NXT UK TV
Taped January 17-18, 2020 in York, England at the York Barbican
Streamed February 6, 2020 on WWE Network
The usual music and video to open the show this week and we were back in York. Tom Phillips and Aiden English were still on the call…
Trent Seven and Eddie Dennis were shown arriving at the building with the announcers talking about the four corners of steel street fight for the main event of the show. Tom Phillips said that Nigel McGuinness was on a magician’s course…
Gleed’s Ramblings: Ok. I’m sure there’s a private joke going on here, but it’s really not funny for the viewer.
1. Piper Niven defeated Dani Luna.
Gleed’s Ramblings: We saw at NXT UK Takeover that Piper Niven is thankfully showing no ill effects from the bout of Bell’s Palsy that she had before Christmas. Dani Luna seems to becoming more of a regular on NXT UK not only as she has entrance music and graphics, but this was more of a competitive match than you would expect from a non contracted member of the roster. Mark my words, she is the next big wrestler to come out of Wales. Before the loss at Takeover, they were telling a great story about Piper being an inspiration for everyone no matter what shape or size. Although she came up short going for the title based on the win here it looks like they are keeping her bubbling away for a possible run at the title again soon.
A well produced video package showing Mark Coffey and Wolfgang accepting the challenge of Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan… You can tell it’s Saudi Arabia season as an advert promoting Goldberg for Smackdown and who’s next was featured…
Jordan Devlin was interviewed about winning the NXT Cruiserweight Title. He said he had said that he was the best pound for pound wrestler and now he has a belt to prove that he is the best wrestler under 205 pounds.
2. Tyler Bate defeated A-Kid.
Afterward, Joseph Conners came out and confronted Bate and said that he has been overlooked and left to rot while comparing himself to Bate. He said that when Bate is ready to stop playing and messing with boys (oh er) then he can step up and face a real man…
Gleed’s Ramblings: This was an ok match, nothing special but not bad either. It didn’t go very long, but it’s understandable considering the amount of toll and traveling Bate went through around the time of the match being recording. I’m not sure this really does anything for A-Kid except he was able to hang for a while with his mentor. Bate should be sent to the main NXT as he doesn’t really have much left to do in NXT UK and I’m not sure how excited anyone will be about his next feud.
Highlights were shown of the main event from last week including Dave Mastiff and Walter confronting one other. Mastiff was backstage looking for Walter. He went into several rooms trying to find him. He kept yelling, “I’m here Walter, come on”…
3. Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter defeated “Pretty Deadly” Sam Stoker and Lewis Howley.
Gleed’s Ramblings: I’m not really digging Pretty Deadly’s gimmick. I know it’s what they use on the UK Independent scene but that’s what it feels like an indyrific act. It’s a shame, as they are definitely a good up and coming tag team. If they are now full time NXT UK, hopefully they can make this work. Speaking of shame, they spent months talking about Smith and Carter needing just that one win to really get the momentum going……..and they have done nothing to showcase them after they did. This was definitely a post Takeover hangover match. That being said, I did enjoy the old fashioned heel beatdown of the babyface teams after the match. It will make the next time they face each other mean something.
Ilja Draganov was shown at the UK PC beating the hell out of tire with a sledgehammer. He was asked what his response was to Joe Coffey saying his days were numbered. Ilja looked disgusted and said this, and beat the hell out of the tyre even more with the sledgehammer (fair enough)…
NXT UK Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray came out for a promo. She stepped into the ring and grabbed a microphone. She said just in case any of you have any doubts, at Takeover she proved how she is the absolute best and it doesn’t matter how many people you throw at her, she’s never giving up the title. She said she started to understand Toni Storm a bit better. The crowd chanted for Toni Storm. She said that having the championship is intoxicating. All the attention, all the respect, the money, the power, the control is all hers, while Toni Storm sits at home with nothing better.
Toni Storm stormed out with microphone in hand. She said Ray stole a victory from her at Takeover knows it. Kay Lee said don’t be jealous babe, it’s not a good look for you, but then again nothing is a good look for you. She said Storm is addicted and to consider this an intervention. She said will give her a championship match and she will make sure Toni quits and has to admit to her family and friends that she isn’t good enough. Ray proposed an I Quit match and if Toni loses, she can no longer challenge for the NXT UK Women’s Title while Kay Lee Ray holds it. Toni seemed to agree with the stipulations…
The Mark Coffey and Wolfgang accepting the challenge of Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan match was advertised for next week…
Eddie Dennis and Trent Seven were shown warming up backstage and we saw that the officials were takings all the turnbuckles off in the ring…
4. Trent Seven defeated Eddie Dennis in a four corners of steel street fight.
Gleed’s Ramblings: Let’s get the negative out of the way. Dennis doesn’t have a lot going for him but he got a little momentum coming out of Takeover after his razor’s edge over the top rope of Seven. He’s still wearing the gawd awful mask and we still don’t know his character. Not only that, what we do know is that he’s psychotic so what did they do when his character was the chance to show how crazy he is in a match where everything is legal? They had him lose to Seven, which makes no sense.
With that being said, both men worked really hard in this match and this was a good street fight with some impressive spots/stunts. If people weren’t too familiar with Dennis before this then they will have much more of an appreciation of what he is prepared to do to his body to entertain. I’m just still baffled by the decision to not have him come out on top. Seven takes nothing from this and Dennis loses so much.
Overall, this was very much a missable episode of NXT UK with only the last two segments being anything of substance. Toni Storm against Kay Lee Ray in an “I Quit” match will be really good and gives them another chance to exorcise the ghost of the poor showing at NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff. The main event was really good to watch, but the result was just baffling. This was the first skippable NXT UK television episode in a while.
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