Ahead of Saturday’s event, WWE has uploaded their “Prime Target: NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff” special to YouTube:
The 24-minute special premiered on the WWE Network yesterday and builds up the main event of UK TakeOver: Cardiff, with WALTER set to defend his WWE United Kingdom Championship against Tyler Bate.
The Prime Target special focuses on Bate’s start in wrestling, signing with WWE, and becoming the first WWE UK Champion. It features WALTER’s thoughts on the differences between his philosophy and Bate’s. Footage of WALTER coaching at the wXw Wrestling Academy in Germany is also shown.
Motorpoint Arena Cardiff is hosting TakeOver on Saturday. The pre-show begins at 1:30 p.m. Eastern time, with the main card starting at 2 p.m. Eastern. Here’s the lineup for the show:
WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER defending against Tyler Bate
NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm defending against Kay Lee Ray
NXT UK Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) defending against Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) and Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster in a triple threat match
Travis Banks vs. Noam Dar
Dave Mastiff vs. Joe Coffey in a last man standing match
WWE has also announced that Cesaro will be in attendance at TakeOver. Cesaro teased that he may take a more “hands-on approach.”
Taped July 20, 2019 at Plymouth Pavilions in Plymouth, England
Quick results —
Imperium defeated The Hunt in a fun opener, proving their superiority, but they got beat down by a mysterious attacker after the bout as they entered their locker room.
Kay Lee Ray quickly disposed of newcomer Shax, then trash-talked Toni Storm, prompting the champ to come out. KLR kept talking down to her until Storm exploded and sent the challenger packing, but Storm was visibly shaken up by the personal nature of the verbal attack.
In the final match of the night, Mark Andrews defeated James Drake, therefore earning a spot for himself and partner Flash Morgan Webster in the Tag Team title match at NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff. Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) will defend their titles against Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) and Andrews & Webster in a triple threat match.
A match between Travis Banks and Noam Dar has also been announced for TakeOver.
In this week’s main event segment, an announced WALTER and Tyler Bate face-off turned into a wild brawl, with Trent Seven returning and neutralizing Imperium’s numbers advantage. In the melee that ensued, Bate hit the Tyler Driver ’97 on WALTER, proving that the outcome of the TakeOver main event may not be as clear as many supposed.
Full rundown —
Imperium (Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel) defeated The Hunt (Primate & Wild Boar) when Aichner pinned Wild Boar after a powerbomb/European uppercut combo (7:43)
Aichner and Primate started out and tried tackling each other down. Aichner showed superior ring intelligence and kneed him in the gut off a whip-in. Primate came back by biting Aichner’s face and tagged Wild Boar.
Imperium again outsmarted The Hunt as Barthel blind-tagged in and promptly took Boar down. Boar briefly came back, but got the snot beaten out of him in the corner in retaliation. Aichner hit two impressive backbreakers on Wild Boar, deadlifting him for the second one. They hit a spinebuster/running soccer kick combo on Boar for a near fall, then Barthel locked in a chinlock. Boar finally managed to hot-tag in Primate, who ran wild on both members of Imperium for a bit.
Boar was back in and hit a senton on a kneeling Aichner, threw Barthel to ringside, and hit a running senton into the corner before missing a spear. Primate tried getting involved, but ate a spinebuster on the apron and a baseball slide by Aichner. Imperium then finished off Wild Boar with their powerbomb/European uppercut finisher for the victory.
– Sid Scala announced a new match for NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff. Travis Banks will face Noam Dar after the two butted heads repeatedly over the past few weeks.
– A video for said TakeOver special aired. Boston Manor’s song “Hate You” was also announced as another theme song for the event.
– Radzi Chinyanganya was waiting outside WALTER’s locker room, hoping to catch a word with the champ. Aichner and Barthel were just coming back from their match and berated Radzi a bit in German. They entered WALTER’s locker room but were promptly beat up by an unknown assailant. The camera feed briefly went out and we saw just a pair of sneakers walk off.
Kay Lee Ray defeated Shax after hitting a Gory Bomb (3:31)
Shax started training in 2013 and was taught, among others, by Paige’s parents, Sweet Saraya and Ricky Knight. She wrestled for their WAW and Bellatrix promotions as well as Southside and Pro Wrestling Chaos, where she held the Queen of Chaos title up until a few weeks ago.
KLR backed her in the corner right away, but Shax returned the favor a few more seconds in. KLR beat up her smaller opponent, locking in an armbar and slamming her around. As KLR went for a suplex, Shax managed to get a small package — but KLR easily kicked out.
KLR hit a hard chop that had Shax doubling over. Shax came back with another brief flurry, but she got hit with a superkick coming off the second turnbuckle, then KLR quickly put her away with a Gory Bomb.
After the match, KLR cut a promo, talking about facing Toni Storm at TakeOver. She said she’s known Storm for a long time and knows all her weaknesses. She said she’ll beat her, prompting Storm to come out.
KLR mocked Storm, calling her “the Rock ‘n’ Roll star of NXT UK.” KLR said she knows why Storm likes to spend so much time around wrestling, as KLR goes home to her fiance, family, and friends, while Storm had no one and just had the championship belt.
KLR said for years she was Storm’s best friend and heard all the sob stories, but maybe it wasn’t everybody else, maybe it was Storm. As she started talking about Storm’s father abandoning her, Storm slapped her hard and KLR walked away.
– A video recapped the rivalry between Dave Mastiff and Joe Coffey, showing both of them preparing for their last man standing match at TakeOver.
– A hype video for Oliver Carter aired, announcing his debut for next week.
– Jordan Devlin complained about not being on the TakeOver card. He was interrupted by Kenny Williams, who challenged him for a match next week. There was some commotion in the background and WALTER and Alexander Wolfe were arguing in German about what an unorganized place NXT UK was.
WALTER asked Radzi where the structure and order in this place was. He told him to go find Tyler Bate as he was a man of his word and would face off with him later tonight.
Mark Andrews (w/ Flash Morgan Webster) pinned James Drake (w/ Zack Gibson) after hitting Stun Dog Millionaire and rolling him up (11:12)
Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness said that if Andrews wins here, Andrews & Webster would get added to the NXT UK Tag Team title match between The Grizzled Young Veterans and Gallus at TakeOver.
Drake worked over Andrews’ arm early on, but Andrews came back with a number of arm drag takeovers. He followed with a few kicks, a rana, and a standing moonsault. Drake came back by ramming Andrews’ head into the corner, then proceeded to decimate his smaller opponent with constant offense, a suplex, and a series of vicious backbreakers.
Andrews rolled through on another attack, then hit Stomp 182, slid under Drake, and hit an enzuigiri that sent Drake to the outside. Andrews followed up with a tope, then hit a snap DDT off a convoluted moonsault attempt. He hit another bulldog and went to the top. Zack Gibson tried sneaking up, and Andrews was distracted long enough for Drake to hit a running dropkick into the corner. He repeatedly tried getting a pin on Andrews, but Andrews proved resilient.
As Drake trash-talked Andrews, he came back with punches and chops. Andrews hit a reverse rana for a close near fall. Gallus suddenly came out and beat down Webster, then got into Gibson’s face. Andrews used the distraction to hit Stun Dog Millionaire and rolled up Drake for the victory.
– Joseph and McGuinness talked about the Tag Team title match, then got into the NXT UK title picture. As they talked, Trent Seven suddenly appeared out of the crowd and entered the ring to “Trent Seven Army” chants.
WALTER came running out, followed by Alexander Wolfe. Suddenly, Tyler Bate appeared with a steel chair and beat down Wolfe, then attacked WALTER. The champ came back with chops but was immediately hit by Bate’s springboard lariat.
Bate then impressively hit the Tyler Driver ’97 on WALTER and posed with the WWE UK Championship belt to massive cheers as his music played and the show went off the air.
