WALTER will bid farewell to the NXT UK brand when he faces Nathan Frazer on NXT UK next Thursday. It was said that, on the heels of WALTER’s appearance at NXT New Year’s Evil on Tuesday night, he’s requested to have one final match in NXT UK. General manager Johnny Saint booked Frazer as his opponent.
This will be WALTER’s first in-person appearance on NXT UK since the build to his match against Ilja Dragunov at NXT TakeOver 36 last August. WALTER dropped the NXT United Kingdom Championship to Dragunov at that show.
At New Year’s Evil, WALTER and his Imperium stablemates Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner lost a six-man tag match against Riddle & MSK. Riddle pinned Barthel to get the win.
Barthel & Aichner are the current NXT Tag Team Champions.The 2022 men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is kicking off on NXT in two weeks, and the team that wins the tournament will get a shot at Imperium’s title.
In a promo that aired on this week’s NXT UK, WALTER said the time has come for him to have his last match in NXT UK — at least for now. WALTER said Frazer is very talented and is the future of the NXT UK brand, but he’s not impressed because Frazer is in it for himself just like everyone else. WALTER said Frazer is “taking the absolute piss” out of this great sport.
WALTER said the one thing that will never change is that, when the Ring General steps into a ring, he will come out victorious.
Next week’s NXT UK will also feature a tag team match between Teoman & Rohan Raja and Dave Mastiff & Jack Starz. The winning team will advance to an upcoming number one contender’s match against Oliver Carter & Ashton Smith. The team that wins that match will get a shot at Moustache Mountain’s NXT UK Tag Team titles.
Riddle and WALTER will be on opposite sides of a six-man tag team match at NXT New Year’s Evil.
WWE has announced that Riddle & MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) will face Imperium (WALTER & NXT Tag Team Champions Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) at New Year’s Evil next Tuesday. The show is a special episode of NXT. It’s airing live on USA Network at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
Barthel & Aichner won the NXT Tag Team titles from MSK at Halloween Havoc this October. After MSK’s loss, Riddle was revealed as their shaman as they tried to get back on track and get back to the NXT Tag Team titles.
Last week, Riddle encouraged MSK to call out Imperium tonight and said he’d be on the show with them. Barthel & Aichner also teased that WALTER would be appearing. Riddle and WALTER were both on the show via video to set up next week’s six-man tag match. When MSK called out Imperium for an NXT Tag Team title rematch, WALTER said they weren’t worthy. Riddle then challenged Imperium to face him and MSK in a six-man tag match next week.
This will be WALTER’s first televised match in WWE since losing the NXT United Kingdom Championship to Ilja Dragunov at NXT TakeOver 36 this August. WALTER was also in action at WWE’s house show tour of the United Kingdom in November.
Riddle & Randy Orton are the current Raw Tag Team Champions. They’re set to defend their titles against The Street Profits at WWE Day 1 this Saturday.
Riddle won’t be the only main roster star at New Year’s Evil. WWE has also announced that AJ Styles, who is feuding with Grayson Waller, will be appearing at the show.
Here’s the updated New Year’s Evil card:
NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa defends against Bron Breakker
NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose defends against Raquel Gonzalez and Cora Jade in a triple threat match
Title unification match: NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes vs. NXT Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong
Riddle & MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) vs. Imperium (WALTER, Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner)
WALTER will return to wXw for the first time since March 2020 later this month.
wXw announced a first-time ever match, WALTER vs. Cara Noir, for their December 18 21st Anniversary event. Tickets for the show in Oberhausen, Germany are on sale now.
The match will be the first match outside of WWE for WALTER since his last wXw appearance on March 8, 2020. He recently worked four house show dates on a WWE tour of the United Kingdom, but has not wrestled on television since dropping the NXT United Kingdom Championship to Ilja Dragunov at TakeOver 36 in August.
WALTER has held wXw’s Unified World Wrestling Championship three times, with his most recent reign ending in 2015. He has also held wXw’s World Tag Team titles on four separate occasions. His most recent Tag title reign ended in September 2019. He co-held the titles with Dragunov during that reign.
WALTER and fellow NXT UK talent Jinny recently went public with their relationship.
A dream matchup between two of WWE’s best in-ring wrestlers is set for November’s house show tour of the United Kingdom.
WWE has announced that WALTER vs. Cesaro will be taking place at their UK tour house shows in Liverpool (Sunday, November 7), Leeds (Monday, November 8), Nottingham (Tuesday, November 9), and Manchester (Wednesday, November 10). All four events are SmackDown-brand house shows.
WALTER will be returning to action for the first time since losing the NXT United Kingdom Championship to Ilja Dragunov at NXT TakeOver 36 this August.
The UK tour features eight events in total. There are Raw house shows in Brighton (Wednesday, November 3), Sheffield (Thursday, November 4), and Birmingham (Friday, November 5), along with a dual-branded supershow house show in London (Saturday, November 6).
