1/2 NXT UK TV REVIEW: Dragonov vs. Wolfe, Ligero vs. Kassius Ohno, Reeves vs. Mastiff, Outliers vs. Carter & Smith

NXT UK TV REPORT (EP. #76)
JANUARY 2, 2020
TAPED IN HULL, ENGLAND
STREAMED ON WWE NETWORK
REPORT BY CHAD KOENIG, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

– Show starts with Johnny Saint & Sid Scala confirming two more matches at NXT UK Takeover Blackpool II. Eddie Dennis vs Trent Seven. Also, Tyler Bate will go against Jordan Devlin.

(1) DAVE MASTIFF vs. KONA REEVES

– As he was walking to the ring, Reeves cut a heel promo and attacked Mastiff’s family. When the bell rang, Mastiff went right to work and sent him out of the ring with a shoulder tackle. Mastiff went outside but Reeves slammed his face into the apron and into the stairs. Reeves rolled back into the ring and got some offense in on the apron. They both made it back to the center the ring and Reeves laid strikes into Mastiff, as well as a DDT and near fall. Kona kept him grounded and struck his face. Another two count. Reeves hit the ropes and Mastiff countered with a back body drop. A german suplex followed and Mastiff sent Reeves into the corner. Mastiff ran across the ring and connected with a cannonball. 1.2.3. Mastiff wins that easily.

WINNER: Dave Mastiff via pinfall at 3:15

(Koenig’s Analysis: Reeves is a great athlete and can be a great “prickish” heel, even though they have two already with Dar and Devlin. Mastiff has boatloads of potential as well Match was fine. It did what it needed to to give mastiff a victory.)

– Royal Rumble commercial

– Toni Storm comes to the ring and calls out Piper Niven. She apologized to Niven and asked her to make it a one on one match, and to exclude herself from it. Niven declined because she said that she worked too hard for it.. Storm head butted her and they brawl. Kay Lee Ray came out and laughed at the carnage.

– NXT UK Takeover II hype

– WWE Shop commercial

(2) LIGERO vs. KASSIUS OHNO

– After some cat and mouse around the ring, they lock up and Phone starts on Ligero’s arm. He held a wrist lock in place for a bit. Ligero countered and flipped out of the hold. Ohno grabbed Ligero’s horn and he slapped Ohno to the ground. Ligero went to work with some knee strikes and kicks to Ohno’s gut. Ohno used his such background and worked circles around the larger Ohno. Ohno threatened to talk away but came back into the ring, grabbing the horn once again.

Ohno went back to work on Ligero’s arm and tossed his shoulder into the rope. Ohno got Ligero in a 3/4 nelson an into the Kassius Klutch. Ligero countered and kicked him in the jaw. Ligero went to the top rope and landed a drop kick. Ligero attempted a Stunner to no avail, Ohno tried to grab the mask and rolled him up for a two. Ligero countered for a two of his own. Ligero finally lands the stunner, a sunset bomb, and a two count. They bring the action to the ground and Ohno hooked the Kassius clutch in the middle of the ring for a tapout.

– Ohno via submission at 6:51

– Post match, Ohno cut a promo saying that he came here to be “the embodiment of Britsh professional wrestling”.

(Koenig’s Analysis: A lackluster match used to setup all of the post-match happenings.)

– A- Kid shown in an interview segment that was interrupted by Joseph Connors. Connors grabbed the camera and said that he himself was “Takeover ready” again. Looks like he might be facing A-Kid with that segment.

– Commercial for the book “Mayor Kane”

– Ohno seen again backstage saying “find someone better than me”. Dave Mastiff came up from behind telling him “You know where to find me”.