Next week —
Oliver Carter makes his televised NXT UK in-ring debut. Jordan Devlin faces Kenny Williams.
An NXT UK vs. NXT tag match has been added to PROGRESS Wrestling’s show at Alexandra Palace next month.
WWE announced today that Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) will face Matt Riddle & Keith Lee at PROGRESS Chapter 95: Still Chasing. The show is taking place at Alexandra Palace in London, England on Sunday, September 15.
Bate & Seven are former PROGRESS Tag Team Champions.
Riddle and Seven both previously held the Atlas Championship. The Atlas title was unified with the PROGRESS World Championship when WALTER defeated Seven this May.
PROGRESS’ first show at Alexandra Palace — called Chase the Sun — was held in 2017.
WALTER will defend the PROGRESS Unified World Championship against David Starr at Still Chasing. Meiko Satomura will challenge for the PROGRESS Women’s Championship, which is currently held by Jordynne Grace. There will also be a rumble match to crown the first Proteus Champion. The Proteus Champion will be able to pick the rules for their title defenses.
Pete Dunne makes his return to PROGRESS at Still Chasing. The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) will also defend their PROGRESS Tag Team titles.
Taped July 19 at Plymouth Pavilions in Plymouth, England
Quick results —
Imperium interrupted Sid Scala and Johnny Saint in the opening segment. WALTER was attacked by Tyler Bate, who got the better of the scuffle. WALTER defending his WWE United Kingdom Championship against Bate was then announced as the main event for NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff.
Gallus defeated Lewis Howley & Sam Stoker in a quick squash match, then called out NXT UK Tag Team Champions the Grizzled Young Veterans. Rhea Ripley disposed of Dani Luna in another quick squash.
We heard from Eddie Dennis, freshly coming off surgery to repair his torn pec. He blamed the fans for what went wrong for him.
In the main event, Alexander Wolfe defeated Jordan Devlin in a good match.
Full rundown —
– Sid Scala and NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint opened the show mid-ring. They started talking about NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff when Imperium walked out. Marcel Barthel said Scala and Saint were not in charge anymore and were not needed any longer. Barthel told Scala and Saint to “step off that mat that is so sacred to us, or we will make you.”
Alexander Wolfe then took the mic away from Scala and handed it to WALTER. WALTER said he destroyed everyone and wanted to know who was going to face the Ring General in Cardiff. Tyler Bate’s music hit and Barthel and Aichner positioned themselves in the aisle to stop Bate from coming out, but Bate entered through the crowd and attacked WALTER.
Bate then took out Wolfe, Barthel, and Fabian Aichner as they were looking to enter the ring. Bate got the better of WALTER during the brawl and Saint called for backup, with a lot of officials and wrestlers coming out to break the two up and prevent the rest of Imperium from entering the ring.
Scala announced that Bate would challenge for WALTER’s WWE UK Championship at UK TakeOver: Cardiff.
– A video announced “Brick by Brick” by Junior, the band of NXT UK’s Mark Andrews, as the official theme song of UK TakeOver: Cardiff
Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) defeated Lewis Howley & Sam Stoker when Coffey pinned Howley off a combined enzuigiri/powerslam (3:13)
Wolfgang and Howley started and Wolfgang made quick work of his opponent, prompting him to tag in Stoker, who didn’t fare much better. Coffey then proceeded to pound Stoker into the mat and applied a modified chinlock. Gallus sent Stoker flying with a double monkey flip.
Stoker finally made the hot tag, but Coffey immediately destroyed him with a full-nelson slam. Gallus then finished him off with a combined enzuigiri/powerslam.
After the match, Gallus called out the Grizzled Young Veterans, mocking Zack Gibson’s catchphrase and stating that the NXT UK Tag Team titles would “soon be Gallus.”
– Jordan Devlin confronted Sid Scala and asked what he would have to do to get another shot at WALTER. Scala told him he could prove himself tonight by taking on Imperium’s Alexander Wolfe.
– Dave Mastiff spoke to reporters backstage and said Johnny Saint told him he could sort things out with Joe Coffey next week. Mastiff said he’ll batter Coffey. We were told this would be our main event next week.
Rhea Ripley defeated Dani Luna with Riptide (2:00)
Ripley right away took Luna’s head off with a huge kick, then proceeded to smash into her in the corner. Luna came back with a flurry of offense but quickly got thrown off halfway across the ring and ate some ground and pound as retribution.
Ripley hit a dropkick, a few more strikes, and finally Riptide for the quick win.
Kay Lee Ray/Toni Storm video package
A video package looked at the history between Toni Storm and Kay Lee Ray. KLR said they met at a show years ago and hit it off right away. Storm talked about KLR being like a sister to her and how happy she was when she learned that Kay Lee was coming to NXT UK.
Storm said something felt off about KLR and she was not the same person Storm had known. Storm noted that she didn’t like to admit it, but KLR knows her better than anyone else. KLR said that at TakeOver: Cardiff, she will take the NXT UK Women’s Championship from Storm.
– A clip taped on April 29 aired, with Eddie Dennis entering the hospital for surgery to repair his torn pec. After successful surgery, Dennis blamed each and every judgmental fan who never stepped into the ring and bullies wrestlers even though they did nothing wrong.
– Graphics advertised Jazzy Gabert & Jinny vs. Piper Niven & Xia Brookside and Dave Mastiff vs. Joe Coffey for next week.
Alexander Wolfe defeated Jordan Devlin with a sit-down powerbomb (11:31)
They locked up, with the bigger Wolfe getting the better of it. He worked over Devlin’s arm, but Devlin escaped and slapped Wolfe hard across the face. Devlin played some mind games, leaving and re-entering the ring a few times.
Devlin took back over with a back elbow to the face and running double knees on a downed Wolfe. Devlin tried to go for his uranage, but Wolfe blocked it and gave him a crazy stare, then took down Devlin with some offense of his own, working over Devlin’s ribs.
Wolfe applied an abdominal stretch, then ground his fists into Devlin’s side, but Devlin managed to throw him off with a hip toss. Wolfe caught Devlin off a springboard attempt, then dead-lifted him into a suplex and threw him across the top rope.
Wolfe mocked Devlin’s injured ribs, but Devlin managed to hit a roll through and then a double foot stomp. Devlin hit his uranage/standing moonsault combo and finally hit a jumping cutter for a near fall.
They traded slaps while still on their knees, then traded elbows and uppercuts. Devlin escaped a powerbomb attempt and hit a headbutt to Wolfe’s shoulder, then tried for his Devlinside suplex, but couldn’t get Wolfe up due to his injured ribs.
Devlin then stomped at Wolfe’s head and it looked like Wolfe momentarily was out of it. Wolfe went for a clothesline, but Devlin turned it into a Spanish Fly for another close near fall.
The crowd actually was behind Devlin as Wolfe tried to go for his Death Valley Driver, but Devlin escaped — only to be hit with a bridging German suplex for a close two count. Devlin hit a sunset flip off another powerbomb attempt by Wolfe, then went for a moonsault and missed. Wolfe capitalized on Devlin’s mistake and hit a big sit-down powerbomb for the win.
– Backstage, the camera caught Bate coming out of the dressing room. Bate said that WALTER will see that it’s not so easy to put him down. Bate said he’ll embarrass WALTER at UK TakeOver: Cardiff, make him look like a novice, and take the UK Championship that WALTER holds so dearly.
Next week —
Piper Niven teams with Xia Brookside to take on Jinny & Jazzy Gabert. In the main event, Joe Coffey will meet Dave Mastiff.
