WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER will be in action at EVOLVE’s events in New York City later this month.
NXT UK’s Twitter account announced today that WALTER will be wrestling at EVOLVE 135 in Brooklyn on Friday, September 20 and EVOLVE 136 in Queens on Saturday, September 21. He’ll also be taking part in meet-and-greets at both events.
WALTER’s opponents for the shows will be announced soon.
EVOLVE 135 is taking place at the Saint Finbar Catholic Church Gym in Brooklyn. La Boom in Queens is hosting EVOLVE 136.
WALTER made his WWE debut at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool this January, then went on to win the WWE UK Championship at NXT TakeOver: New York over WrestleMania 35 weekend. He retained the title against Tyler Bate at NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff last month.
NXT wrestlers Babatunde and Arturo Ruas will also be in action at EVOLVE 135 and EVOLVE 136. Meet-and-greets with Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, and Tommaso Ciampa are available to purchase for both shows, and Gargano and Ciampa will be special guests at WWN’s seminar/tryout in Brooklyn on September 20.
The second TakeOver special in NXT UK history takes place today as the Motorpoint Arena hosts NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff.
In a matchup of Imperium vs. British Strong Style, the show will be headlined by WALTER defending his WWE United Kingdom Championship against Tyler Bate. WWE’s YouTube account uploaded their “Prime Target: NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff” special that builds up the match.
Two other championships will also be on the line. Toni Storm and Kay Lee Ray will clash in a grudge match for Storm’s NXT UK Women’s Championship. The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) are putting their NXT UK Tag Team titles on the line in a triple threat match against Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) and Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster.
Travis Banks is set to face Noam Dar, Dave Mastiff meets Joe Coffey in a last man standing match, and Cesaro will be issuing an open challenge.
The main card starts at 2 p.m. Eastern time, with a half-hour pre-show airing before that.
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Pre-show play-by-play:
Welcome everybody to this live play-by-play of NXT UK’s second ever TakeOver special. Our pre-show tonight consists of Vic Jospeh, Nigel McGuiness and Aiden English. They talked about the tag team title match, pointing out that local heroes Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster might become the first ever Welsh champions in WWE history. They then ran down the rest of the card and showed Toni Storm and Kay Lee Ray arrive at the arena earlier tonight.
A video package recapped the story between tonight’s NXT UK women’s championship match, with Kay Lee Ray getting into Toni’s head by using intimate personal knowledge against her. Vic Jospeh wondered, if Toni Storm was broken mentally. Nigel said he wasn’t sure but the big question was, “Can Toni come back?”.
A pre-tape from earlier today showed Cesaro arriving at the arena and being interviewed by Radzi Chinyanganya. He said what he meant by taking a hands-on approach was that he didn’t bring his gear for nothing and would issue an open challenge to the NXT UK locker room tonight.
The announcers then recapped the history between Dave Mastiff and Joe Coffey, after they went to a double count-out three weeks ago, when neither men could continue and they hurt each other and beat the hell out of one another.
Next we took a look at The Grizzled Young Veterans’s NXT UK tag team championship reign and Gallus challenging them last month, followed by Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster challenging them and eventually being added to the match after winning in singles matches against members of the other teams.Vic brought up how The Grizzled Young Veterans complained that Andrews and Webster got their way into the match that way.
Imperium were shown entering their dressing room and closing the door. WALTER looked very serious and all business. A video recapped the main event, with the formation of Imperium, Alexander Wolfe joining the group, the subsequent destruction of both Tyler Bate and Trent Seven at the hands of WALTER and Tyler Bate’s return and getting the upper hand against WALTER. The announcers then discussed Tyler Bate’s chances in tonight’s main event.
Main show play-by-play:
A video introduction focused on Imperium’s iron grip on the NXT UK brand, then ran down the main matches on the card. Vic and Nigel are calling the show without Aiden English.
1. NOAM DAR BEAT TRAVIS BANKS AFTER THE NOVA ROLLER (13:55)
Dar in the past drew the ire of both Kenny Williams and Travis Banks, making out to be a bigger star than them and claiming he was guaranteed a match at TakeOver. Banks, after not being able to compete in the first NXT UK TakeOver in Blackpool, seems super motivated to get a win here tonight. This was a hot opener, with Dar repeatedly targeting Bank’s shoulder and knees and finally capturing the victory.
They locked up with Dar pushing Banks into the corner, but Banks returned the favor right away and Dar smiled as he escaped into the ropes, trying to frustrate Banks.Dar caught Banks off an aerial attack and tried locking in the ankle lock, but Banks quickly escaped. Banks followed up with leg kicks, then hit a running soccer kick on Dar’s head from the apron when Dar escaped to ringside. Dar then played possum and crotched Banks on the top rope, then hit a clothesline from the opposite turnbuckle for a near-fall.
Dar somersault slammed Banks into the ropes, which looked to have hurt Banks’ previously injured shoulder, which Dar promptly worked over. Banks came back with a basement dropkick into the corner and a German suplex to get a two-count of his own.Banks was dominant, until Dar outgrappled him, then hit reverse kicks to the shoulders from the bottom and rolled into a shoulder lock. Banks escaped and went for a cross-face, but didn’t quite get it.
Dar slapped Banks, enraging him, but then capitalized on Banks’ fury and worked over his knee. Banks went for Slice of Heaven from the second turnbuckle, but Dar again grabbed him frm mid-air and locked in a kneebar. They traded punches and Dar finally was forced to release the hold. Dar followed up with a basement lariat to the back of Banks head for another near fall, then mockingly hit Banks’ own trademark kicks to his head. Banks again went for Slice of Heaven but turned it into a foot stomp to the back of Dar mid-move, then followed up with a suicide dive to the outside.Dar once more tried to outsmart him, but was hit with Slice of Heaven from the ringside barrier instead.
Back in the ring, Banks hit a double foot stomp off the top for a close two count. They traded kicks, punches and forearms, with Banks eventually hitting a Shining Wizard. Banks went fo Slice of Heaven again, but Dar kicked his leg out from under him and hit the Nova Roller for the win.
— Kay Lee Ray was seen backstage, warming up for her title match against Toni Storm later tonight
— Radzi was backstage with Cesaro again, asking about his open challenge. Cesaro said he didn’t care about who it was. Ilja Dragunov walked up to him and got in his face.
2. CESARO BEAT ILJA DRAGUNOV WITH THE NEUTRALIZER (12:26)
This was a great match and Cesaro was greeted like a God of Wrestling here, after being just another face on the card in recent months. People were hot for this match and both men delivered, showing power and aggression as well as brutal strength and determination to deliver a great match on a big show. Cesaro won after catching Ilja off Torpedo Moscow and No Kings of Wrestling reformation and we will have to wait and see if Cesaro will be a regular here or if this was a one-time deal like with Finn Balor in January.
Dragunov right away hit a running kick on Cesaro, but the Swiss Cyborg came back right away. Ilja went for a body press but Cesaro easily caught him, but Dragunov escaped. They traded slaps, but mostly evaded each other and briefly came to a standstill. Ilja finally got a few chops in, hit a senton and went for a cover but didn’t get a pin. Cesaro thn nonchalantly dumped Dragunov over the top rope, throwing him head first into the barriers. Back in the ring, Cesaro followed up with a slam and leg drop, then locked in a chin lock.
Cesaro went for the big swing, but Dragunov blocked it, which was booed by the crowd. Cesaro then slingshot Dragunov’s throat on the bottom rope. Ilja went for the Konstantin Special, but Cesaro caught him in the ropes and did a 40-rotation giant swing to a massive pop and “Incredible!” chants. Cesaro went for a cover, but then transitioned into a cross face. Ilja looked like he was close to passing out, but then crawled towards the ropes and briefly rolled Cesaro over for the cover. He hit the Konstantin Special, which now is called Six One Line for a near fall. They briefly battled for position, but Dragunov finally managed to hit a crotch-hold driver, then followed up with a dive to the outside which almost came short but Dragunov pulled Cesaro down with him.
