Hamilton’s NXT UK Review 06.04.20 (Gallus Boys On Top)

— The Wheel o’ Formats this week puts the spotlight on Gallus. We’ve already had a similar show about Imperium, so I guess this is the natural next step.

Quick Results

From NXT UK on January 10, 2019: Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) beat British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) in 25:00 (match clipped) (***¾)

From NXT UK Takeover Cardiff: Last Man Standing: Joe Coffey beat Dave Mastiff in 16:00 (match clipped) (***)

From NXT UK Takeover Blackpool 2: Ladder Match for NXT UK Tag Team Championship: Gallus (Wolfgang & Mark Coffey) retained over Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews, Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) and Imperium (Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) in 25:00 (***½)

— We open with Andy Shepherd again in his living room, showing off his quarantine hair and beard.

Andy opens with clips from the Royal Albert Hall show two years ago, where Mark Coffey and Joe Coffey joined forces… and then into the early days of NXT UK where Wolfgang added to the duo to form everyone’s favourite trio: Gallus. Of course, in the early days of NXT UK they were destined to take on British Strong Style, with Joe Coffey vs. Pete Dunne headlining the first NXT UK Takeover… but first, a trios match as a warm-up!

Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) vs. British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Trent Seven & Tyler Bate)

Bate and Joe Coffey start us off as we join this in progress. Coffey tries to drop Tyler with a suplex, but instead he just grounds Bate further, turning the hold into a run of the mill armbar and then a dreaded nerve hold. Bate tries to fight free, but he’s again cornered as Wolfgang returned… and lost track of Tyler, who went all World of Sporty before leapfrogging over him to tag in Trent! Chops follow from Trent, along with another back body drop and a surprise tope to take Wolfgang into the crowd barriers.

Back in the ring, Trent’s got an avalanche clothesline for Wolfgang as he allowed Mark Coffey to twice accidentally take down his own man. A sit-out side slam’s good for a near-fall for Trent, before a figure four attempt’s pushed out, with Trent face-planting himself into the guard rails as he was taken outside. Joe Coffey capitalises by throwing Trent into the ring steps too, as Gallus gain a new target…

Wolfgang spears Trent back in the ring for a near-fall, before Joe Coffey tagged back in and tried to restrain Seven with a front facelock. It’s escaped as Trent tries to fight out of the Gallus corner, only for Wolfgang to grab him in by the trunks as the Scotsmens’ onslaught continued. Mark Coffey enters to do the same thing, then Wolfgang… before Joe Coffey grabs hold of Trent by the hair on the top rope as Seven fought free. Trent counters back with a superplex, then found his way into the right corner as Pete Dunne gets a hot tag in.

Peter’s got enziguiri for Mark Coffey and Wolfgang, before he kicked away Mark’s hand en route to an X-Plex. Dunne rolls through into a knee bar on Wolfgang, but Wolfgang holds on and drags himself into the corner to tag in Mark Coffey… who falls straight into a triangle armbar that Mark escaped by… tagging out. Wolfgang’s legal again, but he senton bombs into a cross armbreaker as the Scotsmen were looking more like the Keystone Cops here. They bumble their way into a mounted keylock (apt) but Wolfgang suplexes his way free as they finally do SOMETHING right.

Tyler Bate tags back in, as does Joe Coffey, who’s wiped out with a diving European uppercut off the middle rope, before following in with more of those in the corner. Coffey finally lands a back elbow before missing the double-jump cross body as Tyler responded with a running shooting star press for a near-fall. A LONG airplane spin’s next as Liverpool got to their feet in appreciation. It tuckers out poor young Tyler, but he’s back up in search of a Tyler Driver, which Coffey evades with a headbutt, only to get slapped in the face as tags brought us back to Trent and Mark Coffey.

A Seven Stars lariat from Trent quickly takes Mark down, but he has to tag Tyler back in as the arm was just too injured. British Strong Style worked into a triple-team powerbomb/backcracker for a quick two-count, thanks to Wolfgang breaking it up. Bop and Bang from Tyler gets rid of Wolfgang, who’s kept down on the outside with a tope, while Pete Dunne kicked away at Mark Coffey. He’s quickly distracted as Joe holds up the NXT UK title belt, allowing Mark to tag out as Joe finally gets some offence in on the champion, landing a falling powerbomb for a delayed two-count.

