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NXT UK TV REPORT (EP. 89)
APRIL 2, 2020
STREAMED ON WWE NETWORK
REPORT BY CHAD KOENIG, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Announcers: Andy Shepherd, Nigel McGuinness
(1) KAY LEE RAY (c) & JINNY vs. DANI LUNA & PIPER NIVEN
Luna wanted to run right at Ray, who was starting on their side, but Niven calmed her down and said that she would start. As Niven came towards her, she tagged in Jinny. Niven then tagged in Luna. Luna tossed Jinny around the ropes for a bit. She attempted flying head scissors, but Luna caught her with a backbreaker and near pinfall. After this, Ray went to the outside and pulled Niven’s leg down. After Luna and Ray played catch around the ring, Jinny met her with a roundhouse kick and a two count. Double teaming ensued when the ref was talking to Niven. Ray with a front face slam and two. Jinny then attempted a series of submission holds to take Luna down until she countered a half guillotine and tossed Jinny.
At this point, Luna was able to get a tag in to Niven, who went right to work on Jinny, tossing her around the ring, off the ropes and into a near pinfall. She then got carried to the corner and hit Jinny with a cannonball. She went up to the top but Ray knocked her down, giving her time to tag Ray in and super kick Niven. Luna then tagged herself in and ran after Ray, duplexing her to the mat and kicking her in the corner.
Jinny went in to attack Luna but Niven shoulder tackled her to the outside. Niven followed and was tossed into the stairs. Luna rolled up Niven for two, but she got her up for a Gory Bomb to won the match.
WINNER: Kay Lee Ray and Jinny at 7:10
(Koenig’s Analysis: A fun match with a couple of coinciding storylines. Luna and Ray looked really good here. A very good, fun opener.)
–Next Week- “The Rise of NXT UK” special.
-Coronavirus.gov commercial
-Gallus vignette
(2) AMALE vs. XIA BROOKSIDE
Amale went right at Brookside and grabbed her arm, worked on it, and tossed Brookside in the ropes before sliding between her legs and face-planting Amale. Couple of near pinfalls from Brookside followed. Brookside started to work Amale’s arm, but she countered out of it using her superior and got Brookside into a chin bar. Brookside countered Amale’s hammerlock by lifting her and snapping her to the mat and kneeing her to the corner. She got Amale up for a horrible Broken Wings and rolled Amale into a three count.
WINNER: Xia Brookside at 3:00
(Koenig’s Analysis: This was Brookside’s first match of 2020 after training around Europe and Japan. She should have trained harder. The match was filled with sloppy, slow moves by both, especially Brookside, and a horrible ending.)
(3) 20-MAN OVER-THE-TOP BATTLE ROYAL
As wrestlers were coming to the ring, starting with Trent Seven and Tyler Bate, the network cut to WWE commercials as the ring filled, including two for this weekend’s WrestleMania 36.
The three biggest men in the battle royal, Dave Mastiff, Kassius Ohno and Ridge Holland, started in the middle of the ring with the other 17 staring them down. Ohno backed away and everyone bombarded him, throwing him over the top tomato him the first elimination. Everyone then went after each other. The order of eliminations went as followed: Saxon Huxley by Kenny Williams, Flash Morgan Webster by Joe Coffey and Huxley by Jordan Devlin. A-Kid got thrown over but landed on Huxley who A-Kid forced to carry him to get back into the ring.
Tyson T-Bone was then eliminated by Travis Banks, who was clotheslined over by Mastiff a couple of minutes later. The next to go over, in order, were Amir Jordan by Mastiff, Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter by Ridge Holland, Ligero by Mastiff, Ridge Holland by Ilja Dragunov and Joe Coffey (after a distraction by Joseph Connors, Trent Seven by Joe Connors, A-Kid by Jordan Devlin via a headbutt, Devlin by Noam Dar, and Mastiff by everyone else in the ring.
Chants of “Big strong boy” filled the arena to show love for Tyler Bate, but Noam Dar knocked him to the mat. They battled on the ropes and Seven eliminated Dar, leaving us with our final four: Wolfgang, Tyler Bate, Joe Coffey and Ilja Dragunov. The four took their corners and prepared to battle. The final four wrestlers went after everyone with no camaraderie. Coffey was thrown over by Wolfgang but was left dangling by one arm. Wolfgang grabbed Dragunov and tossed him at Coffey, ending his impressive run int he battle royal.
As the three men remain, Dragunov and Bate teamed up on Wolfgang, but an accidental kick to Bate left him dazed as Wolfgang went to work on Dragunov, hitting him with a DDT. Bate went to the top and dove onto Wolfgang but kicked Bate in the face and suplexed him across the ring. Bate hit the ropes and connected with a clothesline and then sent Wolfgang over the top rope, leaving just Bate and Dragunov – two of the best in NXT UK. As one would assume, they had a hell of a 50/50 battle. Chants of “this is awesome” then filled the arena, as I am sure that they shared the same sentiment that I do, which is wanting to see a full match between these two. The two battled up from their knees and exchanged intense, fast blows. Bate lifted Dragunov onto the top turnbuckle but he escaped and the two started to exchange blows on the corner apron. Bate brought him up again but was knocked back into the ring. Dragunov went to the top and connected with a high senton. Back to their feet, Bate hit a blue sky and went up for the Tyler Driver. Dragunov countered and flipped him over the rope, hanging on outside by only the top rope. Dragunov ran at him with a Torpedo Moscow as Bate was flipping himself back in and was knocked to the ground.
WINNER: Ilja Dragunov at 28:47
(Koenig’s Analysis: This was a fantastic battle royal. Just enough humor with the A-Kid spot, great fighting and exciting spots. Tremendous, and I picked Dragunov to won as an assumption and a want. He has been feuding with Imperium a lot recently and this match seemed inevitable. The ONLY disconnect that I had was that I didn’t understand why Mustache Mountain willingly fought against each other while the ring was still relatively full. That took out Trent Seven prematurely when Bate and he could have been a good tandem unit, but that’s knit-picking. Really a fun match.)
So happy Dragunov won! While watching the match, I was struck by what a great job NXTUK has done at building so many credible stars on their men’s roster. Dragunov was my slight favorite, but I’d have been okay with any of 10 or so other guys winning.
(p.s. slight nitpick: that was Alexander Wolfe)