Piper Niven pinned Rhea Ripley in a hard-hitting match, Alexander Wolfe made his NXT UK in-ring debut by making quick work of Jack Starz, Jazzy Gabert quickly defeated Dani Luna & Mercedes Blaze in a handicap match, and Kassius Ohno called out Mark Andrews for being a fraud.
In the main event, Moustache Mountain came close to defeating the Grizzled Young Veterans for the NXT UK Tag Team titles, but Tyler Bate & Trent Seven were attacked by Imperium as they were at the brink of victory. Seven was handcuffed to the turnbuckles as WALTER destroyed Bate with a number of powerbombs onto the apron and into the ring post.
Full Rundown —
– The show opened with a look back at the history between the Grizzled Young Veterans and Moustache Mountain.
– Vic Joseph and Aiden English were talking about tonight’s main event when Rhea Ripley’s music played and she stormed to the ring. She grabbed the mic and demanded that, instead of settling things between her and Piper Niven later tonight, they settle things now. Niven’s music played and she ran to the ring and got right into Ripley’s face.
Piper Niven pinned Rhea Ripley after a Michinoku Driver (8:42)
They started out with strikes and Ripley kind of got the better of things with a kick and strikes, but Niven hit a crossbody out of the corner and threw Ripley to ringside. Niven went after her, but got driven back-first into the apron, then got sent face-first into the post as she recovered and tried to slam Ripley on the outside.
Back inside, Niven kicked out of a cover at one. Ripley kept being aggressive, stomping a mudhole into Niven in the corner. She locked on a triangle and worked over Niven’s arm and hit a number of shots to the head. Niven eventually came back with a shotgun dropkick into the corner, then went up for a Vader Bomb, but Ripley pulled her off and covered her for a two count.
Niven impressively locked in her inverted cloverleaf and pulled Niven almost completely off the mat, but Niven made the ropes. Ripley trash-talked Niven and slapped her hard across the face, but Niven then held onto the ropes and hit a crashing belly-to-back suplex.
Both women got up, grabbed each other’s wrists, and traded stiff clotheslines. Ripley went for Riptide, but she couldn’t get Niven up. Niven hit Ripley with a headbutt, then sent her into the corner and followed with a running cannonball senton into Ripley’s back. She then hit a Michinoku Driver for the win.
– Kenny Williams was asked about what he was thinking when he walked out during Noam Dar’s match last week. As he answered, Dar attacked him and rubbed his face in the mud.
– A graphic announced that Alexander Wolfe vs. Jack Starz would be next. Starz keeps being the guy that gets fed to new NXT UK talent (WALTER, Ilja Dragunov, and now Wolfe).
Alexander Wolfe pinned Jack Starz after a sit-down powerbomb (4:04)
Wolfe walked out wearing just black trunks and a jacket, which was very strange, since I can’t remember ever seeing him not wrestle in a singlet, dating back to his time as Axeman/Axel Tischer in wXw.
Wolfe grabbed Starz and cranked his neck, then transitioned into a wristlock that might as well have been a grip of iron. Starz tried to flip and turn out of the move, but Wolfe held on, then quickly hit a release German suplex.
Wolfe turned Starz’s back to mush with a number of Irish whips into opposite corners, then hit a huge pump kick and a big body slam. Starz briefly fought back and hit a few European uppercuts, but Wolfe stopped that nonsense with a Death Valley Driver and a sit-down powerbomb for the victory. Wolfe then demanded Starz leave the ring.
– Wolfgang grabbed a cameraman and took him into a container where Gallus were meeting. They talked about their dominance and how they’d take out Dave Mastiff and The Hunt. Wolfgang then threw the cameraman out again.
– A graphic announced a statement by Kassius Ohno for later tonight.
– A video announced that Toni Storm would return to action next week.
Jazzy Gabert (w/ Jinny) defeated Dani Luna & Mercedes Blaze in a handicap match (1:43)
Luna started out for her team and got slammed and clotheslined right away. As she tagged out, Gabert grabbed Blaze and threw her into the ring. Luna came back in, but bounced off Gabert with a crossbody. Gabert then hit a Dominator on Blaze for the quick victory.
Kassius Ohno video package
Ohno said NXT UK was in distress and someone like him needed to save the British style. He talked about the “Founding Five” — British Strong Style, Wolfgang, and Mark Andrews. Ohno focused on Andrews, saying that he threw a superkick because of Shawn Michaels, forgetting that it was pioneered by a British wrestler, “Gentleman” Chris Adams.
Ohno called Andrews a disgrace and said Kassius Ohno is the best British wrestler in the world.
– The Grizzled Young Veterans were shown preparing for their match.
– A graphic announced Gallus vs. Dave Mastiff & The Hunt for next week.
Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) defeated NXT UK Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) by DQ when Imperium interfered
Gibson and Bate started out and Gibson had Bate in a wristlock, which Bate escaped from. He hit a dropkick to Gibson and tried to hit another one on Drake but came up short when Drake moved. Bate came back, tagged out, and hit a somersault senton from the top on Drake for a near fall by Seven.
Seven and Gibson were in and Seven hit a hard chop. The champs worked over Seven for a while as the crowd chanted “He’s got his own face on his ass/Assface” at Drake. They threw Seven to ringside, then hit a combination backbreaker/springboard elbow on him.
Back inside, Gibson locked in a sitting Cobra Clutch, then tagged out again so Drake could lock in a rear chinlock. Seven finally managed to throw Drake in the corner, but Drake was able to tag in Gibson. Seven then evaded Gibson for a hot tag of his own.
Bate hit a running European uppercut in the corner on Gibson, a dropkick on Drake, and caught Gibson on a corner charge and hit a suplex. He followed with a standing Shooting Star Press. He went for the Tyler Driver ’97 and when Drake interfered, hit a double hurricanrana on both opponents and then a suicide dive to the outside.
Seven was back in for an assisted powerbomb, but the referee was distracted by Drake. Moustache Mountain went for the dragon suplex/lariat combo, but Gibson escaped and hit a combo neckbreaker/superkick on Bate, then a reverse surfboard/leg drop combo on Seven for a near fall.
Drake wrapped his wrist tape around his knuckles for a few stiff shots at Seven, who made one last desperate comeback attempt with the Seven Star Lariat and got the tag.
Bate ran wild on both heels, then caught Gibson in a cradle for a close two count. As Gibson went for a superplex on Bate, Seven tagged in and caught Gibson in a torture rack position while Bate splashed Drake. Seven then hit a Burning Hammer on Gibson onto Drake.
As Moustache Mountain looked to have the match won, Imperium ran out and attacked them.
Fabian Aichner kneed Seven into the ring steps as WALTER held Bate for Wolfe to kick him in the face. Marcel Barthel and Wolfe then handcuffed Seven in the corner. They taunted him as WALTER powerbombed Bate on the apron twice, then powerbombed him into the ring post on the outside, all while the rest of Imperium forced Seven to look on.
Wolfe taunted Seven with the key to the handcuffs, then threw it into the crowd. The show went off the air with Imperium posing on the apron and their music playing while Seven screamed in agony and Bate laid motionless on the outside.
Next Week —
Gallus faces Dave Mastiff & The Hunt. Toni Storm will also be in action.
Taped April 20, 2019 at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland
Quick results —
Jazzy Gabert & Jinny defeated Xia Brookside & Isla Dawn, then Ilja Dragunov answered Joseph Conners’ challenge and quickly was victorious in an intense match.
In a tremendous main event, Imperium (WALTER, Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) defeated British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) when Alexander Wolfe made his NXT UK debut, joining his colleagues from the European mainland and helping them gain the victory in this important bout.
Full rundown —
The show opened with a great video montage, analyzing the formation of Imperium and their budding feud against British Strong Style. The two teams will clash in our main event tonight.
