By Haydn Gleed, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@haydngleed)
NXT UK TV
Taped August 31, 2019 in Cardiff, Wales at Motorpoint Arena
Streamed September 4, 2019 on WWE Network
Brief highlights were shown of each NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff matches. I implore you to do yourself a favour as a wrestling fan to go and watch the replay if you haven’t seen the show yet. If nothing else check out the main event, which was amazing…
Following the video package recap, the bad music (which I heard way too many times this weekend) and video package played and we were in the wonderful city of Cardiff. Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuiness checked in on commentary and hyped up Kassius Ohno and Jack Gallagher (ummm….) before Piper Niven made her entrance for the first match…
1. Rhea Ripley defeated Piper Niven.
Gleed’s Ramblings: A decent enough blowoff match, but nothing memorable which was a shame considering how intense this feud has been. This was the first match of the Takeover night so the energy was high in the building. Ripley was the more popular wrestler of the two, which was odd considering that Piper is from the UK, but they haven’t really given her any character. Also, it feels that the crowd wants to cheer Rhea and she is coming across as a fan favourite on the main NXT brand, so it won’t surprise me if they give the fans permission to cheer her soon.
Radzi was backstage where he said that Sid Scala had bad news, Jack Gallagher is not medically cleared to wrestle. Scala said they will find a suitable replacement. Kassius Ohno came into shot and said poor Sid, the boy genius is in the main event without an opponent, so he’d better find one. Johnny Saint came into shot and whispered something in Sid’s ear and then Sid asked, “Are you sure?” Scala walked off and then Saint told Radzi that there will be a match tonight.
Gleed’s Ramblings: It’s such a shame we didn’t see Johnny Saint in person at the tapings. He’s so bad in a brilliant way.
“The Grizzled Young Veterans” Zack Gibson and James Drake were shown backstage. They complained about having to face four people and that they had never had any thanks from Johnny Saint. They were shown outside Saint’s office with Drake trying to calm down Gibson. Saint came out and Gibson calmly told him that he knew Saint wanted a showcase, and then he started to beg for a rematch. Saint rubbed his chin and said he will think about it. Vic Joseph announced that the rematch will happen next week…
They showed the advertisement for the next couple of WWE main roster network specials (and I nearly had a seizure)…
The Gallus members shown backstage in the medical room. Joe Coffey was struggling after his last man standing match. We also saw Dave Mastiff talking to The Hunt and saying that he will get him. Primate said Mastiff is better than that. In his strong Welsh accent, Wild Boar also grunted that Mastiff is better than that (this made me laugh far too much)…
Tyler Bate was shown sipping water backstage after the main event match with Walter. Trent Seven was shown consoling him…
A video package was shown on Tegan Nox and a graphic touted her in-ring debut in NXT UK next week…
2. Kassius Ohno defeated Sid Scala. Sid wrestled in his suit trousers and shirt which got ripped off part way through the match.
Gleed’s Ramblings: For the live audience we had no idea what was happening as Jack Gallagher was listed as facing Kassius and we didn’t see the backstage skit with Johnny Saint, Radzi et al. But after the initial confusion this was a fun David vs Goliath battle with the crowd really getting into the underdog as the match went on. Not the greatest in-ring of all time but it had a nice emotional hook.
Overall, I enjoyed this show as we saw the reaction of the majority of competitors on the NXT UK Takeover show and they felt real and true to their characters. I especially enjoyed the Tyler Bate and Trent Seven moment as it felt real and genuine and knowing how close they are it probably was. There were only two matches on this show, which was fine with one being average and the other one being fun from a storytelling point of view yet nothing memorable.
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