The full lineups for the house shows are listed below. Universal Champion Roman Reigns and SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos won’t be on the tour.
Brighton, Sheffield & Birmingham —
Street fight: Big E vs. Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship
Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair vs. Doudrop in a triple threat match for the Raw Women’s Championship
RK-Bro vs. The Street Profits vs. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode in a triple threat match for the Raw Tag Team titles
Damian Priest vs. Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins in a fatal four-way match for the United States title
Reggie vs. John Morrison for the 24/7 Championship
Liv Morgan vs. Carmella
London —
Street fight: Big E vs. Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship
Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair vs. Doudrop in a triple threat match for the Raw Women’s Championship
Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women’s Championship
RK-Bro vs. The Street Profits vs. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode in a triple threat match for the Raw Tag Team titles
Damian Priest vs. Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins in a fatal four-way match for the United States title
Shinsuke Nakamura (w/ Rick Boogs) vs. Jinder Mahal for the Intercontinental title
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Bron Breakker for the NXT Championship
Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham & Manchester —
Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women’s Championship
Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin
Shinsuke Nakamura (w/ Rick Boogs) vs. Jinder Mahal for the Intercontinental title
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Bron Breakker vs. Sami Zayn in a triple threat match for the NXT Championship
Former NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER is advertised for multiple dates on WWE’s tour of the United Kingdom next month.
WALTER is currently among the wrestlers listed for WWE’s house shows in Liverpool (Sunday, November 7), Leeds (Monday, November 8), and Nottingham (Tuesday, November 9). All three events are SmackDown-brand house shows.
WALTER hasn’t wrestled since losing the NXT United Kingdom Championship to Ilja Dragunov at NXT TakeOver 36 this August.
The WWE UK tour features eight house shows, beginning in Brighton on Wednesday, November 3 and ending in Manchester on Wednesday, November 10. It features three Raw house shows, one event that is branded as a supershow house show, and four SmackDown house shows.
Raw’s Finn Balor is also advertised to appear at the Liverpool, Leeds, and Nottingham events.
WALTER’s Imperium stablemates Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner defeated MSK to win the NXT Tag Team titles at Halloween Havoc last night.
NXT UK Heritage Cup number one contender’s tournament first round: Wolfgang defeated Sam Gradwell 2-1 in round 5 (11:45)
Round 1 —
Wolfgang overpowered Gradwell early. They brawled at ringside and Gradwell hit a flying forearm from the apron. Wolfgang was about to punch Gradwell in the mouth as the round ended.
Round 2 —
Gradwell had Wolfgang trapped in an armbar on the mat about halfway into the round, but Wolfgang powered out. Wolfgang hit an axe handle off the top and a running kick to retaliate. Gradwell slapped him, then escaped to ringside to catch his breath for the last few seconds of the round.
Round 3 —
Wolfgang started out wild, but Gradwell stopped a spear with his knee brace, then hit a flatliner for the first fall at 0:24 of the round. Gradwell 1-0
Round 4 —
Wolfgang’s left shoulder was hurt and he favored the arm, which Gradwell immediately focused on. Wolfgang fought back and eventually hit a front slam off a suplex to score a pin at 1:39 of the round. Wolfgang 1-1
Round 5 —
Gradwell hit a hard forearm for a near fall in the first minute. He evaded two spears by Wolfgang, but fell victim to the third one at 1:17 of the round. Wolfgang wins 2-1
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A video recapped Blair Davenport’s attack on Nina Samuels and Sid Scala last week.
Scala, still visibly upset, then announced that NXT management had suspended Davenport.
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Kenny Williams and Noam Dar talked about their match next week. Both are despicable heels and Dar said he was an elephant who would stomp the cockroach Kenny Williams out.
Pretty Deadly defending their NXT UK Tag Team Championships against Gallus (Joe & Mark Coffey) was announced for next week.
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Gallus then celebrated Wolfgang’s win and loudly sang backstage, which drew the ire of the Irish Ace. Jordan Devlin came out of his locker room and said he was getting a massage. He then told Joe Coffey after he took care of his neck, he would take care of Coffey’s ego. Coffey got in Devlin’s face, who flinched and held his neck in pain.
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Oliver Carter, Ashton Smith & Saxon Huxley defeated Symbiosis (Eddie Dennis, Primate & T-Bone) (09:01)
Smith and Carter had new music and a new entrance screen.
Huxley and Primate started and Huxley threw Primate to ringside quickly. T-Bone was in next and attacked Huxley, but got wiped out with a Thesz Press. Smith was in next and ate a big overhead suplex. T-Bone and Primate worked him over and Eddie Dennis joined in.
Smith outsmarted Dennis and tagged Carter, who immediately hit a beautiful springboard moonsault on Primate. Primate punched him to ringside and Dennis took over. All three members of Symbiosis worked over Carter, who eventually managed to hot tag Huxley.