Ilja hit a coast-to-coast from the top rope for another near-fall. Dragunov hit a number of chops, but Cesaro then gorilla pressed him into a knee, Go to Sleep style for another close count. Ilja turned a lariat attempt into a back slide for a two count, then hit a Death Valley Driver into the corner to big “this is awesome!” chants. He followed up with a senton frm the top for another two-count, then prepared for Torpedo Moscow, but Cesaro launched him high into the air for a big uppercut, then followed up with the Neutralizer for the win.
Cesaro was already walking down the entrance, but then re-entered the ring and gestured to Ilja to get up. He teased hitting another uppercut, but instead shook Ilja’s hand.
— Adrian Street and Miss Linda were shown in the crowd, following the debut of the Adrian Street documentary on the WWE Network before tonight’s TakeOver
— Tyler Bate was shown preparing backstage, alongside Trent Seven
3. NXT UK TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP THREE-WAY: MARK ANDREWS & FLASH MORGAN WEBSTER BEAT THE GRIZZLED YOUNG VETERANS (C) AND GALLUS (WOLFGANG & JOE COFFEY) WHEN WEBSTER PINNED GIBSON TO WIN THE TITLES (20:17)
This was a crazy match full of high spots and at points, I had no way of keeping up with all action. Very good with the home town heroes of Webster and Andrews overcoming the odds and Webster pinning Gibson clean to win the titles.
Gibson and Andrews started off. Gibson ground him to the mat among chants of “Shoes off, if you hate Gibson”. Nigel said he didn’t want the people of Cardiff take off their shoes. Drake tagged in and Andrews got the better of him. Andrews and Webster double teamed him, including hitting a joint moonsault/somersault on him. Wolfgang tagged, but Gibson pulled Drake to safety at ringside.Drake smartly tagged Webster and it was Wolfgang and Webster next, but this quickly led to a three-way standoff with all three teams.
Wolfgang took out Drake on the apron but Gibson ducked him, then blind-tagged Wolfgang just as Andrews was going for a springboard but he noticed it and hit Gibson with a springboard drop kick. Webster and Andrews then hit stereo moonsaults on Gallus on the outside as the action moved on faster than words can describe (or I can type, at least) . Drake and Webster ended up back in the ring and the Grizzled Young Veterans worked him over with a few dirty tricks they had up their sleeves.
Webster was in peril for a while, with Drake applying a nerve hold. It was Whack-a-Webster, as Drake, Mark Coffey and Zack Gibson all got to beat him up, until Webster finally managed to tag in Andrews. He hit a wheelbarrow roll-up on Gibson, then transitioned into a spinning DDT on Drake and hit a double Pelé kick on Gallus, before him and Webster hit stereo dives on both opposing teams on opposite sides of the ringside area. Andrews hit a 450 on Gibson, but Drake made the save.
Mark Coffey then took out Webster and Andrews, then him and Wolfgang double teamed Andrews for a two-count. After some more action, Wolfgang ended up taking a reverse rana by Andrews after Webster provided some assistance with a kick to Wolfgang’s face. Gibson foiled an aerial attack by Andrews, then Mark Coffey and Andrews fought on top with Andrews first head-butting Coffey off the top, then it a shooting star to the outside on everyone.
Back inside, Andrews and Gibson fought, with Andrews hitting Stunt Dog Millionaire, followed by a senton from Webster but Gibson narrowly kicked out at 2.9. Drake was back inside, hitting a Shotgun dropkick on Andrews, followed by Helter Skelter from Gibson and a 450 from Drake but this time it was Andrews’s turn to kick out at 2.9 to a big pop. After Gibson and Webster got involved, all four men were down, just as Gallus re-entered the ring. Gallus took out everyone, then Wolfgang launched Coffey over the top onto everyone. Wolfgang hit a Coffey-assisted power slam on Andrews, but Webster narrowly made the save during the pin.
Everyone was back in the ring and for a moment it looked like the other teams teamed up on Gallus. In the melee, Webster hit a Welsh Destroyer before The Grizzled Young Veterans hit a Doomsday Device on Wolfgang with Gibson hoisting him up on the outside and Drake diving through the ropes with w clothesline. At that point, it was Webster & Morgan vs. Drake & Gibson. They trhew out Webster, but Andrews turned Helter Skelter into a double Stunt Dog Millionaire and Webster hitting the 450 on Drake, but Gibson pulled the referee out of the ring.
The Veterans hit Ticket to Mayhem on Andrews and Gibson went to cover him, as Drake took out Gallus with a dive. Webster at this point hit a shooting star press on Gibson to break up the cover and pinned Gibson for him and Andrews to become new NXT UK tag team champions.
Andrews and Webster then celebrated with family and friends at ringside.
— Toni Storm was shown getting ready for her title match later
4. LAST MAN STANDING MATCH: JOE COFFEY BEAT “BOMBER” DAVE MASTIFF AFTER HITTING HIM WITH A CRATE, PREVENTING HIM FROM GETTING UP BEFORE 10 (16:03)
This was a crazy brawl, where they virtually broke the ring in the first minute, with the top turnbuckle coming off a whip-in. They did all kinds of weapon shots and table spots and brawled all the way to the announce table through the arena, crashed off a platform through that table and still didn’t have enough. Coffey won, by pushing a box into Mastiff just as he was about to get up before the ten count.
Mastiff attacked Coffey as he came down the ring with a chain and things were on! They traded hard punches in the ring, with Coffey getting the upper hand, but Mastiff was no worse for wear. A hard whip by mastiff into the corner broke the turnbuckle, which Mastiff immediately went to clubber Coffey with. He then shoved the metal part between Coffey’s teeth and slammed his face to the mat. Coffey tried to go for a springboard, but the turnbuckle had no support and he crashed to the mat.
Mastiff hit a German suplex on Coffey and threw him outside, but Coffey got back to his feet at 3. Coffey came back with a pool cue, then produced a bag labeled “Gallus” from under the ring and emptied a bunch of weapons on the floor. He also propped a table up on the barrier, but Mastiff back body dropped him onto the pile of weapons. Coffey against got up at three and Mastiff tried to attack him with a cricket bat but Coffey evaded him and broke the pool cue over Mastiff’s back.
Mastiff got the bat and clobbered Coffey’s back, but it wasn’t enough to keep Coffey down. Coffey then jumped over a charging Mastiff, who tried to drive him into the table, then speared him through the table himself, which kept Mastiff down until eight. Coffey tried to hit Mastiff again with the chain, but got German suplexed for his troubles, which kept him down until five. Mastiff then started whipping Coffey with the chain to “Fuck him up, Mastiff, fuck him up” chants.
Mastiff got another table and again propped it up on the outside. Mastiff and Coffey had a tug-of-war with the steel chain, until Mastiff smartly released it, sent Coffey tumbling back and hit a running cannonball on Coffey through the table. Coffey got up at eight and fled into the crowd over the barricade. Mastiff stalked him with a chair as he crawled away, then beat him up with said piece of seating furniture.
Coffey then hit Mastiff again with a chain-wrapped fist and sent him down for an eight count. Mastiff then tossed Coffey a chair and had one himself, then they proceeded to run at each other with their chairs, wall-of-death-style, which sent both men down to the floor, but both narrowly got back up at nine. They brawled over to the announce table at the edge of the entrance way and Mastiff put Coffey up on the table, then picked him up for a Finlay Roll on the table, which didn’t even budge under the weight of the two large men.
Both men brawled up onto the pre-show platform over the announce table and stared each other down, before trading punches, with each trying to send the other man down. Coffey grabbed mastiff by the beard, who proceeded to head-butt him, sending both men crashing down the platofrm and through the announce table. Both men wer down for the count, struggling to get back up. They were staggering to their feet at nine, but Coffey managed to push a traveling case into Mastiff to send him back down before the count of 10, winning the Last Man Standing match.
— they showed WALTER prepare for his match, surrounded by his Imperium brothers
— Teagan Nox was shown in the crowd
5. NXT UK WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP: KAY LEE RAY BEAT TONI STORM (C) WITH THE GORY BOMB TO WIN THE TITLE (9:52)
Kay Lee Ray won the title clean after hitting two Gory Bombs (one of them into the ropes) in just under 10 minutes. Toni looked strong, but coudln’t KLR away and the story was that Kay lee knew her very well and got in her mind. Thy had a good match otherwise that had a lot of intensity.