Jazzy Gabert & Jinny defeated Isla Dawn & Xia Brookside with Jinny pinning Dawn after a Dominator by Gabert (4:15)
Jinny and Dawn started out, with Dawn gaining the upper hand off an arm lock. The babyface team worked well together early on, causing Jinny some trouble until she finally tagged Gabert.
The Alpha Female didn’t mess around, immediately locking a standing armbar on Brookside and ragdolling her around from one side of the ring to the other. Brookside tagged Dawn and she went to town on Gabert, but also quickly got caught with some strikes by the former MMA fighter.
Gabert hit a Dominator on Dawn, then tagged Jinny so she could get the pinfall victory for her team. Jinny and Gabert posed on the apron after the match.
– A very good video on Ligero aired. He talked about his childhood, telling a story on how he was born with one eye closed and only had surgery to correct the issue when he was eight years old. Ligero discussed how he was ridiculed at school for his look. He chose to wrestle under a mask, as it gave him more confidence and it made him more memorable and made him stand out more than anyone else to the fans.
– Kenny Williams was interviewed and asked about Noam Dar. He said Dar always was a cheater, but it didn’t concern him. He said he faces Kassius Ohno next week and only needs his luck.
Ilja Dragunov defeated Joseph Conners after hitting the Torpedo Moscow (4:48)
They started out with an intense lockup with neither man being able to get an advantage. Dragunov chopped Conners down and hit a standing senton, then applied a brutal neck crank, following up with some strikes. Dragunov hit an Inoki-style jumping head kick.
Conners briefly took over with a few strikes of his own, then locked in an armlock, but Dragunov powered out, much to Conners’ disbelief. Dragunov hit a running lariat into the corner, but Conners countered his second attempt at the move, then hit a sunset bomb into the corner.
Dragunov quickly recovered, caught a springboard attack by Conners, and hit a Death Valley Bomb into the turnbuckle. He hit a huge overhead back suplex, then did his UN-BE-SIEG-BAR chant in the corner and hit the Torpedo Moscow for the victory.
– Toni Storm was being interviewed about Kay Lee Ray. She said everyone was looking for the “shiny-shiny” but it was staying “home sweet home.”
– A graphic announced a women’s battle royal for next week to determine the number one contender for Storm’s NXT UK Women’s Championship.
– A video feature on Travis banks aired. He talked about being very relaxed out of the ring, in a stark contrast to his intense in-ring persona. Banks said he’s very goal-oriented and wanted to be the first Kiwi wrestler in Royal Albert Hall “in about 50 years,” but lost in the UK number one contender’s tournament to Zack Gibson.
Banks said his shoulder injury got him focused and set things into perspective. He said it was frustrating not being able to wrestle at NXT UK TakeOver in Blackpool, when Jordan Devlin attacked him before the match.
Banks said winning the fatal four-way was what he was working towards, and now he has a shot at WALTER. he said it would take more than a chop or a powerbomb to beat him. He said it would be great to win the WWE United Kingdom Championship — and it would be even cooler to win it from WALTER.
– The Hunt were shown bursting out of the locker room, uttering animalistic noises. They screamed that next week, the hunt would be on for Gallus.
Imperium (WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER, Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel) defeated British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven)
Moustache Mountain came out to their music, then Pete Dunne’s music played and he came out and joined them on the stage. While Bate and Seven interacted with the fans, Dunne entered the ring and was all business.
Imperium came out, doing the Ringkampf pose (which I probably should start calling the Imperium pose) to a blank, white Titantron that eventually turned black to read “Imperium – WALTER – Barthel – Aichner.”
Dunne and Aichner started and Dunne immediately started beating up Aichner, but the man from South Tyrol came back with a lariat from out of the corner and knocked Dunne down. Dunne took back over, working over Aichner’s arm, then tagged in Bate and they attacked Aichner’s arms together.
Barthel tagged in and quickly took over, pounding Bate into the mat. Seven tagged in and they hit a double-team fireman’s carry slam/somersault senton on Barthel. Barthel took back over, then tagged in the champion.
WALTER immediately took over, but Seven ducked a chop and hit a number of chops of his own. After a quick intermezzo by Aichner, WALTER finally hit a chop that flung Seven to the mat as if he was struck by lightning.
Aichner was in next, working over the weakened Seven, including hitting a high-angle Saito suplex. WALTER was back in and after a quick retaliation by Seven, the Austrian giant hit a hard boot, then beat up Bate in the corner just for good measure. Dunne ducked his attack, but couldn’t do any damage to WALTER from the apron.
Imperium did a good job of isolating Seven and methodically picking him apart. Barthel was back in and aggressively asked Seven “Was ist los mit dir?” (“What’s up with you?”). Aichner was back in, locking a body scissors on Seven and trying to get a choke in, but Seven managed to turn it into a pinfall attempt.
Seven finally hit an enzuigiri and managed to tag out to Dunne while Aichner tagged WALTER. Dunne took over, but WALTER held his own. Dunne did his back flip from the top, but WALTER had him scouted well and hit a hard chop to the back. Dunne and WALTER traded high German suplexes, after which both men were down.
They both managed to tag out and it was Bate and Aichner next. Bate hit a jumping European uppercut on Aichner, then caught Barthel in an exploder and suplexed him onto Aichner. He got the airplane spin on Aichner and then Barthel and was looking to do the same to WALTER, but he was saved by Aichner. Bate briefly held his own against all three members of Imperium.
Aichner hit a backstabber on Bate, while Barthel came off the second turnbuckle with a double foot stomp as Aichner held Bate in position. Bate managed to hit both Aichner and Barthel with his springboard double lariat, then managed to tag out to Seven, even though WALTER tried to hinder him from doing so.
Dunne hit the Bitter End on WALTER, followed by a corkscrew plancha by Bate, but Barthel made the save for WALTER.
A man dressed in black with a hoodie and a face mask slowly walked out as Seven accidentally hit the referee, sending him out of the ring. The masked man got into the ring and unmasked as Alexander Wolfe, then hit a Liger Bomb on Bate as WALTER rolled the referee back into the ring. Barthel covered Bate for the victorious fall.
After a brief pause, Wolfe joined his new Imperium brethren in the ring and they did their pose as the show went off the air. Of course, Wolfe as Axel Tischer/Axeman was an integral part of wXw in Germany from 2009 to 2015 and also is a part of the Ringkampf stable/brand, alongside WALTER, Barthel, Veit Müller, and formerly(?) Timothy Thatcher.
Next week —
A battle royal to determine the next contender for Toni Storm’s NXT UK Women’s Championship will take place and Kenny Williams faces Kassius Ohno. Both matches, along with a number of others, are probably being taped over the weekend at Download Festival in Donington Park in Leicestershire.
Kassius Ohno beat Ligero after trying to tear off his mask and hitting the rolling elbow. Kay Lee Ray beat NXT’s Xia Li, but not before staring down Toni Storm, who was out to cut a promo before the match. Moustache Mountain beat Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster in a great, fast-paced main event.
Full rundown:
Nigel and Vic talked about tonight’s main event, before we went straight to our first match.
Kassius Ohno pinned Ligero in 10:08 after a rolling elbow to the back of the head
The story here was that Ohno was the bigger and stronger guy and decided the action in the ring for a long time. As Ligero was looking to finally gain the advantage, Ohno resorted to unfair tactics to take the victory. The crowd hated Ohno and were into Liger, but not as much as back in the UK.
Ohno told Ligero to show him what he got and slapped him a few times. Ligero tried a few spots, but Ohno countered, avoided or overpowered Ligero. The Leeds Luchador finally got the advantage off a head scissors that sent Ohno to the outside and followed up with a somersault senton off the apron. He miscalculated on the follow-up though and Ohno once more took over. Finally, Ligero, who was almost out on his feet, managed to catch a kick by Ohno and came back with leg kicks and a running knee to the face and hit a splash from the middle of the top rope for a near-fall.