(3) OLIVER CARTER (hair) & ASHTON SMITH vs. THE OUTLIERS (RIDDICK MOSS & DORIAN MAK (bald))

Moss and Carter start the match. Moss started off demonstrating his strength by tossing Carter around a bit. Carter retaliated using his speed and hit him from behind using the ropes. Tag to Mak. He comes in, tossed Carter in the corner and asked for Smith. Smith tags in. Mak lifted him and pinned him into the corner before tossing him to the middle of the ring. Smith tagged Carter in and he immediately dropkicked Mak, with Smith joining in. All four members get involved and Carter & Smith stand tall in the ring. Mak jumped back in the ring and started striking Carter and putting a beating on him around the ring. Tag to Moss who kept Carter in their corner. Carter battled his way back a bit but the two big men kept him grounded by tagging back and forth. Two count by Mak. Moss tagged back in for a near fall. As Moss tossed Carter foolishly towards his corner, Smith tagged him and hit a backbreaker. As Smith was fighting, Mak interfered. As Moss went to take advantage, Smith caught him in w roll-up for the pin.

WINNER: Carter & Smith via pinfall at 5:59

(Koenig’s Analysis: A fine match. These guys are improving. The finish fell flat as Im not sure if that’s the way it was supposed to go down. It looked like Mak was setting something up as the pin happened while he was climbing the turnbuckles.)

– Takeover Cardiff II package focusing on the tag title match

(4) ILJA DRAGUNOV vs. ALEXANDER WOLFE- No DQ Match

– This battles started off on fire. As Wolfe, who was last to enter, came to the ring with his silhouette backdrop, Dragunov ran to the top and started in on him as he was walking out from the curtain. A very cool visual. The bell rang. The striking continued all the way to the ring. Wolfe slammed him spine first into the apron before both got back into the ring. Dragunov grounded Wolfe and attempted to go to the top rope. Wolfe got up. Dragunov sent him outside and connected with an axe handle from the top. Wolfe crawled back in to the ring and Dragunov grabbed a kendo stick. Wolfe disarmed him of the weapon immediately. Dragunov told him to “bring it”.  Wolfe dropped the stick and told him to come for it. He did and was met with a boot to the face. Wolfe grabbed the stick and went to work on his back.

As Wolfe was taunting him with the stick, Dragunov grabbed a hold of it but with no luck. Wolfe choked him and slammed Dragunov with a neckbreaker onto his knee. Near fall. Wolfe barred the stick over Dragunovs mouth and held it in a rest for about a minute. Dragunov countered, grabbed the stick and landed some strikes with it as the two fought out of the ring. As Wolfe was laying on the ground, Dragunov pulled out a table and positioned it in the corner. Dragunov attempted to suplex Wolfe into the table but both men counter each others’ suplexes. Wolfe went outside and when Dragunov jumped to the top, Wolfe tossed a chair at him, and a death valley driver on to the apron.

Wolfe dragged him back into the ring and attempted to slam him onto the chair in the ring. He was unsuccessful as Dragunov got up and grabbed the chair himself , clocking Wolfe in the skull. He set a chair up on Wolfe and landed a coast to coast. Two count. Dragunov went back out of the ring and tossed in several chairs. It didn’t take long however, for Wolfe to take control of the chairs and rammed one into his throat, followed by smashing Draunov’s hands in the chair. While swinging the chair, Dragunov countered with a lariat and got Wolfe onto his back and slammed him through the table set up earlier. Dragunov struck up the orchestra and landed Torpedo Moscow. A pin for a win.

– Post match, Imperium came to the ring and beat down Dragunov, with Walter watching on proudly. As Walter made it to the ring, Joe Coffey came up from behind and attacked him. Imperium came ran in to help and the show ended.

Dragunov via pinfall at 14:56

(Koenig’s Analysis: Fantastic match. I like that there wasn’t an overabundance of weapons used during this type of match, which often happens on US WWE programming. There were a couple of sloppy looking kendo shots right in the beginning but that didn’t last long as the rest of the use of weapons looked violent and real. The chair shot to Wolfe’s head made an incredible sound. Fantastic match.)