Hamilton’s NXT UK Review 07.29.21

Quick Results
Jordan Devlin pinned Tristan Archer in 5:38 (**)
Jinny pinned Aoife Valkyrie in 7:00 (***)
Stevie Turner pinned Aleah James in 4:26 (**½)
Tyler Bate & Trent Seven pinned Primate & T-Bone in 10:53 (***)

— 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.

You know where we are… BT Sport Studios in London. Andy Shepherd and Nigel McGuinness are on commentary.

Jordan Devlin vs. Tristan Archer
Archer got the “sneak into the ring during the entrances” entrance, as opposed to the flicker of his entrance video last week.

An early shoulder tackle got Devlin a one-count, before he looked to work over Archer’s wrist… as the Frenchman’s attempt to counter with a Fireman’s carry was thwarted. A second counter worked, but Devlin dropkicks free for a two-count, before a running back elbow kept Archer down.

Devlin’s backbreaker has Archer in trouble, but he manages a brief comeback with some right hands, before getting cornered with an uppercut. A chinlock wrenches away on Archer, who fought free before his brief comeback ended with a back senton. Archer tries again, catching Devlin through the apron with a Codebreaker for a near-fall, before La Terreur’s countered with a headbutt.

I guess that’s one way to avoid a Go 2 Sleep…

From there, Devlin pulls up Archer into a Devlinside, and that’s your lot. A glorified squash, with Archer getting barely any offence in compared to last week, as the focus here was squarely on Devlin. **

Post-match, Devlin tells us the iron man match with A-Kid was sanctioned by Johnny Saint, and gets interrupted as he threatened to end A-Kid’s career. A-Kid comes out on crutches, and is called “Tiny Tim” (he’s on the show I watch on Fridays…). Devlin kicks away the crutches, but of course, A-Kid doesn’t need them, and decks the Irishman as our only crowd noise loop played. A-Kid tells us he’s fully recovered, and their 30-minute iron man match is next week.

Recaps of the Jinny/Aoife Valkyrie feud that ended with them posing in the aisle last week. That’s next…

…but first, we’re reminded WALTER vs. Ilja 2 isn’t going to be on NXT UK, because “they want it to be seen by the entire world.” That feels they said the quiet part loud about NXT UK… WALTER via vignette tells us he’ll leave Takeover 36 still as NXT UK champion.

“Earlier this week,” Meiko apparently called a meeting. Either that or the entire women’s locker room were sat in detention. Her arrival leads to things breaking down, and Meiko just smiles at the naughty kids. We’re getting Stevie Turner vs. Aleah James out of that later…

Aoife Valkyrie vs. Jinny
This one’s actually had some build, but I have a bad feeling about this…

Valkyrie works over the arm to start, taking Jinny to the mat, before the former PROGRESS Women’s champion kicked her way free. Jinny charges, but took a sunset flip for a near-fall, then a Mouse Trap from Valkyrie, before Joseph Conners popped up to distract. For the hell of it.

It works, as Jinny catches Valkyrie from behind, then went for a side headlock… but Valkyrie escaped, and tripped Jinny, only for Conners to interfere again, pushing the ropes as Valkyrie went for a springboard. Conners mouths off, and Jinny keeps going with an arm whip for a two-count, before a surfboard stretch had Valkyrie in trouble.

Valkyrie rolls and kicks free, then went back to some more pinning attempts… the ref stops counting a visual pin because Jinny pulled the hair, and it leads to Jinny getting a seated surfboard. Valkyrie reverses it, but Jinny breaks it in the ropes, before a paintbrush-like swipe took Valkyrie to a knee.

Jinny’s met with a receipt, then some kicks as Valkyrie snapped back. A front kick decks Jinny, but Jinny then slips out of a Fireman’s carry, only to eat a spinning heel kick. That gets a two-count, while a running enziguiri took Jinny to the corner… before Valkyrie went up for Peripetaia.

Conners distracts yet again, and again, and again. I get bored, but at least it leads to the finish. Ripcord Koppo Kick, and that’s the win. Good match, but an awful result and some moments in there that did the referee no favours, particularly with the interference. I guess we’re a ways off of Valkyrie being back around the title picture… ***

Vignette time for Joe Coffey, as they’re building up to his third match with Rampage Brown.

