Episode 21 (taped November 24, 2018 at the Liverpool Olympia in Liverpool, England)
Quick recap:
Travis Banks quickly defeated Jamie Ahmed but was called out by Jordan Devlin afterwards. The new team of Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner beat Kenny Williams & Jordan Devlin, and Jinny defeated Candyfloss.
In the main event, Moustache Mountain advanced to the NXT UK Tag Team Championship tournament finals by beating Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang). Both Pete Dunne and Joe Coffey got involved in the finish. The two teams brawled as the show went off the air, but not before Dunne accepted Joe Coffey’s challenge for a WWE UK Championship match at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool.
Travis Banks defeated Jamie Ahmed in 1:40 with Slice of Heaven
Banks took him down early until Ahmed escaped. Banks tried to get a submission, but Ahmed made the ropes. Banks hit a dropkick to the back of Ahmed’s head and followed with a German suplex. He then hit a shotgun dropkick, a double foot stomp off the middle ropes, and Slice of Heaven for the quick win.
Jordan Devlin came out after the match to trash talk Banks. He talked about how Banks left his native New Zealand to wrestle and, while Devlin cashes his check and goes home to his family after the matches, he wondered if Banks’ mum even remembered his voice. He dared Banks to shut him up.
– Nigel McGuinness and Vic Joseph talked about the NXT UK Tag Team title tournament and recapped the history between Moustache Mountain and Gallus, leading into tonight’s main event. A graphic plugged the next match with the debuting team of Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner.
– A recap of the recent Dave Mastiff and Eddie Dennis angles aired, and a rematch between the two monsters was announced for the next episode.
Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner defeated Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams in 7:31 with a powerbomb/Saito suplex combination
Williams wouldn’t dance with Jordan as they came out. Williams and Barthel traded arm locks early on. Jordan received a thrust to the throat for his dancing antics by Barthel, who tagged out to Aichner. Aichner dominated Jordan until he escaped to hit a body block but got caught and then destroyed by both heels, who proceeded to beat the heck out of him and quickly tagged in and out.
Williams made the save after a spine buster/running kick combo. Barthel then hit a butterfly suplex and transitioned into a chinlock. Jordan finally made the hot tag to Williams — who ran wild.
Williams hit a plancha to the outside and even saved Jordan from certain defeat by Barthel’s Landungsbrücken. Aichner and Barthel put an end to that tomfoolery by hitting a powerbomb/Saito suplex combo on Jordan for the win.
– A segment from earlier today aired, where Radzi Chinyanganya caught Toni Storm and Deonna Purrazzo agreeing to a match for Storm’s title shot at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool. A graphic promised Jinny would be in action next
– Sid Scala and Johnny Saint were talking about TakeOver when Joe Coffey interrupted and demanded a title match against Pete Dunne at that event. Scala said they’d take it under consideration. Saint dismissed him and told Scala they would talk.
Jinny defeated Candyfloss in 4:23 with A Touch of Couture
To her dismay, Candyfloss hugged Jinny early. They traded submissions until Candyfloss mocked Jinny by lying down next to her. Jinny locked in a double wristlock and rammed Candyfloss’ head into the corner. Candyfloss hit two dropkicks but couldn’t capitalize as Jinny hit a Japanese arm drag into the corner, followed by A Touch of Couture for the victory.
– Gallus were shown backstage preparing for their match.
NXT UK Tag Team title tournament semifinal match: Moustache Mountain defeated Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) in 14:37 after a springboard lariat/dragon suplex combo on Coffey
Coffey and Bate started, with Bate hitting a big dropkick right away. Bate also hit a somersault splash off Seven’s shoulders for a quick cover shortly after. The heels took over after a distraction by Wolfgang. They worked Bate over for a while — until he managed to hit a hurricanrana and make the hot tag.
Seven hit a DDT and a Falcon Arrow for a near fall on Coffey. Some more cheating led to the heels back on offense as Wolfgang hit a number of sentons on Seven. Coffey hit a stiff forearm on Seven that almost knocked him out, and he kept being the face in peril for a few more minutes. After a lengthy bear hug, Wolfgang threw Seven to the outside — where Coffey preyed on him but ate a suplex for his troubles.
Seven finally managed to tag in Bate, who immediately hit a dive to the outside and ran wild on Wolfgang, then hit another dive to the outside. Bate hit an impressive exploder, followed by a running Shooting Star Press on Wolfgang for a near fall. Bate did the airplane spin on Wolfgang, then turned around to repeat it in the other direction. A deadlift suplex attempt went awry and Wolfgang managed to tag out.
In a super impressive spot, Bate hit a German suplex on Wolfgang while Coffey was piggybacking on his back. Seven took out Wolfgang with a dive as Bate went for the Tyler Driver ’97. Coffey back body dropped Bate, Bate flipped over and went for his springboard lariat, and he got caught with Coffey’s forearm as both men were stunned.
Gallus called for help by Joe Coffey. He came out, but Pete Dunne was at his heels and the two brawled around ringside. In the ring, Bate and Seven hit their combined springboard lariat/dragon suplex on Mark Coffey for the win.
As the faces celebrated, Joe Coffey attacked Pete Dunne once more and Gallus proceeded to beat down British Strong Style until the faces made their own comeback to dispose of their mortal enemies.
Dunne grabbed the mic and accepted Joe Coffey’s challenge for a WWE UK Championship match at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool. Gallus then hit the ring and the two teams brawled once more as the show faded to black.
Next episode:
Toni Storm faces Deonna Purrazzo with Storm’s NXT UK Women’s Championship shot at TakeOver: Blackpool on the line. Eddie Dennis also faces Dave Mastiff in a rematch from a few weeks ago.
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 17 (taped October 14 at Plymouth Pavilions in Plymouth, England)
Quick recap:
Jordan Devlin defeated “Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman in the opener. Fabian Aichner took the first step on his road to redemption after his loss to Flash Morgan Webster last week, disposing of Eddie Ryan.
Moustache Mountain defeated Tyson T-Bone & Saxon Huxley in their quest to qualify for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship tournament. In the main event, Rhea Ripley successfully defended her NXT UK Women’s Championship for the first time, defeating Isla Dawn.
Full rundown:
– The show opened up with a video hyping Rhea Ripley defending her title against Isla Dawn
Jordan Devlin defeated “Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman in 4:57 after Ireland’s Call
The “Wild Boar” started out aggressive, going for Devlin’s arm right away and even hitting a short-arm suplex. Devlin came back with forearms to the back and some ground and pound and transitioned into a chinlock, which Hitchman eventually powered out of.
Devlin hit his uranage/moonsault combo, but Hitchman was the first man to roll out of the way and hit a senton on Devlin and a uranage of his own. He followed with a spear into the corner. Hitchman tried for a package powerbomb, but Devlin got out and hit a spinning Pele kick for a two count.
Devlin went to the top for a moonsault, but Hitchman moved and Devlin landed on his feet. Hitchman immediately hit a pop-up powerbomb — but missed an inverted cannonball. Devlin hit the pull-up backdrop driver, followed by Ireland’s Call for the victory.
Post-match, Devlin cut a promo in the ring. He asked when the fans would learn not to support guys like Hitchman anymore. He closed with a message to the NXT UK roster — saying that the Ace trumped all.
– Moustache Mountain were interviewed outside the arena. Trent Seven said that NXT UK kicked off in a big way. Tyler Bate said that British Strong Style are focused on Gallus, but once they deal with them, they have their eyes set on the NXT UK Tag Team titles.
– Radzi Chinyanganya was backstage with Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews. Webster said that they also had their eyes set on the NXT UK Tag Team titles. Andrews added that NXT UK was the most exciting brand in WWE and they were the most exciting team. They said that the sky was the limit for them.
Fabian Aichner defeated Eddie Ryan in 5:04 after a spinning sit-out powerbomb
Ryan is a local wrestler from Plymouth and actually works as an analyst at a building and loan association. He started in 2008 and mostly worked for 4 Front Wrestling and other smaller promotions. He is a former two-time 4FW Heavyweight Champion and also a former two-time Tag Team Champion for that promotion.
