By Haydn Gleed, Prowrestling.net Staffer (@haydngleed)
NXT UK Hits
Women’s tournament announcement: This was done well in terms of rightly making it feel important. I would argue that if they had planned to do this all along, then it’s confusing as to why you would have Jinny attack Dakota Kai last week, yet they stood on the stage with each other without Dakota going after Jinny this week. Thinking about it, it’s strange that Jinny attacked Dakota at all considering they are in different parts of the tournament brackets, but I digress. The belt is essentially the same as the male version but with white leather, which gives it an equality feel to it. Having Triple H make the announcement in person also gave the belt, division, and tournament the highest of prestige feel within this storyline universe.
Tyler Bate vs James Drake: Very much a minor Hit, but it was the best match on a night of average matches. Drake still doesn’t have a defined character aside from his emo gestures and look. Although Drake lost the match, it did give him credibility to be going toe to toe with someone of Bate’s stature, so it did elevate him somewhat to the more casual WWE NXT UK viewer.
NXT UK Misses
Overall show: This was a very strange show to review and write a Hit List for because nothing really stood out in a positive and negative way. The action was okay and the promo work along with the storyline progression was somewhat minimal. It was very much a skippable show, but it was a necessary evil show with the heels winning clean in three out of the four matches, making it a “build credibility for the mid-card heels” style show.
Johnny Saint: I have all the respect in the world for Johnny Saint in terms of what he meant to me as a child watching World Of Sport, but what exactly is his purpose on NXT UK? WWE clearly doesn’t trust him to talk in segments because they view him, rightly, as having as much charisma as a wardrobe and any announcements that would usually be handled by the general manager are done through graphics of “Johnny Saint’s twitter account”. On this show, he was brought out to take a piece of cloth over the new Women’s NXT UK title belt and that’s it. I appreciate the nod to the legend that is Johnny Saint within the UK, but his presence is more of a hindrance/distraction than good for the product.
Dot Net Members have access to the weekly NXT UK audio reviews hosted by Haydn Gleed and Darren Gutteridge. For more information, visit PWMembership.net. If you wish to get in touch with Haydn, do so via twitter (see above) or via email haydn.gleed@gmail.com
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