By Haydn Gleed, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@haydngleed)
NXT UK TV
Taped October 5-6, 2019 in Brentwood, England at Brentwood Centre
Streamed October 17, 2019 on WWE Network
Highlights of Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster winning the NXT UK Tag Titles at NXT UK Takeover” Cardiff before the voiceover guy kicked in and talked about what’s led to the main event between the champions and Gallus… Bad music and video played before Tom Philips and Nigel McGuiness checked in on commentary…
1. Ilja Dragunov defeated Saxon Huxley. Massive reaction for Ilja from the Brentwood crowd, clearly the match with Cesearo had the intended effect. The announcers talked up the fact that Imperium appear to be recruiting Ilja with Alexander Wolfe showing up half way through to scout the Russian.
After the match, as Ilja went to confront Alexander, Wolfe’s face changed from smiling as Imperium music to intense. Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel came out and stood next to Wolfe. They motioned to Alexander who nodded. Barthel and Aichner climbed in the ring with Wolfe motioning Ilja to follow him which he did.
Gleed’s Ramblings: I’m convinced this is going to lead to a Walter vs. Ilja match which will be insane. Dragunov is really in a groove at the moment both in the ring and as a character so even an enhancement match like this was a lot of fun.
2. Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner defeated “The Hunt” Wild Boar and Primate.
Gleed’s Ramblings: A nice back and forth match. Although there was no doubt about the outcome logically going into the match, they did a good job of showcasing The Hunt and giving the impression that they could have won during the match. Good stuff and more heat put on Imperium.
Footage was shown of Piper Niven and Rhea Ripley after last week’s main event. Piper said thanks and despite the problems they had before they should team up together to take on Jinny and Jazzy. Rhea said she doesn’t like Piper but she really doesn’t like the other two. She said she can put their differences aside for a week and she walked off. Piper stood there looking speechless…
Gleed’s Ramblings: Rhea was completely sticking to her character and the story makes a lot of sense with just a little bit of effort by the writing team, and as a result makes it more intriguing.
3. Xia Brookside defeated Nina Samuels.
Gleed’s Ramblings: Going into this match I had no idea who would be coming out on top which is to the credit of the booking of the women’s division. It’s not that all of the female roster are defined down so much they are on the same level, the female division in NXT UK women have been defined up so makes a random match like this interesting on a sporting level. The match itself was good with Xia making Nina Samuels offence look great. I still maintain that Nina is a better character than a wrestler but this shows that with the right opponent she has got enough ability. On the other hand, Xia continues to impress me more and more in every match and this was no exception.
A video promoting the debut of A-Kid was shown…..
Jordan Devlin came to the ring for a promo. He said he’s out this evening as he’s getting a lot of feedback that he is too arrogant. He said he wants to come out and set the record straight. He said he can’t be arrogant as that implies he thinks he’s better than he actually is, but he is the best wrestler in the UK. If you don’t believe him, look at that loser Tyler Bate and that fat lump Dave Mastiff. With that Mastiff came out and climbed straight into the ring. Devlin got in his face and asked him if he’s having a good time. Mastiff grabbed the microphone. He was about to speak when Devlin punched him in the face. Devlin went to pick him up but Mastiff knocked him down and hit a standing senton on the Irish Ace. Mastiff stood over him and said the one thing you might not know about the bomber is he likes a little flutter, and he’s happy to take on the ace…
The Noam Dar and Trent Seven feud was recapped in a video with some happy cheery music over the top, with particular focus on Noam Dar being incredibly annoying. They ended with the events from last week with Sid Scale announcing they would be facing each other again next week. Been a nice little tv feud.
4. “Gallus” Mark Coffey and Wolfgang defeated Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster to win the NXT UK Tag Titles.
Gleed’s Ramblings: The first half of the match with Gallus on offence was really slow and plodding which took the crowd out of the match but when the action picked up down the stretch they really got into it. It’s a shame that Andrews and Morgan lost the titles so quickly after the big moment in front of their home town crowd, but NXT UK have literally done nothing to establish their personalities more outside of continuously talking about that moment. At least the Gallus duo have an established personalities which will lead to an entertaining chase for the former champions if they want to go down that route or start a new feud with another team.
Overall, an entertaining and ultimately newsworthy show of NXT UK which had four decent to good matches and a title change in the main event. Along with the decent wrestling we had small steps forward in the Devlin/Mastiff and Ripley/Niven/Jinny/Gabert feuds and had an entertaining video package promoting next week’s show. All in all definitely a good episode of NXT UK.
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