Ryan was ready to go, but Aichner stopped and offered his hand — only to pull it away when Ryan went to shake it. Aichner then escaped into the ropes. They locked up and Aichner pushed him into the corner, then teased a punch and Ryan flinched. The fans were behind Ryan, who hit a dropkick and clotheslined Aichner to the outside.
Ryan tried for a dive, but Aichner got back into the ring and hit a tilt-a-whirl-backbreaker. Ryan came back with a few chops until Aichner hit him with a back suplex, then locked in a sitting abdominal stretch and worked over Ryan’s ribs. Ryan got out and eventually hit an enzuigiri and a forearm into the corner and a back elbow.
Ryan came off the middle ropes with a flying European uppercut. He tried for an Alabama slam, but Aichner grabbed the top rope and escaped, then suplexed Ryan onto the top rope and threw him to the outside,. He rammed Ryan into the steel steps and followed up with a running knee, the same tactic he successfully used against Mark Andrews a few episodes ago and also tried against Flash Morgan Webster.
Back in the ring, Aichner hit a spinning sit-out powerbomb for the win.
– A graphic for Rhea Ripley vs. Isla Dawn aired and we saw Dawn meditating backstage.
– Another graphic hyped up Moustache Mountain vs. Tyson T-Bone & Saxon Huxley.
– A Travis Banks video aired. He talked about Joe Coffey and said he was the Kiwi Buzzsaw and nobody squashed him. He talked about Gallus taking him out backstage but said they didn’t get the job done. He said he took out Wolfgang. Banks has his eyes set on the WWE United Kingdom title. He said Gallus’ oversight would be their downfall and Joe Coffey was the first on his list.
Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) defeated Saxon Huxley & Tyson T-Bone in 7:02 when Seven pinned Huxley after a lariat/snap dragon suplex combo
In a WWE.com exclusive video, Radzi interviewed T-Bone and Huxley. He said that many people believed that Moustache Mountain were the favorites. T-Bone asked if Radzi believed that too. T-Bone said that favorites are only good to disappoint, and Huxley said that they would send their opponents to the seventh circle of hell.
Bate and T-Bone started, with the big guy landing with body shots right away. He backed Bate into the corner, but Bate came back with shots of his own. T-Bone tagged Huxley, who worked Bate over, including a backbreaker over the shoulder. Bate came back with a spinning European uppercut from the second turnbuckle and tagged out.
Seven hit a number of chops in the corner but got distracted by T-Bone, allowing Huxley to hit a Thesz press. Seven hit T-Bone, who had tagged back in with a few chops to no effect, so he kicked him and hit a quick DDT. Seven tried for a Figure Four, but T-Bone kicked him into Huxley and then hit a hard right that briefly had Seven out cold on the mat.
The heels continued to work Seven over, isolating him in their corner and quickly tagging in and out. T-Bone got a near fall after two face-wash kicks into the corner. Huxley hit a body press into Seven while he was in the ropes. T-Bone kept working him over, but Seven eventually managed to hit a snap dragon suplex before being stopped by Huxley.
Seven managed to hit an enzuigiri and make the hot tag. Bate came in like a house of fire and took out both guys. He caught Huxley on a running forearm into the corner, carried him over, and hit an exploder, followed by a running Shooting Star Press. T-Bone accidentally hit an elbow drop on Huxley while trying to make the save and got sent outside courtesy of a hard left by Bate, followed by a suicide dive. Bate went for the Tyler Driver ’97, but Huxley escaped.
Bate managed to tag in Seven, who locked Huxley in a full-nelson. Bate hit the ropes for his springboard launched lariat into a snap dragon suplex by Seven for the victory.
– Radzi was backstage with “Bomber” Dave Mastiff, talking about his victory over Eddie Dennis last week, making him the still-undefeated monster of NXT UK. Mastiff talked about wanting to go for the UK Championship, but he was then brutally attacked by Dennis from behind.
Dennis repeatedly rammed Mastiff into a steel door. He screamed that it was far from over between them.
– Ripley walked towards the ring backstage. A graphic announced her match was next.
– A video aired, promoting the “Bruiserweight” Pete Dunne and his UK title win against Tyler Bate as well as his current title reign. Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness talked about who might be able to stop the champ.
– Another video promoted Toni Storm’s return to the ring next episode, as well as Zack Gibson & James Drake vs. Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews and Travis Banks vs. Joe Coffey.
NXT UK Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley defeated Isla Dawn to retain her title in 9:01 after hitting the Riptide
They locked up and Ripley backed her into the corner, but Dawn turned it around and they ended up back in the middle in the ring, still jockeying for position. Dawn locked her in a side headlock. Ripley whipped her way out of it, but Dawn tripped her and hit a double foot stomp for a quick two count.
Dawn went back to a headlock on the mat. Ripley finally managed to get up and back Dawn into the corner, then hit a running dropkick right to Dawn’s jaw. Ripley took over with kicks and punches, wearing the “White Witch” of NXT UK down, then hit a vertical suplex for a two count. She tried to follow it up with her modified cloverleaf, but Dawn managed to kick her off. Ripley took Dawn down with a snapmare and locked in a chinlock, rag-dolling her smaller opponent. She then took out Dawn with a stiff lariat.
Dawn managed to block a few suplex attempts, but Ripley caught her on a roll-through attempt and locked in her modified cloverleaf. Dawn slowly crawled her way to the edge of the mat and eventually reached the ropes, not without Ripley kicking her hard in the back.
Ripley missed a big boot, a dropkick, and eventually a shoulder block into the corner, where Ripley launched herself right into the post. Dawn took over with a series of kicks and a backdrop driver, followed by a head kick. She hit her float-over gutwrench powerslam, but Ripley managed to kick out at 2.9.
Ripley held onto the top rope as Dawn tried to whip her, then ducked a high kick and transitioned into hitting the Riptide for her first successful title defense.
Ripley celebrated with her title as the show went off the air.
Next episode:
Joe Coffey faces Travis Banks, Zack Gibson & James Drake take on Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster, and Toni Storm returns to the ring.
Episode 15 (taped October 13 at Plymouth Pavilions in Plymouth, England)
Quick summary —
Flash Morgan Webster managed to avenge the loss of his partner Mark Andrews by defeating Fabian Aichner in a good match. Isla Dawn continued her path to challenge for the NXT UK Women’s Championship, defeating Killer Kelly and then calling out Rhea Ripley.
As teams are looking to qualify to compete for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship, Zack Gibson & James Drake defeated Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams. In the main event, Joe Coffey managed to beat Trent Seven in another good outing.
Full recap —
– The show opened with a video of Triple H and Johnny Saint introducing the NXT UK Tag Team Championship. It was said that teams had to impress Saint in order to qualify for a tournament.
– In the studio, Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness talked about the upcoming Tag Team titles and Joe Coffey vs. Trent Seven later tonight.
Flash Morgan Webster defeated Fabian Aichner in 9:36 with a bridging pin
We saw a backstage segment with Webster and Mark Andrews. Andrews told his partner to be careful against Aichner tonight. There also was a look back at Aichner discovering his mean streak and throwing Andrews into the ring steps in their match two episodes ago before picking up the victory.
Aichner wanted a hand shake to start the match, but Webster wouldn’t fall for it, kicked at his hand, and went for a quick roll-up to start things off. Webster was the smaller man here and evaded some of Aichner’s punches, instead managing to get some arm drags in. He pulled down the ropes and Aichner tumbled to the outside.
Webster launched himself over the ropes but missed his attack — and Aichner threw him into the steps. Andrews came out at that point to support his partner. Aichner almost gained a countout victory, but Webster managed to get back in at eight. Aichner took over with strikes and forearms and attacked Webster from ringside, throwing forearms at his head as he lay on the apron.
Aichner went for a nerve hold, then hit a back suplex as Webster escaped and went back to working over Webster’s shoulder some more. Webster managed to evade a back body drop with a kick to the head and evaded a corner charge by Aichner, which sent the man from South Tyrol tumbling over the top in what looked like a mean bump.
Back in the ring, Webster hit three consecutive dropkicks and the Modern Knee for a near fall. Aichner charged at him in the corner again, but Webster hopped the ropes and hit an enzuigiri from the apron, followed by the Rude Boy Block from the corner for a another near fall.