Ligero went for Sliced Bread off the top but Ohno turned it into tombstone attempt, but Ligero rolled through for another near-fall. As Ohno fled to the outside, Ligero hit a somersault over the top rope, then hit Sliced Brea off the ring steps. Both narrowly made it back into the ring, but as Ligero went for a cutter through the ropes, Ohno caught him, started to tear his mask off and as Ligero was looking to put it back on, Ohno hit the rolling elbow to the back of the head for the victory.
— Jordan Devlin was pissed off that his match with WALTER next week was a non-title match, because Johnny Saint wanted to protect WALTER for “the rematch of the century” against Pete Dunne
— A highlight video for “The Hunt” aired; they’ll be in action next week.
— Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner walked through WrestleMania Axxess and complained about fans thinking they could be champions and how back in the day, you had to work for the privilege of winning a title. They repeated once more their mantra of “The Mat is Sacred” (identical to RINGKAMPF’s motto of “Die Matte ist heilig”).
Toni Storm came out to cut a promo in the ring. She said it was awesome to represent the NXT UK brand on the most important weekend of the year. She talked about all the great women on the brand and said she’s be the champion for a very long time. As she was ready to walk backstage again, Kay Lee Ray’s music hit and she stared Toni down as she made her way to the ring.
Kay Lee Ray pinned Xia Li in 5:25 after the Widow’s Peak
Xia Li got to show off some good offense, but this pretty much was the Kay Lee Ray showcase, as she clearly is being groomed for a title match against Toni Storm.
Li made her NXT UK debut here and Nigel talked about her background as a practitioner of kung fu and how she defended her family back in China after her father’s death when she was in her teens.
Both women traded offense right away but Kay Lee got the better of it quickly. Kay Lee Ray kept the upper hand after some mind games backfired, but Li got to show off some of her kicks, Ray hit a crescent kick and drove Li into the post, then followed up with kicks and strikes in the corner. Li eventually got to show some offense, hitting a snap mare off an atomic drop attempt, a kick to the back and a hard kick to the chest. She missed a double foot stomp though and Kay Lee Ray picked up the win with the Widow’s Peak.
— Piper Niven was signing autographs and was asked about Rhea Ripley, She said that while Rhea was a great athlete, she was looking forward to how she would react to someone a little too big to push around.
— The Grizzled Young Veterans were upset backstage, throwing Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams’ gear out into the hallway, raging on about how they were locker room leasers and Jordan and Williams could get dressed in the hallway.
Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) beat Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews in 12:28 when Seven pinned Webster after a combined Burning Hammer/flying knee drop
These two teams had a tremendous, fast paced match that had great aerial offense, mat wrestling and a good amount of drama. The crowd was into both teams and it was a great showcase for all four men,
Bate and Andrews started out with Andrews gaining the upper hand off an arm bar but Bate worked his way out of it and they traded holds and counter-holds. Both men tagged out and Webster tried tackling Seven off his feet, but failing miserably. He switched tactics and used his athleticism to take Seven down. Seven feigned a chop and as Webster ducked, he hit a quick DDT. After tagging again, Bate hit a somersault senton off the top onto Andrews and Seven worked him over some more, doing a good job of isolating him from being able to tag out.
Finally Webster made it back in, immediately hitting a springboard dropkick on Bate and a springboard moonsault on Seven. The offense didn’t take long though as Bate staged his own comeback, culminating in a double airplane spin/giant swing,. Bate got thrown tot he outside, but caught Webster off a plancha and did another airplane spin on the outside. An exploder later, Seven was back in, but Mark Andrews slid under Moustache Mountain and hit a double Pelé kick on both men, then Andrews and Webster hit stereo somersault planchas to the outside. Andrews then hit an assisted 450 onto Seven for a near-fall.
Moustache Mountain hit a combined slingshot lariat/dragon suplex on Andrews, but Webster came off the top with a somersault senton to break up the pin. Bate missed a slingshot lariat when Andrews slid under him, then hit a reverse rana, assisted by a running knee from Webster. Seven quickly tagged back in and hit a Burning Hammer, assisted with a flying knee drop by Bate on Webster to pick up the win.
Both teams shook hands after the match.
Next week:
WALTER faces Jordan Devlin in a non-title match and The Hunt will be in action.
Taped January 25-27 at Royal Rumble Axxess at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona
Quick rundown —
Jack Gallagher beat Tyler Bate, Grizzled Young Veterans defended their NXT UK tag team titles, beating Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch and WALTER beat Kassius Ohno.
Full results —
The show opened right with out first match, Tyler Bate vs. Jack Gallagher, making his NXT UK debut.
Tyler Bate pinned “Gentleman” Jack Gallagher in 9:46 after a roll-up
They had a great scientific babyface match with lots submissions and mat wrestling.
Bate applied a wrist lock right away but Gallagher managed to escape and took Bate down for a one-count. They went into mat-wrestling with submissions and counters withing the first minute and Gallagher gave Bate some trouble with a leg vice which Bate eventually escaped from. Gallagher showed his submission prowess and training under Billy Robinson with some unique submission attempts that had Bate cringing on the mat.
Gallagher kept working on Bate’s knees and ankles and Bate didn’t really have an answer to being tied into a pretzel at will at that point and even was slightly limping after continued submissions. Bate eventually came back with an arm lever extension and went for an airplane spin, but Gallagher quickly escaped and locked in another submission until Bate managed to reach the ropes. They ended up in round-and-round roll-ups that had both men and the referee dizzy until Bate finally managed to pick up the win with a surprise roll-up.
We saw a training session at the NXT UK Performance Center where Robbie Brookside ran some drills involving a few wrestlers, including Travis Banks. Jordan Devlin suddenly appeared, pulling Banks off the apron and attacked him on the outside until Brookside and the other wrestlers broke it up.
We took a short look at WALTER’s dominance in NXT UK.
A video hyping the “Nina Samuels” show aired.
Eddie Dennis cut a promo at the NXT UK Performance Center and said that people wondered what happened to him after losing to Dave Mastiff at TakeOver. He said when he retuirns, he would take down the roster one by one.
WALTER pinned Kassius Ohno in 8:37 after a power bomb
These two faced off in wXw (at a 16 Carat Gold tournament final no less), PROGRESS and even WWE at WrestleMania weekend last year.
They went for a test of strenght right away and WALTER showed his dominance early. Ohno took a swing but looked concerned right away, He applied a head lock but WALTER easily escaped and started working over Ohno’s arm.Ohno foolishly chopped WALTER who just looked at him, then smashed his big frame into the American, sending him crashing to the mat. He hit a big boot, sending Ohno to ringside. They traded forearms on the outside until WALTER picked him up and smashed him onto the apron.
Ohno went back in the ring and as WALTER tried to pull him back outside, he stomped on the Austrian’s head and hit a senton on his arm. Ohno applied a cravat and forced the big man to his knees, but WALTER eventually body slammed his way out of the hold. They traded forearms, chops and slaps. Ohno managed to weigh WALTER down on a German suplex attempt but caught a chop to the back for his troubles and then got German suplexed like he deserved to be.
Ohno managed to roll through on a sleeper hold for a two-count. Ohno went up for a moonsault but WALTER rolled out of the way. WALTER then hit a Shotgun dropkick and the power bomb for the victory.
Ligero was shown at the NXT UK Performance Center and replied to Joseph Conners comments from last week. A match between the two was announced for next week.
After their brawl that was shown earlier, a Falls Count Anywhere match between Jordan Devlin and Travis Banks also was announced for next week.
