By Haydn Gleed, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@haydngleed)
NXT UK TV
Taped November 15-16, 2019 in Hull, England at Bonus Arena
Streamed November 21, 2019 on WWE Network
The usual opening music and video played followed by Nigel McGuinness and Tom Philips checking in on commentary. They were in Hull and this was the first set of tapings from the past weekends TV tapings…
Trent Seven made his entrance with the announcers telegraphing that his opponent would be someone from NXT by talking about taking on all comers from around the world and how NXT is now “fluid”.
Kona Reeves made his entrance with microphone in hand. He went straight after the fans and said that’s what’s wrong with you people, you don’t see talent when you see it. That’s why he flew across the pond to its crooked little sister. He mocked Trent for being part of British Strong Style. He said the fans are idiots for cheering for Trent, as he’s out of date and out of shape, and he’s not a superstar. He said tonight that twirling that little mustache won’t make Seven a star. The crowd chanted their Trent Seven army song and “who are ya” at Reeves…
1. Trent Seven defeated Kona Reeves. After the match, Trent was high-fived people at ringside. One of those high fivers was Eddie Dennis, who has been out for months with an injury. He held Trent’s hand tightly and smiled manically at him.
Gleed’s Ramblings: After the promo where Reeves went right after the crowd, you knew this was going to be a Trent win. The match was what it was, somewhat forgettable. The post match angle with Eddie Dennis was an interesting development. Despite Eddie’s association with Swansea, I like Dennis and I hope they do a better job this time around after botching his initial introduction at the start of the NXT UK TV series.
Radzi!!! The backstage interviewer was outside trying to get a word with Ilja Dragunov. He asked why he sided with Gallus instead of Imperium. Ilja said that Alexander Wolfe was his trainer and he always tried to make the decisions for him, and even in NXT UK he disrespected him and tried to make his decisions for him. Tonight he steps out of his shadow.
Gleed’s Ramblings: Although Radzi is such a bad backstage interviewer, he’s so bad he’s good and I’m glad to see him back.
A graphic was shown for NXT Takeover Blackpool 2 for January 12 and it sold out within two hours. Impressive.
2. A-Kid defeated Jack Starz.
Gleed’s Ramblings: I’m a little torn on this match. Starz has been a jobber to the stars on NXT UK, and is usually the first opponents for debuting superstars. He was the gentleman who ended up with a Walter hand print after taking a chop from the Austrian on his debut. So with this match being more 50/50 it defined A-Kid down somewhat. With that being said, I enjoyed this match and he remains someone who impresses no matter who he’s in the ring with.
Radzi interviewed Jinny and Jazzy Gabert. He asked Jinny for an assessment on the women’s division. She said just like your suit, it’s cheap. She said there is some talent in the division but take Rhea Ripley who couldn’t hang with her and flew off to America. She said then you have Piper Niven, who puts out some pathetic vignettes where she’s crawling at the crowd. She said she’s never beat her.
Gleed’s Ramblings: I enjoyed the promo in terms of its content as it contained lies and heel logic, but the delivery was awkward. Jinny went from talking at Radzi to talking to somewhere off the line of the camera and looked like she was reading from an autocue. Really irritating.
“The Grizzled Young Veterans” Zack Gibson and James Drake made their entrance. Gibson said he’s Liverpool’s number one, etc. He got his usual reaction. He said they should be stood there as the NXT tag team champions but the only reason that they are not is because of a daft stipulation at NXT Takeover Cardiff that was added by Johnny Saint and Skid Scala. He said they are a great tag team and they are more than capable of bouncing back. A couple of weeks ago they had Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews beat and they would have beaten them to cement their number one contender status until Gallus and Imperium stuck their noses in something that wasn’t their business. He wanted to know what are the consequences for these two teams? Have they been suspended? Have they been fined? No, nothing has happened at all. He called out Johnny Saint and Skid Scala need to pay attention. He said everyday that the titles are not around their waste the belts depreciate in value.
Gibson said outside Anfield there is a statue of the great Bill Shankley it says “he made the people happy” and that’s all their trying to do. The crowd chanted boring. He said Takeover Blackpool is right around the corner and he is pleading with Johnny Saint to make things right and give them the tag team opportunity that they deserve. Make the people happy, as the crowd booed…
Gleed’s Ramblings: A fun and well delivered promo, as usual from Gibson.
Jordan Devlin was backstage in front of a big screen. He said he’s there to shine a spotlight of NXT UK as a brand. He said he’s put together a compilation of NXT UK’s best bits. It was a compilation of all of Jordan Devlin’s wins along with pretentious comments from Devlin. He said that he’s an inspiration to the brand. He called out A-Kid and said that you need more than an endorsement from Tyler Bate to make it in NXT UK. He challenged A-Kid to a match next week.
Gleed’s Ramblings: Original and unique promo from Devlin, another good heel promo.
3. Ridge Holland defeated Oliver Carter.
Gleed’s Ramblings: Despite the Peaky Blinders style character that the former fake rugby player was playing, Holland got a great reaction as he’s from the local area. He’s got a well put together physique and looks like a smaller Brock Lesner. His offence was mostly power moves and didn’t look like he was naturally gifted. He applied a Million Dollar Dream hold and it looked so loose and weak. Don’t get me wrong, he’s going to have a unique place in NXT UK with his size and build but I wasn’t particularly impressed. NXT UK continues to waste independent star Carter. For the British sports lovers out there, this was a battle between a former professional football star against a former fake rugby star.
A recap was shown of Joseph Conners attacking Travis Banks and Ligero last week along with his clear breakdown promo…
Comments were taken from Travis Banks, Ligero and Conners. Banks said he loves competition but doesn’t like to take shortcuts so Joseph Conners has something coming to him. Ligero said he was going to win and Joseph robbed the fans of a fair fight. Conners simply said that he’s glad that he could leave an impression…
Footage was shown of Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter walking backstage with Ashton telling Carter all they need is one win. Noam Dar walked out of a room and mocked Carter. Smith mockingly fanboyed but then challenged Dar to a match next week. Dar said he will see him on his terms. Niven vs. Jinny (aka the women who can’t do a promo without an autocue) was advertised for next week…
4. Alexander Wolfe defeated Ilja Dragunov. Wolfe beat Ilja with interference from Imperium, so Dragunov was protected. After the match Imperium attacked Dragunov but Gallus came to his defence. The show ended with a tug of war between Walter and Joe Coffey over the NXT UK Championship.
Gleed’s Ramblings: Dragunov is hot right now from the crowd reactions to him to his matches. Considering the silence that Ilja was met with on his debut to now, it’s been a clinic on how to get someone over even when they lose some matches. It’s great to watch. The Imperium and Gallus feud is really interesting and is clearly building to something over the coming weeks and even to NXT UK: Takeover Blackpool 2 in January.
This show was very heavy on storyline developments with the three matches prior to the main event being rather hoo hum but plenty of storyline and character developments in between. The main event made up for ho-hum undercard and was a strong main event. They are finally starting to focus all the way up and down the card with feuds on the lower and mid cards in both the male and female divisions and it’s great to see. My long standing complaint is that the main event scene was always a lot of well booked fun but the rest of the roster felt meaningless, but that’s not the case based on the way they booked this show.
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