Aichner came back with a brainbuster and screamed at Webster to “stay down,” but Webster hit two headbutts and went up top. Aichner rolled to ringside, evading an attack. Webster followed him and got thrown into the barricades. As Aichner went for a running kick into Webster on the steel steps, Andrews stepped in and thwarted the attack.
Aichner rolled Webster back inside and went for a powerbomb, but as he jaw-jacked with Andrews on the outside, Webster took out his legs, rolled over, and got the win with a bridging pin. Aichner was furious in the ring as the babyfaces went to the back.
– Radzi Chinyanganya was backstage with Amir Jordan, who was his smiling and dancing self. He wanted Radzi to dance with him and even put his scarf around his shoulders. Radzi started moving his shoulders as Jordan danced, but Kenny Williams stepped in and told Jordan that there was a time for fun and a time to be serious and told him they had to focus on their upcoming match against Zack Gibson & James Drake. Radzi still was moving his shoulders around and Williams told him he was disappointed in him.
– We took a look at Isla Dawn beating Nina Samuels two episodes ago and were told she would be up next.
– After a WWE Shop commercial, we joined Gallus backstage. Joe Coffey said he’d take out Trent Seven tonight and then focus on Travis Banks, while Wolfgang and Mark Coffey promised to go after the NXT UK Tag Team titles.
Isla Dawn defeated Killer Kelly in 3:16 after a float-over gutwrench into a powerslam
Dawn started things off with leg kicks against Kelly’s left thigh, which would become the story of the match. She managed to take Kelly down on a guillotine attempt and put her in a leg lock. Kelly got back up and stuffed another takedown, then hit a suplex into the corner, followed by a running basement dropkick. Kelly then locked in a cravat.
Dawn managed to work her way out of the hold and threw more kicks to Kelly’s leg, weakening her base. Kelly started limping and Dawn went for a back drop driver, followed by a running knee, then hit her float-over gutwrench into a powerslam for the victory.
Post-match, Radzi interviewed Dawn in the ring, asking her what was next. Dawn said that her eyes were set on the NXT UK Women’s Championship, prompting Rhea Ripley to come out posing with her belt. Dawn challenged her to a match and Ripley seemed to accept. Dawn said that Ripley was so confident, but if she put the title on the line, she would walk out empty handed.
– A graphic promoted Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams vs. Zack Gibson & James Drake next, followed by a TLC commercial.
– Dave Mastiff was interviewed by some anonymous journalists and said that he would focus on the WWE UK Championship. Eddie Dennis walked up and said some journalist was looking to interview the undefeated monster of NXT UK and Dennis figured he had missed the call, but then found out they meant Mastiff. Dennis told him that he was not the only undefeated monster in NXT UK. Mastiff told him to settle things in the ring.
– Joseph and McGuinness were back in studio, talking about that proposed match and the teams in NXT UK.
Zack Gibson & James Drake defeated Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams in 6:52 after hitting a double-team codebreaker
Jordan and Drake started out and Jordan went for a quick roll-up. He hit a running body press early on and tagged in Williams, who hit a flying elbow on Drake’s arm. The faces threw the heels out of the ring and hit stereo dives on them, then Jordan followed up with a high crossbody back in the ring.
Drake came back and threw Jordan out of the ring, where Gibson grabbed him and Drake launched himself over the ropes to hit Jordan in the back. Back in the ring, Gibson locked in his sitting Cobra Clutch on Jordan. Jordan managed to escape with a stunner, but couldn’t reach Williams as Gibson tagged out.
Jordan eventually made the hot tag and Williams ran wild, hitting a back-spring elbow and a running soccer kick on Drake for a near fall. As Drake hit forearms on Williams in the corner, Jordan tagged back in and hit an STO on Drake. Williams then tagged back in. Gibson came in and threw Jordan outside and followed him, but Williams managed to hit a wrecking ball dropkick on him through the ropes.
As Williams skinned the cat back inside, Drake picked him up into a tombstone position, then threw him into Gibson who hit a codebreaker for the win.
– Moustache Mountain were backstage as Trent Seven warmed up for his match.
Joe Coffey defeated Trent Seven in 15:02 after a spinning lariat
Coffey proclaimed that this was “their kingdom” as he came out. He and Seven locked up and jockeyed for position, with Coffey breaking clean on Seven touching the ropes before taking him down and working the arm. Seven escaped and hit a suplex, but in the process, tweaked his injured knee, which Coffey gleefully noticed.
Seven hit a DDT, but Coffey grabbed him by the moustache and threw him outside. The rest of Gallus stepped up, but Bate also stepped in to keep them from attacking his partner. Coffey used this to jump into Seven’s back with a stomp from the apron. They went back in, but Coffey ended up on the apron again and Seven chopped him to ringside.
As Gallus stepped up on the apron, Bate got in the ring and Moustache Mountain attacked Gallus, with Bate hitting a dropkick. The faces then hit stereo dives on the heels to the outside. Bate brawled to the back with Wolfgang and Mark Coffey.
Seven hit another plancha on Coffey, then hit more chops back in the ring. Coffey clipped his knee to turn things around and worked over the injured leg. He missed a corner charge and ended up shoulder-first in the ring post, allowing Seven to actually get him up top for a superplex.
Seven managed to hit a snap dragon and another suplex for a near fall, then locked in a figure four on Coffey. Coffey escaped and they ended up on the apron, where Coffey hit a vicious belly-to-belly suplex on Seven onto the floor. Seven narrowly made it back into the ring at 9.5.
Coffey hit a powerbomb, then picked Seven up for another one and locked in the Boston crab, transitioning to a single-leg on Seven’s knee before the injured babyface managed to reach the ropes.
They ran into each other with a double clothesline and traded Strikes. Seven managed another snap dragon suplex on one leg, but couldn’t get Coffey up on what probably was a Burning Hammer attempt. Coffey managed to hit a deadlift German suplex, a spear into the corner, and a spinning lariat to pick up the victory. He celebrated as the show went off the air.
Next episode:
Dave Mastiff meets Eddie Dennis and the NXT UK tag team roster will continue to qualify for the Tag Team title tournament.
Episode twelve (taped October 13 at Plymouth Pavilions in Plymouth, England)
Quick recap
Fabian Aichner made his NXT UK debut, defeating Mark Andrews and looking good in the process. Isla Dawn beat Nina Samuels in a quick match, while Edie Dennis basically squashed Tucker. Jordan Devlin beat Flash Morgan Webster in a good main event match.
Also, Travis Banks returned from injury to confront Gallus, the new official name for the group of Wolfgang and the Coffey Brothers. In other news, Sid Scala officially was appointed assistant to NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint.
Full rundown
The show opened with a graphic about Tom “Dynamite Kid” Billington passing away. A scrolling message at the bottom of the screen also wished his family, friends and fans the best.
This was the first show from the third set of NXT UK tapings and saw a number of debuts and returns, the first of which happened in the first segment. Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang came out and Joe Coffey cut a promo in the ring. He said people had been calling them “ruthless”, then asked his brother for what other word they had been called. “Devious”, was the answer.
He asked Wolfgang for another term. “Underhanded”, was what Wolfgang told him. He said that this was absolutely right, he said that this was their kingdom and that they would be known as Gallus, which, according to Wikipedia means is a Lowland Scottish word for self-confident, daring, cheeky or stylish, impressive,
He said that this was their kingdom now and that there was no such thing as Big Strong Bois anymore. At that point, Travis banks came out and stood in the aisle. Joe Coffey asked him how he felt and that they had put him on the shelf. he dared Banks to get in the ring, noting that there were three of them and just one of him.
He then told him they could go one on one. Banks stormed the ring, but as he took Joe down, the rest of Gallus interfered and beat him down. Moustache Mountain ran out to make the save, sending the heels packing.
Nigel and Vic were in studio, talking about the last segment and then threw it to a backstage interview where Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Fabian Aichner, who made his debut here. He said that there were some of the best competitors in the world here and he was looking forward to mix it up with them, just as he had done in NXT.
A graphic informed us that Aichner would do battle with Mark Andrews next.
A TLC promo aired.
Radzi was back with Jordan Devlin. Devlin asked if he had seen how far he had pushed Pete Dunne in his own home town and that he was confident another title opportunity would not be too far away for him.
