By Laurence Gibbons, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@Gibbonsgob)
NXT UK TV
Taped in London, England at BT Sport Studios
Streamed February 17, 2022 on WWE Network and Peacock
The broadcast team was Andy Shepherd and Nigel McGuinness…
Sam Gradwell made his entrance to kick off the show. Kenny Williams came out on crutches and claimed he’d had a terrible accident and couldn’t compete in their scheduled match. Sid Scala appeared on the screen and said Williams was fit to compete. Gradwell grabbed Williams and chucked him in the ring…
1. Sam Gradwell. vs. Kenny Williams. Gradwell whipped Williams from pillar to post . Williams grabbed the Mohawk of Gradwell, racked his eye and took him down with a shot to the knee.
Williams hit a rope assisted lariat and then remained on top for a few moments. Gradwell rolled out the ring for a breather and came back in on top. Gradwell came close to a win from a clothesline and leg sweep. Gradwell ducked a clothesline attempt and rolled up Williams for the win.
Sam Gradwell defeated Kenny Williams in 3:54.
After the bell, Williams attacked Gradwell with his crutch. Williams grabbed some scissors and cut of Gradwell’s Mohawk off…
Gibbons’ Opinion: Superb heel work from Williams for every second he was on the screen. Feigning an injury to try and get out of the match is pretty classic work but chopping off someone’s mohawk is very original. It was a quick but entertaining match.
Backstage, Gallus was laughing at their mocking of Jordan Devlin last week. Wolfgang said he wasn’t laughing and was going to be serious in the ring in his match with Devlin later…
Xia Brookside took offense to an interviewer asking her if she was a role model like Amale and stormed off…
Dave Mastiff gave Jack Starz some challenges in order to earn a ring jacket like his. Starz had to do two hours of squats, eat dry weetabix and streak through the PC. Starz refused to do the streak…
Backstage, Gradwell searched for Kenny Williams… Emilia McKenzie made her entrance…
2. Emilia McKenzie vs. Angel Hayze. McKenzie put Hayze in a headlock but Hayze shifted the weight and rolled up McKenzie. McKenzie kicked out Hayze put another pin on. Hayze hit a hip toss and worked the jaw.
McKenzie fought back with aggressive strikes. She put a stiff headlock on and a rag-dolled Hayze. Hayze worked out and rained down some strikes before planting McKenzie with a sling blade. McKenzie turned things back her way with a swinging neck breaker and deadlift belly-to-back suplex. McKenzie hit a facebuster for the victory.
Emilia McKenzie defeated Angel Hayze in 4:58.
Gibbons’ Opinion: It was nice to see Hayze get another decent showing in this evenly-weighted bout. McKenzie seemed to have a better focus and aggression than we’ve seen from her. Hopefully this will be the start of a push for her that ends with her challenging her mentor Meiko Satomura for the NXT UK Women’s Championship.
Hot off the heels of his victory against Teoman, Nathan Frazer challenged Ilja Dragunov to a match for his NXT UK Championship…
Teoman reflected on his loss to Frazer with the rest of Die Familie. Charlie Dempsey said the loss could bring them closer together… Stevie Turner made her entrance…
3. Stevie Turner vs. Myla Grace. Turner took Grace to the corner and slapped her across the chest. Grace took Turner down with an arm drag. Grace used her acrobatics to avoid Turner. Turner finally got her hands on Grace and hit a brutal kick. Turner locked on a reverse chin lock. Grace got out but Turner landed a kick and put the submission back on.
Grace got out the hold again and hit a couple of strikes followed by her version of the 619 to the ribs. Grace came close to a win from a tornado DDT. Turner hit a kick and the side slam for the win.
Stevie Turner defeated Myla Grace in 4:35.
Gibbons’ Opinion: This was another opportunity for Grace to show what she can do and she took advantage of the spotlight. This was all about getting Turner back on winning ways after recent losses and building her back up.
We got news that there will be a celebration for Meiko Satomura next week…
A hype package aired ahead of next week’s NXT UK Tag Team Championship match featuring Moustache Mountain vs. Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter. We also got the announcement that Xia Brookside would face Amale next week…
Jordan Devlin made his entrance for the main event. Wolfgang made his entrance flanked by the rest of Gallus who then headed to the back…
4. Jordan Devlin vs. Wolfgang. Wolfgang worked the wrist and arm for the opening moments. Devlin struggled to take Wolfgang off his feet. Wolfgang sent Devlin to the outside and dropped him on the barricade. Devlin looked for the springboard cutter back into the ring but Wolfgang caught him and hit a stalling vertical suplex.
Wolfgang stayed on top of a busted open Devlin until he missed a charge and went flying to the outside. Devlin went for a moonsault to the outside but Wolfgang caught him. Devlin managed to send Wolfgang’s arm into the ring post to swing things his way.
Back in the ring, Devlin now focussed on the arm of Wolfgang. Wolfgang managed to bench press Devlin but his arm gave away. Wolfgang went for a moonsault but Devlin got his knees up and put the armbar on. Devlin picked away at the arm. Wolfgang rallied but struggled to use his left arm.
Wolfgang missed a spear allowing Devlin to hit the springboard cutter for a close two. Wolfgang hit the spear but hurt his own arm and couldn’t capitalize. Wolfgang went to the top but Devlin leaped up and hit the Spanish Fly. Devlin hit the 450 splash for the win.
Jordan Devlin defeated Wolfgang in 13:40.
Gibbons’ Opinion: This was a very solid match. Good storytelling throughout from the initial immovable object of Wolfgang having total control to the injury allowing Devlin to gain control. I enjoyed this from bell-to-bell. I expected we might see interference from the Coffey brothers and then perhaps Noam Dar and Sha Samuels to set up a future six-man tag. But it was nice to have a good clean fight. A very enjoyable NXT UK episode that had a focus on who might be the next top stars as opposed to the more established top tier talent.
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