Toni was ready to fight, but KLR immediately fled to ringside. She repeatedly backed away, enjoying her mind games being successful, until Toni dove at her and unleashed on her, then threw her into the barrier. KLR slapped her, in retaliation for the slap Toni had dished out a few weeks ago, but Toni quickly took over again. KLR came back with a savate kick through the ropes right on Toni’s nose, then proceeded to choke her over the middle rope. She followed up with a seated abdominal stretch, then hit a front face suplex for a two count. Toni ducked a number of slaps, then hit a German suplex after a failed attempt.
Storm tried for Storm Zero, but KLR countered into an attempt of her Gory Bomb, but Toni reversed into the a reverse wheelbarrow position and hit a sort of Candian Destroyer for a two count, Toni then hit Storm Zero, but KLR managed to kick out, which stunned the crowd and the announcers. Toni looked flustered and KLR hit the Gory Bomb for a two-count herself.
They fought on the top rope and Storm tried for Storm zero, but didn’t get it, She vaulted over KLR, then hit a second turnbuckle German suplex on KLR for another two count. Toni dove through the ropes onto KLR on the outside, but KLR kneed her in the face as she re-entered the ring, then followed up with a launching somersault off the top, which she looked to have landed awkardwly on but seemed to be OK.
Back inside, KLR actually hit another Gory Bomb close to the ropes, launching Toni into the ropes, then followed up with another Gory Bomb for the victory and title win.
— they are really pushing the NXT debut on USA on September 18, as they aired the same hype video three times during this show alone
— Junior, the band that Mark Andrews is a part of were shown in the audience. Their song “Brick by Brick” is an official theme song for this show
6. WWE UK CHAMPIONSHIP: WALTER (C) BEAT TYLER BATE AFTER A LARIAT TO RETAIN THE TITLE (42:12)
This was an unreal, epic 42-minute battle that took everything out of both men and may have been the best match I ever saw from either of them. They pulled out all of their big moves and then some. The crowd was livid and super into the match and both men left everything they had in the ring. WALTER repeatedly smashed Bate into the apron, as he had done weeks ago, and Bate came close to winning a number of times and performed some great feats of strength, which the crowd ate up. These two were artists and the ring was their canvas, as they painted a dramatic picture like few ever seen in NXT or WWE in general over the years. Go out of you way to watch this, as it just might be the match of the weekend.
The crowd was firmly behind Bate, chanting and singing his name. Bate evaded a WALTER chop in the ropes and countered with a leg kick. Tyler tried working over WALTER’s wrist, but quickly found himself in a chin lock before resorting to leg kicks. WALTER used his size advantage to push down on Bate during a test of strength. WALTER pinned Bate down and umped on top of him, but bate bridged out, pushing WALTER up in the process, which always in an impressive spot. They traded forearms, but Bate quickly was trapped in a headlock on the mat. Bate actually worked back on his feet, but quickly got taken down again. Meanwhile, the crowd chanted “WALTER is a wanker”.
Bate actually managed to pick up WALTER off the headlock, but WALTER quickly tried to go for a power bomb. Bate escaped, tried to go for Tyler Driver ’97, which WALTER escaped from. bate then actually managed to stagger WALTER of a shoulder block then slammed the big man to a big pop. Bate followed up with a dive, but WALTER caught him and threw him into the apron, then followed up with a power bomb on the outside, sending Bate into the edge of the apron.
WALTER followed up with a big boot as Bate tried entering back into the ring. The big Austrian threw bate into the barrier, followed up with a running boot that bent Bate in half, then threw Bate head-first into the ring post with another power bomb. The doctor checked on Bate as WALTER paced the ring. Bate got back on his feet and signaled that he was ready to go on. Back in the ring, WALTER body slammed Bate, then kicked him in the back.
WALTER got out the chops, turned Bate’s chest into a platter of ground meat, then bent him over the top turnbuckle for good measure, using his foot to bend Bate almost all the way down to the apron. He tried to follow up with a power bomb on the apron, but Bate blocked it, then gave WALTER a massive exploder from the apron to the outside. He smashed WALTER into the barriers, then gave him a series of leg drops in the ring, before charging him with elbows. He followed with a spinning European uppercut from the second turnbuckle, but WALTER chopped him out out of mid-air, then locked him in a Boston Crab to vanquish any momentum that may have been there.
He planted his knee high on Bate’s spine, then transitioned into a neck crank.Bate actually blocked a suplex attempt by WALTER, but couldn’t get him up for a suplex of his own and got the receipt in form of a chop right away. Then, after blocking another attempt, he actually got WALTER up for a suplex of his own as the crowd erupted. Bate staggered the champ with a number of uppercuts, then hit three clotheslines and a kappa kick to stagger WALTER. He followed up with an exploder, after failing to hit a German, kipped-up and hit a running shooting star press for a two-count.
Bate went for the Tyler Driver ’97, but WALTER escaped. Bate went for another attempt off a reversal of a back slide, but once more WALTER escaped. WALTER hit a Shotgun dropkick to Bate’s back, shooting him into the corner, but Bate managed to get a sunset flip off a power bomb attempt for a very close near-fall.
Bate got on the top rope, but WALTER rolled to the apron. They fought back and fort, until WALTER climbed the ropes as well, with Bate looking to suplex the champ to the outside. WALTER escaped, then chopped Bate off the ropes and climbed them himself once more, looking to go for his big splash that won him the title against Pete Dunne in New York. Bate stopped him with a head-butt, They fought in the top once more, with Bate doing Pete Dunne’s finger snapping spot, then hit another exploder off the top for another 2.9 count.
They traded chops and leg kicks while both were down on the mat. WALTER clobbered him down a few times with chops and forearms, but Bate kept getting back up for more. Bate actually hit him with a hard forearm and WALTER crumbled, but landed on Bate who had trouble struggling out from under the giant. They dramatically slugged it out on the mat once more. They were back up and WALTER hit some palm strikes. Bate went for his slingshot clothesline, but this time WALTER caught him in an exploder. Bate kicked WALTER’s face off a power bomb attempt, then actually got him up on his shoulders for an airplane spin.WALTER grabbed the ropes in the corner and climbed them, but Bate grabbed him and hit Trent Seven’s Burning Hammer. which left both men with very little left on the mat.
WALTER rolled to ringside and collapsed, but made it back on the apron. bate hit him with a running soccer kick, then dove onto him with a sort of DDT or bulldog., then launched himself at tha champ once more, this time flying high over the top rope. WALTER was on his kneed and Bate actually dead lift German suplexed him for another close count. Bate went for Tyler Driver ’97, but WALTER reversed out, then Bate actually hit it but still could not pin the Ring General’s shoulders down for the three count. bate followed with a corkscrew senton, which didn’t lead to victory either.
Bate got out some dirty boxing and had the champ hurt, but as the ref told Bate to back off, WALTER struck him down, then locked in the sleeper. Bate actually got up from under him and picked the big man up on his back, then drove him back down on the mat.WALTER locked in the choke once more, with Bate narrowly making it to the ropes. WALTER stroke him in the chest and locked in the move once more, but Bate actually pulled him over the top rope until both were on the apron once more. WALTER then actually hit a sleeper hold suplex onto the apron that flipped Bate over. WALTER then hit the big splash from the top, but Bate managed to kick out of that. WALTER hit another sleeper suplex in the ring, but Bate was an immortal god that could not be kept down. Another power bomb also yielded no desirable results, as Bate KICKED. OUT. AT. ONE!
WALTER then finally hit a desperation lariat that might as well have taken Bate’s head off and finally pinned his opponent’s shoulders to the mat for the one-two-three. Unreal match.
After the match, the rest of Imperium came out to pose with WALTER and congratulate their general on his successful title defense.
Bate was devastated and exhausted as Pete Dunne and Trent Seven entered the ring and helped him to the back. bate actually managed a smile, knowing he survived the battle to fight another day and also knowing that he came closer to beating WALTER than any other man in NXT UK to date. British Strong Style did their salute in the ring to a big pop and raised Tyler’s hand as the show went off the air.