He said that he was the Irish Ace and he looked at the NXT UK roster like a deck of cards and when he shuffles that deck and pulls out Flash Morgan Webster, he sees the Joker. He threatened to rip off Webster’s anorak, throw his helmet in the fifth row and said that the Ace always trumps the Heart. (which makes basically no sense in any kind of card game, but I digress)
Fabian Aichner beat Mark Andrews in 9:19 after a spinning sit-out power bomb
Aichner of course is the current EVOLVE world champion. He hails from South Tyrol which is a German speaking autonomous province in northern Italy, which originally belonged to the Austrian-Hungarian empire (there, you learned something). He started in 2011 and trained in Germany with former WCW “Wunderkind” Alex Wright and his English father, Steve Wright.
Aichner and Andrews shook hands for the start of the match. After some back and forth, Aichner showed his power by easily gorilla pressing Andrews, but Andrews reversed out of the move. He tried his somersault over the top rope from the apron, but Aichner once more caught him in mid-move, even though Andrews managed to turn the move into a lucha arm drag and followed with a huracanrana. Andrews followed this up with a topé.
Back in the ring, Aichner stopped Andrews, threw him high into the air and caught him for a backbreaker, which looked impressive. Nigel talked about Aichner’s trainer Steve Wright once wrestling Tiger Mask, in a similar display of strength and technique versus high flying. Andrews hit a standing corkscrew senton for a near-fall and turned a power bomb attempt into a huracanrana.
He once more tried his somersault over the roped but this time it ended in a hard face slam for him. Aichner turned him inside out with a clothesline and went for a brain buster which got turned into the Stunt Dog Millionaire. Andrews went up top but Aichner caught him mid-air and gave him a brain buster for a near fall.
Aichner then showed his athleticism with a spring board moonsault which missed. Andrews went for a moonsault of his own which got caught, but managed to turn it into a tornado DDT for a near fall of his own. He tried for a shooting star press but impressively managed to land on his feet as Aichner rolled to ringside.
Aichner pulled Andrews out and drove him into the steps, then followed with a running knee into the steel for good measure. This was a turning point, as Aichner supposedly embraced the dark side here. Andrews managed to get back in at 9 but got caught in a spinning sit-out power bomb for the pin.
This was a very good match and a great NXT UK debut for Aichner.
Vic and Nigel talked about the NXT UK Women’s championship tournament, which concluded last week.
A promo looked at Isla Dawn, the White Witch of NXT UK. She went by some ancient buildings and talked about her powers. A graphic announced Isla Dawn would meet Nina Samuels next.
A commercial for the AJ Styles WE 365 documentary aired.
Radzi was with Johnny Saint, asking him how he handled all the chaos going on in NXT UK right now. Johnny said that he knew he needed some help, so he had appointed Sid Scala as his assistant. At that point, Rhea Ripley walked up to them and towered over Scala.
She said they should be talking about her and find her some competition. Scala assured her that they were looking into it. Rhea at that point pinched him in the cheeks and mockingly stated tha the little assistant would be finding her an opponent. She walked off and told Johnny that she didn’t think much of his hired help.
Isla Dawn beat Nina Samuels in 3:20 after a gutwrench powerslam
They locked up and Isla managed to pull out of a head lock. Samuels took over with a chin lock and we were told that she had run the London marathon four times, so she had stamina. That was of little use, as Isla moved out of the way of a charging Samuels and hit some kickboxing kicks, a back drop driver and eventually her gut-wrench power slam for the quick win.
Some Eddie Dennis highlights aired and we were told that he would be in action against Tucker next
A WWE Shop commercial featuring the New Day aired; apparently there is a Book of Booty-Os. Sounds thrilling!
We saw highlights from last week’s tournament final between Rhea Ripley and Toni Storm. Toni talked about the crucial moment when her back got hurt off a spot of being thrown onto the edge of the apron (originally there was fear she would be out for a while with a back injury). She said that while Rhea was the first NXT UK Women’s champion, she herself would be the best champion and the the injury just made her stronger.
Eddie Dennis beat Tucker with the Next Stop Driver in 2:27
Denis was in control from the start with punches and hard whips. He hit his Black Hole Slam into a backbreaker on his knee, then locked Tucker in a cravat. Tucker briefly managed to come back with a back elbow from the second turnbuckle and a clothesline in the corner, but Dennis took his head off with a hard clothesline.
He hit the Severed Bridge into the corner and ended the match with the Next Stop Driver.
We were informed that Jordan Devlin would be in action next
A WWE Network promo aired
Johnny Saint announced via Twitter that Travis Banks would have a chance for retaliation against Gallus next week when he gets to face Wolfgang
Jordan Devlin beat Flash Morgan Webster in 12:04 after Ireland’s Call
Webster early on flipped out of some arm locks and they traded counters back and forth. Devlin eventually took over and kicked Webster into the corner. He hit his uranage/standing moonsault combination and taunted Webster. He picked the smaller man up and hit a backbreaker on his own shoulder, which looked impressive.
After a near fall, he locked in a sitting abdominal stretch. He threw Webster to ringside and smashed him into the apron before rolling him back inside. He taunted Webster some more and answered Webster’s comeback with a face rake. he screamed that Webster didn’t belong on his level nor into his ring.
Webster his the Modern Knee and consecutive dropkicks, followed by an enzuigiri into the corner and followed up with a huracanrana off the top rope. Devlin then did his pull-up by the arms into a backdrop driver spot, which always looks cool. Webster came back with a head-butt that sent Devlin to the outside. Webster followed him with a baseball slide and managed to avoid getting rammed into the steps and hit the Rude Boy Block off the steps on the outside.
He went for a somersault senton but Devlin got his kneed up and eventually landed Ireland’s Call for the victory.
Episode twelve (taped August 26 at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England)
Quick recap
Rhea Ripley was crowned the inaugural NXT UK Women’s champion, beating Toni Storm in a hard-fought battle. Story of the match was Toni injuring her back early on, so she couldn’t hit Storm Zero and fell victim to Rhea’s Riptide in the end. In other matches, Tyler Bate (replacing Sid Scala) beat Joe Coffey by DQ when Mark Coffey and Wolfgang interfered, leading to a brawl between Gallus (the new name for Wolfgang & the Coffey Brothers) and British Strong Style. Ligero beat Dan Maloney in a fun match and Zack Gibson & James Drake beat Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams.
Full rundown
The show opened with a recap of the NXT UK Women’s Championship tournament, leading down to the two final participants. Nigel and Vic talked some more about the tournament in the studio, as we saw Rhea Ripley and Ton Storm warm up for their match backstage.
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Tyler Bate (replacing Sid Scala) beat Joe Coffey by DQ in 9:47 due to outside interference
Coffey was supposed to face Sid Scala, who came out in a suit and with a microphone and said he had not been medically cleared to compete. He said Johnny Saint had given him permission to introduce his replacement, who was Tyler Bate.
Bate got right down to business, attacking Coffey with strikes and a punching battle ensued. A dropkick by Bate sent Coffey to the outside and Tyler followed up with a tope and after some back and forth on the outside, hit a flying European uppercut off the ring steps. At that point, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang came back out which distracted Bate and he got smashed into the ringside barriers.
He couldn’t lift up Coffey for the airplane spin and Coffey took over, hitting a butterfly swing into a butterfly suplex, before applying a double arm stretcher submission. Bate eventually reversed out of it, but got backed into the corner and ate a high belly-to-belly overhead suplex for his troubles.
A striking battle was won by Bate, as he hit a huracanrana and a standing shooting star press for a two-count, Mark Coffey got on the apron, which distracted Tyler Bate and Joe went for a pop-up power slam. Trent Seven came to the ring at that point to even the odds somewhat. Coffey missed a reverse body press off the top and Bate hit his neck-and-shoulders springboard lariat and managed to pick up Coffey for an airplane spin, even doing a squat in the middle of it, before spinning him some more in the other direction.
Coffey briefly got a few more shots in, but was wiped out with a rolling kappa kick. Bate set up the Tyler Driver ’97 but Wolfgang and Mark Coffey interfered for the DQ.
Trent Seven got in the ring to help out his mate, but the heels took over, until Pete Dunne’s music hit and he stormed out to a big pop and evened the odds. The heels were sent to ringside, briefly tried to come back into the ring but were finally driven off by British Strong Style.