Huxley ran wild and wiped out Eddie Dennis with an elbow drop, then followed up with a clothesline off the top. Smith was in and they hit a double suplex on Dennis. Smith was in trouble quickly, as Primate attacked him from the outside. Smith almost fell victim to a flying headbutt by Primate, but Carter made the save.
Smith then impressively hoisted Primate on his shoulders with ease, and Carter hit a Doomsday Cutter for the pin.
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Stevie Tyler was asked about her match with Meiko Satomura. She said that she got a title match in only her fourth match and now had the blueprint to beating her.
Emilia McKenzie then walked up and said it was interesting that Tyler badmouthed Satomura when she had been beaten by her and that McKenzie would beat her too. After she left, Tyler pouted and called McKenzie two-dimensional.
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Pretty Deadly cut an entertaining promo, talking about how they would beat Gallus next week, just as they had six months ago.
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Replay from NXT TakeOver 36: NXT UK Championship: Ilja Dragunov defeated WALTER to win the championship
This was an incredible match, which Dave rated at *****¼ stars. The original report of the match can be found here.
Ilja Dragunov, Rhea Ripley, Cesaro, Drew McIntyre, Finn Balor, Toni Storm and Sheamus provided commentary and added insights for the match.
Final Thoughts:
The Wolfgang/Gradwell match was a fine hoss fight.
The six-man was fun and showcased Carter and Smith as a really good team.
The replay of the WALTER and Ilja match was outstanding of course. I’d have preferred to have just Ilja’s insights and maybe get some reactions from his peers in a separate segment. This was the best match in WWE this year by a country mile.
Next week:
NXT UK Heritage Cup number one contender’s tournament semifinals: Noam Dar vs. Kenny Williams
NXT UK Tag Team Championship: Pretty Deadly vs. Gallus
WWE will relive WALTER and Ilja Dragunov’s instant classic from NXT TakeOver 36 next week.
Next Thursday’s NXT UK episode will feature WWE reliving WALTER and Dragunov’s NXT United Kingdom Championship match from TakeOver 36. WWE is advertising that there will be special added insight from NXT and WWE wrestlers and legends.
Dragunov defeated WALTER to win the NXT United Kingdom Championship at TakeOver 36, ending WALTER’s 870-day title reign. It was a rematch of one of WWE’s best matches of 2020, where WALTER defeated Dragunov to retain the title last October.
Before heading back to the United Kingdom, Dragunov appeared on this Tuesday’s NXT episode and cut an in-ring promo. Dragunov said he showed the will, passion, soul, and struggle it takes to be NXT UK Champion. Dragunov asked who is willing to go through all of that to take the title from him. “The Ring General has fallen,” Dragunov said. “Long live the Czar.”
Two matches have also been announced for next Thursday’s NXT UK. Sam Gradwell and Wolfgang will face off in the first round of the Heritage Cup number one contender’s tournament. Symbiosis (Eddie Dennis, Primate & T-Bone) will take on Saxon Huxley, Oliver Carter & Ashton Smith in a six-man tag match.
The winner of Gradwell vs. Wolfgang will advance to face Teoman in the contender’s tournament semifinals. Noam Dar vs. Kenny Williams is the other semifinal match. The winner of the tournament will get a shot at Tyler Bate’s Heritage Cup Championship.
Ilja Dragunov ended WALTER’s NXT United Kingdom championship reign tonight at NXT TakeOver 36.
In a brutal, hard-hitting match, Dragunov continually took everything WALTER gave him and gave it back. The finish had Dragunov locking in a sleeper, with WALTER getting back to his feet. Dragunov didn’t let go and got WALTER fell back to the floor, evemtially causing him to tap.
WALTER had held the title for 830 days, defeating Pete Dunne at NXT TakeOver: New York back on April 5, 2019. WALTER is the longest reigning champion in the belt’s history, eclipsing Dunne’s 685 day reign.
Dragunov and WALTER previously had a match for the NXT UK title back on the October 29 edition of NXT UK, a match that WALTER won. Both WALTER and Dragunov made appearances on the main NXT brand after their title match was announced for TakeOver 36. Dragunov lost a match against Dunne on the August 10 edition of NXT, but did defeat Roderick Strong on the August 22 edition of the show.
NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER made a surprise appearance on last night’s NXT and attempted to attack his TakeOver 36 challenger.
Ilja Dragunov lost to Pete Dunne in last night’s main event after WALTER came out to the stage near the end of the match. Dragunov had the advantage before being distracted by WALTER. Dunne went to hit the Bitter End on Dragunov as his attention was turned away, but Dragunov got out of it. Dragunov went for Torpedo Moscow, but Dunne caught him with a forearm strike and hit the Bitter End to get the win.
