By Haydn Gleed, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@haydngleed)
NXT UK TV
Taped March 6-7, 2020 in Coventry, England at Coventry Skydome Arena
Streamed March 19, 2020 on WWE Network
Gleed’s Ramblings: I hope you and your family are well. Apologies for the week delay in getting these results written up. Last week, the UK was put on full lockdown, which meant we had to transfer 700-plus individuals immediately onto a work from home solution in my real life job, so to say I’ve been stressed the last week is an understatement. I am catching up, and this week’s show review will be up tomorrow.
A recap of Finn Balor making an appearance on NXT UK last week and the attempt to attack him. They also showed him defeating Alexander Wolfe… After the usual music and video, Andy Shepherd and Nigel McGuinness checked in and hyped that we were on the road to WrestleMania…
1. NXT UK Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray defeated Dani Luna. During Kay Lee’s entrance, they talked about Rhea Ripley as being the former champion and her current status in NXT US (they failed to mention the fact that Rhea decided to bury the whole division by saying that there isn’t many credible female wrestlers NXT UK is awful but I digress).
Gleed’s Ramblings: I’ve waited a week to rant about this, but was there any real need for Rhea Ripley to bury NXT UK? Nobody’s commentated on it because NXT UK is largely ignored by the “wrestling media” because it’s not from their country or they don’t have close friends in the brand. Instead it was branded as an excellent promo without any consideration of the damage it’s done to the brand that made Ripley. Some might say Rhea’s comments are a part of her character, but she didn’t say the same about the women’s division of NXT US. I would be a little more forgiven if she was a heel but she’s not. People who don’t watch NXT UK will now be left with the impression that it’s a joke division for joke wrestlers. Rant End.
The match was setup last week when Dani Luna was in the middle of a match against Amale when Kay Lee Ray interfered and Dani Luna tried to attack her afterwards. Kay Ley Ray defeated Dani Luna with a Gory Bomb after a short but competitive match. After the match, Kay Lee attacked Luna again and was setting up for a second Gory Bomb when Piper Niven ran out and chased Kay Lee away…
Gleed’s Ramblings: There was no doubt about the result of this match, but Kay Lee Ray did a great job of bumping and selling for the NXT UK newbie (despite there not being many “credible” wrestlers in the division). Dani Luna put on a good performance that would get the attention of anyone who hadn’t seen her before. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Dani Luna is top of the next wave of female UK talent (despite them not having credibility, etc.)
Finn Balor was shown walking backstage from last week where he simply said, “Walter I work Wednesdays.” He bumped into Sid Scala and Johnny Saint (who naturally looked confused). He also bumped into other NXT UK talent like Gallus and Ilja Draganov before bumping into Tyler Bate. They had a staredown until someone told Finn his car was ready…
Tyler Bate was shown backstage walking up to Sid Scala and Johnny Saint who were drinking a cup of tea. He said last week Finn Balor was here walking around like he owned the place. He said he would love to knock him down a peg or two. Sid said that he would love for that to happen soon, but he wanted to tell Tyler that he will be competing for a number one contendership at the NXT UK Championship for NXT UK Takeover Dublin in a 20-man battle royal in two weeks time. Saint, of course, pointed every syllable that he was saying (bless him).
Gleed’s Ramblings: Finn Balor against Tyler Bate?! Yes, please! I don’t know how I feel about the battle royal. It’s logical but I was hoping for a proper feud leading into Dublin not some match that feels like challenger of the week…
The WrestleMania pirate video was shown…
Nina Samuels was shown getting makeup done. She said buzz, which is a sense of excitement about something, which should be about Nina Samuels but the NXT UK Women’s division is growing and growing (but it doesn’t have many credible wrestlers, does it Rhea?!), but all the buzz is on the new girl Valkyire. She said she doesn’t care for this new girl stealing her spotlight so next week she will show Valkyrie who the real leading lady is. As Samuels said her own name, some lame looking graphics appeared on the screen listing her name…
Gleed’s Ramblings: I was enjoying this until the lame graphics at the end. Just because WWE production can do things like that doesn’t mean they should.