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A graphic announced Dan Maloney facing Ligero next
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Ligero beat Dan Maloney after a springboard swinging DDT in 5:13
Maloney slapped Ligero right away and received a leg kick in return. He then picked up Ligero for a suplex and put him down on the apron, but Ligero flipped back into the ring and hit a dropkick for a quick cover. He went for a huracanrana but Maloney caught him and held him in position, but before he could capitalize, Ligero escaped and hit a flying huracanrana off the middle rope for a near fall.
A spine buster briefly stopped Ligero and a submission slowed the match down. Maloney briefly took over but missed a leg drop off the second turnbuckle. Ligero came back with a Rey Mysterio style seated senton off the top, followed by an enzuigiri. Ligero hit an assisted Sliced Bread, bouncing off the top rope and Maloney rolled ot the outside.
Ligero kept pushing, hitting a somersault senton on the bigger man and finally back in the ring, hit a springboard swinging DDT for the win.
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A graphic announced the upcoming tag team match, pitting Zack Gibson and James Drake against Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams. This was followed by a WWE Shop commercial
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Zack Gibson & James Drake beat Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams in 8:26 when Gibson pinned Williams after hitting Ticket to Ride
“Shoes off, if you hate Gibson” chants could be heard immediately, as the fans held their shoes into the air. Gibson and Williams started out and Gibson locked in a cravat and a side headlock right away and tagged his partner in crime. Williams rolled up Drake and hit a springboard back elbow before tagging out himself. Jordan hit a high hip toss and a drop kick and did his dance.
After being hit by a cross body and a drop kick, Drake was blind tagged by Gibson on a whip-in and the Grizzled Young Veterans hit a double chop to Amir’s throat.
Gibson locked in his seated cobra clutch variant and Drake tagged back in, while Amir was still in the hold. Amir played face in peril for a while, as the heels tagged in and out in quick succession. Gibson slammed Drake on top of Jordan for a two count. After some taunting and more beat downs, Drake finally missed a running dropkick into the corner and Amir managed the hot tag to Williams, as Drake tagged in Gibson.
Williams ran wild for a bit, hitting a dropkick on Gibson and taking out Drake on the apron. He hit a lucha-style roll-through into a face buster on Gibson for a near fall.
Gibson managed to tag back out and the heels went for a double back suplex on Williams, but Jordan pulled him down and hit a dropkick on Gibson as Williams hit a superkick on Drake, which sent both men to the outside. Williams hit a running dropkick through the ropes, but held on to the top rope and skinned the cat back inside, before hitting a double topés with Jordan.
Williams went to the to rope, but Gibson rammed Amir into the steps on the outside, distracting Williams and giving Drake a chance to push him off. With Amir being take out, the heels hit Ticket to Ride, a throw from a tombstone position by Drake into a codebreaker by Williams for the win.
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A split screen saw Rhea Ripley and Toni Storm walk to ringside for the main event.
Johnny Saint’s music hit and he came out carrying the NXT UK Women’s championship, followed by a WrestleMania ticket commercial.
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NXT UK Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley pinned Toni Storm in 9:28 after hitting Riptide to become the inaugural champion
This really was the battle of music styles, as the 80’s rocker, Toni Storm faced the Mosh Pit Kid, Rhea Ripley.
Ripley shoved Storm right away and hit her double arm sign of the horns pose. Toni retaliated with a firearm, slap, spin kick and running boot, sending Rhea crashing into to corner, where she promptly got hit with a hip attack by Toni and rolled to ringside. Toni followed up with a plancha between the middle and lowest rope.
Rhea recovered quickly and whipped Storm into the barriers back first, then briefly rolled back into the ring and stomped hard into Toni’s back on her way back out. This started telling the story of the match, which was Toni not being able to hit some of her signature moves due to her lower back being injured.
Toni came back with some knee strikes and forearm smashed and went for Strong Zero on the apron, but couldn’t lift Ripley up and got back body dropped on the apron. Toni barely made it back into the ring at 8 and Ripley was onto her right away with some ground and pound. Toni came back into the match, but quickly got stopped again with a knee breaker off a headlock attempt.
Ripley locked in her modified clover leaf, putting further pressure on Toni’s knees and lower back. Storm eventually made the ropes for a break, but Ripley kicked her left wrist hard, which still was clutching to the ropes.
Storm came back with some right hand slaps and went for the German suplex, but couldn’t lift Ripley due to her back problems. Ripley went for a back suplex, but Toni escaped and finally hit a snap German and picked Ripley up for a second one. Ripley eventually countered an attempt for a third one, but Toni hit a head butt and finally hit the third German suplex into a bridge for a near fall. She followed up with a running kick, a hip attack into the corner and flying double knees into the corner for another two count.
Ripley briefly took over but missed a corner charge and crashed into the post. Toni tried a bridging pin, but her momentum actually helped Ripley kicking out. Toni went for the Storm Zero, but got back body dropped over the top to the outside. where Ripley threw into the barriers a few more times and managed to get another two count back in the ring. She went for Riptide but Toni managed to escape the move and went for Storm Zero, but again, couldn’t get Ripley up due to her injured back.
Ripley tried for Riptide again, finally hit the move and pinned Toni Storm for the win and the championship.
Johnny Saint and Triple H entered the ring to congratulate Ripley and hand her the title. Rhea hugged both men and they celebrated in the ring together as the whole NXT UK roster came out on the stage to applaud the new champion as the show went off the air.
In a WWE.com exclusive video, Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Rhea Ripley in the ring. She said that this was so unreal and that she really wished she could catch her breath, but she couldn’t. She said Toni, you are a legend and I love you so much. She thanked everyone for coming out and said that it meant the world to her. The fans chanted “you deserve it” and she smiled and said, she was not going to lie, she might.
She thanked all the women who fought so hard for this and said that they were finally making history. This prompted chants of “British Wrestling”. She said she sould continue to rip everyone apart and then went to the top of the stage to pose with Johnny Saint, Triple H and the whole NXT UK roster.
A SmackDown-brand house show took place in Brighton, England yesterday as WWE’s European tour continued.
– United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Jeff Hardy to retain his title
– PROGRESS Atlas Champion Trent Seven defeated Zack Gibson to retain his title
Seven defended the Atlas title that he holds in PROGRESS Wrestling. The championship is for wrestlers who weigh over 205 pounds.
– Asuka & Naomi defeated Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville
– Shelton Benjamin defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas
Almas attacked Benjamin before the bell and carried on once it started, but Benjamin pinned him with a roll-up in about two minutes.
– SmackDown Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus defeated The Usos and New Day in a three-way match to retain their titles
Cesaro pinned one of the Usos to retain.
– Rusev & Lana defeated R-Truth & Carmella
This was just comedy with dancing and dance breaks and about 30 seconds of wrestling, with Rusev pinning Truth. As they were celebrating, Aiden English blindsided Rusev before all four sent him packing.
– Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson defeated Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe
– SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair to retain her title
Mandy Rose tried to interfere, but that led to Naomi, Asuka, and Deville coming out. Charlotte cleaned house after that but was rolled up by Lynch for the pin.
– WWE Champion AJ Styles defeated Samoa Joe and Daniel Bryan in a triple threat match to retain his title
Styles pinned Joe after hitting the Phenomenal Forearm.
This was a good, fun show. The crowd was into all the matches and was lively and loud throughout.
The NXT UK brand taped more episodes of their television show tonight in Plymouth, England. Here are the results:
– Eddie Ryan defeated Saxon Huxley in a dark match
Ryan scored the win following a roll up.
The Coffey Brothers, along with Wolfgang, cut a promo saying that NXT UK is their kingdom. Travis Banks came out to interrupt but was overpowered. Moustache Mountain came in for the save.
– Fabian Aichner defeated Mark Andrews
Fabian pinned Andrews after a spinning powerbomb.
– Isla Dawn defeated Nina Samuels.
– Eddie Dennis defeated Tucker
Dennis got the win after a modified sidewalk slam.
– Jordan Devlin defeated Morgan Webster.
– Joseph Connors defeated Dan Moloney.
