By Haydn Gleed, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@haydngleed)
NXT UK TV
Taped July 19-20 in Plymouth, England at Plymouth Pavilions
Aired August 7, 2019 on WWE Network
The video that aired on Raw and Smackdown was shown for the gone but never forgotten great Harley Race to open the show… We moved straight into the opening video and music and we were back in the beautiful city of Plymouth for the second show of these tapings… Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuiness were on the call again this week, and they promoted Dave Mastiff against Joe Coffey as the main event…
1. Noam Dar defeated Ashton Smith.> Dar won via pinfall following a Rollernova.
Gleed’s Ramblings: A decent outing for Smith with the announcers continuing to play up that he has a lot of potential but he just needs wins. I suspect this will be a story played out after Takeover. Dar put in an average Noam performance, which is not a bad thing. They need to pull back somewhat on the fake injury spot as it was novel and fun the first time, but it now makes his opponents look stupid when they fall for it.
Radzi climbed in the ring to interview Dar. Radzi said Noam was on a hell of a run. Noam said when he put his transfer request in he could have gone anywhere but he came to NXT UK because of the big fat contract they gave him. He said in his contract is a clause that states he has to be involved in every big event, so he will be in Cardiff for NXT Takeover…
Tyler Bate was at the NXT UK Performance Centre coming out of the doctor’s office. He was asked about his thoughts on his match with Walter at NXT UK Takeover. He said Trent Seven is not medically cleared, but he is. He said Walter will no longer be allowed to disrespect the WWE UK Championship and he will make history by becoming the first ever two-time WWE UK Champion…
“The Grizzled Young Veterans” Zack Gibson and James Drake came out for a promo. Gibson held the microphone with the crowd greeting him with “shoes off if you hate Gibson”. He went through his usual introduction spiel. He said a little bird has told him that Gallus are asking for a title shot at Takeover Cardiff. He said the Gallus crew has been on quite an impressive streak, but don’t forget they have only been beating Joe Blogs and Johnny Kickpads. He was interrupted by Mark Coffey, who came out and said whoa. Coffey said they have not been campaigning, hell they haven’t been asking, they are taking their championship match.
Mark Andrews and fellow Welshman Flash Morgan Webster came out. Andrews said he will admit that they are two of the best teams in the world, but before you get carried away regarding the match at Takeover, don’t think for a second that they could come into their hometown and take over without them two. Gibson asked what made him think he deserved a shot at these titles. He said at least Gallus have been winning matches instead of being at the doctors office getting held together by tape. Gallus said they agreed with the champions.
Andrews and Webster said they could beat both teams. Gibson said “calm down, calm down” (UK comedy reference which the crowd loved). He continued by saying they can argue all day, but ultimately it’s Johnny Saint who makes the matches. Gibson spoke about how he and Drake earned their spots and said if Webster and Andrews want in at Takeover Cardiff then they need to earn it…
Gleed’s Ramblings: A nice segment building up a potential three-way tag match for Takeover.
A video package was shown on the NXT UK roster preparing for NXT UK Takeover Cardiff…
Gleed’s Ramblings: A nice video package with comments from several roster members staying in character.
Travis Banks was shown coming out of Johnny Saint’s office. Radzi questioned what he was doing in there. Before Banks answered, Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews were shown going into Saint’s office. Travis said he was coming for Noam Dar, but Johnny Saint said he has to earn it. He also stated that Dar was lying about the stipulation in his contract, and Dar will also have to earn a spot.
Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews were shown coming out of the office. Radzi asked them what they had been doing in the office. The audio and the video messed up and all we heard was the final lines of Andrews saying they will earn their spot.
Gleed’s Ramblings: Lots of people having to earn their spots. I checked with a friend and it wasn’t just a glitch on my side, I blame the new WWE network app.
2. Jinny and Jazzy Gabert defeated Xia Brookside and Piper Niven. The end of the match came when Rhea Ripley came to the ringside and then fought Piper Niven to the back, with Xia being left in a two on one situation.
Gleed’s Ramblings: Niven wore a black armband that had the symbol of a lion and a heart, which was nice touch since she was close to the late Lionheart from their ICW days. It was a good outing from all four women with Brookside continuing to impress, especially with the heart she showed when she was left on her own. There was a nice moment in the match when Niven and Gabert faced off, which showed the diversity that exists with the type of wrestlers in the division. Ripley and Piper continued their feud and I’m looking forward to the inevitable match between these two powerhouses. They are also continuing the feud between Jinny and Jazzy Gabert with Brookside, would be elevated if she manages to come out on top.
Another video package showed the history between Toni Storm and Kay Lee Ray with some great footage shown of their matches from matches in multiple UK independent companies all over Great Britain. They included clips from the sit down settings from both and again built up this feud on a personal and professional level even further…
Draganov was about to be interviewed in a dark room. Kassius Ohno walked in and turned on a light. He started mocking Dragnov, who barked at him, which led to Ohno walking out of the room… It was announced that Draganov will face Ohno in next week’s television main event, and Webster will face Mark Coffey in attempt to show that he and Andrews deserve a tag title match…
3. Dave Mastiff and Joe Coffey fought to a double count-out. Trainers and Sid Scala checked on Coffey and Mastiff as they stared each other down afterward. Mark Coffey and Wolfgang came out to drag Joe Coffey away as Mastiff was going crazy with the crowd chanting “let them fight” as the show closed…
Gleed’s Ramblings: The hard hitting match that you would expect from two of the biggest men on the NXT UK roster. They told a good story that Dave Mastiff injured his lower back with a fall into an exposed turnbuckle and Coffey looked ruthless going after that area. Mastiff looked like a real tough guy for sticking it out. They then flipped it when Coffey got a stiff punch to the ear. An enjoyable stiff match even though the crowd didn’t like the end result. The ending of the match suggests to me that we get some form of No DQ or Last Man Standing match at Takeover.
From now on I’m just going to copy and paste “another good show from the NXT UK crew” to use for every show. They are ramping up to Takeover and the two biggest matches are still getting attention, but we saw what looks like the genesis of four further matches focused on during this episode. I’m guessing Rhea Ripley vs. Piper Niven could be a pre-show match, and it looks like we are going to get Noam Dar vs. Travis Banks, Joe Coffey vs. Dave Mastiff in a gimmick match, and Gallus vs. Grizzled Young Vets vs. Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews for the NXT UK Tag Titles. On paper, the five main matches don’t look as strong as Takeover Blackpool, but considering how further developed the characters are since January the matches should feel stronger.
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