By Haydn Gleed, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@haydngleed)
NXT UK TV
Taped November 15-16, 2019 in Hull, England at Bonus Arena
Streamed December 5, 2019 on WWE Network
Opening music and video played before the broadcast team of Tom Phillips and Nigel McGuiness checked in. Shots were shown of Gallus and Imperium arriving to the building. Philips told us that we would get “historic negotiations” between the factions tonight…
1. Toni Storm defeated Killer Kelly. This was the first match in NXT UK for Toni Storm since the Takeover in Cardiff. She showed a more aggressive, no nonsense approach.
After the match, Storm grabbed the microphone at ringside. As she was about to speak, Kay Lee Ray attacked her from behind until Piper Niven charged to the ring. Kay Lee Ray bailed to the outside and smiled at her handy work on Storm. Niven offered a handshake, but Storm got up and knocked her hand away. She stormed out of the ring and down the aisle.
Gleed’s Ramblings: Not exactly a heel turn by Toni, but it certainly wasn’t the same Storm we’ve seen. The match lasted about three minutes and 80 percent of the match was Toni on offence. I’m still perplexed with what they are doing with Killer Kelly. They gave her promo time and a build up after returning from injury and she’s now lost to Toni Storm and Isla Dawn within a number of weeks. Very confusing.
Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster were interviewed backstage. He said it’s rare that they agree with the Grizzled Young Veterans. Gallus attacked them probably out of fear. Where they disagree is that they had the match won before the attack not the Grizzled Young Veterans. Mark Andrews stared straight into the camera and addressed Johnny Saint and Sid Scala directly. He said there is no number one contender for a match against Gallus at NXT UK Blackpool so give them a chance to prove they aren’t one hit wonders.
A video was shown of Niven following Toni Storm, who was yelling “I don’t need your help, I just need my title back.” Storm told Niven to stay away from her.
Gleed’s Ramblings: I’m actually enjoying this dynamic and shift in character of Toni Storm.
2. “The Hunt” Wild Boar and Primate defeated “The Outliers” Dan Matha and Riddick Moss. They had a moment at the start of the match when you could see the size difference between North American wrestlers and British wrestlers (and it was quite depressing). McGuiness was framing the size difference as it not mattering and saying it’s all about how you apply holds, which gave this a nice sports like feel.
Gleed’s Ramblings: The Outliers were the clear heels in this match and were taunting the British pair and the crowd continuously during the contest. The match itself wasn’t anything special and a pretty formulaic tag team match. It was similar to a couple of weeks ago when Kona Reeves went after the crowd. It became obvious who would win the match once the NXT duo acted incredibly arrogant but brought the crowd into this nicely. I could have done without the six diving headbutts at the end of the match considering the damage they can do.
3. Jordan Devlin defeated A Kid. After a great back and forth at the start of the match, Devlin focused on the leg and had the young Spaniad down. Tyler Bate came to ringside and Devlin was mocking him at points during the match when he was on top.
Gleed’s Ramblings: A-Kid really impressed in this match, not only with the great back and forth at the start of the match but the arm drag from balancing on the top rope was outstanding, as was a running moonsault to the outside. They gave him an out as he was on top on several occasions during the match but couldn’t capitalise because of the “injured” leg. However, with Bate and Devlin feuding, Devlin going over was the right thing. The viciousness displayed by Jordan along with the heel commentator Nigel saying even he thought Devlin was going too far really added heat to the Irishman. In one match, they managed to forward a feud, make Devlin look like a beast, and put over the talent of A-Kid. Good stuff.
Jinny did a selfie video from the UK Performance Centre. She said yes Piper Niven defeated her but it was disrespectful. Jazzy Gabert got ejected from ringside which was disrespectful. She said everyone is talking about how Jinny and Jazzy are getting on and everything is fine. She went to repeat that, but Jazzy stopped her and said very coyly, everything is fine and walked off. Jinny looked on open mouthed.