– Dave Mastiff defeated Mike Hitchman
Mastiff got the win over Hitchman after a somersault into the turnbuckle.
– Ligero defeated Tyson T. Bone
Ligero won following a splash off the top rope.
– Rhea Ripley defeated Candy Floss
Ripley defeated Floss with a pump handle powerbomb.
– Travis Banks defeated Wolfgang
The Coffey brothers got involved during the match, but Moustache Mountain hit the ring to even the odds, allowing Banks to score the win over Wolfgang.
– Morgan Webster defeated Fabian Aichner
Webster reversed a roll up for the win.
– Isla Dawn defeated Killer Kelly.
After the match, Isla Dawn was interviewed and said she wanted a shot at Rhea Ripley’s NXT UK Women’s title. Ripley came out, and it seems like a future match will happen.
– James Drake and Zack Gibson defeated Kenny Williams and Amur Jordan.
A six-man tag match is set for the first of WWE’s two United Kingdom Championship tournament shows at Royal Albert Hall in June.
WWE revealed today that British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) will be teaming together to face the Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong) on night one. Strong turned against Dunne at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, joining Undisputed Era and allowing the group to retain their Tag Team titles.
After TakeOver, Bate & Seven lost a tag title match to Strong & O’Reilly at WrestleMania Axxess and were being attacked by Undisputed Era until Dunne made the save.
The first night in London will also feature a tournament to decide who will be challenging for Dunne’s WWE United Kingdom Championship on the second show. In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that it is believed to be an eight-man tournament with WWE’s UK-contracted wrestlers. The NXT Women’s, North American, and Tag Team titles will be defended on night two as well.
The UK Championship tournament shows will be taking place on June 18th and 19th, which fall on a Monday and Tuesday and come just days after NXT TakeOver: Chicago.
– British Cruiserweight Champion Kurtis Chapman defeated Rob Lias to retain his title
Eddie Dennis came out and distracted Lias. This was somewhat sloppy and the crowd found it hard to get into it.
– CCK (Travis Banks & Chris Brookes) defeated Zack Gibson & Josh Bodom
Before the match, Dennis stayed at the ramp and had a pull-apart brawl with Gibson and Bodom before CCK came out. Gibson cut a promo about how the fans only care about New Japan talent and should really care about him and Bodom.
The match was fast paced and had some hard-hitting elements. Banks was the most over guy in it. After some cheating from Gibson, Kid Lykos evened the odds by hitting Bodom with a tray. CCK got the win and Bodom and Gibson argued afterwards, with the latter walking out furious.
– Adam Brooks defeated Ryan Smile
This was a terrific match that went for over 20 minutes. It started quickly with a brawl all over the arena. Both men were equally over and got dueling chants from the crowd throughout.
Things got really good in the latter stages with a series of very convincing near falls for Smile. Brooks came back with a flurry of offense and several big moves to put Smile away. This match had everything and the crowd was super into it. Smile was left in the ring to soak up the applause as he waved goodbye.
– SANADA & EVIL defeated Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher)
There was a huge reaction for SANADA and EVIL, but Aussie Open were almost as popular. There were again dueling chants throughout. It looked early on like SANADA may have gotten hurt but he continued the match.
Fletcher eventually found himself caught in a submission and was forced to tap. SANADA and EVIL got a standing ovation afterwards and both teams were more over following the match.
– British Women’s Champion Jinny defeated Bea Priestley and Millie McKenzie to retain her title
Priestley had an elaborate entrance, very similar to Finn Balor’s demon one. McKenzie was extremely over and was the highlight of the match. She went wild with some German suplexes, even suplexing both women at the same time.
There was a crazy dive from Priestley from the ring post onto McKenzie, who was draped across the barrier. McKenzie also botched a dive badly to the outside but was okay. She then hit a move from the top rope on Priestley, which looked incredibly dangerous, but Jinny stole the pin to retain.
– Will Ospreay defeated Mark Andrews
Ospreay came out to a superstar reaction and the crowd was incredibly hot for him. The match started at a quick pace, with both doing dives right away. This was everything you would expect from Ospreay and Andrews, with moonsaults, shooting star presses, and plenty of Frankensteiners. It was a real spectacle to watch with reversal after reversal.
Ospreay eventually won with the OsCutter. This felt like a premature ending and the match could have gone on longer. Andrews endorsed Ospreay afterwards, but Adam Brooks came out and laid out both. He cut the Australian flag off Ospreay’s ring gear.
– Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) to win the British Tag Team Championship
This was the match of the night by a large margin. Everyone involved performed excellently, especially Suzuki. The match was a total war. Everyone got huge reactions, but it was clear that Suzuki was the main attraction. Bate and Seven wore towels around their heads to mock him.
Suzuki traded chops with Seven early on, with Suzuki laughing at Seven’s efforts before striking him down with just one chop. Bate tagged in and got in some signature offense before he was worn down by Suzuki’s power. Sabre Jr. tried multiple submissions on Bate, then Suzuki did too before Seven made the hot tag. He lit up Sabre Jr. with some fierce strikes in the ring while Suzuki and Bate brawled on the outside.
Suzuki laughed at Bate’s strikes before firing back himself much harder. After some nice sequences from both teams in the ring, Bate hit the Tyler Driver — only for Suzuki to kick out. Things really got good from here, with some more crazy sequences before Suzuki and Sabre got the win to a huge reaction.
The new champions beat down Moustache Mountain, who were sent packing. CCK came out to face off with Suzuki and Sabre but were too scared to get in the ring and left the champs to soak up the applause.
The Big News: Tyler Bate moved one step closer to another shot at the UK title by pinning champion Pete Dunne in the tag team main event.
The Medium News: Kairi Sane continued her streak of not being pinned or submitted as she beat Peyton Royce.
The Little Beaver-sized News: The Street Profits moved to 2-0 against Sabbatelli & Moss. (Maybe if they wrestle 1000 times, the former NFL players can get a win?)
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Remember last week when I said that this week we’d be back in the swing of things with a normal episode of NXT? I was lying. Instead, we have highlights of the NXT San Antonio house show from the night before NXT TakeOver: War Games.
Nigel McGuinness isn’t here this week, which means we got more Percy Watson. At no point did I say that was a good thing. Christy St. Cloud is handling the ring announcing and was really enthusiastic which is the nicest thing I can say about her effort.
The Street Profits defeated Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss
These two teams first wrestled two weeks ago, won by the Profits. They celebrated by partying on top of a car which angered Sabbatelli & Moss. That, of course, led to “renewed hostilities” and this rematch.
There looked to be about 300 people in the crowd, but they were into the Profits and made enough noise for a couple thousand. The heels got the heat on Montez Ford when Sabbatelli knocked him off the ring apron and sent him crashing into the guardrails. The crowd exploded for Angelo Dawkins’ hot tag which led to him running wild with his twisting splashes in the corner to both of his foes.
Sabbatelli had Dawkins pinned with a forearm to the face, but the referee stopped counting when he saw Moss holding down Dawkins’ feet for leverage. Ford came back and pinned Sabbatelli with a frog splash after a Lo Down.
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Tickets for NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia go on sale this Saturday!
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After defeating Johnny Gargano last week, UK Champion Pete Dunne was approached by Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate/Trent Seven) who congratulated him on his victory. Bate brought up Dunne allowing Wolfgang to be beaten down by The Undisputed Era and challenged him to find a partner for a tag team match. We fast forward back to today and Seven enunciated the same thoughts. Bate said they are a real tag team, unlike Dunne and Mark Andrews.
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The aforementioned Andrews cut a promo about why he agreed to be Dunne’s partner. He said that there is an agreement in place that if their team wins, Andrews will become #1 contender to the UK Championship.
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Kairi Sane defeated Peyton Royce
After the opening salvo, Royce ran the ropes and Sane did a drop down….and then did it again….and then did it again. Just as I was getting curious as to how long Royce would keep running and jumping over Sane, she suddenly stopped and got frustrated. Said frustration didn’t last long as Royce knocked down Sane to get the heat.
Sane made her comeback and seemed content with caving in Royce’s chest with forearms. Sane went up top for a big WhatAManeuver, but Royce sidestepped it and hit a running knee for a near fall. Sane made another comeback and even knocked an interfering Billie Kay off the apron before pinning Royce with the Insane Elbow.
