NXT UK Inclination 02/01/20 (Wolfe vs Dragunov No DQ)

By
Mark Blake

I hate January. All the cheer from Xmas and New Year has passed. It’s all back to normal now, nose to the grindstone time. So thank Uncle Vince (and Trips obviously) for this slice of sunshine in my dark days. A no DQ match between Alexander Wolfe and Ilja Dragunov? Yes bloody please! More matches announced for Takeover: Blackpool II? Sign me up!

Dave Mastiff vs Kona Reeves

My first hot take of 2020…I quite like Kona Reeves. He reminds me of a young Rocky Maivia, before the turn. Reeves just needs to find that one thing that will take him from a “meh, he’s annoying heel” to “damn, he’s a great heel”. He’s nearly there though.

So as is Kona’s want. he makes his way to the ring and spouts off at the crowd once more. Exclaiming that he’s a top tier talent and that he had Trent Seven in the palm of his hand last time out. Usual heel lies, but the great British crowd easily gave him some fantastic British stick!

Then came big bad Dave and it’s there where it all went wrong for poor Kona. Dave came out full of piss and vinegar and laid into Reeves. Really…frickin…hard! He pummelled Kona so much that I thought he was gonna cave in his chest! Kona did gain a few seconds of offense in, but all that did was just annoy Dave even more.

A sweet German Suplex into the corner followed by his patented Into The Void cannonball, and that was that. A squash match that promised much for Kona, but Mastiff walks away looking strong AF.

Winner – Dave Mastiff

Quick little promo/angle with Toni Storm now. She explains that after she dropped the title to Kay Lee Ray, she lost herself. KLR worked her way into Toni’s head, she was in a dark place. She needed time away to find herself once more. She calls out Piper Niven to ask her a favor. Piper walks out and is immediately asked by Toni to take herself out of the Triple Threat NXT UK Women’s Championship match. She’ll give Piper first crack at the title when she wins it back from KLR.

Piper begins by saying that she loves Toni, but she’s worked too hard to get to this point. She’s not removing herself from the match. At that point, Storm head butts Niven, and they’re off to the races! Brawling all over the place. Giving us a quick look at their involvement at Takeover: Blackpool II. The referees arrive and quickly break them up as KLR stands at the top of the stage and laughs at these two “friends” tearing each other apart.

Ligero vs Kassius Ohno

This is a rematch from WrestleMania weekend where Ohno used Ligs’s mask to grab the win. But from the outset, you could see that Ligero wanted revenge, not the win. But since that tainted win, Ohno has rebranded himself as a wrestling genius. A British wrestling genius at that!

Ligero wanted a straight-up pier six brawl but Ohno wasn’t engaging. He took the hits, the strikes, his lumps from Ligero, but never replied. Not even once. Instead, he used his wrestling prowess…along with some cheap tricks. Yup, he went back to Ligs’s mask again. But that was after Ligero had run rings around him for the early part of the match with some crisp, well placed strikes.

It wasn’t until the aforementioned mask grabbing, that Ohno made his mark on the match. His superior wrestling and technical ability took over. And when he slapped on the Kassius Clutch, you knew that Ohno was walking away the victor.

He grabs the mic and says that he IS the embodiment of British Wrestling. He doesn’t need to knock people out. He’s a wrestling genius, he the greatest British wrestler alive.

Winner – Kassius Ohno

Tyler Bate’s prodigy, A-Kid, talks about Takeover: Blackpool II. How great that card looks right now. Along comes Joseph “Bland” Connors who proclaims that he is Takeover ready. Yeah, I suppose you are son, as long as you have someone that can carry you for half the match huh?

The Wrestling Genius, Kassius Ohno, is seen backstage. Dave Mastiff walks over and challenges him to a match. He’s annoyed that Ohno is calling himself the best British wrestler (when he’s not British). Oooooo! Give me that match. Give them 20 minutes. Let them beat the crap outta each other for 10, and some great wrestling for the other 10.

Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter vs The Outliers (Riddick Moss & Dorian Mak)

Were the NXT imports told to run their mouths as they make their way ringside? It was ok, actually pretty funny for Kona Reeves earlier. By the time The Outliers came out, it felt tired and repetitive. Or was that just me?

Anyway, Riddick and Mak used their considerable size advantage to cut the ring and keep Carter from tagging out. Beating him down, double teams, you name the big man moves, they did them.

Carter took one hell of a beating for around five minutes. But he after using his speed advantage, he eventually made the hot tag to Smith. Ashton went crazy with his strikes, laying out both men. But mugging to the crowd cost him and he got clubbed to the canvas. Mak instead started mugging to the crowd in celebration, as Smith rolled up Riddick for the shock win!

Winners – Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter

Quick promo hyping up the four-way Tag Team ladder match at Takeover: Blackpool II. I don’t need hyping, I’m looking forward to that already!

No DQ Match
Alexander Wolfe vs Ilja Dragunov

Oh yes! Teacher versus student. No rules. Anything goes…gimme gimme gimme!

A quick start from Ilja as he jumped Wolfe as he was making his entrance, literally kicking seven bells out of The Axeman. I think they were in the ring around nine seconds before the toys (and I mean weapons) came out to play. A kendo stick was first out, and it was used beautifully by Wolfe. Ilja was literally begging Wolfe to use it on him, so The Axeman did. Quite a few times in fact. But when Wolfe missed a kick, Dragunov picked up the stick and went to town! Swinging for the fences with each hit, Ilja meant each and every strike.

A table was brought into the proceedings which made the crowd jump for joy. But it wasn’t to be used just yet. Little beggars, teasing us fans with that table! Instead, Ilja got royally smacked in the face with a steel chair. Oh and a Death Valley Driver on the apron. Did you know it was the hardest part of the ring? 🙂

Dragunov quickly got back to his feet – I bloody hate no selling! – and hit a Coast To Coast on Wolfe, but only got a two count. Annoyed, Ilja decided to empty underneath the ring of it’s chairs. and then promptly threw them into the ring ala ECW style. It was a shame to see him then thrown and DDT’d into the said pile of chairs. After all that care he took in making that pile!

Wolfe then “crushed” Dragunov’s windpipe with a chair, along with some Scurll/Dunne finger snapping. Although this time the fingers were through a chair! Damn son! Even after all that brutality, Ilja took Wolfe’s head off with a stiff lariat. Followed by a Death Valley Driver through that forgotten table (huge pop from the crowd!). He waited, and waited for Wolfe to get to his feet. And when he did…POW…Torpedo Moscow! Game over.

Winner – Ilja Dragunov

There was no time to celebrate as Aichner and Barthel rand down the aisle to carry on dishing out the beating to Dragunov. All the while, WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER looked on at the top of the stage. Eagerly shouting instructions to his fellow stable members. So intent he was on issuing instructions, he didn’t see Joe Coffey coming from the back. He sucker-punched the champion and quickly ran to the back as the show finished.

Well, that cheered me up from my Xmas/New Year funk! An as always enjoyable episode, with a great mix of action. More matches announced for Takeover: Blackpool II, with a possible feud/match of Mastiff/Ohno to look forward to as well. Yep, 2020 has started well for NXT UK. Let’s just hope this greatness continues 😉

As always peeps, I’ll be back this time next week with another Inclination. AAAAAND…my preview for Takeover: Blackpool II will be with you next Friday. Lots of NXT UK content for you lucky lucky peeps! So until then…

TA-TA

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