Hamilton’s NXT UK Review 12.09.21

Quick Results
Blair Davenport pinned Emilia McKenzie in 6:01 (**½)
Sam Gradwell pinned Sha Samuels in 6:52 (***)
Tyler Bate & Trent Seven pinned Lewis Howley & Sam Stoker in 17:47 to win the NXT UK Tag Team Championship (***½)

— If you’re on Twitter, give me a follow over on @IanWrestling – and check out the GoFundMe that’s still open for Larry’s family.

Once we get past the opening hype video, we’re back at the BT Sport studio in London as Andy Shepherd and Nigel McGuinness remain on commentary.

Blair Davenport vs. Emilia McKenzie
This was set up after Meiko Satomura’s successful title defence last week… of course via a backstage segment.

From the opening lock-up, Davenport and McKenzie looked to work the other’s wrists, before a swinging neckbreaker from McKenzie drew a very early two-count. Davenport rolls McKenzie through for a shoulder tackle, before she took things into the corner for some boot choking.

A chinlock followed as McKenzie fights free, following up with clotheslines and a back suplex before some forearms from Davenport led to her taking a spear for a two-count. Davenport gets taken into the corner, but leaps up for a double jump missile dropkick that nearly won out, before a German suplex from McKenzie looked to turn it back around.

Davenport cracks McKenzie with a knee as she somersaulted into the ring, before a Falcon arrow did the deal for the win. A solid match, if not a touch on the slow side as Davenport stretched her winning run. **½

Post-match, Davenport traps McKenzie in a STF as she looked to bait her way to a title shot…

Trent and Tyler are warming up backstage…

Earlier this week, Noam Dar and Sha Samuels interrupt the assistant to the regional manager. Sha’s got the trophy in hand as Noam goes fishing for compliments… and gets told that next week we’re getting A-Kid and Nathan Frazer in a number one contender’s match for the Heritage Cup trophy.

We get a recap package for last week’s truncated Ilja Dragunov/Rampage Brown title match… focusing on the match-ending enziguiri from Dragunov, as we’re shown Rampage flipping off the cameras while he was carted away.

Earlier this week, Xia Brookside’s pitching a fit after she was asked about losing the match to Meiko Satomura…

Back in the studio, Jordan Devlin’s out and getting chants for his “granny slippers.” Devlin calls himself the ace of NXT UK as there’s some weird shots of empty seats. Jordan calls out Ilja Dragunov for a title shot, and the champion comes out to answer him. Devlin tells Ilja he’ll not quit his title match, and promised to end Dragunov’s career in order to take the title. Dragunov laughs it off as we got 50-50 chants for both men surprisingly, so Devlin gets personal, bringing up Ilja’s wife and son… and that starts a pull apart brawl.

Pretty Deadly are walking in yellow lace… blindingly bright yellow lace. Holy hell, they’ll not get lost in the dark wearing that outfit.

Amale gets an inspiring vignette. She tells us her wrestling career nearly ended with her quitting, but she’s fighting for her dreams… and breaks down in tears as she talked about “how this is her life.” Someone’s going to take that out of context. She wants to make it to the top of the NXT UK women’s division, and with a few tears as she called herself “hope,” don’t be shocked if there’s cheers next time she’s on TV.

Kenny Williams is back at London’s Docklands at night eating chips. He’s taking shots at Mark Andrews – the lone, uninjured member of Subculture right now. Don’t chew with your mouth open, pal…

Sam Gradwell vs. Sha Samuels
After coming up short to Noam Dar a few weeks ago, Gradwell’s got a match against Sha Samuels, having taken offence at the East London bookie.

Sha tries to frustrate Gradwell by going to Dar in the corner regularly in the early going. Dar tells Sha to go for the knee, as if the knee brace wasn’t enough of a hint, but Gradwell ties up Sha for some shots to the ribs. Samuels telegraphs what looked to be a back body drop as Gradwell took him down with a STO for a two-count, but Sha pulls Gradwell into the corner as he turned things around.

A splash keeps Gradwell at bay, as did a clothesline, before some elbows and a PK to the back earned Sha a two-count. Gradwell pops up with clotheslines and back elbows, then a back body drop. Another clothesline sends Samuels over the top rope to the floor, where Gradwell followed with a flying forearm off the apron.