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Last week, Ruby Riott defeated Sonya Deville in a Winner Gets An Extra Letter Added To Her Last Name Match, but they are coming back! Next week, the war between Raw and SmackDown explodes again as Sonya and Ruby square off in a no holds barred match.
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A video aired about Drew McIntyre’s injury and an acknowledgment that he will be out for an undisclosed amount of time. However, we get the championship celebration next week for the new NXT Champion, Andrade “Cien” Almas.
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Moustache Mountain defeated WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne & Mark Andrews
Back in January, all four men took part in the UK Championship tournament, which was won by Bate. Dunne won the title in the best WWE match all year at TakeOver: Chicago (again, go watch that match) and has since defended it multiple times.
The match started with Bate and Dunne. Bate appeared to get the best of him as it led to a standoff. Dunne reached out to tag Andrews, but before he did, he punched Bate right in the mouth. Andrews tagged in and we got superb scientific wrestling between the three noble babyfaces.
Dunne continued to show why he is a budding star. He does so many little things and creative misdirection spots that along with his skill, his sheer presence and personality make him a standout not just in the UK division, but in all of NXT. This match told a great story and made sense from beginning to end. Andrews wouldn’t normally bother himself by teaming with such a rogue, but the lure of championship glory was enough to set aside his personal feelings for one night.
The dissention and destruction of the team slowly built from the opening bell with Dunne not happy with Andrews’ clean cut ways and Andrews not happy with Dunne’s lack of sportsmanship.
Toward the end, Andrews hit a hurricarana on Bate and Dunne caught his foe and dropped him with a sit-out power bomb in one fluid motion. Bate came back and almost had the champ pinned with a double team power bomb, but Andrews broke that up. There were a slew of near falls and kickouts, but the finish was nice and simple. Bate, the former champion, pinned Dunne, the current champion, with the Tyler Driver 97.
Andrews was frustrated after the match, but decided to fight another day and began walking away. However, Dunne laid him out with a blow to the back of the head and then hit a Bitter End.
This week was a throwaway show that did have an excellent main event that sets the stage for more excellent matches in the future. Next week, we’re back in Full Sail (I’m serious this time), so until then, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers.
The Big News: Drew McIntyre and SAnitY finally got the upper hand on Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly, standing tall at the end of the night.
The Medium News: A few minutes before, however, Fish & O’Reilly got their first win, defeating the Moustache Mountain duo of Tyler Bate & Trent Seven
The Little Beaver Sized News: Drew McIntyre will defend his NXT Championship against Roderick Strong on the episode that airs in two weeks.
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Johnny Gargano defeated Tino Sabbatelli
Last week, Gargano beat Sabbatelli’s partner Riddick Moss. Can he make it two in a row as we kick off another week of NXT? In a WWE.com promo last week, Sabbatelli and Moss said Gargano won’t get lucky again if they wrestle.
Sabbatelli started the match by pushing Gargano back into the corner and pie-facing him. Gargano let his foe do it a couple times before rebounding off the ropes with a chop so loud that it’s still being heard in parts of the country.
Sabbatelli got his heat from there. Gargano made a brief comeback but got cut off when he went for a slingshot dive over the top rope. Sabbatelli caught him and dropped him with a powerslam.
The story of the match was that Sabbatelli may have had it won, but he decided to badmouth Gargano. Johnny Wrestling tagged him with a superkick and tapped him out with the Gargano Escape. Moss was at ringside, but he never got involved.
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Mr. Regal was backstage telling a story when Roderick Strong walked in and asked for an opportunity at Drew McIntyre’s NXT Championship. Regal agreed and made the title match for October 4th.
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Sonya Deville cut a promo and said she never wrestled Asuka because Asuka knew that Deville would have broken her undefeated streak. Deville laid claim to the championship.
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Bianca Belair defeated Lacey Evans
Both Belair and Evans are straight out of the Mae Young Classic. This seemed like it could have been a good hard-hitting match, but Evans was content to be a punching bag for the most part.
Belair was laying in palm strikes and forearms until near the end when Evans got tired of it and fired back with a few good shots of her own. However, Belair whipped Evans with her hair (which was more violent than it sounds) and pinned her with a backwards falling powerbomb.
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Six months after debuting, Aleister Black finally had something to say. Black came to the ring wearing a suit for his first promo segment. I don’t know what I expected him to wear, but it takes something from him to just see him wearing a nice suit. He must have heard me because he came to the ring, removed his suit jacket, and rolled up his sleeves.
He started a journey 15 years ago that led him here to NXT. In those 15 years, he traveled the world and experienced a lot. He put all those experiences on his skin in the form of his scars. He did this to not forget, noting the heart tattoo on his throat and the devil tattoo on his back. He said he now knows what he needs to do.
Before he could state whatever that is, Velveteen Dream lived up to his threat from a few weeks ago. Dream said Black has been blinded by the light that is our Velveteen Dream. He got in the ring and asked Black where his scars are.
Dream said he sees a man who is hurt and in pain. However, Black’s biggest problem is fear. Black looks afraid to Dream. He’s afraid to show emotion and afraid of the light. Dream knows Black has a heart, but it’s in the wrong place.
Black, who stared a hole through his head, gave the former Patrick Clark a Black Mass to the hand. Black sat down in the ring, challenging Dream to do something. Dream knelt down and leaned in close to Black before slithering away.
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Dakota Kai said she wants to be NXT Women’s Champion.
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Lars Sullivan defeated No Way Jose
This match is the conclusion to the angle between Jose and Sullivan. A month ago in Brooklyn, Sullivan destroyed Jose as he tried to fiesta before his match. Then Sullivan manhandled three men in a handicap match two weeks ago, which was followed by Jose, the babyface, attacking Sullivan. Unfortunately for Jose, he got his butt kicked one more time. So since Jose can’t just stay away, we have arrived here!
Jose’s strategy for this match was to attack at the bell. That didn’t work. It’s possible he changed his strategy mid-match to tire Sullivan out by allowing the big man to beat him and throw him all over the ring. That didn’t work either. Jose then figured if he punched Sullivan in the face that would get him the advantage. It also didn’t work.
Sullivan finished Jose off with a diving headbutt and a slam.
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Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated Moustache Mountain
Last week, Bate and Seven ran in to check on Wolfgang after Wolfie was laid out by a three-on-one beatdown by Adam Cole, Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly.
Seven had the early advantage on Fish, but when he went for some sort of move, O’Reilly distracted him just long enough for Fish to cut him off. Seven battled back and chopped away at Fish, but Fish thought he would outsmart Seven by ducking, but Seven was on top of his game and dropped Fish with a DDT.
Cole got up on the apron to have a discussion with the referee, while Fish speared Seven right into the metal barricade on the other side of the arena. Bate eventually got the hot tag and ran wild on the three-time ROH Tag Team Champions. Seven got back in the game for a four-way brawl and he finally took Fish out with a suicide dive.
Bate went for the Tyler Driver ’97, but O’Reilly locked on a guillotine. Bate fought and fought and eventually got out of it. He hoisted O’Reilly up for a suplex, but Fish kicked his leg outta his leg. Fish and O’Reilly hit Chasing the Dragon, but Bate got his big toe on the bottom rope to break the pin up.
It was hard to keep track of who was legal, but Cole interfered to drop Bate, and finally Fish and O’Reilly pinned Seven after Total Elimination.
McIntyre decided that now was the best time to hit the ring, and I guess he had a point, as his presence caused Cole, Fish, and O’Reilly to scurry away. Well, they attempted to scurry away. SAnitY appeared behind them and got their revenge for the attacks at TakeOver and a few weeks later on NXT.
McIntyre joined in on the four-on-three beatdown and eventually the heel trio sulked away a lot less cocky than they were a few minutes earlier.
So. that does it for this week. What happens next week? Only one way to find out, so until then, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
The Big News: Wolfgang pinned Tyler Bate to win the tag team main event with his partner, Pete Dunne.
The Medium News: Lars Sullivan finally decided to ditch the tag team division and destroyed No Way Jose.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Ignore everything but the main event and re-watch TakeOver: Brooklyn.
