wrestling / TV Reports
Hamilton’s NXT UK Review 09.16.21
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Heritage Cup Contender’s Tournament – Semi-Final: Noam Dar beat Kenny Williams by 2 falls to 1 at 2:27 of Round 5 (**¾)
Emilia McKenzie pinned Stevie Turner in 5:19 (**½)
Sam Stoker & Lewis Howley pinned Mark Coffey & Joe Coffey in 14:14 to retain the NXT UK Tag Team Championship (***¼)
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We’re back at the BT Sport Studios in London, with the usual titles, and the combo of Andy Shepherd and Nigel McGuinness on commentary.
Heritage Cup Contender’s Tournament: Noam Dar vs. Kenny Williams
I’m going 2-1 Dar… by the way, if they have updated match graphics for the video wall, why are we stuck with 2019 jobbies for the promotional material?
Round 1: Williams scores a takedown to start with, while Dar looked for a return, rolling Williams down for a chinlock. Williams doesn’t break cleanly in the ropes, but Dar doesn’t seem to mind too much, at least until Williams grabbed a side headlock. They pipe in boos as both men bend the rules, until Williams stomped on Dar’s foot, before Dar wound down the round with a wristlock… as both men cheapshotted the other at the bell.
Round 2: Dar’s a little less trusting to start, and gets caught with elbows early on before Williams went for the face. Crossface punches and seated splashes get a two-count for Williams, before some he used the ropes for his advantage, trapping Dar there ahead of a dropkick for a two-count, before Dar escaped an armbar and swept the leg. Kenny looks to jar his leg from a leapfrog, with Dar backing into him to knock him down as Williams clearly looked to have faked it… and snatches the first fall at 2:26 of the round with a handful of tights.
Round 3: Williams rolls outside at the bell, knowing Dar was going to charge. Cue piped in boos. He stomps on Dar back in the ring, then raked the back, before Dar began to come back with kicks. A back suplex is good for a two-count, as Dar follows with some Garvin-ish stomps, as more kicks looked to get Dar some two-counts… but an inside cradle nearly nicks the win for Williams, who then fell into a Champagne Super Knee Bar, only to hold on for the bell.
Round 4: Williams comes out of the blocks hot, going for Dar’s arm, before a kick to the face looked to get the fall… but Dar had his feet on the ropes, and of course the ref spots it. Williams charges out with a dive to the knees, then went to rip off a turnbuckle pad… Dar instead grabs Kenny’s water bottle as he knew what was coming. Dar looked to play the Eddie Guerrero trick, but we’ve no DQ as Dar instead rolls Williams intro the Champagne Super Knee Bar for the submission at 1:27 of the round. Because of course, 2-1.
Round 5: Dar’s winding up to strike at the bell, but the pair trade elbows before a back elbow from Dar almost won it. Williams throws Dar by the hair into the corner, before a rebound lariat drew a near-fall. Dar rolls outside to wind up Williams some more, but there’s a switcheroo as Dar rolls back in… Williams tries to, but gets held in the ropes by a Sha Samuels who was under the ring. Dar kicks Williams in the ropes, then hit the Nova Roller for the win as Sha Samuels scarpered through the no-crowd. This was funny in places, but you know my pet peeves. That and the referee being made to look a fool… **¾
Dar will face Teoman or Wolfgang in the finals.
Backstage, the Coffeys are shadow boxing when Jordan Devlin walks in, looking like a right charlie…
The assistant to the regional manager is standing in the ring… he introduces Ilja via video screen. Dragunov is happy, smiling, and still sporting that bandage as if this were shot a few weeks ago. We get golf claps for Dragunov’s speech, as he said he wants to come back to the UK… and also wants to know who’ll try to take the title from him.
Cue Nathan Frazer to interrupt the end of the video tape. He wants to use his initiative and asks to queue jump. Problem was, so did Rampage Brown, who demanded to be put at the Parade of Challengers rattled on. Of course, there was no original plan, so the Assistant to the Regional Manager suggests a triple-threat to crown a new challenger, and we have a scuffle between all three to close the segment…
Isla Dawn’s in Jinny’s dressing room, having painted a pentagram on the mirror with a lipstick. I bet she’s pinched something too for that box in the woods.
Trent and Tyler had a promo during the break, just because. Tyler’s apparently wanting to go for his old belt, but didn’t join the interrupt-a-thon we just had. Meanwhile, Trent wants to go back for the tag titles again…
Stevie Turner vs. Emilia McKenzie
McKenzie locks up into the corner to start, then saw Turner return the favour.
