Hamilton’s NXT UK Review 02.25.21

NXT UK Quick Results

Xia Brookside pinned Nina Samuels in 5:44 (*¾)
Tyler Bate pinned Bailey Matthews in 5:43 (***)
Aoife Valkyrie pinned Lana Austin in 4:06 (**)
Lewis Howley & Sam Stoker pinned Mark Coffey & Wolfgang in 15:03 to win the NXT UK Tag Team Championships (**½)

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We’re back at the BT Sport studio in London, but first we’ve got a video package to hype up tonight’s main event as Gallus’ 510-day reign as NXT UK champions is under threat tonight. Andy Shepherd and Nigel McGuinness are back on commentary.

Xia Brookside vs. Nina Samuels
Loser becomes the other’s personal assistant for a month – and the history’s on Xia’s side, since she’s won 3 of their 4 televised matches on NXT UK. They recap the feud here during Brookside’s entrance…

Brookside charges at Samuels at the bell, taking her down with a dropkick before Nina fought back with some forearms. A double leg trips Brookside… but she shrugs off some ground and kicks Nina outside… but the follow through sees Samuels throw Xia into the barriers, before booting her into the suitcases at ringside.

Rather than take the count-out, Samuels rolls Brookside back in and torques her wrist around the top rope. An Irish whip bounces Xia into the corner, with another slam getting a two-count, before Samuels tied up Brookside on the mat. Xia gets free and comes back with a running neckbreaker for a two-count, prompting Nina to roll outside, where Brookside followed with some kicks.

Again, Samuels charges Brookside into the barrier, then countered some headscissors by swinging Brookside into the barriers… but Xia beats the count. Nina then yells at her current PA, “Henry”, to give her her purse… he refuses, and she dismisses him anyway. Samuels swings and misses with the purse, as Xia kicks it away and rolls her up for the pin. This felt rushed at the end, going straight from the “dismissal” to the loss, but if we get some comedy skits out of this then I’m not going to complain. *¾

Gallus are warming up backstage…

Then we get a video on Trent Seven, who’s been struggling with the world situation. Haven’t we all? There’s footage of him jogging in the snow with his doggos as he’s trying to lose weight to get under 205…

Backstage, Ilja Dragunov’s talking about him losing control against Tyson T-Bone a few weeks ago. Sam Gradwell wanders up and takes the mick, daring Ilja to lose control against him, and I guess that’s next week? Also next week: Meiko Satomura challenges Kay Lee Ray for the NXT UK Women’s title. It’s been a short wait.

Bailey Matthews vs. Tyler Bate
I think this is the third match that’s “officially” made tape for Bailey Matthews – after a match at EVOLVE 117 (as Joe Bailey) and an appearance in a trios match at #WrestlingDeutschland 2 in 2019. Meanwhile in an inset promo, Tyler wanted a “real opponent” down the line…

Matthews takes down Bate in a wristlock, and clings on despite a monkey flip escape. Bate eventually reverses it and snaps Matthews to the mat. Bailey gets free and goes back to the wristlock takedown, but Bate extricates himself… only to get caught with more headscissors. Tyler manages to get free again, this time going with a side headlock, but again Bailey escapes with some old school trickery. Very Regal.

Bate’s grounded again with a wristlock, then an armbar, before a cravat and a roll through has Tyler down again. Bate shows Bailey away, but a shoulder tackle takes him down as a hiptoss was blocked, before a BUSHI roll of all things nearly got Matthews the win. Cross-chops and uppercuts led to a gutwrench suplex from Bailey, who trades uppercuts with Bate… only to get caught with an up-kick.

Tyler dumps Matthews with an Exploder, then runs in with a standing shooting star press for a near-fall. More pinning attempts nearly put Bailey away, before an uppercut took Tyler into the ropes for a Koppo kick, KO’ing Matthews before a Tyler Driver got the win. A hell of a debut for Matthews in defeat – I look forward to seeing what they make of him. ***

Vignette time – we’ve a brief look at the Brandenberg Gate – it’s a trip to Berlin for the coming-soon Metehan (whose name wasn’t given – “devam edecek” is Turkish for “coming soon”). He’s reading his diary, and we see the evil eye briefly in the piece…

Joseph Conners is getting interviewed backstage… Piper Niven interrupts and slaps him, before Jinny ran in to capitalise. Yep. Niven wants a handicap match with the pair of them, but the Assistant to the Regional Manager won’t allow it. So Piper grabs Jack Starz as the mandatory partner.