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For the fifth straight night, WWE has invaded the Barclays Center! Don’t try to tell me this was taped Saturday night, because I call shenanigans.
Before I begin, I am going to save myself the time of saying this five times. They did five video packages recapping the matches at TakeOver. Any interviews recapped featuring the participants aired after those video packages.
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No Way Jose vs. Lars Sullivan never began
Jose’s new job is the old Enzo Amore and Big Cass spot where he opens every show. He brought fans over the dasher boards to fiesta with him before the match until he was attacked by Sullivan. Sullivan destroyed Jose while the fans stood and watched in horror.
Sullivan, who went 0-for-the-millennium in tag team action, is much more dominant by himself. The match never got started as Sullivan walked off after leaving Jose laying.
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We got a Johnny Gargano promo from earlier today. Gargano said he has no excuses for losing to Andrade Almas and he owns that. Brooklyn didn’t go as planned, but he knows people still believe in him and this is far from the end for Johnny Wrestling.
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Asuka did a post-match press conference with “international media.” She bragged about winning and said she will continue to do so.
They did share the news of Asuka’s collarbone injury and Asuka declaring that she will be back.
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Pete Dunne and Wolfgang cut a promo backstage about their match tonight. They were asked what this match would do for the UK division.
Dunne said him wrestling makes the brand stronger. Wolfgang said that after they win their tag team match, Dunne should give him a title shot. Dunne told him not to get too far ahead of himself.
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Peyton Royce (w/ Billie Kay) defeated Sarah Logan
The fans were really into the Iconic Duo’s entrance. Logan’s enthusiasm was infectious, but she was here tonight with a job to do.
Logan dropped down too close to the ropes, causing Royce to trip on her while coming off of them. Not sure if that was a botch, but they made it look good. Royce then used kind of a reverse tarantula in the ropes.
Logan ducked under a spin kick and hit a delayed German suplex. Kay tried to get involved, but it backfired and Logan almost got the pin with an O’Connor Roll. However, Royce picked up the win with a fisherwoman’s suplex.
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On next week’s episode, Drew McIntyre will reply to the beatdown he got at TakeOver from Adam Cole and reDRagon.
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Bobby Roode ordered a lackey to get his bags and put them in his car after losing the NXT Championship on Saturday. He refused to do an interview, then Roderick Strong blew him a kiss, telling him “see you soon.”
We then recapped his debut on SmackDown last night and there was a promo with Roode saying he doesn’t leave behind unfinished business. He said he is going to beat Strong, then beat Drew McIntyre and take back his NXT title, and then he will make SmackDown “glorious.”
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Aleister Black ignored the random schmoes shoving microphones in his face and demanding comment following his match on Saturday.
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WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne & Wolfgang defeated Tyler Bate & Trent Seven
It was time for the main event. Bate won the UK title in the tournament from this past January. Then Dunne beat him for the belt in the WWE Match of the Year (so far) at TakeOver: Chicago. If for some reason you have never watched that match, you owe it to yourself to go to the Wayback Machine and watch it.
Bate and Seven also go by the team name Moustache Mountain.
Everyone got a polite reaction, but Dunne got the reaction of a superstar. Dunne and Bate started at the bell and did just enough together that it made you beg for their third encounter to happen soon.
Dunne and Wolfgang got the heat on Seven when Wolfgang exploded from the corner with a spear as Seven was playing to the crowd by twirling his mustache. Dunne bent Seven’s arm completely behind his back and then bent his fingers in the direction they’re not supposed to go. That always makes me hurt.
Bate got the hot tag, and while fans liked him when he entered the arena, they quickly loved him again with his work. Bate had the match won with the Tyler Driver ’97 on Dunne, but he didn’t notice Wolfgang blind tagged himself in. Wolfgang hit a huge swanton bomb on Bate for the pin and the win.
That does it for this week, and that officially does it from Brooklyn. We head back to Full Sail next week and begin the road to the next TakeOver. Until then, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
This week in wrestling, PROGRESS hosted Super Strong Style 16, the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors came to a close, the build to WWE Extreme Rules continued, and Minoru Suzuki had a match in an empty Tokyo Dome. Here are our favorite wrestlers this week. Who’s yours?
This week’s panel —
Alan4L (Dr. Keith Presents host and Figure Four Weekly writer)
Liger didn’t get a storybook ending in his “last ever” Best of the Super Juniors tournament. He did, however, gain a very satisfying win over Taichi in his final tournament match, and that makes him my favorite wrestler this week.
Sure, Liger going out strong, perhaps making the finals or even winning, would have been the better story, but who even knows if that’s what he wanted. Maybe his goal was to put the younger guys over in his last BOSJ. Whatever the case, his final match with Taichi was basically storytelling perfection (though it did take quite a while for the faces to make the save).
My distaste for Taichi knows no bounds, but he was booked as a pretty great heel throughout this year’s tournament, getting dubious wins over fan favorites like Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, and Dragon Lee with the help of Suzuki-gun. He even had what is possibly the first match of his that I’ve legitimately enjoyed early in the tournament with Taka Michinoku. Taichi was booked as the perfect piece of s**t heel for Liger to overcome.
And overcome he did. After getting his costume and mask cut to shreds and beat on by Taichi and Suzuki-gun, Liger fought back with the help of KUSHIDA and Taguchi to become triumphant. It was simple, classic storytelling and I ate up every second of it.
David Starr
By Alan Boon
The obvious answer to “Who is your favorite wrestler this week?” would be Travis Banks. The Kiwi continued his ascension to the top of the PROGRESS tree by winning Super Strong Style 16, and carried everyone there with him, but I figure I’ll have plenty of chances to write about Travis for this column.
Instead, I want to write about someone who came into SSS16 with possibly the quietest chatter but left having turned the sell-out crowd on all three nights into firm fans.
Your Favorite Wrestler’s Favorite Wrestler, the King of Taunts, The 104 Minute Man — David Starr made an impact right from the time Jim Smallman started listing his nicknames (he has loads), even if he was shorn of his usual theme music by PROGRESS’ march towards respectability. He then put on a variety of performances, from hard-hitting strong style to out-and-out comedy, winning over even the staunchest doubter (I’m looking at you, my pal Chris) and earning a “Please come back!” chant for his efforts.
To those of us who have been watching Starr in CZW, wXw, RevPro, and so many others this year, this comes as no surprise. He’s been having top matches with top guys, and being one of the more fully-rounded professional wrestlers you’ll ever see. He’s a semi-regular visitor to the UK, where he works for Fight Club: PRO (as well as PROGRESS and RevPro), a solid part of the wXw roster in Germany, and works all over the north east and mid-west in the US.
At 26, and with two of his mentors either in WWE or WWE-bound, his upside is huge. Get on board the Starrship.
Trent Seven
By Mike DellaCamera
The only member of British Strong Style yet to hold the WWE UK Championship is my favorite wrestler this week. Sure, he lost to Matt Riddle in six seconds and was “affectionately” called Trent Six at PROGRESS over the weekend, but Seven is, arguably, the backbone of BSS. Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate get the headlines and most of the spotlight, but Trent is the one who makes the group work.
His mic work is quite far ahead of the other two, which is clearly why they let him carry most of the promos. It’s funny because I am not a fan of facial hair being a gimmick in wrestling, but as soon as Moustache Mountain became BSS everything changed. The “new” Trent Seven wasn’t about smiling and twirling his mustache, he was about beating people up and taking belts — all while being pretty damn good at this wrestling thing.
I do want to take a second to shout out his hair, which is either the best or second best (sup Matt Sydal) in all of wrestling. I mean come on, look at that moss. It is beautiful and perfect and why can’t I have hair like that?
KUSHIDA
By Alan4L
As he heads into his third Best of the Super Juniors final, KUSHIDA has already proven once again that he is one of the best in the game right now. He has had a sublime tournament with his bouts against BUSHI and Ryusuke Taguchi in particular standing out as two of the best junior class matches of 2017.
He’s always been technically sound, but his charisma is vastly underrated and his ability to convey grit, determination, and heart in his matches is on a level that few can lay claim to. By the time you read this it’s very possible he’s chalked up yet another classic with Will Ospreay (Editor’s note: confirmed). KUSHIDA is one of those gifts that keeps on giving — a true pro wrestling treasure.