WALTER then entered the ring after the match. Following a brief staredown with Dunne, WALTER slapped Dragunov and tried to put him in a choke. But Dragunov countered it and instead hit Torpedo Moscow on WALTER. With WALTER sent out of the ring, Dragunov picked up the NXT United Kingdom Championship title belt and took a look at it to close the show.
Two new matches were also confirmed for TakeOver 36 last night. Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly will face off in the “Undisputed Finale” at the event. LA Knight will also again defend his Million Dollar Championship against Cameron Grimes. If Grimes loses, “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBIase has to become Knight’s butler.
The Undisputed Finale will be a two-out-of-three falls match. The first fall will be a traditional wrestling match, then the second fall will be a street fight. If a third fall is necessary, it will be a steel cage match. The respective stipulations were chosen by O’Reilly, Cole, and NXT general manager William Regal.
A new date has been set for WALTER and Ilja Dragunov’s NXT United Kingdom Championship rematch.
WALTER will now defend his NXT UK Championship against Dragunov at NXT TakeOver 36 on Sunday, August 22. The match was originally set to headline today’s NXT UK episode, but it had to be postponed due to WALTER suffering an injury to his left hand.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Shawn Michaels, and William Regal appeared in a video that aired on NXT UK today and announced the new date for WALTER vs. Dragunov.
In storyline, it was said that WALTER’s injury happened during a backstage altercation with Dragunov following their in-ring press conference on last week’s NXT UK. The altercation wasn’t shown on TV.
In what was one of the best matches of 2020, WALTER retained the NXT UK Championship against Dragunov on NXT UK last October. The match ranked fifth in the Match of the Year category in the 2020 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards.
Dragunov has been involved in a storyline where he’s struggled with temper issues and has worked to get them under control since his loss to WALTER. He was set up as WALTER’s next challenger when he defeated Rampage Brown and Joe Coffey in a triple threat match on NXT UK last month.
WALTER has been NXT UK Champion since winning the title from Pete Dunne at TakeOver: New York in April 2019.
WALTER also defended the NXT UK Championship at a TakeOver event in the United States this April, retaining against Tommaso Ciampa.
WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov II will no longer be taking place on next week’s NXT UK episode.
On today’s NXT UK, it was announced that WALTER has suffered an injury to his left hand and is unable to defend his NXT United Kingdom Championship against Dragunov on NXT UK next Thursday. In storyline, the injury was blamed on a backstage altercation between WALTER and Dragunov that wasn’t shown.
It was said that details about the injury are sketchy at this point, but WWE medical staff have deemed the injury to be “severe” and WALTER isn’t fit to compete next week. More information on the situation will be revealed on next Thursday’s NXT UK.
There was an in-ring press conference segment with WALTER and Dragunov earlier on today’s show before the news of WALTER’s injury was announced.
In one of the best matches of 2020, WALTER defeated Dragunov on NXT UK last October to retain the NXT United Kingdom Championship. Dragunov has since struggled with temper issues in storyline and has worked to get them under control. Dragunov was established as the number one contender to WALTER’s title when he defeated Rampage Brown and Joe Coffey in a triple threat match on NXT UK last month.
The show opened with a graphic dedicated to the late, great “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff.
Triple H then talked about how on October 29, 2020 the world had seen one of the best and most brutal matches in WWE history and how WALTER was the longest-reigning champion of the modern era, who defended his championship both in the UK and the US. He also called Ilja Dragunov one of the hardest working men in wrestling and an enigma and was proud to give us the rematch of that epic battle next week.
We then cut to the champion and his challenger sitting at a table in the ring alongside Sid Scala to sign the contracts for their match next week.
WALTER and Ilja Dragunov contract signing —
They actually had press in the front row to ask questions. WALTER was asked if he thought his reign was under threat. He said no, because he was in this for the greater good and the reputation and tradition of this great sport. He said every time he steps into the ring, he was proud to represent the sport. He called Ilja a one-of-a-kind athlete, like nothing he ever saw before, but said that Ilja lacked the mental ability to step up to his level. He said he will have to proof that when he wrestles him again.
Ilja was asked what he learned since his defeat against WALTER. Ilja said it had been some very dark days and a rough time. He said you learn and get better, but failures like this don’t hurt you like a strike, but they hurt your mind. You can’t forget and the memories haunted him and he lost control. He found himself again and was prepared.
Both were asked what to expect for the rematch next week. Ilja said brutality, violence, intensity. He said the match redefined violence and people had forgotten what the word meant. Ilja called WALTER arrogant and said he had a god complex. WALTER interrupted him and asked him about redefining violence. WALTER called him a fraud. He said Ilja was fantastic but not at WALTER’s level. He called Ilja a showman and told him he wanted to grab everyone’s attention.
WALTER screamed at Ilja in German to look at him and said that if it wasn’t for him, Ilja would still be a cashier at a German supermarket. Scala tried to calm WALTER down, but it was to no avail.