4. Joseph Conners defeated Ligero and Travis Banks in a Triple Threat.
Gleed’s Ramblings: When Conners fell to the outside early, I rolled my eyes while fearing a standard WWE-esque Triple Threat, but it didn’t turn out like that. Yes, there were times when someone was selling but it was usually in the ring but mostly it was one man either hitting double moves on both of his opponents or strategically going after both of his opponents. Conners appeared to break his nose with a lot of blood covering his face, which they didn’t shy away from but at the same time didn’t highlight/glorify it. There was one moment that I didn’t like where Conners was selling at ringside and appeared to be knocked out, the ref stealthy tried to hand him a wipe to get rid of the blood around his nose but you could clearly see Conners wipe the blood away even though he was supposed to be out for the count. Overall, though, this was a great showcase for all three men and they produced a very entertaining match. I question the choice of Conners winning this match because in my mind he is the guy with the least upside, but that may be down to personal preference.
Kassius Ohno did a selfie video. He said he has had time to reflect on his match with Tyler Bate. He is not one to complain or whine, but Bate got under his skin. He said he managed to lose sight of why he came to NXT UK and that was to prove that he is the best British wrestler alive…
Sid Scala and Johnny Saint were in the ring along with a table and two chairs. The crowd chanted “Johnny” to which he bowed. Scala introduced Joe Coffey representing Gallus and Walter representing Imperium. Coffey came out to a great reaction and played into the cheers, meaning Gallus has definitely turned. Both men grabbed the microphone. Joe said that if the boys in Imperium keep going down this route they are going to get hurt. Walter said you talk too much and asked what his terms were.
Joe Coffey said you turned up at NXT UK Blackpool in January, you made your entrance and was the lasting image from that show. He looked at the NXT UK Championship and said that’s what he wants. Walter sarcastically said what a surprise. He said he doesn’t back down from any challenge, but you don’t get anything for free, what’s in it for him. Coffey demanded to know his terms. Walter said Wolfgang and Mark Coffey against Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner. He also said that he wants Ilja Dragunov against Alexander Wolfe in a no DQ match. Joe said the problem is Dragunov is not in his firm so he can’t demand him to do anything. Walter said okay, no deal, and started to walk off, but Ilja’s music hit and out he came with a microphone.
The crowd was fully behind the Russian. He simply said make the agreement. Coffey rubbed his hands together and said it seems we have a deal then. Sid Scala summed everything up by saying next week it’s Gallus against Imperium for the tag titles. Dragunov will meet Wolfe in a no DQ match on a future event, and Walter will defend his title against Joe Coffey in the main event of NXT UK Blackpool: 2. Coffey and Ilja nodded at each other.
Dragunov and Walter had a moment with the champion saying Dragunov just made the worst decision of his life. Alexander Wolfe grabbed Dragunov from under the ring with Barthel and Aichner running through the crowd. They threw him in the ring where Walter hit him with a big boot. The show concluded with Wolfe putting Dragunov through the table…
Gleed’s Ramblings: Lets get the negatives out of the way and it’s all to do with the show closing segment. Joe Coffey is so much more confident on the mic than he’s ever been and it’s clear that he’s tapping into the Glaswegian inside him, but there just seems to be something missing and I can’t quite put my finger on it. He just doesn’t come across as a bad ass Glaswegian, but instead someone playing what they think is a gang member from Glasgow. Also, considering Joe Coffey only just got a title match because of Dragunov and had literally only just left the entrance ramp, why didn’t he come back out to help Ilja? For that matter surely the rest of Gallus were within distance to come out and take out their foes. It just felt a bit convenient that no one came out to help and not how you would expect it to play out in real life.
Aside from that I did enjoy NXT UK again this week. A-Kid had another great showing. Jordan Devlin looked like a vicious mofo, and left me looking forward to when he and Bate have a match. I’m intrigued with what they are doing with Toni Storm/Piper Niven/Kay Lee Ray and the wrestling main event was hugely entertaining. A mixed bag shall we say.
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