he started speaking. He didn’t say much, except he liked wrestling, strangely enough citing Lex Luger and Yokozuna as his favorites. He also had his own cameraman with him and then stayed ringside and watched the match. He looked impressed at times and also had a few staredowns with Andy.
The match itself was very good, as Andy is a true European wrestling veteran and great in big match situations as the powerfully built but agile enough heel. Kid is probably one of the best workers in wXw right now and is very athletic and smooth, plus has great charisma.
The match was built around Kid’s fire and drive to win and Andy hitting big moves trying to stop him. At one point, Andy plucked him from the air and locked in a Sharpshooter, but Kid always would come back for more. He also hit a number of F-5s, including one from the second turnbuckle.
Eventually, Al-Ani, who is feuding with Kid, came back in and tried to hit him with the Shotgun belt. The World title belt also ended up in the ring — and Kid actually used it to hit Andy. After some more action, Kid pinned Andy and was announced as the new champion and the place exploded.
Hein came into the ring and handed the belt to Kid (to more boos) — but then on leaving the ring, whispered something into referee Tassilo Jung’s ear. Jung looked puzzled and talked some more with Hein and the ring announcer. They announced that Hein had told Jung that Andy’s foot had been under the ropes during the pin.
They restarted the match and Andy immediately hit the A-Klasse for the win. If I watch this in a vacuum without the angle that followed, I thought this was a ****1/4 match.
Hein then got back into the ring to hand the belt to Andy, but held onto it and wouldn’t give it up. Andy and Hein had words, and there were big “Andy, Andy” chants (after Andy had been hated just seconds before).
Andy then grabbed one of the ringside crew for an F-5, who Hein pulled down and gave Andy a double leg/spinebuster type of slam and Andy begged off (this was booed loudly), at which point Ilja Dragunov appeared on the screen and challenged Andy to a cage match for January.
Andy then got back up, kicked Hein low, and gave him an F-5 to a major pop.
To me, this was just weird. Due to the crowd reaction, whatever they thought they wanted to do didn’t work. And whatever happened, Hein was booed and whoever opposed him was cheered. Why he first helped Andy retain, then got into it with him and then was made to look like the loser seconds after scaring off the World Champion all didn’t really make any logical sense.
I don’t know yet who proposed working together, but I asked Jung, the acting managing director of wXw for a statement on using Hein after the match and also got the opinions of Andy, Lucky Kid, and David Starr (who originally was supposed to face Andy and probably would have been part of the angle had he been in the match and is generally known as a very liberal guy with sympathies for leftist ideas).
Jung sent me this as a personal message on Twitter when I asked him for a statement and said that I found it problematic to have Hein appear in that T-shirt especially (statement translated from German by me):
“We are booking Nick Hein not as a participant in a political talk show but as a performer. Therefore, we looked into his political messages and checked if they were compatible with our understanding of democracy. Personally I think, being able to accept differing opinions that do not match one’s personal beliefs is a part of a democracy. If we had found social media posts that included denying the holocaust, calling for the murder of people, signing off using ‘Heil Hitler’, etc. then certainly boundaries would have been overstepped, there would be no discussion in that. But if somebody ‘just’ echos thought material of the popular right and uses emotionality and visualizes his thoughts in a way unfortunately all too-common in today’s political debates, then this is nonetheless not enough to discredit someone on a professional level, nevertheless my own differing political opinion.”
Lucky Kid, when I asked him personally during intermission, said that for him (his family background is Turkish and I believe he still has a Turkish passport, even though I believe he was born in Germany), it is difficult and he had mixed feelings about it, but at the end of the day he is a performer and will do what the company asks him to in the ring.
Andy said that he doesn’t know a whole lot about what Hein posted, he just met him backstage for the first time that day and he seemed like a nice guy.
Starr also said that he hasn’t read anything from Hein on social media so he really has no opinion on him either way, but he of course noticed how the fans reacted and if Hein was a conservative, Starr is pretty sure his opinion would differ from his own in a big way.
On an unrelated note, Starr injured his right shoulder taking an F-5 badly a few days ago, but is positive he will be back in the ring in January.