Ilja was close to tears and said that last time, he thought all his stamina, all his power might be enough, but it wasn’t. He said he had respect for WALTER. He said after all WALTER had done to him, all the respect is gone and all that is left is hate.
Ilja said next week in this ring, he would break WALTER. He said he would walk away with the NXT UK title or he would not walk away at all. WALTER dared him to do something right now and they went forehead to forehead. WALTER told him to keep himself calm and Ilja said that he was.
This was amazing and this recap cannot do it justice. If you can spare ten minutes, watch this segment.
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A Subculture video aired. Andrews and Webster talked about how Andrews won a singles match against one half of the tag team champions two years ago and then they won the titles and last week, he did the same thing again. Dani Luna said next week, they would become two-time champions
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Teoman & Rohan Raja beat Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter when Teoman submitted Carter (08:55)
Smith floored Teoman right away, then beat him down. Teoman finally tagged out to Raja, who wanted Carter and got him. Carter hit a superkick and almost got the pin, but Teoman ran interference and Raja hit Carter with a Black Hole Slam, then took over.
Teoman got back in and went for the crossface, then kicked Carter’s arm when he couldn’t quite get it. Carter finally got the hot tag and Smith ran wild on both men. Smith got a near fall off a Michinoku Driver. Teoman dropped him head-first into the turnbuckle, then blind tagged Raja who almost put Smith away.
Carter got back in and hit a German suplex and superkick on Raja, then followed up with a cutter on Raja who was on Smith’s shoulders. Smith hit a somersault dive on both men. Back in the ring, Carter went for a quebrada, but Teoman pulled his legs away mid-jump.
Raja then hit a jumping STO and Teoman locked in the crossface for the submission victory.
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Sid Scala was asked about A-Kid and said he had no update. A-Kid then walked in on crutches with his leg heavily taped and said the medical update was that he was sick and tired of Jordan Devlin. He said he wanted to face him again as soon as he was medically cleared and told Sid to talk to Mr. Saint. he wants 30 minutes with Devlin to punish him and demanded an Iron Man match. Scala told him to leave it with him.
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Aoife Valkyrie talked about Jinny. She said the best have short memories when it comes to failure, She said she was ready to fly while Jinny wasn’t even ready to take off her high heels. She said that Jinny only ever attacked people she thought were down, and with her, Jinny picked the wrong fight.
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NXT UK Women’s Championship: Meiko Satomura pinned “The French Hope” Amale (07:18)
Meiko caught a kick, hit a leg kick then took down Amale with a headlock. Amale turned it into a pin but Satomura held on to the move. Amale took over and grabbed Meiko’s hair. Amale dropped Meiko head-first into the bottom turnbuckle, then hit a shotgun dropkick and got a two count. Satomura quickly got back on offense and punished Amale with a number of kicks to the chest. Amale came back with a swinging neckbreaker for a two-count of her own.
They traded big moves until Meiko hit a handspring kneedrop to the back of Amale’s neck.
Meiko eventually hit Scorpion Rising for the pin and the win in her first title defense.
After the match, Meiko screamed for the next challenger.
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A graphic announced breaking news on WALTER and Ilja Dragunov. The announcers claimed that WALTER and Ilja had had a backstage altercation and that WALTER had suffered a severe injury to his left hand. They said that he had not been medically cleared to compete and the match next week was off. They said they would have more information next week.
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NXT UK Heritage Cup: Tyler Bate (w/ Trent Seven) beat Mark Coffey (w/ Wolfgang) 2-1 in round 5 (12:46)
Round 1
They did some British style exchanges early with Bate using some leverage to keep Coffey under control. Coffey lifted Bate over the top rope to the apron as the round ended.
Round 2
Coffey used a hammerlock for the first minute. Bate finally threw him to ringside. Bate picked up the first fall of the match at 1:35 of the round with a pinning combination. Bate 1-0
Round 3
Coffey was more aggressive as the round started. He caught Bate’s springboard clothesline and gave him a big back body drop. Bate briefly came back but got caught with an enzuigiri as he came off the ropes with a European uppercut. Coffey then scored a pin at 1:42 with a running forearm to tie things. Coffey 1-1
Round 4
Coffey wrestled with urgency and hit big moves but Bate countered him repeatedly. He hit an exploder on the bigger man, then followed with a running shooting star. Bate hit the airplane spin but Coffey eventually elbowed his way out. Coffey missed a bulldog off the turnbuckles and bonked heads shortly before the round ended.
Round 5
Bate went into the post shoulder first and got rolled up, but narrowly kicked out. Coffey evaded the Tyler Driver ’97, but got hit with the springboard lariat for a near fall. Bate then hit the Tyler Driver 97 at 0:58 of the round to win the match. Bate wins 2-1
All four men shook hands after the match.
