NXT UK – September 25, 2019: The Big Relief
IMG Credit: WWE
NXT UK
Date: September 25, 2019
Location: Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Cardiff, Wales
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness
This taping almost has to be coming to an end right? It feels like we’ve been on this same taping cycle forever now and that doesn’t seem to be changing. Last week saw Kassius Ohno defeat Sid Scala in a British Rounds match and that means….well not much actually, but it was good stuff. This week it’s Noam Dar vs. Trent Seven, which is an upgrade for one and a downgrade for the other. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
Moustache Mountain came to work earlier today.
Oliver Carter vs. Ligero
We hit the double arm crank for a bit until Carter slips out and kicks Ligero in the horn. An overhead belly to belly sets up another kick to the head for two, followed by a Lionsault for the same. Ligero is right back up with a monkey flip into the corner though and a springboard Stunner rocks Carter again. C4L finishes Carter at 5:26.
Rating: C. I don’t know what the deal is with Carter as they built him up as someone of note and then he loses his first two matches clean. I’d assume they have something planned for him and if that’s the case then fine, but it’s quite the odd way to go to start with him. Then again, it’s not like he was that interesting in the first place.
Walter showed up at the UK Performance Center and yelled at some trainees for not working hard enough. Some of them practiced a bit so Walter chopped them down for laughing. That’s why he’s going to be the champion forever: there is no future around here.
Starting next week: NXT UK is on Thursdays. That’s quite the relief as there was no need to pack in so much stuff on one day when Thursday was sitting there empty.
Here’s Tyler Bate for the first time since Takeover. The fans are rather pleased and sing about him in approval. Takeover was one of the hardest nights of his career and it wasn’t just because of the beating from Walter or not leaving as champion. It was because he felt like he had left the fans down, which earns him a NO chant. He’s far from finished around here though….and here’s Jordan Devlin to interrupt.
Yeah Bate worked hard at Takeover but it didn’t impress Devlin. Why was he on the sidelines at Takeover while Bate failed miserably? Everyone knows Devlin is the only man around here who can beat Walter and he would be United Kingdom Champion if he had the shot at Takeover. Bate may be big and strong but he’s a boy instead of a man. The fight is almost on but Devlin bails instead.
Video on Tegan Nox’s impressive start to her WWE career, which was then cut short by her second horrible knee injury. Rehab was hard but now she’s back and facing Kay Lee Ray next week.
Nina Samuels vs. Dani Luna
Luna is a Welsh wrestler who gets a rather strong reaction. A wristlock doesn’t work well on Luna as she powers out but Nina takes her down and punches away. Nina gets two off a Hennig Neck Snap and dropkicks her in the back for two. We hit the cross arm choke and Nina adds some trash talk for flavor. That’s broken up and Dani gets in a deadlift suplex, but the shaken up Nina kicks her in the head. Luna’s fall away slam gets two but Nina kicks her in the face and grabs the Final Act for the pin at 5:55.
Rating: D+. The fans were behind Luna but it’s clear that she has a long way to go. Nina is an interesting case as it was clear they wanted to push her but she somehow feels like a throwback to the early days of NXT UK (if such a thing exists) as the promotion has come a long way in a short amount of time. Nina can get back to the important part of the card, but it might take some tweaking.
Next week: Isla Dawn vs. Piper Niven.
Noam Dar vs. Trent Seven
Dar goes straight to the ropes for a delay before going to the hair to take over with a wristlock. A nearly clean break has Dar raving about the lack of a clean break so he headlocks Trent down and pulls on the moustache. They take turns sending each other into the ropes until Seven hits a crossbody for two. Dar goes back to the beard before crotching Seven on top to really take over. The middle rope clothesline drops Seven again and Dar sends him upside down into the ropes for a crash to the floor.
Back in and Seven makes his comeback with some forearms, only to get uppercutted right back down. Seven is fine enough to chop away and hit a DDT to really stun Dar. A twisting corkscrew misses so Seven punches him in the face. The Seven Star Lariat connects for two though and they’re both down. Dar is right back up with a shot to the face and another to the back of the head, but he stops to mess with Seven’s towel. This includes putting it down his trunks and that’s too much for Seven, who unloads on him for the DQ at 9:28.
Rating: C. It’s nice to have Seven back and as usual, Dar is a lot easier to hate when he stays in the ring being a jerk than when he runs his mouth backstage. He really isn’t the most interesting guy, but he keeps coming back onto my good side every now and then, which is a lot better than some people. Just be consistent and we might be able to get somewhere with him.
Post match Dar escapes and smiles to end the show.
Overall Rating: D+. While not bad, this was a completely skippable show with almost nothing going on save for the setup for what could be a good Bate vs. Devlin match. They didn’t have a lot of the big names here and it was showing badly, which isn’t the best kind of show as a result. It wasn’t awful, though just not much that you need to see.
Results
Ligero b. Oliver Carter – C4L
Nina Samuels b. Dani Luna – Final Act
Noam Dar b. Trent Seven via DQ when Seven attacked in the ropes
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