Trent barely broke up the cover on that, as the big moves continue to land. A rebound lariat from Tyler took Mark to the outside as the ring cleared with Joe Coffey’s uppercut sending Tyler outside. Of course, left with Joe Coffey and Pete Dunne in the ring, wheeling away on each other with punches until Dunne took Joe down for some stomps to the hands. A spear-like headbutt from Joe stops Dunne in his tracks, before a second one was countered in mid-air with a kick. Wolfgang tags in, but Dunne doesn’t realise it as he hits Joe Coffey with a Bitter End… and we’re back to the quick tags as an elbow from Wolfgang sent Dunne towards his corner and a tag to Tyler Bate. With everyone outside, Tyler heads up and lands a Spiral Tap to the pile.

Back inside, a Tyler Driver’s countered as Wolfgang escaped with a back body drop, tagging out as Bate’s attempt to follow up just ends with him running into Joe Coffey’s Awra Best for the Bells, as the discus lariat gets the win for Gallus. A hell of a main event by NXT UK standards, but this felt overly long, even as a “go home” match before the first Takeover special. ***¾

We get a promo package for Gallus, introducing us to all three men. Why wasn’t this at the top of the show? It goes through their catchphrases, and if you’ve been watching NXT UK for any length of time, you’ll know it’s their kingdom.

Andy’s back to pitch to the next match – via another video package which had Joe Coffey complaining about people who “look like they’ve never fought.” There’s a lot of clips of the Gallus kads dominating, but they weirdly skirt away from the Dunne/Coffey match from last year… as instead they pitch to the Last Man Standing match from Takeover: Cardiff…

Last Man Standing: Dave Mastiff vs. Joe Coffey

After their double count-out on NXT UK TV, this was made a Last Man Standing match by Sid Scala and Kindly Uncle GM Johnny Saint.

Mastiff charged at Coffey in the aisle as the Scotsman ran down with a chain… that got thrown aside as the match started with Coffey boxing away on Mastiff, before Big Dave whipped Coffey into the corner so hard it blew up the top rope. I think the gossip afterwards was that that happened a little sooner than expected… Of course, it drew “ECW” chants.

Mastiff uses the turnbuckle iron to try and choke Coffey with, as we go to an ad break to sell some merch. We’re back as they’re outside amid a sea of plunder and LOCAL BRITISH SPORTS gear, but it’s Mastiff who’s whipping Joe with the chain. Out comes a (second) table, right as Joe was trying to answer the standing ten-count. They have a tug of war with the chain, but Mastiff just lets go before he cannonballed Coffey through the table. From there, the pair brawl into and through the crowd, with Coffey taking chairshots, before he chose to punch it away with a chain ahead of a discus lariat left both men laying on the floor. Mastiff grabs a second chair so they could have a duel, as they just charge into each other.

Coffey barely beats the ten-count, but ends up sidestepping as Mastiff charged into the railings by commentary desk – right as they went to a replay. A clothesline attempt is countered with a hiptoss, taking them closer to the table, which Mastiff politely clears away, sending scripts flying before he bounced Coffey off it with a Finlay roll. That table was reinforced, clearly!

Coffey pulls himself up using a gear case, but they end up on the stage behind the commentary desk to keep on their scrap, as I had flashbacks to Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 2019. There’s no golf cart, as instead they flung each other off the stage, crashing through a handily-placed table below. There’s a bunch of poles nearby as the pair get to their feet… but Coffey kicks away the case Mastiff was holding onto at the count of 9… meaning Dave fell, and Joe barely escaped with the win. I’m not sure if the arena had this shown on the big screen, because there was hardly much reaction to the finish, but this was okay for what it was. ***

They recap Mark Coffey and Wolfgang winning the NXT UK tag team titles in October 2019 – as part of a wider package on Scottish wrestlers in WWE holding gold. That included part of a Zoom call including Andy Shepherd, Drew McIntyre, Kay Lee Ray, Nikki Cross and the Gallus lads about Coffey and Wolfgang winning those straps. There’s a line from Wolfgang about “never letting your background hold you back,” as I got distracted by the WrestleXpress poster that was on his wall.

They replay the Gallus vignette where they’re playing cards in a pub, where Joe Coffey “organises” his troops. I’m shocked they’ve not used the “famous fighting firm Gallus” line here, as the whole Gallus act has a slight nod to football hooliganism. I get dizzy at the rotating camera they use around their card game. It’s like WCW at Disney all over again!