Gradwell rolls Sha back inside, but Sha takes it back to the floor for some slams. A Michinoku driver followed back inside for a near-fall, as Noam tried to tell Sha to use his scarf… instead, an Exploder lands for a near-fall as Sha keeps the pressure on, before Sha tried to use his braces. In the meantime, Gradwell wraps the scarf around himself and feigned like Dar had been choking him behind the ref’s back.

It’s a ruse though as Dar protests… taking away the ref as Gradwell flicks Sha in the balls with the scarf, before a Samoan driver gets Gradwell the win. I always enjoy when shenanigans backfire, and this was a pretty good TV match with a wry smile for me at the end. ***

Vignette time as we’re in a city… yeah, it’s Gallus in a car park. It’s alway Gallus, it feels like. They’re leaning into some gangland stuff as they mock “Die Familia,” talking about Charlie Dempsey as they build up the Gallus/Familia feud with these slickly-produced pieces.

Next week: Nathan Frazer vs. A-Kid for a shot at the Heritage Cup… and that’s all they announce. We get a video package for the match at least…

NXT UK Tag Team Championship: Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) vs. Pretty Deadly (Sam Stoker & Lewis Howley) (c)
They really lean into Trent Seven being pensive before the match, showing him psyching himself up as Tyler went out first. A lot of the build from the challengers had been around Trent questioning “what if” they lose, suggesting this was his last shot…

Stoker and Bate start, with Tyler’s armdrag and dropkicks putting the challengers ahead. Howley’s in to try and double-team, but Tyler’s double armdrag frees himself as Trent tagged in to hit his half of a double dropkick, while clotheslines took the champions outside – with Howley even getting an impromptu piggy back out of it.

An intentionally bad tag distracts Trent as Howley gives him a dead leg, but Trent’s able to hit slams before a leg drop on Howley led to a two-count. Stalling suplexes follow, before a delayed senton from Trent off of Tyler’s back gets another two-count. Trent telegraphs a DDT, but it’s blocked as Howley sent Trent outside for some double-teaming,

Back inside, Stoker rains down punches from above then took Trent up top… but posed for too long as Seven elbowed him down. Howley gets involved, but bought enough time for Stoker to chop out Trent’s leg, leading to a nasty bump off the top. The champions stay ahead until a jawbreaker from Trent caught out Stoker… only for Howley to tag in and throw Trent outside. And so the cycle continues!

Trent reverses a suplex on the outside, but Howley throws Stoker back in so he could tag… he loses sight of Trent though, as a hot tag brings in Bate to run wild on Howley and Stoker. An uppercut out of the corner has Howley down, as does an Exploder, before Tyler missed a Koppo kick, only to return with a Tyler Driver for a near-fall.

Stoker tags in as Bate went for an O’Connor roll, leading to the champions hitting a double-team gutbuster for a two-count. They keep exchanging frequent tags as they went for the clothesline-assisted Dragon suplex, but Tyler evades and hits a rebound clothesline to Howley instead. Trent’s back up, holding his neck… and tags in to hit some DDTs before a Seven Star Lariat continued the shouty commentary for a near-fall.

Another blind tag caught out Trent, leading to Stoker booting him in the ropes ahead of an up kick, before the Spilt Milk (Hart Attack neckbreaker) drew in Tyler to stomp the pin apart. Tyler keeps up with a tope to Stoker on the outside, but he’s caught and given Spilt Milk on the floor, before a propelled Codebreaker to Trent… then a powerbomb onto the knees landed for a near-fall.

Howley grabs the title belts after that kick-out, teasing shenanigans with them… and of course, the ref intercepts the first belt, but misses the second. Stoker uses it and cracks Trent for a near-fall. That “we’ve got two belts but you only catch one” spot’s starting to feel overdone in wrestling…

Tyler helps out as Trent made a superkick-infused comeback, before a tag brings in Tyler… a Koppo kick drops Howley ahead of a Tyler Driver… then Tyler went back up top for a Spiral Tap. Stoker tries to run in, but gets Birming Hammer’d onto Howley ahead of that Spiral Tap… and that’s enough for the win as Tyler Bate becomes the first man to win all three of NXT UK’s men’s titles. This was a good tag match, if not a little long as NXT UK main events tend to be, but those who were waiting for the Trent Seven turn based on the build up will have to wait a while longer. ***½

7.2

The final score: review Good

The 411

After last week’s disappointing episode, this was a vast improvement, with that main event delivering where last week’s did not. Yeah, they’re still building week-to-week for the majority of their matches, but it is what it is in this era of NXT UK.