Hamilton’s NXT UK Review 05.19.22

Quick Results
Xia Brookside & Eliza Alexander pinned Angel Hayze & Amale in 5:54 (**)
Teoman & Rohan Raja pinned Jack Starz & Dave Mastiff in 8:01 (**¾)
Kenny Williams pinned Josh Morrell in 5:30 (**)
Dog Collar: Wild Boar submitted Eddie Dennis in 10:17 (***)

— 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 in London for a more sedate episode of NXT UK. Nigel McGuinness and Andy Shepherd are on hand for commentary…

Amale & Angel Hayze vs. Xia Brookside & Eliza Alexander
Both Amale and Hayze got separate entrances, which makes a change for the Scotswoman… while Eliza’s still got the wrong Twitter account listed.

Amale and Brookside start us off, as Amale threw Xia down early ahead of a slam. Amale wanted Alexander, but instead Brookside ends up hitting the ropes as she had to elbow out of another slam. A boot knocks her down ahead of a rolling senton and a low dropkick for a two-count.

Hayze tags in and tries her luck with forearms, knocking down Xia for a one-count, as Alexander tagged in… and got cornered. Eliza boots her way free, then missed a charge as Hayze rolled her up for a two-count. Another forearm drills Alexander ahead of a PK for a two-count, but Alexander fired back in, throwing Hayze into the corner then tagged in Xia for a brief double-team.

Double knees to the back of Hayze get Xia a two-count, while an Arabian clutch gave Hayze something to fight out of. She does, then landed a superkick to drop Xia, before Amale tagged back in… and got her shot at Alexander. Clotheslines dropped Eliza ahead of a bulldog out of the corner… Xia runs in, but gets turfed outside as a shotgun dropkick took Alexander back to the corner.

A blind tag from Xia… leads to her eating a second pump kick. Hayze gets the tag in to capitalise with a rocket launcher into Brookside, following up with a Slingblade that nearly won it. Alexander gets involved after Hayze got tripped into the ropes, throwing a cheapshot from the floor before Xia won with Broken Wings. Decent, but this felt a little pedestrian given the time it had. **

Earlier this week, Ivy Nile knocked on Meiko Satomura’s door. Emilia McKenzie answers, but Ivy storms past her and asked for a title match. Meiko agrees, probably because Ivy was polite and all…

Sha Samuels has a segment – the East End Bookie – as he’s got some odds for us. Of course it’s focused on his upcoming match with Damon Kemp, but doubly of course, they have to make it about how “Sha was embarrassed in front of Lash Legend.” Sha’s given himself 1/3 odds, while Kemp’s 4000/1…

Die Familie (Teoman & Rohan Raja) vs. Dave Mastiff & Jack Starz
Watch the evil eye… especially as the winners get into the three-way tag title match.

We start with Raja and Mastiff, as the latter absorbed some shoulder blocks that actually knocked him down. Raja then… misses a leaping one off the middle rope. Mastiff takes Raja to the corner as Starz tagged in and hit his half of a double falling headbutt, then began to wrench away on Raja’s arm.

Raja decks Starz with a forearm, then tagged in Teoman… who ran into an armdrag as Starz was supposedly burgeoning in confidence. Teoman frees himself and knocked Starz down ahead of a wrenching chinlock, before Starz got free… and got tripped up. Nigel busts out some German just as Starz rebounded with clotheslines and dropkicks for a one-count, before some attempted chicanery from die Familie was averted, with Raja getting accidentally trapped in the ring apron.

Back inside, Raja takes a suplex for a two-count… Mastiff tags in to go for a Finlay roll, but Charlie Dempsey distracts… this time it works as Teoman hits a Drive By dropkick to knock the big man down, as Mastiff then got dragged into the corner. Teoman eventually tags in… then back out as they kept Dave cornered, as a low dropkick gets Raja a two-count.

Teoman returns to knock Mastiff down with a forearm off the ropes… a double-team suplex is thrown away by Mastiff, but he can’t tag out as Raja pulls Starz off the apron. Raja hits the ring to slam Mastiff for a near-fall, then brought Teoman back in… only for Mastiff to fight back, dumping Raja with a rebound German suplex.

Teoman’s legal though, and got dumped with a gutwrench powerbomb before Starz blitzed through him with back elbows. There’s a back body drop to Teoman, a dropkick to Raja, before a cut-throat swinging neckbreaker left Teoman down. Raja again tries to intervene, but gets thrown out as Starz then got distracted by… Charlie Dempsey smashing Starz’s leather jacket against the side of the ring.

