Hamilton’s NXT UK Review 02.03.22

Quick Results
Oliver Carter & Ashton Smith pinned Dave Mastiff & Jack Starz in 12:31 (***¼)
Isla Dawn pinned Myla Grace in 2:59 (**)
Japanese Street Fight: Meiko Satomura defeats Blair Davenport via injury/referee stoppage to retain the NXT UK Women’s Championship in 9:16 (***)

— 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.

We’re back at the BT Sport Studios amid more speculation over BT Sport’s future… opening with Andy Shepherd voicing over a hype reel for tonight’s show, then… Moustache Mountain are walking backstage as we crash into the titles.

Andy and Nigel McGuinness are on commentary, and the studios are empty this week, as I guess they never got back around to letting folks in after last week’s main event…

Oliver Carter & Ashton Smith vs. Jack Starz & Dave Mastiff
Winners get a shot at Moustache Mountain for the NXT UK tag titles… and speaking of, Trent and Tyler are alongside Andy on commentary as we’ll probably be getting a LOT of split-screening.

Carter and Starz start us off, but a front facelock from Starz restrains Carter before Jack got pushed into the corner. An armdrag keeps Starz down, as does a wristlock as Nigel on commentary is trying to stir the pot over how Tyler lost the Heritage Cup. Smith tags in but runs straight into an armdrag, while Mastiff came in and charged through Smith ahead of a sit-down splash for a two-count.

Starz is brought back in, but Smith takes over, throwing Starz into the corner as Carter was slingshot in for a shoulder tackle for another two-count. Mastiff makes the tag in, forcing Carter to hit a couple of dropkicks before a delayed Quebrada crashed and burned… allowing Mastiff in with a back senton for a two-count.

Mastiff catches a kick, but inadvertently spun Carter into another one as Smith returned for a double-team back body drop. Starz runs in for a save, but gets hiptossed, before he tagged himself in to try his luck on Smith. European uppercuts from Ashton have Starz on the back foot, but Starz’s headscissors and monkey flip gets him back in the game.

Another monkey flip ends with Starz crashing and burning to the outside, as Carter tagged in to try and hoover up the pin, getting a two-count as Starz was getting isolated by quick tags. A version of the Silly String sees Carter get a near-fall, before Starz ate a spinning heel kick into the corner that almost ended things. Smith’s back with a wicked clothesline for a near-fall, before an attempt at a Doomsday was stopped by Starz, who countered with an butterfly superplex to Carter.

Starz manages to dive to tag in Mastiff, whose knee to the gut knocked Smith down… as did a belly-to-belly suplex. Carter tries for a save, but gets suplexed to the outside as Smith ran into a clothesline for another near-fall. A Finlay roll’s escaped by Smith, as we then get a clash of heads between the two in the corner… Starz wants to tag in, but Mastiff insists he’s fine, and lands a German suplex.

Starz is still demanding a tag, but Mastiff calls the shots… only to miss a cannonball into the corner as Oliver Carter tagged in to hit some double knees into the back, then an assisted moonsault for the win. This was a pretty good tag with the story baked in – as the Starz and Mastiff team started to fracture here. ***¼

Backstage, Blair Davenport’s twirling a Kendo stick…

A-Kid’s asked about Saxon Huxley, and we get a wacky vignette of him teaching Saxon chess, maths, and, erm, how to eat? Saxon falls asleep to classical music, which raises a laugh…

We get a recap video package of last week’s Dragunov/Devlin match… and then we’re at the UK PC with Nathan Frazer walking to his car. He’s asked about die Familie, and of course, he has car trouble… which is the precursor to them jumping him.

Myla Grace vs. Isla Dawn
I’m racking my brains to think what Isla’s nicked from Myla Grace… but she’s not brought her box with her this week.

Grace tries her luck with an early roll-up, then with a leg sweep as a low dropkick picks up a one-count… stomps from Isla lead to her stretching Grace in the ropes ahead of a running knee. A leap off the top from Dawn misses, allowing Myla back in as she built to a tornado DDT, only for Isla to finish her off with a swinging sidewalk slam. **

Backstage, Amale’s unhappy that Jinny cheated against her last week… but Nina Samuels hijacks the interview. Nina takes some verbal cheap shots, and that leads to Amale calling her out for a match. Probably next week…

Sam Gradwell’s quizzed about Kenny Williams interfering in his tag match a few weeks back…

Sha’s backstage looking at odds, but Noam Dar’s got his second season. He didn’t even have to threaten Sid with his cheese. Gallus wander in as Joe Coffey wants odds on him winning the Heritage Cup, and this leads to Gallus booking their spot on the Supernova Sessions.

Next week: Teoman vs. Nathan Frazer…

Japanese Street Fight for NXT UK Women’s Championship: Blair Davenport vs. Meiko Satomura (c)
Not quite sure what a Japanese Street Fight is, especially because a) this show isn’t in Japan and b) there’s no questionable props around. It’s probably not wholesome though. It’s a rebadged no-DQ match, and we start with Blair missing a Kendo stick shot, before she got kicked to the outside.

On the outside, Blair pulls out chairs and a chain, then whipped Satomura into the guard rails before she put and kicked Meiko out of a chair. Meiko heads under the ring and finds some nunchucks, and instantly put them to use, whacking Davenport in the ribs with them. A back suplex gets Satomura a two-count, before Davenport kicked, then dropkicked a chair into Satomura’s head.

Meiko heads outside and caught her with an overhead kick, then some more mid kicks as they fought by the ring steps. Grabbing the chain, Satomura wraps it around her boot for some kicks, but Davenport gets back in with some more kicks as we pull out more plunder, with a bin… and also… a turnbuckle iron?

She gets back inside and bends Meiko’s fingers inside the turnbuckle iron, but Meiko holds on and returned with a drop toe hold, setting up for a STF… which is probably not the best hold to try with bad fingers. It allowed Davenport to use a Kendo stick to swipe her way free, then used the Kendo stick for a modified camel clutch… but there’s no rope breaks, so Blair lets go in the ropes anyway.

More Kendo stick shots follow, as Davenport then went up top and squashed Satomura with a double stomp off the top onto the side of the apron… but Blair instantly cries out in pain on the landing. Replays showed that Davenport rolled her ankle badly landing on the floor, as they end up waving off the match and stretchering her out as the show went off the air without much fanfare. An unfortunate ending to what was headed to be a pretty good plunder match. ***

7.1

The final score: review Good

The 411

After last week’s whiff on a main event, this week’s show was much improved - save for the unfortunate finish.