Grizzled Young Veterans beat Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch in 13:09 when Dann Burch was pinned after Ticket to Mayhem
Lorcan and Drake started out and Drake worked Lorcan’s arm right away. Oney escaped and made the tag, with Burch taking over until Gibson blind-tagged in and the champs took over, with Gibson first slamming Burch and then slamming his own partner on top of him. Lorcan came back in on a hot tag and ran wild for a bit, until Drake put a thumb into his eye and the heels proceeded to beat Lorcan down on the outside.
Back inside, Gibson applied his kneeling cobra clutch and tagged Drake, who knocked Oney down with a stiff forearm, then applied a nerve hold. The champs quickly tagged in and out and isolated Lorcan for a few minutes, until Oney finally manged to thwart his opponents and make the hot tag to Danny Burch. He ran wild, then hit consecutive German suplexes on both Grizzled Young Veterans, followed by a flying dropkick on Gibson and a power bomb on Drake for a near fall.
Drake managed to escape a cutter attempt off the ropes, allowing the champs to take over. Gibson hit Ticket to Ride on Burch, but the British veteran managed to kick out. Gibson had Burch on his shoulders but he escaped, hit head butts on both opponents and tagged Lorcan. The faces hit a Doomsday Device for another near fall that was broken up, when Gibson back body dropped Lorcan onto Burch. Lorcan and Gibson faced off, with each having an opponent in a submission and started trading strikes. Lorcan ran wild, hitting a crazy somersault plancha on both opponents. Lorcan and Burch hit a double high angle DDT on Drake for a very close near fall.
Drake rolled up Burch with his feet on the ropes and Gibson holding him down from the outside but Burch still managaged to kick out. The Grizzled Young Veterans then finally hit Ticket to Mayhem on Burch for the win and a successful title defense.
Next week:
Jordan Devlin meets Travis Banks in a falls count anywhere match and Ligero faces Joseph Conners in a rematch from a few weeks ago.
NXT UK’s first TakeOver special also featured the crowning of the brand’s inaugural Tag Team Champions.
Zack Gibson & James Drake defeated Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) in the opener of UK TakeOver: Blackpool to become the first NXT UK Tag Team Champions. Gibson and Drake won with their Ticket to Mayhem double-team finisher (Drake lifting Seven in position for a tombstone and Gibson then hitting a codebreaker).
There was a spot leading into the finish where Bate was on Gibson’s shoulders on the outside and Drake took Bate out with a spear after ducking a lariat from Seven and diving through the ropes.
On-screen authority figures Johnny Saint and Sid Scala came out to the stage after the match to applaud and raise Gibson and Drake’s hands.
Moustache Mountain wore British Bulldogs-inspired gear during the match. In an homage to Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid, Seven hit a running powerslam and Bate then hit a diving headbutt for a near fall at one point.
Gibson & Drake defeated Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews to advance to the finals of the Tag Team tournament, while Moustache Mountain defeated Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang). Gibson & Drake had already been a team before tagging together in NXT UK, with them known as the Grizzled Young Veterans outside of WWE.
WWE’s first-ever NXT UK TakeOver special takes place at 2 p.m. Eastern time (7 p.m. GMT/8 p.m. CET for those in Europe) in Blackpool, England today.
In the main event, Pete Dunne is looking to defend his WWE UK Championship and carry on his 603-day reign against Joe Coffey. The feud between these two has been brewing for months now, with both men’s respective groups, British Strong Style and Gallus, getting involved.
Dunne snapped Coffey’s fingers during a contract signing a few weeks ago and got powerbombed through a table for his troubles. Most recently, Gallus were victorious over British Strong Style in a six-man tag team match during the go-home show for this TakeOver special. This should be a hard-hitting match with both men wanting to prove they can carry the main event of the brand.
On the undercard, Dunne’s BSS brethren, Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven), are facing Zack Gibson & James Drake in the finals of a tournament for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship in what should be a strong match. Bate and Seven beat Gallus in the semifinals, while Gibson & Drake defeated Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster.
In a rematch of the finals from another tournament, NXT UK Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley will defend her title against Toni Storm. These two had a great match back in August, when Ripley first won the title and Storm legitimately injured her back during the match and was out of action for about a month. Both women have looked strong in recent matches on NXT UK, so I expect another good match between them.
Dave Mastiff will take on fellow monster Eddie Dennis in a no DQ match. Mastiff initially beat Dennis a few months ago in their first match and the feud has been brewing ever since, with both men attacking the other and a second match ending in a double disqualification. This is a modern take on an unstoppable force meeting an unmovable object and will be a proper mean guy match.
Jordan Devlin also will face Travis Banks in what will be a great platform for both men to showcase their in-ring prowess. The story here is a simple one, in that the patriotic Irishman is blaming his opponent from New Zealand of not loving his home country as much as Devlin loves his.
There will also be a pre-show on the WWE Network starting at 1:30 p.m. Eastern (6.30 GMT/7.30 CET).
**********
Pre-show:
Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness opened the show with shots of the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool and ran down the card. A number of recap videos summarized the stories behind the individual matches.
A video on the new WWE UK Performance Center aired, with highlights of Paul Levesque’s speech and sound bits by Charlotte Flair, Finn Balor and Pete Dunne.
Radzi Chinyanganya had breaking news from backstage and they showed a video of Travis Banks the arena and getting attacked by Jordan Devlin, throwing him into a stack of backstage ramps and a wall, looking to injure Banks’ left knee. Radzi stated that Banks had been medically cleared for his match with Devlin though.
Main show:
A video recapped the history of NXT UK talent, starting with the original UK Championship tournament from Blackpool in January of 2017 leading to this first NXT UK TakeOver.
1. NXT UK Tag Team Championship tournament finals: James Drake & Zack Gibson beat Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) in 23:46 after hitting Ticket to Mayhem on Seven
This was a great opener, showcasing the strengths of all four men. Story of the match was Seven first injuring his left arm on a dive, then also getting his knee attacked and eventually succumbing to the heels.
Bate and Seven were wearing red and black tights, in a tribute to the British Bulldogs. Johnny Saint presented the NXT UK tag team titles in the ring.
The fans were crazy right from the get-go, cheering on Tyler Bate and taking off their shoes to show their disdain for Gibson. Early story was Bate countering Gibson’s offense, including impressively flipping backwards through a bridge on his neck on a pinning attempt. Moustache Mountain were on offense in the first few minutes, including Bate cat and mousing his way around Drake in a way that I’m sure made Johnny Saint proud.The heels finally took over around the 7 minute mark by outsmarting Seven outside the ring, and Gibson nailing him in the throat.
Gibson and Drake hit their move where Gibson picked up Seven for a backbreaker on the outside and Drake dove over the top rope onto him. Seven bled from the back of the head, courtesy of a stiff elbow by Drake. Seven was in trouble for a few minutes until he finally managed a hot tag to Bate, who managed to pick up first Drake and eventually both Drake and Gibson for an airplane spin to massive “Big Strong Boi” chants. He also gave Drake and exploder from the apron onto Gibson on the outside, following by a running shooting star from the apron on both on the outside. In another hommage to the Bulldogs, Seven hit a running power slam, followed by a diving headbutt by Bate.
Gibson foiled a snap dragon/lariat combo by hitting a Ticket to Ride on Seven, then Helter Skelter, followed by a 450 by Drake for a close near fall. Gibson then locked in Shankly Gates on Seven and Drake managed to lock in the same move to Bate as he tried to make the save, until Bate managed to pick Drake up and slam him into Gibson as we entered the home stretch of the match. Moustache Mountain finalls hit the snbapdragon/lariat, but Seven’s arm was injured so the move didn’t it with full force and Drake kicked out. Gibson pulled Bate off the apron on his shoulders and Drake speared him on a dive in a “holy shit” kind of moment. Gibson and Drake finally hit Ticket to Mayhem on Seven to become the NXT UK tag team champions.