Final thoughts:
A great TakeOver, with a number of very good to great matches. WALTER/Bate was a legit match of the year candidate and possibly the best match of either man’s career. Tyler Bate has future superstar written all over him and along with Johnny Gargano should probably have been in the main event mix on the major rosters two years ago. WALTER is tremendous as well, both as a performer relying on basic but effective moves and has tremendous ring psychology. In a way, he comes across as a more legit Brock Lesnar, whereas Lesnar’s offense nowadays looks often cartoonish while still brutal, WALTER is the real deal with his no-nonsense approach. Still with things being the way they are, a future in the U.S. as a full-timer seems not to be in the cards for him and that is according to his own wishes. It will be really interesting who they build up as his next challenger, as the Imperium vs. British Strong Style saga, while yielding incredible matches, seems to be told for now and things should move to a new direction until the end of the year.
Ilja Dragunov vs. Cesaro was a lot of fun, very hard-hitting and a nice bonus to the card. Dave Mastiff vs. Joe Coffey was an all-out brawl with a number of spots and weapons usually not seen in WWE. The three way tag team title match was full of action from beginning to end and the crowd ate up the local heroes winning. The women’s match told a good story and Toni Storm really should be on the main roster every week. Noam Dar vs. Travis Banks was a good opener that set the proper mood for the rest of the show.
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.
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.
Taped June 16, 2019 at Download Festival in Leicestershire, England
Quick results —
Noam Dar pinned Kenny Williams after employing some cheap tactics. Kay Lee Ray, Jinny & Jazzy Gabert teamed together and defeated Xia Brookside, Piper Niven & Toni Storm, with Jinny pinning Brookside after Gabert again helped her out.
In a brutal main event war, WALTER defeated Trent Seven by referee stoppage after destroying Seven with powerbomb after powerbomb.
Full rundown —
– Trent Seven was asked about his thoughts on his match with WALTER later tonight. He said he would take WALTER’s head off. Seven reiterated that he was “here.”
Noam Dar defeated Kenny Williams after a low blow and the Nova Roller (10:10)
They did some back-and-forth action early on, with Dar getting the slight advantage. Dar and Williams each mocked the other when one outsmarted the other.
Things heated up with Williams diving leg-first through the ropes, then sliding to the outside for another attack on Dar. Dar countered with a stiff clothesline off the apron to get back on top. Williams got back in control with a springboard single-leg foot stomp and a jumping back elbow off the top.
Dar rolled up Williams for a near fall, evaded a springboard body press, and hit a fisherman’s buster for another close fall.
Dar locked in a kneebar, then transitioned into an ankle lock, but Williams kicked him off. Dar hit a combination on Williams, but Williams hit a rebound lariat and both men were down for the count. Dar turned another skinning-the-cat type of move into a kneebar, forcing Williams to slowly inch his way toward the ropes and finally force a break to the hold.
Williams’ shoe came off, but he rolled Dar up anyway for a near fall. Dar went to use the shoe as a weapon, argued with the referee, and finally threw the shoe out of the ring, distracting the ref and allowing Dar to hit a low blow, followed by the Nova Roller for the win.
– Radzi Chinyanganya was trying to catch up with the Grizzled Young Veterans. Zack Gibson said they beat Moustache Mountain twice and are the NXT UK locker room leaders. He told Radzi not to ask rhetorical questions and ordered him to find them proper opponents — since Johnny Saint obviously was having a hard time.
– We took a look back at the battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT UK Women’s Championship, with Kay Lee Ray winning and last week announcing that she’d face Toni Storm at UK TakeOver: Cardiff on August 31. KLR said she would make Storm’s life a living hell until then.
Jazzy Gabert, Jinny & Kay Lee Ray defeated Piper Niven, NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm & Xia Brookside when Jinny pinned Brookside after an X-Factor (7:38)
KLR and Brookside started out, but Storm quickly blind-tagged herself in, causing KLR to also quickly tag Jinny. Jinny slapped Storm hard, then hit a few punches, but quickly ate a boot for her troubles.
Both women tagged out to Gabert and Niven respectively. Gabert hit a hard forearm, then shoulder blocked Niven to the mat. Brookside and Jinny were in next, with Niven wheelbarrow suplexing Brookside on top of Jinny. After falling victim to a hurricanrana off the second turnbuckle, Jinny tagged in KLR. The heel trio then proceeded to work over Brookside for a few minutes.
Brookside finally managed the hot tag, allowing Storm to run wild on Jinny, hitting a number of German suplexes and a clothesline on her for a two count. KLR tried a sneak attack, but got taken out by Niven. Storm then hit a dive through the ropes on Jinny and Gabert, followed by a cannonball off the apron by Niven and a top rope crossbody by Brookside.
Back in the ring, Storm hit a shining wizard on Jinny, but was attacked by Gabert as she went for Storm Zero. Niven then took out Gabert. Storm tagged Brookside, who tried another attack off the turnbuckle, but Gabert grabbed her leg, allowing Jinny to hit the X-Factor off the turnbuckle for the win.
– A graphic announced that Dave Mastiff would speak out next week, answering Joe Coffey’s challenge.
Non-title match: WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER defeated Trent Seven by referee stoppage after WALTER kept powerbombing Seven (14:30)
Seven immediately dove onto WALTER as he was still standing in the aisle and proceeded to ram him into the barricades. Back in the ring, the ref finally rang the bell and WALTER came back with some strikes, but Seven threw him to the outside again and hit another dive.
WALTER took over and went to powerbomb Seven onto the apron, just as he had done to Tyler Bate a few weeks ago, but Seven managed an escape via back body drop. Seven went for a Rainmaker-style elbow, but WALTER ducked, locked in a sleeper, and hit a German suplex on Seven.
WALTER hit a few brutal shots and kicks, wearing Seven down, but he would not go down without a fight and hit a chop out of defiance. A body slam later, Seven was back among the ring dust though.
A barrage of chops by Seven later, WALTER’s boot once more connected with Seven’s face, and WALTER’s fists proceeded to cave Seven’s chest in. WALTER locked in a single-leg Boston crab, then transitioned into a reverse chinlock until Seven finally made the ropes.
WALTER missed a kick into the corner, allowing Seven to hit a snap dragon suplex, a number of lariat-type strikes, and finally a super-stiff lariat that sent WALTER to the mat.
WALTER was visually dazed, allowing Seven to hit a number of rapid-fire chops until the ref separated the two off a five count. WALTER then hit a single stiff chop that sent Seven crashing to the mat.
Seven tried fighting back, but WALTER hit a big knee that sent Seven crumbling to the mat again. Seven hit a desperation back fist that sent WALTER stumbling to ringside. Seven wanted to follow up with an aerial attack, but he took too long to reach the top rope, allowing WALTER to send him crashing back into the ring.
WALTER went on top himself, but Seven followed and they fought up top. WALTER went for a top rope powerbomb, but Seven escaped and hit a huge superplex for a two count.
They ended up on the outside once more and Seven tried to hit the Burning Hammer but collapsed. WALTER then powerbombed him on the apron and rolled him back inside. The big Austrian then hit a second powerbomb in the ring, but refused to go for the pin. Instead, he hit a third powerbomb as Marcel Barthel, Fabian Aichner, and Alexander Wolfe walked out and posed in front of the ring.
WALTER hit a fourth powerbomb, then pulled Seven up and hit yet another powerbomb as the referee looked on concerned. WALTER hit one last powerbomb, finally prompting the referee to stop the match.
The show faded to black with WALTER posing in the ring with the WWE UK Championship and the rest of Imperium posing in front of the apron.
Next week —
Dave Mastiff answers Joe Coffey’s challenge. A number of matches taped last weekend in Plymouth will also air.
Taped June 14 and 15, 2019 at Download Festival in Leicestershire, England
Quick Recap —
Mark Andrews defeated Joseph Conners, Xia Brookside got her revenge on Killer Kelly for leaving her alone with Jazzy Gabert a few weeks back, and Ligero pinned Noam Dar after Kenny Williams would not help Dar out as requested.