Lana Austin vs. Aoife Valkyrie
Lana’s first appearance in over two years – losing to Nina Samuels on the post-Takeover episode of NXT UK in January 2019… and she’s taking on a Valkyrie who’s having her first match on the show in almost three months.

We start with Austin rolling Valkyrie to the mat from a collar-and-elbow tie-up, but Valkyrie just shoves her aside. A shoulder tackle keeps Austin down, before some leaping bodyscissors get a two-count…

An arm whip from Valkyrie takes Austin down, before Valkyrie rolls her up for another two-count. Austin snapped back with a hell of a basement dropkick as she took Valkyrie into the corner… but Valkyrie fights free, only to get caught out with more roll-ups as commentary surmised a lack of confidence for Valkyrie. Eventually Valkyrie shuts the door with an enziguiri to Austin, before a leg lariat and the Peripeteia flying axe kick got the win. They’re doing a “she’s lost confidence” gimmick with Valkyrie, while she’s still undefeated… and this isn’t adding up on day one. Let’s see where it goes. **

In two weeks: Tyler Bate faces Dave Mastiff. O-kay… plus, Piper Niven and Jack Starz vs. Jinny and Joseph Conners gets confirmed.

Backstage, Xia Brookside’s happy with her win… because she’s got Nina Samuels pushing her bags. I’m getting flashbacks to being flustered at the airport. Remember international travel? (Sorry to sound all Peter Kay…)

Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams are talking about the tag title match… they tell us Kenny’s cleared to return, and next week they’ll face Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter. Restart the countdown to the big ol’ turn!

We’ve a promo for Meiko vs. KLR next week, with lots of footage of her kicking opponents to death. Oh, and Tyler Bate’s on the Supernova Sessions next week… but he’s already had a recent Heritage Cup shot?

NXT UK Tag Team Championship: Pretty Deadly (Sam Stoker & Lewis Howley) vs. Gallus (Wolfgang & Mark Coffey) (c)
Pretty Deadly won that four-way elimination match to get this shot….

Stoker and Coffey start us off, but a pushed-off lock-up gets us genuine golf claps. Howley tags in, as does Wolfgang, as commentary brings up their past meeting in July 2019 back when Pretty Deadly were squash match opponents. Howley’s isolated in the Gallus corner, with Coffey working the arm before Pretty Deadly bailed to the outside.

Back inside, Coffey charges down Howley but ran into a hiptoss… then dished out one of his own for a two-count. Wolfgang runs in, but Stoker pulls Howley away from a charge as Wolfgang hit the corner. Some double-teaming’s snuffed out though as Howley makes a save as we hit a… West Side Story stand-off?

Stoker tries to beat Wolfgang to the punch, but just gets thrown aside, then into the corner as the Scots dominated. A knee to the back knocks Wolfgang to the outside, but Coffey stops Pretty Deadly from capitalising… so they leave their double-teaming until they hit the ring, with a double-team backbreaker almost getting Howley the win.

Quick tags from the challengers help them isolate Wolfgang, who was kept away from a tag… but he manages to find a way back in with a splash off the middle rope to flatten Howley. Stoker tags in and tries to stop Wolfgang, but eventually Wolfgang tags out as both of Pretty Deadly failed to stop him… and here’s the babyface comeback from Coffey.

Suplexes toss around Stoker and Howley, before a bulldog off the middle rope nearly got Coffey the win. Stoker’s back in and gets similar treatment, but a blind tag from Stoker stops Coffey from getting a pin… Howley’s legal and gets a near-fall from a double-team gutbuster, before Wolfgang tagged back in to slingshot Howley into Coffey for a Samoan drop.

A moonsault off the middle rope gets Wolfgang a two-count as Stoker breaks the cover. Stoker’s chokeslammed onto the apron, but Howley nearly shocks Wolfgang with a roll-up… only to get met with a spear for a near-fall of Wolfgang’s own. Again, Stoker tries to intervene, and saves Howley from some double-teaming as Stoker then suckered Wolfgang into a Benny Hill chase… Howley capitalises by knocking Wolfgang over the rails and into the abyss, leaving Coffey on his lonesome.

Howley runs outside to get the tag titles, but misses a belt shot… Stoker hits a flying DDT onto the belt, laying out Coffey before a Hart Attack neckbreaker gets the win. Shouting on commentary doesn’t make this a good match, lads – and while the closing stretch was fine, there was a LOT of filler to to get through before there. **½

6.1

The final score: review Average

The 411

“Stuff happened,” but this was a fairly flat show - the main event was too much of a slow burner for my liking. Still, stuff made sense, but this week’s show was starting to veer into “catch it if you feel like it” TV.