Johnny Saint and Sid Scala were out to congratulate the new champs.
“The Irish Ace” Jordan Devlin vs. “The Kiwi Buzzsaw” Travis Banks never took place
The scene of Devlin attacking Banks as he arrived at the building aired again before the match. Banks came out slightly limping, wincing as he crouched down during his entrance, slapping his knee repeatedly. Banks immediately attacked Devlin before the bell as he came down the ramp. Devlin threw Banks into the steps knee first before they kept brawling around ringside. Devlin repeatedly attacked Banks’ knee, kicking it on the steel steps. NXT UK Assistant GM Sid Scala came out with a number of referees to break things up. They eventually took Banks backstage as Devlin cut a promo in the ring. Johnny Saint came out and talked to Scala, and stated they had a backup plan as they were afraid Devlin might try something like that.
Finn Balor then came out as a replacement and the place exploded. Balor of course, is Devlin’s original trainer.
2. Finn Balor beat “The Irish Ace” Jordan Devlin in 11:45 after hitting Coup de Grâces
The gist of the match here was Devlin taking his former trainer to the limit, thwarting Coup de Grâces three times before finally succumbing to the move. They had a fast-paced, technical match with lots of hard hits and often countering or mirroring each other’s offense.
They went face to face when Devlin slapped Balor, who responded with a striking combination. He went for Coupe de Grâces right away, but Devlin rolled out of the ring, thwarted Balor’s comeback and worked him over around ringside, before mocking Balor’s pose in the ring. Balor eventually took back over and went to the top for Coup de Grâces again but Devlin dropkicked him off the rope and to the outside, where he almost was counted out.
They traded chops until Devlin quickly hit his uranage/standing moonsault combo for a two count. Both men traded abdominal stretches and the story was that neither could get a real advantage over the other, as they knew each other’s moves so well. Devlin eventually hit a head butt and his pull up high angle back drop driver for a near fall.
Balor hit a penalty kick from the apron on Devlin and went up for Coup de Grâces a third time but again got thwarted. Devlin hit a beautiful moonsault but Balor got his knees up. Fourth time was the charm, as Balor finally hit Coup de Grâces for the win.
– Luke Menzies, a rugby player from 2007-2017, was shown in the crowd. Menzies signed in May of 2018 and has been on NXT but not NXT UK television yet.
3. No Disqualification: “Bomber” Dave Mastiff beat Eddie Dennis in 10:43 after hitting a rolling cannonball senton through a propped up table
This was the hard-hitting weapons match most people expected. Dennis was dominant throughout the match, using a cane, chair and table to beat down Mastiff and also exposed the floor on the outside. Mastiff fought back throughout the match and eventually managed to smash Dennis through a table for the win.
They started trading strikes, ending with Mastiff hitting a running cross body. They ended up outside and Dennis ended up being thrown in the steps. Mastiff waisted little time and pushed the steps into the ring, but Dennis got a Singapore cane from under the ring and clanked Mastiff in the skull with it, then hit a Russian leg sweep with the aid of his newly found weapon.
Mastiff took a number of licks with welts visibly building up, until he got hold of the weapon and used is against his nemesis. Dennis finally caught Mastiff off another cross body and hit a Black Hole Slam onto the steel steps for a near fall. After a chair got introduced, Dennis used a mistake by Mastiff and picked him off the ropes for the Severn Bridge, which looked impressive. Dennis got a table, which prompted a loud “tables, tables, tables” song by the fans, to the tune of “No Limit”, the 1990’s Eurodance hit.
Mastiff hit a rolling fireman’s carry on the exposed arena floor, followed by a senton. Dennis came back with the Next Stop Driver, which also was an impressive feat of strength. He tried another Severn Bridge, looking to smash Mastiff into a table propped up in the corner but he managed to escape, hit a release German and his rolling cannonball senton through the table for the victory.
– they showed Kay Lee Ray from Scotland and “Alpha Female” Jazzy Gabert from Germany in the audience. Both were in the 2017 Mae Young Classic. Ray was reported to be signing with WWE in recent weeks while Gabert was offered a deal back in 2017 but didn’t clear medicals due to herniated discs. She had surgery to fix that problem and was part of the recent WWE tryouts in Cologne, Germany as a spectator.
4. NXT UK Women’s Championship: Toni Storm beat Rhea Ripley (c) in 14:49 with Storm Zero to win the title
This was a hard-hitting strong style match with both women looking good. Toni was in trouble for most of the match as Rhea was dominating her for minutes at a time. This was a redemption story for Toni who won the Mae Young Classic before challenging for this title and eventually overcoming the odds against her bigger and stronger opponent.
They circled each other for a while, then Rhea attacked but neither woman could get an early advantage. Rhea fled from Toni but got wiped out by a dive from the challenger. Rhea started working over Toni’s back, trying to capitalize off her old injury and locked in some body scissors to put pressure on her lower back and hips. Rhea kept being the dominant force of the match with repeated suplexes, slams and legdrops, then rag dolled Toni around the ring.
Storm finally came back with a big head butt of a whip that put both women down. They traded strikes and transitioned into the Frye-Takayama spot. Storm got the better of it and hit tow Germans, but couldn’t get Storm Zero. Rhea tried for Riptide as well, but Toni thwarted that attempt as well. They traded submission holds with Ripley’s inverted clover leaf and Storm going for an ankle lock, then hitting a hip attack and a German suplex hold for a near fall.
Ripley hit Riptide around the 12 minute mark for a very close near fall. Ripley continued to beat her down with short arm clotheslines, but Toni escaped on the third attempt and hit Storm Zero for a near fall of her own. Storm then escaped another Riptide attempt and hit Storm Zero to win the NXT UK Championship for the first time. Toni went and celebrated with the fans in the crowd.
– Charlotte Flair was shown watching the show in the crowd.
5. WWE UK Championship: “The Bruiserweight” Pete Dunne (c) beat “The Iron King” Joe Coffey in 34:15 by submission from a sitting triangle and joint manipulation
This was a tremendous, highly dramatic match with both guys giving everything they had, taking a few brutal bumps and a number of near falls. Both were exhausted by the end and both hit thier finishers numerous times to no avail until Dunne finally managed to make The Iron King submit.
Coffey came out with the rest of Gallus. but they did not accompany him down the ramp while Dunne came out on his own. Coffey stood with his arms folded in the ring while Dunne looked on disgusted.
They traded arm and wrist locks early until Dunne briefly took over with some of his sadistic joint manipulation and submission attempts. Coffey tried for his discus lariat early but Dunne avoided it. Dunne kept going for moves that would weaken Coffey’s arms and hands. Coffey impressively transitioned a double wrist lock into a deadlift vertical suplex, but Dunne managed to swing back down and lock the move in again until Coffey finally hit a suplex to escape.
Dunne took a nasty spill on his face on a throw to the outside but quickly hit a back flip over Coffey off the steps and an enzuigiri to stun his challenger, but found himself on the receiving end of a high angle slam onto the rampway. Coffey took over the match at that point, primarily working over Dunne’s back until the Bruiserweight managed to stage a comeback with a number of hard strikes and hitting a moonsault quebrada to the outside and an X-Plex back in the ring but it was obvious his back was hurt. This led to Coffey hitting a big powerbomb for a close near fall, then locked in a Boston crab. It briefly looked like Dunne actually had passed out but he finally managed to make the ropes in dramatic fashion.
In a unique spot, they traded head butts to the shoulders and eventually, went both down. Dunne avoided the lariat, then hit an STO and locked in the Koji Clutch. Dunne then transitioned into an ankle lock off a deadlift into a tombstone by Coffey. Both men went for their finishers but neither could hit it, until Dunne finally managed to hit the Bitter End but Coffey kicked out at 2.9. They fought on the apron and Coffey hit a sit-down powerbomb onto the apron as both men fell to ringside and just made it back inside by 10.
