By Laurence Gibbons, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@Gibbonsgob)
NXT UK TV
Taped in London, England at BT Sport Studios
Streamed March 4, 2021 on WWE Network
This week’s show kicked off with a hype package for the NXT UK Women’s Championship main event between Kay Lee Ray and Meiko Satomura, featuring interviews with members of the WWE women’s roster…
Ilja Dragunov made his entrance, followed by Sam Gradwell trash talking him for being a ‘soviet baby’…
1. Ilja Dragunov vs. Sam Gradwell. As the bell rang, Gradwell continued to attempt to wind up Dragunov by hitting him with a slap across the face. After an even first couple of minutes, Dragunov busted Gradwell open with a stiff knee. Dragunov looked close to snapping when Gradwell hit him with an elbow and said he was ‘letting his family down’.
Dragunov managed to calm himself down before missing a senton from the top rope. When Dragunov also missed the Torpedo Moscow, Gradwell chopped him across the back. This caused the “Moscow Madman” to snap and unleash an endless succession of elbows until the referee called for the bell.
Ilja Dragunov defeated Sam Gradwell in 8:06.
After the bell, Dragunov continued to attack Gradwell and then cornered the referee. He finally cooled down and seemed to regret his actions.
Gibbons’ Opinion: This was a fairly decent start to the show as the wrestlers worked a solid match. It did have the feeling of inevitability to it though. I’m not sure why Dragunov is so worried about snapping as Gradwell seemed fine after the match. Plus, his rage attacks always give him the win. Does he want to lose? Gradwell has been great at taunting Dragunov over the past few weeks. If Dragunov had snapped and got disqualified surely that would have set up something more interesting moving forward. Plus, it would give Dragunov a reason to want to avoid snapping.
Backstage, we saw Kay Lee Ray preparing for her title defence…
We then saw a vignette for Teoman which built on last week’s first look at him. He referenced his former name Lucky Kid in the promo and announced he would debut next week…
Xia Brookside was seen backstage with Aleah James exploiting Nina Samuels as her assistant in the tea room…
Noam Dar welcomed us to Supernova Sessions. He started by reading out some fan mail and then introduced his guest Tyler Bate. Bate tried to explain his new zen outlook on life to a confused Dar. Dar teased Bate for his vegan lifestyle, throwing vegetables on him, before attempting to antagonise him about his loss to A-Kid. Dar claimed Bate didn’t have a chance in his match with Dave Mastiff, next week. Bate raised his fist to Dar who ducked out the way…
Gibbons’ Opinion: I like Tyler Bate. I like Noam Dar. But I’m not sure I liked this. I get that Dar taunting Bate for being zen could be entertaining but it just didn’t seem to work.
We saw promotional packages for Ben Carter, Aleah James and Isla Dawn…
Kenny Williams and Amir Jordan made their entrance…
2. Kenny Williams and Amir Jordan vs. Ashton Smith and Benjamin Carter. Carter and Williams started the match at a quick pace with the two trading early rollups. Both teams made the most of quick tags in and out. Smith’s power helped his team gain the upper hand.
Carter and Smith kept Jordan in their corner for a few minutes and exploited quick tags and double team moves. They looked to have the match under control until Williams made the hot tag and sent both his opponents to the outside. Jordan and Williams hit stereo dives to the outside.
Jordan scored a close two count after a senton on Smith. Williams took out Smith on the outside. In the ring, Carter had Jordan in a roll up but Williams hooked his leg to reverse the pin and give his team the win.
Kenny Williams and Amir Jordan defeated Ashton Smith and Benjamin Carter in 8:09.
Gibbons’ Opinion: This marked a good return from injury for Kenny Williams as he displayed brain and brawn in the closing moments to give his team the win. Smith had new gear and continued what has been a noticeable improvement in the ring. On a whole it was a pretty average tag match.
A hype package for next week’s mixed tag match between Piper Niven and Jack Starz and Jinny and Joseph Conners aired…
Jordan and Williams gloated about their win and said they were on track for a tag title shot…
McGuinness talked us through the tale of the tape for the NXT UK Women’s Championship bout…
The challenger Meiko Satomura entered the BT Sports Studio first. Kay Lee Ray made her entrance whilst Andy Shepherd bigged up her 551-day title reign.
3. Kay Lee Ray vs. Meiko Satomura for the NXT UK Women’s Championship. Satomura came out of the traps the best, working the wrist and taking the champion down with a kick to the thigh. KLR attempted to get into the match but was sent to the outside by Satomura as we saw members of the NXT UK women’s roster watching via the video screens.
Satomura locked in an STF forcing KLR to crawl across the ring for the rope break. Satomura worked the leg to keep KLR grounded. KLR hit a DDT from the ring apron to the outside. She attempted a Gory Bomb, but Satomura reversed this into the Death Valley Bomb onto the outside ring apron. The referee started the count and KLR just got back into the ring at the count of nine.
KLR hit a spinning DDT, but when Satomura kicked out at two, she locked in her submission. Satomura managed to get her leg to the rope. KLR broke the submission and Satomura hit her with the Death Valley Driver for a close two count. Satomura failed to capitalise when KLR got the knees up as she attempted a Frog Splash. KLR hit a superkick, followed by the Gory Bomb but this only scored a two. KLR blocked the Scorpion Rising but Satomura reversed her attempted Gory Bomb into a sunset flip.The champion kicked out at two. KLR finally hit a Gory Bomb for the win.
Kay Lee Ray defeated Meiko Satomura in 16:48 to retain the NXT UK Women’s Championship.
Gibbons’ Opinion: This was a very solid main event that certainly lived up to the hype. They teased both a count-out and a DQ victory for KLR which made you think there might be a clever finish coming. Throughout the match they definitely made you feel both women could get the victory. Both champion and challenger hit a number of big moves and scored falls that felt like they could have won the bout. Very entertaining.
Overall, it is a massive win for Kay Lee Ray, as Satomura has been presented as the best women’s wrestler in the world. I’m not sure where either fighter goes from here. Satomura seems too much of a prize fighter to not be competing for the championship. Maybe she will have to build herself back up from the ground up and earn another title shot. That would certainly be a good way to get her in the ring with a lot of the women on the roster. Who will challenge Kay Lee Ray next? I’m not sure. They will need to build someone up a lot to get her to feel like a worthy challenger. Perhaps NXT UK can take the time to do this but if they are to be afforded this we may need to see a title programme for Walter.
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