Hello my peeps! How we all doing? As you can tell, it’s Saturday and I’m here with your NXT UK review! This week’s episode is a tale of two halves I’m afraid. Ending on a high note with GYV vs SWSC. You’ll understand more when we dive straight into my NXT UK Inclination….which is right now!
Joe Coffey vs Tyson T-Bone
Hmmm, I’m confused. I mean this match was pretty physical, very much under the Strong Style banner. But both men are heels! How am I meant to be invested in the story of the match when I shouldn’t like either of them?!?
It really didn’t help that the crowd were dead too. You’ll hear me say that a lot during this review. I’m thinking that this was the end of the night’s tapings/ Probably hour four of the night. And I’m not blaming them either. If the booking was better, to keep the crowd entertained, then they would have had more energy, which would have bled into the match.
Any whooo…the match itself wasn’t that bad. A pretty standard opener for an NXT UK episode. The story – forgetting that both men are heels – was all about Joe Coffey and his return. Remember, his last match was against Dave Mastiff in a Last Man Standing match.
T-Bone gave as good as he got, but in the end, it was always going to Gallus’ Coffey coming out of this as the victor with his Rolling Lariat. A fair perfunctory match that confused the hell out of myself and those in attendance. STOP BOOKING HEEL VS HEEL DAMMIT!
Winner – Joe Coffey
Quick backstage interview with Xia Brookside. Alisha Taylor brings up what NXT UK Women’s champion Kay Lee Ray said last week. Xia remarked that she wouldn’t expect anything else from KLR. Brookside carried on by saying that she had already outsmarted the champ once before, and she will do it again.
Ridge Holland promo package is up next. For those that don’t know, Ridge Holland is former professional Rugby League player Luke Mendez. Ridge is a unit! He’s been in the NXT developmental system for nearly two years and looks to be ready for the big time. We’ll be the judge of that 😉
And yet another promo! Don’t NXT UK officials know that three promos in a row is overkill?! Anyway, this one featured Piper Niven. It was a great promo but it felt like it was six months too late. Where was this when she debuted? A great look into her backstory now does her no favors. When she debuted was the time this should have aired! AARRGGHH!
Isla Dawn vs Killer Kelly
Prepare for rant number two peeps, as I’m about to go off! ?
On last week’s show, Killer Kelly said that she’s been cleared to wrestle. All of us fans were looking forward to seeing her this week literally destroy some poor woman. Except she didn’t. She lost to Isla Dawn. So what in the blue hell happened?! Why give her a segment last week if you weren’t going to do anything with her apart from lose?! I would say I’m lost for words but I’m not. They’re all swear words, but don’t worry, I’ll keep them to myself for now.
The match itself was a scrappy affair. Both women trading strikes quite frequently with a sprinkling of submission work too. Even though I said it was scrappy, I still enjoyed it. You could see both women really wanted the win.
Isla won with a bridging suplex. Nothing too special or fancy. This really sums up how I see the NXT UK bookers see these women. From this, I expect to see Isla being pushed while Kelly just snaps sooner or later. Finally becoming the badass that we all know she is. C’mon Jim and co! Pull your finger out!
Winner – Isla Dawn
Now, remember how I began today’s piece by saying that this was an edition of two halves. Well, get ready for the good part of the show 😉
Another promo is shown but before you begin to yawn, this was actually bloody good. It was a video package for Kassius Ohno (please for the love of all that is good, call him Chris Hero!). It showed him running down British Strong Style, with Bate taking most of the flak.
Grizzled Young Veterans vs South Wales Sub Culture
Sometimes it is a pleasure to write and review wrestling. This match here is one such pleasure. It’s a good job I don’t write a typical match review, otherwise, I’d be here all day. This was a sixteen-minute match, that could have gone longer and I wouldn’t have minded.
It began with no Gibson promo…I know, I know…I was just as disappointed. But without the promo, it gave the match more time. And again, what a match! We had Flash being bullied around the ring by Gibson and Drake. Fantastic old school heel double team action from GYV. We had spots galore as you would expect with Mandrews and Flash in the match. And then you had Gallus, the current NXT UK Tag Team champs, out to scout the competition.
And that’s when things went awry. Instead of just standing back and scouting both teams. The champs decided to actively get involved. All hell broke loose as GYV and SWSC took it to Gallus. This, in turn, brought out Imperium! See, I said this second half would be better than than the first!
The show ended with all four teams standing in the middle of the ring, about to scrap some more. Enter one Ilja Dragunov who stood side by side with Imperium…only to move across the ring to join Gallus. Incensed, Alexander Wolfe goes for Ilja, which leads to Gallus squaring up to Imperium! The fight goes across the arena as the show fades to black!
Winners – No Contest
And that was that! A fantastic overbooked way to finish the show. Yeah, I said it, it was overbooked. But you what? It really worked. Everyone involved in the last segment of the show all had legitimate gripes against someone else. A great way to end the day’s tapings and send the crowd home happy. And a great way to end today’s Inclination.
So until next week, ta ta!
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