Coffey rained down blows and stomps on the champion but the champ got his second win and came back with stomps of his own. In the melee that followed, Coffey hit the lariat, but Dunne again kicked out just barely as the crowd started going crazy. Dunne locked in an armbar which he managed to keep on even when Coffey lifted him onto the top rope and finally managed to slam him down with one arm.
Both men looked exhausted as the match went into what appeared to be its home stretch. They traded blows once more and Dunne had Coffey in the ropes but Coffey managed a come back with a Mount Everest German suplex for another near fall. Coffey then went for the Bitter End, but Dunne escaped and hit a Bitter End of his own but couldn’t get the pin as Coffey rolled out of the way. Coffey finally hit the discus lariat from the apron but it looked like he didn’t catch Dunne with full force.
They battled on the top rope and both fell down, with Coffey taking a nasty spill to the outside, then a few minutes later the same spot led to both tumbling to the outside and into the barrier but somehow made it back into the ring. Dunne hit a discus lariat and Bitter End but still couldn’t get the win. Dunne then locked in an arm bar and bent the fingers to finally make Coffey tap out.
– As it looked like the show was about to go off the air, the familiar tune of “Aus der Neuen Welt”, Antonín Dvořáks’ 9th symphony hit and The Ring General WALTER made his way down to the ring as Pete Dunne looked shocked. He entered the ring and stared down the champ. Joe Coffey tried to get back in the ring but the Austrian powerhouse nonchalantly kicked him in the head and hit the Ringkampf pose while Dunne stood there with the WWE UK Championship dangling from his mouth. WALTER then left and slowly walked down the ramp again, having made his intentions clear to dethroned the Bruiserweight after more than 600 days.
Episode 24 (taped November 25, 2018 at the Liverpool Olympia in Liverpool, England)
Quick results:
Ligero beat Joseph Conners. Travis Banks beat Tyson T-Bone in a short match, marred by Jordan Devlin coming out during the match. Banks won anyway and then sent Devlin packing. Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) beat British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Trent Seven & Tyler Bate).in a tremendous 25 minute match, leading up to Dunne and Coffey facing each other for Dunne’s WWE UK Championship this Saturday at NXT TakeOver: Blackpool.
Full rundown:
A video of the Gallus/British Strong Style rivalry and tonight’s six men tag main event match opened the show.
Ligero beat Joseph Conners in 5:21 after a springboard tornado DDT
Conners for weeks talked about the “shiny new toys” of NXT UK, mentioning guys like Ligero vowing to break them. Ligero started out strong, hitting Conners with a number of quick moves. Conners eventually managed to take over by pushing him into the ring post on the apron, then hit a hard clothesline in the ring for a near-fall. Conners continued to aggressively work Ligero over. Ligero finally came back with a fireman’s carry and kick to the head, but was quickly stopped again. Conners started to tear at Ligero’s mask, but Ligero eventually hit his springboard tornado DDT for the win.
Radzi interviewed Zack Gibson and James Drake backstage about their upcoming NXT UK tag team title match at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool. Gibson reiterated that they were undefeated and said they were so confident that they cleared a space on their mantelpieces and would take to Facebook Live for an early celebration. He said they were “sssssoon to be recognized the NXT UK Tag Team Champions”.
British Strong Style and Gallus were shown preparing for their match backstage.
A Dave Mastiff/Eddie Dennis aired. Mastiff talked about their rivalry, stating that he was the only undefeated monster in NXT UK and that Dennis was jealous and he would be the victor in their no disqualification match.
Travis Banks beat Tyson T-Bone in 2:08 with A Slice of Heaven
T-Bone was aggressive from the start, rag dolling Banks around and hitting him with some hard strikes, but Banks came back with strikes and a running shotgun dropkick, followed by a double foot stomp into the corner. 90 seconds in, Jordan Devlin’s music played and he came out, dressed like Banks. As this was not RAW, Banks only briefly was distracted, but took right back over, eventually hitting a Slice of Heaven for the pin.
Devlin then entered the ring and attacked Banks, but Banks quickly hit a Slice of Heaven on him and sent him packing.
A recap video of the Toni Storm/Rhea Ripley rivalry aired, featuring the NXT UK Women’s Championship finals between them, followed by Ripley’s dominant title reign and Toni winning the Mae Young Classic and challenging for the title.
A segment ran down the NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool card, including a breaking news announcement of Travis Banks facing Jordan Devlin
Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) beat British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) in 25:29 when Joe Coffey pinned Tyler Bate after a spinning lariat
Bate and Joe Coffey started things off to massive Tyler Bate chants. Bate got forced into a bridge off a test of strength, with Coffey going for a number of pin attempts before fighting his way back to his feet. All six men briefly faced off before the referee could restore order. Seven and Wolfgang were in next and Seven hit a cross body before chaos between all six men broke out again. Now Dunne and Mark Coffey were in. Dunne quickly hit a hard clothesline before another melee broke out, this time ending in a big brawl with Gallus ending up at ringside.
Back in the ring, Dunne started stretching Mark Coffey and British Strong Style quickly tagged in and out, working over Mark Coffey until Bate crashed into Wolfgang and the heels got the advantage, working over the Big Strong Boi. At one point, Bate took a great Bret-Hart-style chest-first bump into the corner before managing the hot tag to Trent Seven. who took over like a house of fire on all three men, prompting Wolfgang and Mark Coffey to hi each other inadvertently a number of times. This ended when Joe Coffey smashed him shoulder-first into the ring steps on the outside to turn the tables once more.
Gallus worked over Seven for a few minutes before he finally managed to hit a big superplex on Joe Coffey and make the hot tag Pete Dunne. He hit an X-Plex on Mark Coffey and locked in a knee bar on Wolfgang, who eventually managed to tag Joe Coffey. Dunne immediately locked Coffey in a triangle, and then, as Coffey tagged Wolfgang who came off the top rope, Dunne caught him in an arm bar.
Wolfgang eventually suplexed his way out and Dunne tagged Bate. Bate and Coffey had a few great spots, ending with Coffey missing a springboard body press and Bate hitting a running shooting star. Bate escaped a wheel barrow spin by Coffey, then picked him up for a long air plane spin. Coffey escaped a Tyler Driver ’97 attempt and then both men went down after trading strikes.
Both tagged out to Seven and Mark Coffey with Seven hitting a ripcord DDT before all three members of British Strong Style hit a triple power bomb on Mark. Bate then hit a dive on Wolfgang. Dunne and Mark Coffey were in the ring, but Dunne got distracted when Joe Coffey has his WWE UK title on the apron. Joe Coffey hit a big power bomb on Dunne for a very close near fall, with Bate breaking up the pin.
After some more chaos, Dunne and Joe Coffey ended up together in the ring, doing the Frye-Takayama exchange of strikes. Dunne stomped on Coffey fingers but ate a spear in return. Dunne thwarted a second attempt with a hard knee to the head. Dunne broke Coffey’s fingers and hit the Bitter End, but didn’t see Wolfgang getting tagged in. Dunne tagged Bate, who hit a corkscrew senton on everybody on the outside. Bate hiot a rolling kick on Wolfgang who managed to tag out to Joe Coffey. Bate went for his springboard lariat, but Coffey caught him with the spinning lariat for the pin in the finish to a great match,
Pete Dunne faced off with Gallus from the apron as the show went off the air.
Next episode:
The fallout from the first ever NXT UK TakeOver special, probably with matches being taped this coming weekend.
Also, don’t miss NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool this coming Saturday at 2 PM ET (7 PM BST, 8 PM CET) on the WWE Network (pre-show starts half an hour earlier).
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 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.