Emilia works the wrist and arm, yanking away on it before Turner grabbed a side headlock. A shoulder block has McKenzie down, but a dropkick turns it around ahead of a Twist and Shout neckbreaker for a near-fall. Turner’s knee lift is good for a two-count, while clotheslines and kicks keep McKenzie in the corner.
An overhead wristlock stretches McKenzie next, but she escapes with a roll-up for a two-count, before a spear almost put Turner away. They replay that, as McKenzie picks up Turner, only to get caught with a Side Effect for a near-fall… but a rebound German suplex and a knee strike from McKenzie land for the win as McKenzie slowly looks to drag her way back to title contention. **½
Video package time for Wolfgang vs. Teoman next week. It’s the other semi-final in the Heritage Cup tournament, and everyone’s keeping their eye on each other.
Promo time for a lad who looks a lot like William Regal. He tells us he’s trained with British wrestlers of the past and wants to do a lot of mat wrestling. Hey, that one match he had with Tyler Bate months ago was pretty damn good, and I was wondering when he’d be brought back. The former Bailey Matthews is now Clint Dempsey. No it’s not, that’s me on autopilot – Clint used to play up front for Fulham. The wrestler is now known as Charlie Dempsey as the NXT name generator is in full effect.
“During the break” the suspended Blair Davenport attacks Stevie Turner at ringside. This security force is really effective eh? Davenport demands to be reinstated, or else she’ll still keep attacking folks.
Next week: Rampage vs. A-Kid vs. Nathan Frazer in a triple-threat to decide who’ll go for the NXT UK title…
NXT UK Tag Team Championship: Gallus (Mark Coffey & Joe Coffey) vs. Pretty Deadly (Sam Stoker & Lewis Howley) (c)
We’ve passed six months of Pretty Deadly as champions, but they’re facing a different Gallus combo here.
The bell goes early here to start, as Howley’s taken into the corner by Mark, as they pipe in boos because Howley did a dance. Mark throws some right hands, then charges down Howley, who rolls outside for a breather. He returns and tags in Stoker, but Joe Coffey’s in to to land an elbow drop as the Gallus lads looked to take the lead.
Stoker goes for the jaw of Joe, but couldn’t avoid a misdirection crossbody that nearly led to a sudden title change. Nigel brings up the “Deadly boys” as I have flashbacks to a TNA rebranding… and return with Mark Coffey’s grounded abdominal stretch on Stoker. That’s broken out of, but Howley tags in and gets instantly armdragged, before some distraction from Stoker made sure the ref didn’t see a tag from Joe… which led to Mark spilling through the ropes.
“Who are you to question the tactics of the NXT UK tag team champions?” isn’t quite as snappy as “who are you to doubt El Dandy?”, but we manage to pick things up as Joe Coffey got the hot tag and flung Stoker with an overhead belly-to-belly for a near-fall. Joe works the arm some more, but Howley distracts the ref to mask a hair-pull from Stoker. Underhanded cheating, eh?
A double-team Fireman’s carry gutbuster turns it around for the champions, as they leapt on Joe and kept him away from a tag. Stoker and Howley isolate Joe, who eventually fought back by hurling Howley into the corner… but couldn’t make the tag at first, having to back body drop Stoker away before getting the hot tag to Mark.
Howley’s bumping like a mad man for Mark Coffey, who also threw Stoker with a back body drop. A Rick Steiner bulldog off the middle rope gets a near-fall, but Mark’s thrown outside. He quickly returns, but gets DDT’d by Stoker for a two-count, before a propelled double-team backfired.
A leaping enziguiri from Mark takes down Howley, before Joe Coffey tagged back in… his springboard crossbody is taken by Stoker as Howley snatches a cover following the tactical move… speaking of tactical, Mark Coffey trips Stoker face-first into the ring post as we have a pile-up on the floor that generated this_is_awesome.mp3.
Joe rolls Howley back inside for a missile dropkick, but Coffey took his time rolling over Howley and could only get a two-count as commentary began to shout at us again. The Glasgow Send-Off knocks Howley into the corner as Mark Coffey came in for a high/low… which ended with Stoker breaking up the pin.
A shoulder charge from Joe Coffey misses as he eats the ring post, while Howley’s clothesline nearly put Mark away. We’ve a flash crucifix pin after the kick-out, but Howley kicks out, then hit an uppercut before the Hart Attack neckbreaker – Spilt Milk – gets the champions the win. This was a good tag match, even if things frayed a little towards the end… but Pretty Deadly remain on top, as we await the expected rematch with Moustache Mountain. ***¼