Next week: Superstar Picks return! We then wrap up with the ladder match from NXT UK Takeover Blackpool 2, the set-up for which gets glossed over…

Ladder Match for NXT UK Tag Team Championship: Gallus (Wolfgang & Mark Coffey) (c) vs. Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews vs. Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) vs. Imperium (Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner)

We join this one massively in progress as Flash Morgan Webster hits a moonsault press off a ladder as he looked to take on Barthel and Aichner… but he ended up getting slingshot into a ladder as Imperium threatened to steamroll through him.

Andrews slides under the ladder and hits the Pele kick to Imperium, but he’s caught as as Gibson and Drake caught him in a ladder, charging him into the corner for another dropkick… but Drake seemed to catch himself on the way down. Mark Coffey chokeslams Gibson onto a ladder that was propped up on the bottom rope, then hits a slingshot Samoan drop on Drake… and they’re using those ladders for pain, rather than gain.

On the outside, Gallus toss Imperium into the ring steps, then slide back inside to stop the Welsh lads as they were climbing the ladder. Mark Andrews heads back up, but decides for a shooting star press off the ladder rather than climb for the belts. Because why win when you can be flashy?

Marcel Barthel’s back to hit a back suplex to Webster in the ladder, before Aichner BOUNCES Flash off of it with his springboard moonsault. Holy hell! Imperium and the Grizzled Young Veterans look to climb a pair of ladders next, before Gallus appeared with a third one. You know they’ll complete the set, but rather than climb one, Andrews sets it up as a bridge, so he can be flashy again. Flash, realising he’s got a dafty for a partner, gets a fifth ladder for climbing with, but he doesn’t open it up, and climbs on the back of Gibson as bodies began to fly… culminating with Flash taking a hard spill over the top to the floor before a Ticket to Ride left Andrews in a heap.

Drake adds an organ crusher 450 splash off the ladder bridge to Andrews, before Gibson helped Drake up the ladder… but Aichner makes a save as Barthel helps with the European bomb. Imperium clear the ring of ladders, then looked to scale the remaining ladder as Gallus interrupt again, sandwiching Aichnet, then Barthel with ladders for a spell. My God, those ladders getting dropped to the outside sounded like gunshots…

An enziguiri-assisted powerslam drops Drake, before Wolfgang aids Coffey into a dive outside… The action moves towards the aisle for… reasons, before Flash and Andrews hit double Stundog Millionaires on Gallus. More ladder teases follow, but Gallus take Webster and Andrews into the guard rails before they pull out some tables. That wakes up the crowd… and they bridge them between the ring and the barrier. Uh oh. Gallus look to slam the Welshmen through the wood, but they fight free as Mark Coffey’s rolled onto the table.

It breaks instantly, so we don’t get the visual of Andrews and Webster doing duelling dives, as they instead improvise with a pair of side-by-side sentons onto Wolfgang (whose table didn’t break), and it looked like that killed the Welsh lads. To their credit, they’re back up and climbing, but Drake and Gibson slide in and nearly sodomize Andrews with a ladder. Webster’s tossed out of the ring, as we’ve more plunder as Andrews got a Kendo stick. Which then gets wrecked on Drake and Gibson. ALL THE PLUNDER.

Andrews goes back to climbing, but Imperium stop him with a pass-the-parcel brainbuster off the ladder, before Barthel went for the belts. Mark Coffey saves and goes for a German suplex off the ladder, which Aichner barely saved as Marcel instead watched Wolfgang spear Aichner through a ladder snapping it in two. Barthel’s pushed off the ladder to the floor… and that clears the way for Gallus to scale the ladder to secure their belts again. Well, they brought the plunder, the stunts and a LOT of bumps to these guys bump cards… a really good ladder match, save for that eggy bit in the middle before they found the other weapons. ***½

After the replays, the show ends with Gallus celebrating in the crowd and “some words from the firm.” It’s a newly-shot, sorta-socially distanced promo with them not shaking hands, talking about how they can’t wait to unleash their pent-up aggression once this is all over. There’s a timely shot of some Celtic Football Club graffiti as they talked about winning titles and staying on top, as Joe Coffey closed the show out with Gallus’ catchphrase.

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

I mean, it’s Gallus isn’t it? They’re a fairly polarising part of the NXT UK roster, hovering around the top of the card, accumulating a fair amount of air time without too much success. Tag titles aside, that is. They at least managed to summarise the Scots’ big storylines thus far, and showed off some fairly spectacular matches, but I suspect this is a show you’ll pick and choose from depending on your feelings for them. Also, I think a decent proportion of the shows’ audience wouldn’t be too thrilled with 75-minutes of this... Now, to get that infernal Gallus music out of my head. Hey yeah. Oh no...