Shigehiro Irie defeated Bobby Gunns after hitting a lariat
This was a great, stiff, strong style match and the fans ate it up. It could have gone another 5-7 minutes in my opinion, but being where it was on the card, it was good as it was.
Gunns, who does a smoking gimmick, now comes out with a “Marlboro” ring jacket. He is a big fan of the catch era of the 1960s and 1970s, and I have to ask him if this is related to the singlet Otto Wanz used to wear well into the 90s, where he was sponsored by “Milde Sorte,” an Austrian cigarette brand.
Irie is a regular with DDT, a powerfully built, stocky guy. Gunns used submissions and ground work and Irie hit some suplexes. At one point, they traded Saito suplexes. Irie hit two running cannonballs into the corner, including a flying one while Gunns still was upright. There was a also a lot of stiff striking going on.
The finish was Irie basically taking Gunn’s head off with a lariat that Gunns took screaming.
wXw Women’s Champion Toni Storm defeated Kellyanne to retain her title after hitting Strong Zero
These two have known each other for years and wrestled a few times in Australia. Kellyanne rolled her up at the start and Storm tried for the Strong Zero piledriver right away. They traded strikes and kicks and laid into each other hard.
Kellyanne’s manager was sent to the back when he tried to interfere. Kellyanne actually kicked out of one Strong Zero, but fell victim to the second. A really good match, probably **** and the third or fourth best on the show.
This was a gem of a match that had everything you could ask for, from strong style and stiff hits to great mat work to high flying to comedy and great charisma in the ring at all times. I don’t know which six people could put on a better match in Europe right now.
British Strong Style were the clear heels here, and Axel Dieter Jr. (using that name) received a hero’s welcome on his homecoming. He had visible goosebumps and looked very emotional at times. WALTER did the old Axel Dieter Sr. “There are three categories of wrestlers” speech and also promised “absolute toughness and the best sportive performance of the night” like he used to do when he and Dieter teamed as heels.
Thatcher started out with Bate and they worked towards the first tag to Dieter. Thatcher was the face in peril for quite some time and once again was portrayed as the guy who could take unthinkable punishment, as he took all of British Strong Styles finishers and still kicked out a the last moment.
WALTER killed Seven with chops, and Dunne at one point did the finger breaking spot with him. WALTER had Seven in a rear naked choke and Dieter had Bate in the Axel Dieter Special, but Bate rolled through, deadlifted Dieter, and German suplexed him onto WALTER in one of numerous amazing spots.
At another point, all of Ringkampf had all of British Strong Style in different submissions. Dieter’s “Nein” was very over here, and he used it once with great timing during a flying European uppercut. Bate did the airplane spin with WALTER for a long time. Seven hit a plancha on everyone, followed by a moonsault to the outside by Dunne and by a spinning senton by Bate on everyone.
There was too much good stuff to all remember it here, but it was one of the best matches I saw live all year. I had it at five stars and it was very close to the WALTER/Dragunov/Bad Bones match at 16 Carat this year. Thatcher eventually got the win for his team in around 30 minutes
After some bantering and mistrust following the match, they all shook hands and Seven wanted to swap his British Strong Style towel with Thatcher’s Ringkampf scarf, in the way football clubs swap jerseys.
They also did a fun spot that showcased the greatness of Bate. Dunne mockingly did the Ringkampf pose and WALTER jokingly grabbed him by the hair, removed his mouthpiece, and kicked it across the ring. Bate nonchalantly caught it mid-flight and then put it back in Dunne’s mouth.
Afterwards, Dieter did a very emotional speech, thanking everyone for coming to see him and hoping they all had as many good memories about him as he had with them. He briefly mentioned teaming with Da Mack and had the fans sing their old theme.
Dieter said he had accomplished everything he ever wanted to in wXw, winning the Tag Team and World titles, which started a “16 Carat” chant. He hung his head thoughtfully, as he twice made the finals and lost (once against Tommy End/Aleister Black, where he got the spot of Ricochet who was snowed in and couldn’t make his flight and where the company put big trust in him being able to pull it off, and once against Zack Sabre Jr.).