NXT UK Tag Team Champions the Grizzled Young Veterans verbalized their distaste for the crowd at Download Festival and having to perform in front of them.
In a very good main event, WALTER successfully defended his WWE United Kingdom Championship against Travis Banks, winning clean after a powerbomb.
Full Rundown —
– The show opened with Travis Banks in the locker room earlier today preparing for his title match, vowing that he was prepared to face WALTER.
Mark Andrews defeated Joseph Conners after a Shooting Star Press (6:09)
Conners was in control for the first portion of the match, beating down on Andrews and scoring a near fall around the three-minute mark. He attacked Andrews from the outside, bending his neck on the apron, but eventually missed a springboard over the top rope, allowing Andrews to take over.
Andrews slid under a clothesline by Conners, hit an enzuigiri, then a Northern Lights suplex and a dive to the outside. He hit a standing moonsault for a near fall, then a 619 to Conners’ back.
Conners came back with a sunset bomb into the turnbuckles and a suplex for another close two count. Andrews finally hit Stun Dog Millionaire, followed by a Shooting Star Press for the win.
– Imperium were seen preparing with WALTER for his match tonight.
– The Hunt were going wild at the festival grounds, smashing into some metal barriers. Dave Mastiff walked up to them, saying they have the same problem in Gallus. The Hunt grunted and screamed in what seemed like agreement.
Grizzled Young Veterans promo
Zack Gibson & James Drake came out to the ramp for a promo. They had plastic bags pulled over their shoes as not to get them dirty.
Gibson complained about Johnny Saint making them defend their Tag Team titles in front of a field of sweaty, dirty goths. He told the crowd not to cheer, as this was not a compliment. He called them sweaty and dirty and told them not to blame the mud and rain, because he’s been moving away from them on the bus before he could even say the word “sweat.”
Gibson then berated the music being played at the festival, saying he had only heard noise, not music. He said they’d defend the titles against Moustache Mountain, but would rest up in their hotel until the match took place. Gibson said they would put their feet up, relax, and prepare.
– A video on the Rhea Ripley/Piper Niven feud aired and we were told they would meet in the ring next week.
– A tweet by Saint announced that The Hunt & Dave Mastiff would face Gallus in two weeks.
Xia Brookside defeated Killer Kelly (3:17)
This was Brookside’s chance to get revenge after her former tag team partner fled the ring a few weeks back, leaving Brookside alone with Jazzy Gabert.
Brookside attacked Kelly right away, but Kelly came back with strikes. Brookside immediately went for a headscissors takedown out of the corner and a dropkick, rocking the striker from Portugal.
Kelly came back with some ground and pound and worked over Brookside’s shoulder. After a modified abdominal stretch to put extra pressure on the shoulder (and the forehead), Kelly hit a running kick.
As Brookside took back some control of the match, Jinny and Gabert walked out, distracting Brookside and enabling Kelly to attack her from behind and roll her up for a two count. Brookside then immediately came back with a flash pin for the win.
– Toni Storm was interviewed about Kay Lee Ray winning the battle royal and earning a shot at the NXT UK Women’s Championship at the time of her choosing. Storm said that’s fine — because it’s Toni Time all the time and she’s always ready. Storm said she’d be back in action in two weeks.
Ligero defeated Noam Dar with a roll-up (8:58)
Dar channeled his inner El Matador, attempting to use his jacket to try and have Ligero run into it, but got ignored. He kept mocking Ligero’s mask and horns, then fled to ringside. Ligero hit some offense, but Dar outsmarted him and kept mocking him until Ligero came back with a roll-up for a near fall.
Dar was back in control, then Kenny Williams walked to the ring with a chair and sat down in the aisle, watching the match. Dar worked Ligero over, but Ligero managed to knee Dar in the head off a suplex attempt, then came back with a clothesline and a modified Death Valley Driver.
Dar briefly locked in an ankle lock, then hit a fisherman’s buster for a near fall. Dar looked to hit the Nova Roller, but Ligero averted it with a spin kick, then thwarted another attempt with a kick to the face. Dar fought back, then missed a double foot stomp off the ropes and sold his knee on impact.
As the referee turned away, Dar signaled for Williams to hand him the chair. Williams looked to oblige, but held on to the chair, distracting Dar and setting him up for a roll-through roll-up by Ligero for the win. Dar looked upset at Williams after the match.
– A recap of the WALTER and Travis Banks promos from last week aired. Vic Joseph and Aiden English talked about that match taking place next. They also announced the Grizzled Young Veterans defending their NXT UK Tag Team titles against Moustache Mountain for next week.
– A tale of the tape compared WALTER and Banks, with WALTER having the clear height and weight advantage.
WWE United Kingdom Championship match: WALTER retained against Travis Banks after a powerbomb (8:51)
Banks went for a leg kick early, but WALTER grabbed him in a side headlock and just threw him halfway across the ring. The champ backed Banks into the corner, but missed a chop and Banks immediately went to work at WALTER’s base.
WALTER immediately draped Banks over the top turnbuckle and stepped on his chin, bending his neck backwards and sending Banks to the outside. WALTER worked Banks over with some 12-to-6 elbows, then squashed an uprise of Banks’ offense with a big kick to the head. A test of strength forced Banks into a bridge, then WALTER nonchalantly stomped on his throat.
The champ torqued Banks’ arm, but Banks finally got some leg kicks in, eventually kicking WALTER’s legs out from under him. Banks hit more leg kicks, then hit a shining wizard and a dropkick. WALTER came back with a shotgun dropkick of his own, but Banks moved out of the way, then hit a double foot stomp off the top for a near fall.
Banks went for a Slice of Heaven, but got caught in a Boston crab, then got bent over the top rope and ate a number of crashing shots to the chest. WALTER missed a kick into the corner and Banks again kicked his leg out, then hit Slice of Heaven, but WALTER managed to roll onto the apron.
Banks kicked the champ to the outside, then followed up with a tope suicida and rolled WALTER back inside, but ate a boot for his troubles that sent him crashing into the barricades. WALTER hit a powerbomb onto the apron, then followed up with another powerbomb inside the ring and pinned Banks to retain.
Next Week —
The Grizzled Young Veterans will try and defend their NXT UK Tag Team titles against Moustache Mountain, plus Piper Niven faces Rhea Ripley in a battle of dominant forces in the NXT UK women’s division.
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.
Taped April 20, 2019 at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland
Quick results —
WALTER, Marcel Barthel, and Fabian Aichner declared that they would be known as Imperium henceforth. Pete Dunne and British Strong Style attacked them, which led to a wild brawl.
Gallus beat Team WhiteWolf in a quick squash that really didn’t allow the two Spaniards to show what they can do in the ring. Kassius Ohno defeated Jack Gallagher in controversial fashion in a clinic of the British style.
In the main event, Toni Storm defended her NXT UK Women’s Championship against Nina Samuels.
Full rundown —
The show opened with a highlight video of last week’s WALTER vs. Pete Dunne main event, including scenes of Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel helping WALTER retain the WWE United Kingdom Championship.
After the opening, Antonín Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 played and WALTER, Barthel, and Aichner made their way to the ring. As they got ready to address the crowd, the fans started chanting “We want Dunne.”
Barthel, who has some of the best facials in the business right now, took his sweet time before beginning to talk: “We are here to lead you to a better NXT UK. We are here to raise our flag and restore the honor and professionalism of our sport. We are the ones to lead. And we are the ones who hold true power.”
Aichner continued: “Pete Dunne can only get you so far. And British Strong Style has expired. Because none of them had the ability to lead NXT UK in the right direction. And now, the responsibility lays in our hands.”
WALTER concluded: “To us, this mat is sacred. And from this day forth we shall be known as Imperium. And soon, NXT…”
At that point, Dunne’s music interrupted the Ring General and he walked out, backed up by Moustache Mountain. The two teams began brawling, eventually crashing into a cameraman and taking out the feed.
Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness were on screen next, throwing it to Radzi Chinyanganya interviewing Sid Scala. He announced that Johnny Saint and himself had decided that Imperium would face off with British Strong Style in two weeks.
Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) beat Team WhiteWolf (A-Kid & Carlos Romo) when Wolfgang pinned Romo after a power slam/kick combo (3:27)
A-Kid at just 22 has had two highly talked about matches, against Zack Sabre Jr. and Will Ospreay. He started wrestling in 2012 in his native Spain, where he primarily competed for White Wolf Wrestling, an upstart indie with a rabid fan base.
A-Kid recently started wrestling full-time in the UK, working primarily for RevPro, but also Defiant, PROGRESS, and ATTACK Pro, as well as GWF and wXw in Germany. His partner, Romo, actually was partially trained by A-Kid, starting out in 2014. He also has been more active in the UK scene lately, working for RevPro, Attack Pro, Fight Club: PRO, and Defiant, among others. Both were also part of some shows over WrestleMania weekend this year and have been working as a team in the UK since last fall.
Wolfgang attacked Romo right away, and Gallus quickly took turns working the young Spaniard over. A-Kid was tagged in, but bounced off Coffey and received a choke slam for his troubles. Mark locked in a full nelson and started throwing the smaller man around a few times, concluding with a big slam.
A-Kid evaded a knee drop and managed the hot tag, but Romo got his head separated from his shoulders. Wolfgang finished him off with a power slam, assisted by a kick from Coffey for the win.
Hopefully Team WhiteWolf will be back at a future taping — they’d have great matches with the likes of Moustache Mountain, Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster, and Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan.
– Radzi interviewed Xia Brookside and asked about Jinny and Jazzy Gabert attacking her. Isla Dawn walked up and offered to team up with Brookside against Jinny & Gabert.
– Joseph Conners cut a backstage promo, challenging Ilja Dragunov for a future match. It seems like Conners’ health is not one of his primary concerns.
– A video recapped the qualifying matches for the fatal four-way to establish the new number one contender for WALTER’s WWE UK Championship.
– We saw Toni Storm getting ready for her championship match in tonight’s main event
Kassius Ohno pinned Jack Gallagher after the roaring elbow (12:35)
McGuinness analyzed both competitors and predicted it would be a clash of technical wrestling and submissions vs. striking ability. Ohno took Gallagher down with a hip throw and locked in an armbar, but Gallagher made the ropes. They transitioned into mat wrestling, with Gallagher showing his technical prowess.
Ohno used his size to his advantage, leveraging Gallagher into another armbar, which eventually got countered into a headscissors. They traded unique submission attempts and chain wrestling moves with neither man being able to get a clear advantage over the other.
Gallagher did a headstand in the corner, then flipped over a charging Ohno and rolled into a ball. Instead of trying to gain some hold on Gallagher, Ohno just stomped him. Gallagher at that point started bleeding from the nose from a stiff shot by Ohno. Ohno hit a big boot on Gallagher for a near fall.
As Ohno was looking for the rolling elbow, Gallagher headbutted his wrist and followed up with body shots, targeting Ohno’s arm and eventually locking in an armbar and transitioning into another one. Gallagher hit another headbutt, but Ohno managed to hit a senton before falling down.
As Gallagher went for a forearm off the ropes, Ohno hit the roaring elbow, knocking Gallagher out for the pin, even though Gallagher’s foot was under the ropes, which the referee missed.
– Piper Niven was interviewed by some reporters, who asked about Rhea Ripley stating that Niven couldn’t stop talking about her. Niven said she came here to fight, not to talk and she would face Ripley if she was up for it.
– A recap video of Imperium and British Strong Style brawling earlier tonight aired, including a graphic of the two teams facing off in two weeks.
– Next week will feature the number one contender’s fatal four-way between Travis Banks, Joe Coffey, Dave Mastiff, and Jordan Devlin.
NXT UK Women’s Championship match: Toni Storm retained against Nina Samuels after Storm Zero (9:45)
Samuels started out showing some athleticism, but the champion hit a boot that sent Samuels to ringside, then followed up with a dropkick and a number of uppercuts. Samuels came back with a kick as the referee broke them up in the corner. Samuels took over, bending Storm backwards over the top rope.
Samuels proceeded to work over Storm’s previously injured back, which seemed to be successful for a while. Storm came back with a release German suplex, then locked in a modified STF, but Samuels made the ropes.
They traded offense on the apron. Samuels eventually got the upper hand with a head kick over the top rope, then launched herself back into the ring with a corkscrew splash. Storm hit a headbutt into Samuels as she was charging at her and got a near fall off it, but it was obvious she also hurt her own head from the move.
Storm followed up with a bridging German suplex for another near fall. Samuels came back with a cradle for another two count and a butterfly into a backbreaker for a pinfall attempt, then a top rope dropkick for another one.
Storm finally came back with another headbutt, then hit two flow-over suplexes and finally Storm Zero to retain her title.
Next week —
Joe Coffey, Jordan Devlin, Travis Banks, and Dave Mastiff battle it out in a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the WWE United Kingdom Championship.
Taped April 19 and 20, 2019 at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland
Quick results —
Travis Banks defeated Joseph Conners in the final qualifying match for the number one contender’s fatal four-way. Noam Dar beat Mark Andrews in a rematch from two months ago, when both got stretchered out. Dar, after a brief babyface run, fell back into his old ways, feigning a knee injury and beating Andrews when he let his guard down.
Rhea Ripley called out Piper Niven in a promo, and Nina Samuels talked about wanting to face Toni Storm.
In the main event, WALTER successfully defended the WWE United Kingdom Championship against former champion Pete Dunne in a great match. WALTER got help from Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner, who seemed to form a stable with the big Austrian as the show went off the air.
Full rundown —
– The show opened with a video recapping WALTER’s WWE UK title win at NXT TakeOver: New York.
Qualifying match for number one contender’s fatal four-way: Travis Banks pinned Joseph Conners after the Kiwi Crusher (8:22)
Banks took Conners down right away with a waist lock takedown and kept working him over. Banks sent Conners to the outside, but got caught when he followed him out and was slammed into the steel steps at ringside.
From that point on, Conners took over, scoring a few near falls and submission attempts. Banks finally came back when he kicked Conner’s legs out on a corner charge, then he followed up with double knees to the back of Conners’ head and a dive to ringside. Conners came back with a springboard DDT and the two traded near falls in quick succession.
Banks finally hit A Slice of Heaven and followed up with the Kiwi Crusher for the win.
– Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Banks after the match and asked him about his chances. He talked about past scuffles with Joe Coffey and Jordan Devlin and said Dave Mastiff was really big. Banks said he’ll become the new number one contender.
– Nina Samuels talked about Toni Storm, saying that Storm was an easy victim to manipulate, that it was easy to get a title match, and Storm was the newest cast member of the Nina Samuels Show. Samuels said Storm lost all control and talked about all the congratulations her fans had sent her.
Samuels said her crowning achievement would be the NXT UK Women’s Championship. The two meet next week.
– Another graphic plugged tonight’s WALTER vs. Dunne main event.
– We took a look back at the Mark Andrews vs. Noam Dar match from two months ago, with Dar injuring his knee and both of them getting stretchered out.
Noam Dar pinned Mark Andrews after the Nova Roller (5:50)
They shook hands to start the match off, with Dar backing Andrews into the corner before they arrived at a stalemate. Andrews missed a body press and Dar got a near fall off a windmill backslide. Andrews hit an enzuigiri, then Dar evaded a 450, after which Andrews slid under Dar and tried a Pele kick but got caught in an ankle lock.
Andrews hit the Stun Dog Millionaire, but Dar escaped to ringside. Andrews followed up with a somersault plancha, and Dar looked to have tweaked his knee again. Andrews hesitated, giving Dar some time to recover.
Dar said he was ready, but then collapsed screaming when he tried to put weight on the knee off a whip-in. Andrews and Dar talked and shook hands, but Dar then attacked Andrews from behind as he turned his back. Dar hit the Nova Roller for the win.
– Radzi interviewed the Grizzled Young Veterans as they entered the arena. Zack Gibson said he was sure every Scottish indie wrestler wanted a title match, but they don’t make the matches and neither do the fans. He said they’d defend the titles whenever they felt like it.