Starz goes after Dempsey, but gets attacked by Raja… Dave Mastiff tries to make the save after Starz was thrown back in, but Teoman snatches the win with the Nazar flip stunner. This got a little busy at the end, but was pretty solid as we complete the line-up for the tag title match. **¾

Lash Legend’s getting interviewed backstage when Emilia McKenzie starts a fight. Referees were luckily right by the cameraman to intervene, and you know what that means. They’re giving us the match they’ve built up to…

During the break, die Familie celebrate… but the assistant to the regional manager was upset at their chicanery. He tells Raja and Teoman they can’t be at ringside for Charlie Dempsey’s Heritage Cup rules match with A-Kid next week.

Josh Morrell vs. Kenny Williams
Morrell got the already in the ring treatment, so I think we suspect a result…

Williams has Tiger Turan on his mind, but started with an armdrag as he looked to pin Morrell early on. Morrell returned with headscissors that Williams tried to writhe his way out of, before eventually rolling free… only for his diving side headlock to get countered.

An armdrag from Morrell dropped Williams, as did a dropkick, before Williams hung up Morrell in the ropes. All of a sudden, Kenny looked into the crowd, distracting himself as Morrell cartwheeled past him… then scored with a high kick and a wacky slingshot, roll through corkscrew splash for a two-count.

Williams pulls Morrell back into the ropes though, then bopped him on the head ahead of a clothesline as a masked man – not in the Tiger Turan mask – appeared in the crowd. They didn’t go overboard the first time he was visible, not drawing attention to him before we got more masked guys shot around ringside.

Kenny ignores it all, slapping around Morrell ahead of a torqued toe hold. It’s kicked away, but Williams returns with a PK as Kenny got distracted by the masked guys dotted around the crowd. An inside cradle nearly won it for Josh, only for him to get caught up top as a Dragon screw brings him down.

A diving shoulder tackle to the front of the knee keeps Kenny ahead as he again played to the masked men, before a headlock driver got the drawn-out win. **

After the match, Tiger Turan appeared in the aisle as we got more shots of the other masked men.

Backstage, Eddie Dennis is looking pensive as he’s prepping for his dog collar match.

Earlier this week, Von Wagner’s interrupted by Jim Smallman as he’s told he’s facing Sam Gradwell in two weeks. Wagner’s template promo’s interrupted by Sam, and of course… we have a pullapart.

Next week, Charlie Dempsey vs. A-Kid under Heritage Cup rules… Emilia McKenzie vs. Lash Legend… and I fear.

“Earlier today,” Moustache Mountain are quizzed about the tag title match, but Trent Seven wants the spotlight on them, not their opponents. Trent’s going a little over the top with the “we’re the best,” but Tyler points out they don’t have to lose the match in order to lose the titles.

Also earlier today, in the same corridor, Mark Andrews tells us he’ll be watching the dog collar match when Kenny Williams walks by with his wanted posters. There’s stern words.

Dog Collar: Eddie Dennis vs. Wild Boar
Please tell me this isn’t the touch-four-corners bollocks… anyway, Eddie Dennis is chased to the ring by the Boar, who charges with a tope as they scrapped around ringside before the bell.

An Exploder from Boar chucks Eddie down as they finally got the dog collar on Eddie to get things going. Boar pulls Eddie in for some right hands, before Eddie tried to powder. Except Boar started a tug of war, pulling Eddie back in… only for Eddie to fall backwards and yank Boar into the ropes. Smart.

Eddie pulled Boar outside and threw him into the barriers, only for Boar to return the favour. Some maneuvering allowed Eddie to pull Boar into the ring post, then pulled him into the ring ahead of a chain-assisted curb stomp. The chain’s used to whip Boar with next, before a swinging backbreaker nearly won it for Eddie as we’re working under pin/submission rules.

Boar’s gouged with the chain next, then taken into the corner as Eddie used the oodles of chain to tie him into the buckles. It left Boar with nowhere to go as Eddie threw some kicks, but Boar managed to fight back… only to get lifted onto the apron as Eddie repositioned himself and tried to pull Boar back into the post.

Of course, it’s blocked as Boar manages to reverse it, sending Eddie into the post instead, before he dove off the apron with a chain-aided punch. Back inside, Boar returns the favour with some chain whipping, which broke the chain off of Boar’s collar. The match continues anyway as Boar pulled Eddie into a sit-out powerbomb onto the chain for a near-fall, before Primate appeared at ringside. That doesn’t end the match, which made a mockery of their ban, nor did a swandive headbutt from Primate… which nearly won it for Eddie.

Primate helps out some more, but gets knocked to the outside by Boar. A back elbow sent Boar flying as Eddie wound up for another chain-aided punch, only for him to get pulled into a crossface… Boar wraps the chain around Eddie’s nose, mouth and eyes as he wrenched back some more, and that’s enough to force the tap. A good pay-off to the feud as Boar finally got his comeuppance, but I really could have done without the Primate interference… ***

6.1

The final score: review Average

The 411

Perhaps lacking the “stars rating” match of last week, this was at least consistent with the “old” NXT UK… but those 2.0 names are coming back out to play from next week. I know you missed them…