Dieter then asked if the fans wanted him to be in next year’s 16 Carat and try and win the one thing that eluded him. This got a major pop.
It will be interesting how they handle this, as there are guys like Pentagon in. It looks like no Impact or ROH guys though, so they’d have to stack their international roster with guys from Big Japan, DDT, Dragon Gate or NOAH and the U.S. indie guys from EVOLVE or people not signed with anyone.
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.
**********
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 eleven (taped August 26 at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England)
Quick recap
Pete Dunne successfully defended his WWE UK championship against Jordan Devlin in an outstanding main event, as both men delivered and had a great match. In women’s tag team action, the young up-and-comers Xia Brookside & Millie McKenzie beat the debuting Charlie Morgan & Killer Kelly in a fun match. Eddie Dennis kept his undefeated streak, beating Ashton Smith in another fun match. Joseph Conners beat former tag team partner Saxon Huxley in a slobber knocker mean guy match. All in all an entertaining episode.
Full rundown
Show opened to a graphic promoting the NXT UK women’s title finals next week, when Toni Storm meets Rhea Ripley. Another graphic informed us that Pete Dunne would defend his WWE UK title against Jordan Devlin tonight.
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Xia Brookside & Millie McKenzie beat Charlie Morgan & Killer Kelly in 5:13 when Xia pinned Morgan with a bridging pin
Charlie Morgan, who was trained by Danny Collins and the Knight wrestling family (Paige, her brothers and parents), started out in 2011. She wrestled for all the major UK women’s promotions, such as WAW, Bellatrix and Pro Wrestling: EVE. She also performed for PROGRESS, RevPro and Southside Wrestling Entertainment among others and is a former Bellatrix and EVE champion. She is openly gay and had her coming out at a Pro-Wrestling EVE show in 2017. She also was born prematurely at only 28 weeks old.
Morgan and Xia started out and Xia took her down with a top wrist lock. After some back and forth, Morgan escaped with an impressive headstand. Xia hit a huracanrana and a drop kick and tagged McKenzie, who came in with a swinging neck breaker. Kelly managed to tag in but also quickly got locked in a Fujiwara arm-bar style submission which looked like Millie almost ripped her shoulder out of the socket.
Kelly came back with a surfboard attempt that ended with Millie’s face firmly getting planted in the mat after a hard stomp to the back of the head. Millie eventually came back with a release German suplex, after which both women tagged out. Xia hit a chin breaker and double knees into the corner on Morgan.
She went to the top, but Kelly pulled her off. Meanwhile Millie came in and hit a hard spear on Charlie Morgan, who then got pinned by Xia using a bridging pin.
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We saw Pete Dunne backstage, preparing for his upcoming match.
There was a graphic for Eddie Dennis vs. Ashton Smith, followed by a TLC promo.
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Eddie Dennis beat Ashton Smith in 6:00 after the Neck Stop Driver
This match had been built up for a few weeks, with Dennis telling Smith to watch his debut match and Smith then interrupting Dennis’ backstage interview.
Dennis took Smith down early, but Smith escape and locked in a head lock for a bit. He flipped out of a back suplex attempt, did a leap frog over the much taller Dennis, hit a drop kick that rocked the bigger man and finally a leg lariat that briefly took him down and to ringside. Smith tried a dive as a follow-up, but Dennis caught him mid-move and gave him a black hole slam on the apron.
Back in the ring, Dennis used his judo background and threw Smith, then locked in a cravat and held it for quite a while. Smith finally escaped and hit a springboard dropkick on Dennis who was on the apron. A somersault plancha connected and back in the ring, Smith hit a leg lariat from the top for a near-fall.
He then hit a drop kick on Dennis, who was sitting on the top rope, but failed a superplex attempt as Dennis slipped beneath him and picked him up for the Severed Bridge, a Razor’s Edge style buckle bomb. He followed that his the Neck Stop Driver for the win.
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We took a look back at Joseph Conners turning on Saxon Huxley last week and were informed that this match was next. Also, a WWE Shop commercial aired.