– Nigel McGuinness and Vic Joseph were shown and talked about how people were really excited for the main event.
Rhea Ripley in-ring promo
Ripley came out and said she knows how everyone wants to see her in action, but it’s not going to happen. She said Piper Niven is supposedly a big deal in Scotland, but to her Niven is a wannabe superstar that reeks of fear. She said when Niven steps into the ring with her, nightmares will become reality.
– Kassius Ohno found a cameraman backstage and took him to meet Johnny Saint and Sid Scala. He called Scala “Sid Justice” and “Savvy Sid” and asked for news. Scala said they were about to talk to him later. Scala said Ohno would take on Jack Gallagher next week. Ohno seemed happy about the match.
– A split screen showed WALTER and Dunne preparing for their match backstage.
– A graphic plugged Storm defending her NXT UK Women’s title against Samuels in next week’s main event.
WWE United Kingdom Championship match: WALTER retained against Pete Dunne with a powerbomb (16:33)
WALTER came out to just a white Titantron that turned black once he walked to the ring, which was a cool look that underlines his no-nonsense approach at wrestling and disdain for showmanship.
There were dueling chants as the match started. WALTER backed Dunne into the corner right away. McGuinness noted that WALTER had taped some fingers together, musing whether it was because he likes throwing chops or if he was cautious about Dunne manipulating his finger joints.
Dunne started working WALTER’s left arm, getting the big man to the mat. WALTER escaped and threw a big chop, but Dunne managed to duck. WALTER took Dunne down off a side headlock, with McGuinness comparing his style to Bruiser Brody, Stan Hansen, and Terry Gordy. Dunne got in a dragon screw, which hurt WALTER’s knee and the champ went to ringside. Dunne walked right into a huge chop as he tried to stalk WALTER on the outside.
WALTER hit more chops, but Dunne evaded the last one and WALTER chopped the ring post. Dunne used the steps to his advantage and worked over WALTER’s bicep. WALTER then hit a big boot to end Dunne’s tomfoolery. For good measure, he followed up with a big shotgun dropkick that sent Dunne into the barrier.
WALTER then placed Dunne on top of the steel steps and proceeded to walk all over the Bruiserweight. He hit another chop, but Dunne managed to bend his fingers. The big Austrian then bullied Dunne with some kicks while he was down and locked in a chinlock. Dunne asked for more, then hit a big forearm that sent the champ down to the mat. He hit double knees to WALTER’s left thigh and transitioned into a kneebar.
WALTER escaped and tried hitting a German suplex, but Dunne flipped out of it as he was going over. Dunne locked in a modified octopus hold and started peeling off the tape from WALTER’s fingers, then turned the submission attempt into a crucifix bomb.
WALTER had enough and came back with a stiff clothesline and overhead suplex for a near fall, then locked in the Boston crab. Dunne twisted his way out of the move, hit a few kicks, and stomped WALTER’s head and transitioned into another submission until WALTER made the ropes.
Dunne managed to step on WALTER’s fingers from the top rope, then stopped WALTER when he was going up top. Dunne actually was able to lock in a top rope triangle, and when WALTER tried to powerbomb him off the top, Dunne turned it into a hurricanrana for a very close near fall.
Dunne German suplexed WALTER, but ran into a clothesline next. WALTER went for the big splash off the top rope, but Dunne got up and hit a forearm. He hit the Bitter End, then locked in a triangle, turned it around, and went to break WALTER’s fingers.
As WALTER looked ready to tap, Fabian Aichner suddenly ran out and put WALTER’s foot on the rope. As the ref was handling Aichner, Marcel Barthel hit the ring and clocked Dunne with the UK title belt. WALTER hit a powerbomb for the win.
Post-match, WALTER looked at them, then hit the Ring General pose and Barthel and Aichner followed suit as Antonín Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 played and the show faded to black.
Next week —
NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm defends her title against Nina Samuels. Kassius Ohno faces Jack Gallagher.
Submitted by Patrick Davenport from WWE’s house show in Newcastle, England on Saturday
– Natalya & Beth Phoenix defeated The Riott Squad
The crowd was very quiet considering this was the opener. Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott were representing the Riott Squad and Sarah Logan was absent.
Phoenix attempted to get the crowd hyped by doing a “We Will Rock You” style clap. Natalya picked up the submission win over Riott while both she and Phoenix did a dual Sharpshooter.
– Apollo Crews defeated Mojo Rawley
There was mild applause for Crews and a lot of heat for Rawley. They had a quick match where Crews pinned Rawley with a standing moonsault.
After the match, The Revival ran in, attacked Crews, and hit him with the Shatter Machine. They cut a promo trashing the fans and refusing to compete tonight. They were interrupted by Aleister Black & Ricochet.
– Aleister Black & Ricochet defeated The Revival
The crowd was really hot for Ricochet. Longest and best match of the night so far.
Ricochet took most of the beating until Black got the hot tag and mounted a comeback. Black pinned Scott Dawson after hitting Black Mass.
– WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER defeated Pete Dunne to retain his title
Dunne came out to a good pop, but it seemed as if not many people knew who WALTER was. Great, stiff match. Lots of loud chops and joint manipulation.
The match ended abruptly with WALTER pinning Dunne with a powerbomb.
– Elias then entered for a concert. He received a lot of applause from the Newcastle fans. He was asked to play “Wonderwall” and obliged, then followed that up with his own version of the song with lyrics that insulted Newcastle and their soccer team, which drew massive heat. He was interrupted by Finn Balor.
– Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor defeated Elias to retain his title
Balor was very over, though I didn’t think he was quite as over as Ricochet was previously. They had a quick match that saw Balor win via pinfall following a Coup de Grace.
Balor celebrated with the crowd going into the intermission
– Titus O’Neil defeated EC3
This match had a lot of crowd interest, with fans even doing dueling chants for the two wrestlers. O’Neil picked up a fairly dominant pinfall win with the Clash of the Titus.
– Raw & SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defeated Lacey Evans and Tamina in a triple threat match to retain the Raw title
The match was advertised online as having Alexa Bliss instead of Tamina. Lynch was very popular with the Newcastle faithful.
Tamina dominated a lot of the match. The finish had Tamina superkicking Evans out of the ring and attempting to do the same to Lynch, who dodged and locked her in the Dis-Arm-Her to retain.
As Lynch was celebrating, she was attacked by the Riott Squad, who were then chased off by Natalya and Beth Phoenix. Phoenix and Natalya were then attacked by Evans and Tamina, allowing Lynch to make the save. The three babyfaces celebrated in the ring together to close the segment.
– Universal Champion Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns & Braun Strowman defeated Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley & Drew McIntyre
All the faces were the most over people of the night — big pops and recurring chants for all three.
Rollins, Reigns, and Strowman dominated early until Strowman was isolated and worked over by the heels. He eventually made the hot tag to Reigns, with the action picking up and getting speedy. Lots of finishers were exchanged until Reigns hit the spear on Lashley to pick up the win for his team.
Taped on April 6 at WrestleMania Axxess in Brooklyn, New York
Quick results —
Travis Banks defeated Mansoor in a fun opener, with Mansoor’s cockiness sealing his fate in the end. Piper Niven defeated Reina Gonzalez, who used her size and strength to keep Niven in check, but succumbed to the Scot’s might in the end.
In a very good main event, WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER defeated Jordan Devlin in a non-title match. Devlin used his speed and a number of leg kicks to keep WALTER down, but he ultimately fell victim to the Ring General, as is the fate of all mortal men.
After the main event, Pete Dunne came out to demand his rematch, which WALTER approved.
Full rundown —
Travis Banks defeated Mansoor (5:57)
Banks was in control early, taking Mansoor down with arm drags and working over his upper arms. Mansoor briefly got cocky after getting out of the hold, but ate some flying double knees for his trouble.
Mansoor threw Banks to the outside and worked him over, then got the upper hand back in the ring. Banks came back strong, dropkicking Mansoor to the outside, hitting a stiff soccer kick off the apron, and finally following up with a dive through the ropes onto his opponent. Banks missed Slice of Heaven off the middle rope, allowing Mansoor to hit a modified cutter.
