By Haydn Gleed, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@haydngleed)
NXT UK TV
Taped November 15-16, 2019 in Hull, England at Bonus Arena
Streamed December 19, 2019 on WWE Network
Gleed’s Ramblings:
After the usual opening, Tom Phillips and Nigel McGuiness set the stage for the night with Tom talking about NXT UK Takeover: Blackpool which is just thee weeks from Sunday away…
Kenny Williams and Amir Jordan made their entrance, which is the first time in six months they have teamed together. Their opponents in the match would be Pretty Deadly, who have already been on NXT UK as enhancement wrestlers…
1. Kenny Williams and Amir Jordan defeated “Pretty Deadly” Sam Stoker and Lewis Howley.
Gleed’s Ramblings: I’m still impressed by Pretty Deadly and think they have an upside as a pretty boy heel tag team. They are seen by some as the current top independent tag team up and comers in the UK and are regulars with Rev Pro and Progress. Considering this was supposed to be a feel good moment for Amir making his return it was logic for them to win. My concern would be is they built this up as a big moment with their entrances…..and there was silent. Hopefully they work harder to get the babyface duo over, as Amir has talent and Williams are very underutilised in NXT UK. In all fairness, despite the silence during the entrances, they did get pretty good reactions when they hit their high spots.
Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner were shown walking backstage. A “reporter” asked what their reaction is to last week’s announcement. He said everyone knows that they had Gallus beat in the ring and it’s a disgrace. Marcel said that a ladder match is against what they stand for as the mat is sacred. He said if they have to win a ladder match to make changes so be it… They played the theme song for Takeover Blackpool…
Ligero did a selfie style promo and said that he first met Kassius Ohno in 2004 and he was this skinny kid. He said Ohno pulled him aside and offered him in advice and he has nothing but respect for him. But he said he faced Kassius in New York and he turned his mask around so he couldn’t see and hit him in the back of the head. When he came around he realised that he may have respect for Kassius, but Kassius has no respect for him. He said the next time they face each other, he will beat respect into him…
Gleed’s Ramblings: You know, grading on a Ligero curve, (i.e. his usual awful wooden promos) this wasn’t too bad.
Trent Seven came out for a promo. The announcers talked about what happened last week when Eddie Dennis beat up Trent’s opponent and offered him the opportunity to win the match. The crowd chanted the usual Trent Seven army song. Trent said thank you. He said he’s been around the business for quite some time now, and he thought he knew how things work. He said it’s quite apparent that Eddie Dennis wants his attention. He said they grew up in the same wrestling circles and he knows him, but he said that when Eddie grabbed his hand from the crowd he looked at Eddie and he didn’t recognise the man staring back.
Seven talked about his opponent last week as a kid who was given an opportunity on NXT UK and how Eddie took that from him. He said not only did he beat the kid from pillar to post, but he also offered him up as some kind of gift. He said it’s weird that Dennis doesn’t get it. He said do me a favour, just come out here and we can sort it out.
Eddie Dennis’s music hit and out he came with a microphone. Trent asked what he was doing and recalled that Dennis quit his job to become a WWE star vs. NXT UK. Seven continued that he knows he was out for eight months with an injury and he knows that’s going to do something to you and perhaps that’s what we are seeing. He said maybe he’s a target because he was there from the start. He then did his rah-rah speech about how it was him, British Strong Style and the fans who built NXT. Eddie Dennis smashed Seven with the microphone. Dennis stood over him and said I’ll see you at Takeover Blackpool and then left.
Gleed’s Ramblings: I’ll have quite a bit to say about this in my weekly Dot Net Members’ audio review, but Eddie just doesn’t suit this character. This feels to me like a wasted opportunity, as what Trent was saying was what long time fans of the UK Independent scene are saying. They could have still had the ending with Eddie attacking Trent with a microphone, but if we had had some kind of character development or some kind of back story as to why he acts the way he is at the moment it would have gone a long way. Alas, that’s not what they did.
A video package was shown promoting the three way match at NXT Takeover Blackpool between Kay Lee Ray, Toni Storm and Piper Niven. They had some great comments from Toni Storm, who’s playing the tweener role. She said her and Piper have been friends for years and are like sisters, but she thought the same about Kay Lee Ray and look what happened. So who can you trust?
Gleed’s Ramblings: I hope this video package means that Piper is good to go after her attack of Bell’s Palsy. Get well soon, Viper!
They promoted that next week would be a best of NXT UK 2019 show, (which means I’ve got the week off!)…
2. Jinny (w/Jazzy Gabert) defeated Amale.
Gleed’s Ramblings: Amale is from France. She might be the first NXT UK talent I don’t know much about. I can’t say that she impressed me, but in all fairness she wasn’t put in a position too against Jinny. One day Jinny might do something different in her ring entrance. It’s always come out on stage, stares at the crowd, looks around like a robot while walking down to the ring, climbs on the apron and slowly climbs into the ring, does a silly dance, and does another robot stare. It might just be me, but I find it incredibly annoying.
After the match, Jinny commanded Jazzy into the ring and instructed her to beat down Amale. Jinny commanded Jazzy to hit Amale one more time. After Jazzy did it, Jinny commanded her to do it again. Jazzy went to pick Amale up but turned to Jinny and said no. She left the ring with Jinny looking furious.
RADZI!! knocked on Imperium’s locker room door. Walter came out and Radzi asked him how it felt to be facing Joe Coffey at NXT UK Blackpool (I popped!). Walter said he doesn’t want to talk about Joe Coffey but instead Alexander Wolfe will defeat Joe Coffey’s puppet Ilja Draganov, and that will mean they have the tactical advantage. Nigel McGuiness confirmed that the match would happen in two weeks…
3. Tyler Bate defeated Noam Dar. Tyler won despite Jordan Devlin coming with the intention of distracting the man from Dudley, but Bate hit Tyler Driver 97 and got the victory. As he was about to celebrate Jordan slid in the ring but backed off once he realised he did have the sneak advantage. Tyler shouted, you and me at NXT Takeover Blackpool.
Gleed’s Ramblings: So there we go. As for the match, it was a good match which they really worked hard to make it feel epic. My biggest complaint is the fact that I didn’t feel there was anything on the line so there was no emotional investment for me. If Tyler won so what? If Noam cheated to win so what? As an exhibition it was terrific but there just wasn’t that hook for me to really want to see one or the other win.
NXT UK have had a run of about eight shows in a row where the main event has been terrific and this was no exception despite the fact that I wouldn’t call it a must see match because there just wasn’t any reason to really invest in it. The other two matches were below forgettable, but we did see a continuation of the tension between Jinny and Jazzy Gabert, we got a challenge of Eddie Dennis against Trent Seven, and Tyler Bate against Jordan Devlin. As such, it was a newsworthy show despite the lackluster matches aside from the main event.
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