Final Thoughts:
A good show with an awesome non-wrestling segment between WALTER and Dragunov. Whenever and however it happens, it will be tremendous.
The two title matches both were good, even though nobody believed that either challenger had a chance to win.
Amale especially is good and has a cool character, so hopefully she can be put in another meaningful program soon.
The Teoman/Raja team also is good and it will be interesting if they add more people to that stable.
Next week:
NXT UK Tag Team Championship: Pretty Deadly (c) vs. Subculture
A rematch of one of 2020’s best matches will air on NXT UK in two weeks.
WWE has announced that WALTER will defend his NXT United Kingdom Championship against Ilja Dragunov on the Thursday, July 22 episode of NXT UK. There will be an in-ring press conference segment with WALTER and Dragunov on next week’s NXT UK to build up the title match.
WALTER defeated Dragunov on NXT UK last October to retain the NXT United Kingdom Championship. The match ranked fifth in the Match of the Year category in the 2020 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards.
In storyline, Dragunov has struggled with temper issues since losing to WALTER and has worked to get them under control. Dragunov defeated Rampage Brown and Joe Coffey in a triple threat match on NXT UK two weeks ago to be set up as the next challenger for WALTER’s title.
WALTER came to the ring and attacked Dragunov following that triple threat match. He dropped Dragunov with a slap and then put him in a choke, which was the same move he used to defeat Dragunov in their match last year. Dragunov passed out in the choke in that match.
WALTER has been NXT United Kingdom Champion since winning the title from Pete Dunne at NXT TakeOver: New York in April 2019.
Next week’s NXT UK will include an appearance by the NXT United Kingdom Champion.
WWE has announced that NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER will return to NXT UK on next Thursday’s episode of the show. It will be the first time WALTER has appeared on NXT UK since retaining his title against Rampage Brown at NXT UK: Prelude, which aired during WrestleMania week this April.
The announcement of WALTER appearing on next week’s NXT UK was made during this week’s NXT UK episode.
WALTER also retained the NXT United Kingdom Championship against Tommaso Ciampa at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver in April. WALTER’s four most recent title defenses have been against Ilja Dragunov, A-Kid, Ciampa, and Brown.
WALTER has been NXT United Kingdom Champion for nearly 800 days. He defeated Pete Dunne to win the title at NXT TakeOver: New York in April 2019.
Next Thursday’s NXT UK will be headlined by Kay Lee Ray defending her NXT UK Women’s Championship against Meiko Satomura. Satomura became the number one contender to KLR’s title by winning a gauntlet match on NXT UK three weeks ago. This will be the second title match that KLR and Satomura have had against each other in NXT UK. KLR retained her title against Satomura when they first faced off this March.
NXT UK joins in on WWE’s WrestleMania week festivities with a special event airing today.
NXT UK: Prelude will be headlined by WALTER defending his NXT United Kingdom Championship against Rampage Brown. The match is airing just one day after WALTER’s successful title defense against Tommaso Ciampa at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver night one.
WALTER’s reign with the NXT United Kingdom Championship recently reached the two-year mark. Brown is undefeated since arriving in NXT UK last November.
The next challenger for A-Kid’s Heritage Cup Championship will be decided by a number one contender’s match on NXT UK: Prelude. Tyler Bate and Noam Dar will face off in a Heritage Cup rules match. Trent Seven will be in Bate’s corner, while Sha Samuels will be in Dar’s corner.
A tag team match rounds out the NXT UK: Prelude card, with NXT UK Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray teaming with Isla Dawn against Meiko Satomura & Emilia McKenzie. Emilia McKenzie is Millie McKenzie’s new WWE in-ring name. She returned to NXT UK last week and confronted KLR. As KLR and Dawn were beating McKenzie down, Satomura then came out to make the save.
NXT UK: Prelude will begin at 3 p.m. EST/8 p.m. BST this afternoon and will stream on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network everywhere else.
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The show opened with a video package running down all the matches on tonight’s NXT UK: Prelude special. The show comes to us from BT Sports Studios in London, Nigel McGuinness and Andy Shepherd are on commentary
Tyler Bate (w/ Trent Seven) beat Noam Dar (w/ Sha Samuels) two falls to one to earn a Heritage Cup Championship shot (15:40)
Quick thoughts: This was a great match between two of the best on the brand. Dar worked over Bate’s leg and had him limping in the later rounds. Bate scored the first fall early in round one with a roll-up, Dar tied him in Round 5, forcing Bate to tap from a leg lock. Bate scored the win in Round 6 after Tyler Driver ’97.
