By Haydn Gleed, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@haydngleed)
The following are the results of the NXT UK television shows that aired Wednesday, July 3 on WWE Network.
Highlights were shown of the Grizzled Young Veterans defeating Moustache Mountain at NXT UK Blackpool to win the NXT UK Tag Team Championship. They showed the road that led us to the main event tonight… Awful music and opening video aired before Vic Joseph and Aiden English checked in from the tent at the Download Festival…
Rhea Ripley made an unannounced entrance and grabbed the microphone. She addressed Piper Niven, saying they had been going back and forth for weeks and she is sick and tired of her saying that she is the most dominant woman in NXT UK. Instead of waiting until later for their match, let’s have it now. Piper Niven’s music played and she came running down to the ring. They got in each other’s faces in the ring…
1. Piper Niven defeated Rhea Ripley. Lots of brawling early on between the two, which matched their story but didn’t make for the most exciting start, especially if the viewers weren’t familiar with Niven. However, when the action settled down it was a well wrestled match, very much of in the style of a giant’s contest which they both are in the female division. Enjoyable and coming out of it Piper looks really strong, and Rhea showed if she had cut out her taunting she may have put Niven away. The crowd were very pro Rhea, which was surprising and frustrating. I’ll never understand why fans cheer for the clear heel unless they want to get themselves over which is just a sad character trait…
Kenny Williams was asked what was in his mind when he went down to ringside to watch Noam Dar’s match last week. As he started to speak, Noam attacked him and knocked him into the mud. Noam held Kenny’s face in the mud and said this is where you belong wee man…
A video package for Ilja Draganov was shown and a graphic told us that he would be in action next week…
2. Alexander Wolfe defeated Jack Starz. There’s a new star in NXT UK that’s making their brand debut, who you gonna call? JACK STARZ! I joke, but he sells so well for the bigger guys that he’s the perfect person for this role. Not a total squash, but a 80/20 offence split and, of course, Wolfe came out looking like a badass…
Wolfgang grabbed a cameraman, Gallus complained about having to perform at the Download Festival, and they will send The Hunt and Dave Mastiff back into the crowd at Download with the mud, the goths, and the great unwashed. They continued to talk trash about their opponents for next week before throwing the cameraman out of their trailer…
Toni Storm was showcased with a video package with Vic Joseph talking about the opponents she has beaten. Vic said Storm will be in action next week…
3. Jazzy Gabert (w/Jinny) defeated Dani Luna and Mercedes Blaze in a handicap match. A complete squash in this two on one match. A match that was designed to get over how dominant Jazzy is and they succeeded…
Kassius Ohno took part in a sit-down interview. He said that NXT UK was in a state of emergency. He said that if you wanted to keep the integrity of British Wrestling then they need him. He talked about the five founding fathers of NXT UK including the “younger stepbrother” Mark Andrews. He criticized Andrews and complained that he doesn’t respect the integrity of British Wrestling. He pointed out that Andrews says he models his superkick on Shawn Michaels while ignoring the fact that it was pioneered by British wrestler “Gentleman” Chris Adams. Ohno said he is there to teach the Mark Andrews of the roster about the real British wrestling…
Gleed’s Ramblings: A great sit-down promo with Kassius staying true to the character that he’s been playing in NXT UK while also starting a logical and interesting setup for a match with Mark Andrews.
4. “The Grizzled Young Veterans” Zack Gibson and James Drake fought “Moustache Mountain” Tyler Bate and Trent seven to an apparent no-contest. Imperium came out and charged the ring for the no-contest. There were lots of chants from the crowd towards Drake including “he’s got his whole face on his ass” to the tune of he’s got the whole world in his hands. As for the match, it wasn’t anywhere near the quality of their NXT UK Blackpool match, and logically it shouldn’t have been. The crowd was so hot down the stretch when they thought that the babyfaces were going to win before the Imperium interreference. The beatdown was brutal and put so much heat on the European foursome and sympathy on the babyfaces, especially when a handcuffed Trent was screaming “Tyler!” while Bate was out cold at ringside. Ultimately, it was a serviceable main event with a story now being told of Moustache Mountain pivoting their attention from the Grizzled Young Veterans to Imperium to join Pete Dunne in his battle against them…
Gleed’s Ramblings: The main event finish wasn’t satisfying, but it means there’s a logical reason for a third match between these four men down the line. I was critical of the crowd earlier, but when they chanted “Walter’s bitches” at the Imperium members I laughed so hard. As for the Grizzled Young Veterans, I’m still sticking by my prediction that they will face Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster at NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff, and the pop if the hometown boys Andrews and Flash win the belts will be huge.
This was a heel show that the main roster should learn from. What I mean by that was although you had Piper Niven going over at the beginning the show, the rest involved heels Alexander Wolfe, Gallus, Jazzy Gabbert, Kassius Ohno, Grizzled Young Veterans, and Imperium all looking strong. This is the way to build up strong heels for the babyfaces to finally overcome. It was not the most entertaining episode of NXT UK that there’s been, but you get the sense coming out of it that you’ll want to watch next week’s show to see some of the babyfaces get their revenge.
Dot Net Members have exclusive access to Haydn Gleed’s weekly NXT UK audio reviews. For more details, visit PWMembership.net.
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“I’ll never understand why fans cheer for the clear heel unless they want to get themselves over which is just a sad character trait…”
Well said Haydn! I have been banging this drum for a while, nobody has a better reply than “we can cheer who we want”.