2. Ridge Holland defeated Joseph Conners. At one point, Conners hit a suicide dive that Ridge didn’t stand and take but still sold. Holland eventually won with his finisher Northern Grit…
Gleed’s Ramblings: Oh my good God, that was awful. The man who is greener than grass against a man who doesn’t mean anything in NXT UK due to his stop/start pushes over the last three years. The show can only get better, right?! The number of blown spots by the fake rugby player was embarrassing, as was the video cuts they had to make when he walked away as Conners was supposed to take out Holland’s knee to start a story of Conners focusing on an injured knee. I give Conners a hard time but it’s usually from a character perspective. I hate to use the term, but he’s an experienced good hand in the ring. Without him, this ten minute match would have been unwatchable. Holland’s selling of a bad knee was so bad it was like watching a non-disabled person fake a bad leg when walking away from their car parked in a disabled bay.
Footage was shown of Dave Mastiff running backstage when he found Mark Andrews on the floor clutching his knee. The Gallus trio walked up and said this is nothing to do with them but they had better find a replacement as they are still up for a fight…
Gleed’s Ramblings: I haven’t read spoilers, but I’m going to say Eddie Dennis might be the mystery guy who took out Andrews. If so, I’m all for it.
3. Kassius Ohno defeated Kenny Williams. This was very much a match of ground based offence against high flying offence. Ohno won eventually with a Kassius Clutch and the referee stopped the match with Kenny Williams knocked out…
Gleed’s Ramblings: Poor Kenny Williams. This guy is so talented but they haven’t pulled the trigger on him at all yet in NXT UK. That being said I enjoyed this match as there was a sense that anyone could win and these two are so good that it was a lot of fun.
A Kid was interviewed backstage and was asked how it felt to have such a great start in NXT UK. He said it’s great because he’s faced some of the best in the world and has defeated Brian Kendrick and Kassius Ohno. Noam Dar came into the frame and said they had 40 seconds to interview him. A Kid spoke to him in Spanish which Noam replied J’Mapelle Noam. He said that you are a kid and I am a legend. A-Kid challenged him to a match next week which Noam accepted in a very obnoxious way.
Gleed’s Ramblings: I have to admit I laughed far too hard when Noam replied in French to A-Kid’s Spanish.
Highlights of Jordan Devlin winning the cruiserweight title along with his comments about his tour going global. They finished with the announcement that next week Devlin would be facing Travis Banks next week. A recap was shown of their previous feud in NXT UK last year.
Gleed’s Ramblings: I loved the callbacks and the attention to detail.
4. “Gallus” Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey, and Wolfgang defeated Flash Morgan Webster, Dave Mastiff and Trent Seven. Any appearance by Seven or Mastiff in the West Midlands is going to get a huge reaction and this was no exception. Joe Coffey got the win for his team.
Gleed’s Ramblings: Not an episode of NXT UK that I would recommend but there were some good moments. Unfortunately, this show also had Ridge Holland against Joseph Conners which may be the worst match I’ve seen in years. Actually, I take it back, watch this show so that you can see the reason that I’ve said before and I’ll say again that the fake rugby player Ridge Holland is the worst “wrestler” employed by WWE.
NXT UK is suffering badly from a lack of focus. I know NXT UK Takeover Dublin probably won’t be happening, but in essence we are 4 weeks away from what would have been the event and there’s no matches announced or any real meaningful feuds. With Imperium having more time on NXT US and their feuds consisting of feuds against NXT regulars, it leaves a huge hole in the brand that is difficult to fill when the “main eventers” in the brand are not around. The only exception is possibly Kay Lee Ray and Piper Niven but they are in a women’s division without many credible wrestlers remember.
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