The Heritage Cup is a new trophy first introduced in September and won by A-Kid in late November. Heritage Cup matches are being contested under British Rules:
matches consist of six three-minute rounds with 20-second breaks between each round
matches are 2-out-of-3 falls
falls can be won by pinfall, submission, or count out
once a fall occurs, the round ends
the match ends once a wrestler has won two falls
in the event of a disqualification or knockout, the match instantly ends without the need for two falls
if all six rounds are completed, whoever is ahead on falls wins the match
Bate challenged A-Kid for the Cup once before and narrowly lost. He’s debuted a slightly tweaked, more relaxed and spiritual persona recently. Dar has been hosting his “Supernova Sessions” talk segment on NXT UK in recent months where he stirred things up both with A-Kid and Tyler Bate, among others, and hasn’t been in action since November. Seven and Samuels being in their respective protégé’s corners has been set up on the show as well.A-Kid appeared on screen and wished both men luck. He said he’d be watching closely.
Round 1:
They did an extended backslide spot early, where they pushed each other into opposite corners. Bate showed some crisp British style counters and got the first fall with a roll-up at only 1:15 of round one. Bate leads 1-0.
Round 2:
Bate locked in some body scissors but Dar managed to turn the hold into a pinning attempt. Bate got Dar in a cravat and they traded counters. Samuels tried to coach Dar and had some success as Dar repeatedly hit Bate in the head. They locked knuckles and shuffled for position, Bate had Dar down for a pin but he bridged out of it as the round ended.
Round 3:
Dar hit a leg kick to the thigh, then floored Bate with another kick and attacked the wrist. He proceeded to work over Bate’s legs and ankles, looking to ground The Big Strong Boi. Dar with a right hook had Bate down for a cover. Dar snapmared Bate into the rope, legs first, then hit a big slam off a back suplex lift. ate made it to the second turnbuckle and hit a flying European uppercut, then got Dar up for the Airplane Spin and actually continued to spin into the other direction as the time ran out. This was cool as he had Dar up there for a good 25 seconds.
Round 4:
Bate picked up where he left off and picked up Dar for another Airplane Spin, then hit his bounce-back lariat for a two-count. Dar came back with a body block for a near-fall of his own. Dar went for a half crab but Bate avoided the move and hit a right that sent Dar staggering. Dar kicked Bate’s leg out, which actually had Bate do a backflip from the impact. Both men were down as the round concluded.
Round 5:
Bate’s leg was hurt as he limped out of the corner. Dar caught ate of another bounce-back lariat attempt, locked in a leglock and Bate tapped at 0:40 of the round. Dar ties Bate 1-1 as we head to the final round.
Round 6:
Bate hit a deadlift German suplex for a two-count. Dar caught him with a roll-up for another two, Bate then hit a rolling kapa kick. Bate went to the top, Samuels wanted to throw him off but Seven grabbed him. Bate threw Dar on both men, then followed up with a dive on both. Dar looked to hit the Nova Roller but bate caught him with a punch and hit Tyler Driver ’97 for the pinfall victory at 1:34 of the round to win the match 2-1.
Bate and Seven celebrated after the match.
– Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster were training at the UK Performance Center with Dani Luna; they talked about losing and needing to come back stronger
– a video looked at Ilja Dragunov’s transformation after his loss to WALTER last year; Dragunov snapped in a number of matches
– Piper Niven and Jack Starz were training at the UK Performance Center. Niven screamed at Starz and asked if he was ready and he screamed back that he was
– Jordan Devlin cut a short promo
Meiko Satomura & Emilia McKenzie beat UK Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray & Isla Dawn (9:00)
Quick thoughts: This was a fun, fast paced tag team match that established McKenzie as a star. She looked good, throwing some signature suplexes and her spear on KLR, implying she might be able to beat her. She pinned Isla Dawn after a small package off a Fisherman’s buster attempt. After the match, Aoife Valkyrie walked out, seemingly challenging Satomura.
McKenzie made a surprise return to NXT UK last week (she had a few matches very early on in NXT UK’s run) while Satomura, who was hired as a player-coach lost a match to Kay Lee Ray for her NXT UK Women’s championship a few weeks back. Dawn debuted a more aggressive side lately and all four women ended up in a bawl last week.
McKenzie and Dawn started the match. Dawn overwhelmed Emilia with strikes early but got rolled up quickly. Both women tagged out and he got another meeting of “The Best in the World” and the “Forever Champion”. KLR got Meiko into the corner and kicked away at her. Dawn and KLR quickly tagged back and forth to work Satomura over.
Meiko came back with forearms against both women, then worked over Dawn’s arm and hit a handstand into a kne drop for a two count. McKenzie tagged back in and hit a running drop kick to Dawn’s head. KLR came back in and got Emilia up for the Gory bomb but got rolled up. Dawn received a German suplex for interfering before Emilia speared KLR for a two-count.
Dawn attacked Meiko at ringside, taking her out of the match for a little while, as Dawn and KLR worked over McKenzie. Dawn hit a backdrop driver for a two-count before getting the better off a strike exchange. McKenzie hit a cutter as both women crawled to their respective corners and made the tags. Satomura hit a head kick to a downed KLR, then leveled KLR with a Pele kick, followed by a Saito suplex for a near-fall as Dawn entered to make the save.