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Joseph Conners pinned Saxon Huxley in 5:16
These two had a mean guy match, right out of a Vinny V dream sequence. The first 90 seconds or so were just punches and kicks, as Huxley tore into Conners with punches and Conners came back with body shots. Huxley got whipped into the corner, but stormed right back out with a shoulder block. Conners came back with a clothesline and more punches, then draped Huxley over the ropes in the corner and rained down some more punches on him. Huxley came back with a knee lift and a dropkick.
Conners escaped an over-the-shoulder power bomb attempt and hit some more. you guessed it, punches. Huxley briefly got the upper hand with a clothesline but Conners hit a nice sit-out spine buster for another near fall. He grabbed Huxley by the hair and screamed “this is my world, you are just visiting” at him, before finishing him off with a kind of reverse-spinebuster-face slam type of move.
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Nigel and Vic were in studio as we got a Toni Storm video with sit-down segments and in-ring highlights, including her winning the Mae Young Classic this year. She said that she always had felt pressure, but if you wanted to be a history maker that’s what it took. Her whole life led up to this point and that this was not something she wanted but she needed.
She said that she was going to be the first NXT UK Women’s champion, after nine years of hard work and sacrifices. She concluded by saying that it was Toni Time.
We saw Jordan Devlin prepare backstage, followed by a WWE 2K19 commercial.
Next, we took a look at Rhea Ripley. She came to the UK to rip the women’s division apart, and that Toni would just be another victim. Toni’s last step was Rhea Ripley, her name was going to be on the NXT UK Women’s title. She will be the first champion and this is where it all ends.
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WWE UK Championship: Pete Dunne (c) submitted Jordan Devlin in 15:07
They locked up right away and Dunne immediately took him down with an arm bar and kept working the arm, but Devlin head scissored his way out amd slapped Dunne, prompting and immediate slap back from Dunne. Dunne tried stomping Devlin’s elbow and forearm, but Devlin rolled out of the way. A monkey flip by Dunne sent Devlin flying. then the champ followed with a hard forearm and an even stiffer lariat.
Dunne worked over Devlin’s arm and when to manipulate his fingers as well. Dunne tried his backflip off the turnbuckle on a whip but Devlin caught him and gave him a back stabber for a two count, which established Dunne’s lower back being hurt. Devlin hit his uranage/standing moonsault combo for a two count.
Dunne came back with a running enzuigiri into the corner, after successfully completing his backflip this time around. Dunne went for a German but got countered and Devlin hit a German of his own, which Dunne flipped over on and landed on his feet and hit a snap German of his own. He followed that by suplex into an arm bar, but Devlin escape by rolling up Dunne.
Devlin hit a running kick that had Dunne down in the corner and in an impressive spot, Devlin pulled Dunne up from the corner by the arm, straight into a backdrop driver for another two count.
After missing a standing moonsault, Dunne stomped his hand but then ran into a Spanish Fly out of nowhere. Devlin couldn’t capitalize on the momentum though, as Dunne immediately locked in a Koji clutch. The action spilled to ringside, and as Dunne tried to stomp Devlin’s arm on the ring steps, Devlin pulled his legs away and Dunne crashed onto the steel steps face-first. Devlin then hit a Spanish Fly off the steps onto the floor, which looked brutal.
They both narrowly got back in the ring at 9. After a double stomp on Devlin’s fingers, Dunne went for the Bitter End, but Devlin countered it into a reverse huracanrana for another near-fall. A quebrada by Devlin was stopped mid-air by a forearm smash by Dunne, who hit the Bitter End, but on landing, hurt his back even more and couldn’t go for the pin. They both were on the apron and Devlin shoved Dunne hard into the ring post back first.
They both got to the top rope and Devlin hit a Super Spanish Fly for a 2.99 cover. Dunne got up in a fighting stance, but Devlin hit a head butt that took both men down. Devlin removed Dunne’s mouth guard and hit a super kick for another close near-fall.
Devlin went for a moonsault, but got caught in a triangle on impact. He managed to briefly touch the ropes, but Dunne rolled over with the triangle still locked in, bent Devlin’s fingers apart, then grabbed the remaining fingers and bent them as well, forcing Devlin to tap.
Devlin sulked backstage, as the Bruiserweight celebrated in the ring.