As Mansoor got too cocky after a near fall, Banks successfully hit the Slice of Heaven and finished things off with the Kiwi Crusher.
– Xia Brookside cut an incredibly cute, heart-melting promo from the NXT UK Performance Center. She promised to train hard and take us all on her journey. She comes across as someone who could connect incredibly well with the crowd once her win-loss record improves.
– A video hyping the debut of Ilja Dragunov aired. It featured footage from wXw and PROGRESS.
– Nina Samuels was featured in a video where she talked about stringing along victories. Samuels said she wants to face Toni Storm, as Storm is no “leading lady.”
Piper Niven defeated Reina Gonzalez (5:00)
Gonzalez came out with a bull rope, but Niven was not impressed. They locked up, with neither wrestler able to get the advantage. Gonzalez backed Niven into the corner, but she missed on a punch and they kept going with neither getting the edge.
Gonzalez finally used some questionable tactics to take over. As she choked Niven on the ropes, Niven managed to throw her to ringside.
Back inside, they kept trading offense until Niven wiped Gonzalez out with a running body block and a senton for a near fall. Niven then put her away with a Michinoku Driver for the win.
– Kenny Williams and Amir Jordan talked backstage. They discussed the Grizzled Young Veterans throwing their gear out of the locker room last week and said the Grizzled Young Veterans got themselves counted out in their match because they were afraid. They talked about getting their title shot in Scotland soon.
– Gallus discussed how they will soon return to Glasgow and stage their comeback there.
WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER defeated Jordan Devlin in a non-title match (12:32)
WALTER right away started to stalk Devlin — and the Irishman fled to ringside. Finally, they locked up and WALTER threw Devlin around, resulting in Devlin fleeing the ring once more.
Back inside, WALTER missed a chop in the corner and Devlin hit two chops of his own, drawing the Austrian’s ire. WALTER caught Devlin in a sleeper hold, and as Devlin escaped and staged a comeback, WALTER leapfrogged him and almost took his head off with a big boot.
The champ kept working on Devlin with a crossface, a big knee to the side, and another crossface. He hit a big butterfly suplex. On the outside, Devlin tried a running soccer kick off the apron, but WALTER caught him, put him on his shoulders, and nonchalantly threw him into the ropes from the outside.
As WALTER was looking to go back into the ring, Devlin kicked away at his legs and finally looked like he had found some recipe to keep the big man down. Devlin kept working on WALTER’s hamstring with kicks and a single-leg Boston crab. WALTER actually bled from the mouth here, but finally made the ropes with Devlin holding on until the five count.
Eventually, Devlin missed a dropkick as the Ring General sidestepped him and punished him right away with a sit-down splash. WALTER hit a chop heard around the world, sending Devlin down crumbling. Devlin escaped a German suplex attempt, but WALTER threw him high into the air on a back body drop.
WALTER smashed Devlin into the corner, then hit a huge German release suplex. Devlin rolled to the outside, and WALTER had a field day, hitting chops and a big slam onto the apron. WALTER went for a powerbomb back inside, but Devlin actually turned it into a sunset flip for a near fall.
WALTER hit a few chops, but Devlin came back with more leg kicks. He looked to hit the Devlin Side, but WALTER blocked it and hit a back drop driver of his own. WALTER went up for a big splash to finish things like he did against Pete Dunne, but Devlin pulled him down. After a few attempts, Devlin finally hit Devlin Side for another near fall.
Devlin tried to go for Devlin Side once more, but WALTER turned it into a stiff lariat, then hit the powerbomb and put all his weight on top of Devlin to keep him down for the three.
As WALTER was celebrating his victory, Dunne’s music played and he walked out, microphone in hand. Dunne entered the ring and faced off with the man who took his title. He demanded “Give me my rematch!” — and WALTER nodded in approval.
Next week —
The first batch of matches from Glasgow and presumably (unless they changed matches from the order they were taped in) the WALTER vs. Dunne rematch.
NXT UK kicked off two straight nights of television tapings at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland today.
– Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness were live at the show to do commentary.
– Dark match: Kassius Ohno defeated Oliver Carter
– NXT UK Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan was confirmed for today. There will also be qualifying matches to decide who advances to a fatal four-way, which will determine a number one contender for the WWE United Kingdom Championship.
– Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) defeated Primate Jay Melrose & Wild Boar Mike Hitchman
– Joe Coffey defeated Flash Morgan Webster to qualify for the fatal four-way number one contender’s match
Gallus cut a promo on Dave Mastiff after the match. The crowd cheered Gallus in their home country despite them playing heel.
– Nina Samuels defeated Kasey Owens
Samuels then cut a promo on NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm.
– WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER defeated Pete Dunne to retain his title
Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner interfered, with Barthel hitting Dunne with the UK title belt.
– Piper Niven defeated Jamie Hayter
– Jordan Devlin defeated Ligero to qualify for the fatal four-way number one contender’s match
– Ilja Dragunov defeated Jack Starz
This was Dragunov’s televised NXT UK in-ring debut.
– It was shown that Amir Jordan had been attacked backstage.
– Xia Brookside vs. Killer Kelly ended in a no contest
Jinny and the debuting Jazzy Gabert interfered to cause the no contest.
– Dave Mastiff defeated Wolfgang to qualify for the fatal four-way number one contender’s match
Gallus attacked Mastiff after he won.
– Travis Banks defeated Joseph Conners to qualify for the fatal four-way number one contender’s match
Joe Coffey, Devlin, Mastiff, and Banks will be in the number one contender’s match.
– Rhea Ripley cut an in-ring promo saying she wouldn’t compete tonight. She insulted Piper Niven.
– NXT UK Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) defeated Kenny Williams & Noam Dar to retain their titles
Dar returned from injury and replaced Amir Jordan after the angle where Jordan was attacked earlier.
In what may have been a non-televised segment, Gallus attacked Williams & Dar. Moustache Mountain made the save, which led to Moustache Mountain, Williams & Dar defeating The Grizzled Young Veterans & Gallus.
The Braehead Arena is hosting NXT UK tapings this Friday and Saturday.
WALTER defeated Dunne for the title at NXT TakeOver: New York. The finish of the match was WALTER powerbombing Dunne off the top rope and then hitting a top rope splash to become champion.
WALTER made his NXT UK debut at UK TakeOver: Blackpool in January and began his program with Dunne. He’s the third person to hold the WWE UK Championship since it was established in January 2017, joining Dunne and Tyler Bate.
Dunne held the title for 685 days before losing it to WALTER.
Johnny Gargano is the new NXT Champion after outlasting Adam Cole in a 2-out-of-3 falls match at NXT TakeOver New York Friday night, capping an outstanding night of in-ring action.
After taking out the Undisputed Era at ringside, Gargano got hit with two Cole superkicks and the Last Shot but kicked out at two. Another Last Shot attempt missed and Gargano clamped on the Gargano Escape. Cole almost made the ropes, but Gargano rolled both men over and kept the Escape tight for the tapout in the third and final fall to send the Barclays Center into a euphoric state.
With the win, Gargano becomes the first-ever NXT Triple Crown winner (main title, North American title, tag team titles). The title was vacated after Tommaso Ciampa had to undergo neck surgery.
The other title change was a historic one as WALTER defeated Pete Dunne, the longest reigning current champion in the entire company, to become the NXT UK Champion in a hard hitting, spectacular match.
The end came when WALTER gave Dunne a powerbomb off the top rope after Dunne had a triangle locked on. WALTER then hit a big splash off the top to get the pin after a long and grueling affair, ending Dunne’s 685-day run as titleholder.
In the three other title matches:
– Shayna Baszler retained her NXT women’s title by submitting Bianca Belair with a rear naked choke in a fatal four way that also featured Kairi Sane and Io Shirai.
– The War Raiders retained their NXT tag team titles by fending off Ricochet and Aleister Black in the show opener, effectively putting an end to the duo’s NXT run.
– Velveteen Dream defeated Matt Riddle via pinfall to retain his North American title in another sensational match.