KLR hit the Gory Bomb on Satomura for what looked to be the win as McKenzie narrowly made the save. She German suplexed Dawn again for good measure. Satomura meanwhile locked KLR in a face lock but the champion made the ropes. KLR hit a face-first suplex slam, then tagged Dawn who hit a knee drop for yet another two-count.
At ringside, KLR looked to kick Emilia into the steps but she moved and hot a German suplex on the floor. She tagged in but got hit with a head kick by Dawn. Isla went for a fisherman’s buster but Emilia countered the move into a small package for the pin and the win. Satomura also prevented KLR from making the save.
McKenzie and Satomura celebrated when Aoife Valkyrie walked out and stared down Satomura. She removed a black feather and laid it down on the floor as her music played.
– A-Kid talked about looking forward to face Tyler Bate once again. He wants to build his legacy and proof that he is the best pure mat wrestler in NXT UK.
– Amir Jordan stormed into the building, looking for Kenny Williams who attacked him in their tag team match last week. he encountered Sid Scala who told him Kenny wasn’t here but promised they could settle their differences next week. Williams was encountered in the building and said it was him doing all the work in his team with Jordan. He said it was up to Amir to keep up with him.
– Gallus will be the guests of Noam Dar on next week’s Super Nova Sessions.
– Next week, Nathan Frazer (the former Ben Carter) faces Saxon Huxley and Amir Jordan clashes with Kenny Williams.
NXT UK Champion WALTER pinned Rampage Brown to retain (13:43)
Quick thoughts: This was the blueprint of a strong-style hoss fight and it was glorious as meat pounded on meat, 280-plus pound bodies were being hoisted through the air and meaty palms smashed into tender chests. They hit each other with all their big moves as Brown kicked out of lariats, power bombs and escaped numerous sleeper holds. WALTER kicked out o the Doctor Bomb and a huge top-rope power slam. Eventually, WALTER won after a German suplex, power bomb and Big Splash off the top.
WALTER has been the NXT UK champion for 734 days (more than two years) and has defeated all challengers, including Tommaso Ciampa just last night (even though this match here was certainly taped a few weeks ago). Brown has also been undefeated since arriving in NXT UK, being a veteran of the British scene dating back 20 years. WALTER and Brown battled three times before in PROGRESS, with Brown currently having a 2:1 edge (although WALTER won their mot recent match in 2018). Brown stepped up to challenge WALTER recently and the big Austrian in a sit-down interview that aired last week said he would never respect Brown, as to Brown wrestling is his job whereas to WALTER it is his life.
WALTER grabbed Brown in a waistlock right away and they battled for position. Brown evaded a chop in the corner and hit one of his own. In a battle of shoulder tackles, WALTER actually got thrown to the mat, but steamrolled Brown out of the corner. Brown hit a beautiful dropkick that sent WALTER to ringside. Brown ran him over on the outside, then went for a suplex but got rammed into the barricades and slammed onto the apron for his troubles.
WALTER bent Brown backwards over the ropes and hit him with some blows. WALTER was working towards a double wrist-lock but Brown powered out. WALTER hit a snapmare, kicked Brown’s back and locked in a Boston crab, which Brown actually escaped by picking WALTER’s ankle. brown actually hit a suplex on WALTER after the champion first failed to hit one of his own.
They inevitably traded chops before escalating into a striking exchange and WALTER hit a lateral press for a two-count. WALTER attempted a number of submissions, then reverted back to beating the piss out of Brown, who actually came back and hit a power slam on WALTER.
WALTER locked in the sleeper hold, then transitioned into a power bomb but Brown over-rotated out of it and threw WALTER down, then followed up with a flying shoulder block off the turnbuckles. Brown tried getting WALTER up for the Doctor Bomb but WALTER powered out. He hit a Shotgun dropkick, followed by the power bomb but Brown kicked out at two.
WALTER went up top for the Big Splash, but Brown stopped him and hit a huge top-rope power slam for another near-fall. Brown looked hit another tackle, got stopped with the sleeper but hit a Saito suplex followed by the Doctor Bomb. WALTER rolled away immediately and Brown was to spent to cover him immediately. Brown pummeled WALTER with clobbering forearms and went for another Doctor Bomb but WALTER back dropped out of it.
He chopped Brown across the throat, then followed with a lariat, then hit a second one but only for another two-count. WALTEr locked in another sleeper, a German suplex and power bomb but Brown kicked out once more. Finally, WALTER went up top and hit the Big Splash, the move that won him the title in his match with Pete Dunne almost two years ago to finally score a pin and successfully defend his championship.
The show went off the air as WALTER posed with the title belt and Nigel McGuinness asked who would be able to end the historic reign of the Ring General?