Backstage, the interviewer catches up to A-Kid. He tells us he’s confident of winning, and is “in the shape of his life” despite the knee injury from not too long ago. The crowd can apparently hear this and clap A-Kid saying he’ll win…

Aleah James vs. Stevie Turner
Before today, Aleah’s last aired match was for Rev Pro – having not been on NXT UK since before WrestleMania. These two have one prior meeting on tape, for Rev Pro’s first empty-arena show that aired almost a year ago, with Aleah taking the win there…

Commentary throws in a Cyberpunk 2077 reference, and a mention to Stevie having tagged with Hana Kimura before joining WWE. That in itself felt like a glitch, those references. Turner works James’ arm early on, but Aleah counters the wristlock as a graphic tells us Blair Davenport’s wrestling next week. Her gimmick, according to Andy? She’s eccentric.

A side headlock from Turner’s countered out of with a headstand, before James Matrix’d out of a clothesline and came back with a dropkick. Stevie’s back in the corner, but Aleah comes back with a chinbreaker, then some leaping forearms, before a dropkick took Stevie into the ropes.

James’ missed charge in the corner sets up Turner for a Final Cut out of the corner, before a rebound Flatliner in the ropes lands the win. A pretty fun TV match, although I still have no idea whether Turner’s a goodie or a baddie… and I doubt they do too. **½

“Earlier this week,” Jack Starz and Dave Mastiff are training for a tag team match. That nugget of information is new. They do some drills, but Mastiff teaches us that because he’s big, he’s un-movable, and that’ll make that duo great.

Next week: Jordan Devlin vs. A-Kid in a 30-minute iron man match… with sudden death if we end up drawing. Devlin’s graphic still makes him look like he wants to sneeze. They badly need to update those renders…

Symbiosis (T-Bone & Primate) vs. Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate)
Those red lights are super harsh…

…but in bigger news, they finally found someone to engrave the side plates on the Heritage Cup! We’ve a jump start, but Tyler scares off Primate and T-Bone with the nunchucks. The referee disarms him, so they’ll be used later no doubt.

When we get going, T-Bone throws Trent into the corner, before he charged Trent down out of a side headlock. Trent’s back with a crossbody, then a legdrop for a quick count, before Tyler Bate tagged in for a rebound senton off of Trent’s back. That gets a two-count, but after Tyler boots T-Bone, Trent tags back in, only to get distracted by Eddie Dennis as Symbiosis double team Trent with a double sledge.

Trent’s kept cornered, with Primate coming in to toy with him, before some double-team stomps keep him there. A kick from Trent finally caught out T-Bone, but Eddie Dennis pulls Tyler Bate off the apron to stop a tag. Referees aren’t enforcing much tonight, huh? Eventually Trent gets that tag after he DDT’d T-Bone, which was enough to bring on the Main Event Shouty Commentary as Tyler ran wild.

A capture Exploder from Bate chucks Primate… who kips up and then fell to bop/bang. Bate nearly wins with a running shooting star press, before Bate set up Symbiosis for an accidental fallaway slam. T-Bone makes the save after a Tyler Driver nearly put away Primate, before a release German suplex from T-Bone chucks Tyler.

T-Bone lands a powerslam out of the corner, then tagged in a groggy Primate to head up top for a swandive headbutt, but of course Bate kicked out. Primate lifts Bate onto the apron, then had to block as Tyler looked for an Exploder to the outside. O-kay… Eddie makes the save, hitting a Severn Bridge onto the guard rails, before a powerbomb/big splash combo from Symbiosis led to a near-fall with Trent making the save.

More double-teaming from Symbiosis ends with a rebound double lariat from Bate. Tyler tags in as Bate dives onto T-Bone and Eddie, while Trent comes close with a Seven Stars lariat on Primate… before a knee-assisted Birming-Hammer gets the win. I couldn’t buy into any other result just based on Trent and Tyler’s placing in the pecking order – and the baddies losing despite interference did them zero favours. Sigh. ***

Post-match, Pretty Deadly come out to applaud Moustache Mountain. They’re in dungarees, for those keeping tabs on their fashion choices, and I guess that’s a match they’re building to?

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

There’s still some nits to pick, but this week’s NXT UK felt a lot more coherent and focused. Meiko Satomura not having a clear, distinct challenger does open the door for the rest of the (perhaps too-stacked) women’s division to get some matches under their belt, but with the show’s big match being cherry picked for Florida, NXT UK right now is missing a “killer match” of their own to build to.