NXT UK – November 13, 2019: The Instant Classic
IMG Credit: WWE
NXT UK
Date: November 14,, 2019
Location: Brentwood Centre, Essex, England
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Nigel McGuinness
It’s back to the old ideas around here this week as Tyler Bate faces Kassius Ohno. That could go either way as Ohno is as up and down of a wrestler as you can get. If he’s on, this could be great but if he’s off, it could be a rather long night. Other than that, Xia Brookside gets Kay Lee Ray in a non-title match. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
Xia Brookside vs. Kay Lee Ray
Non-title. Ray drives her into the corner to start and gets in a shove to the face for some mind games. A headlock takeover works a bit better for Brookside as the fans look….asleep? Brookside headstands her way out of a headscissors and dances a bit to get on Ray’s nerves. A shot to the face puts Brookside down and the fans aren’t happy with that one.
Brookside’s crossbody is countered with a slam and a gordbuster gives Ray two. It’s too early for the Gory Bomb though and now the fans are getting into things. Brookside hammers away and snaps off a headscissors, setting up a hurricanrana for two. That’s enough for Ray who hits a superkick and plants Brookside with the Gory Bomb for the win at 7:02.
Rating: C. Maybe it’s the smile but it’s so easy to like Brookside. She’s a great underdog but can hang in the ring so it’s not like it’s ridiculous to imagine her pulling off an upset. At the same time though, Ray is turning into a rather strong champion and I’m not sure who could take the title off of her in the near or far future.
We look back at Alexander Wolfe recruiting Ilja Dragunov to Imperium but Dragunov sided with Gallus instead.
We get the second video on Piper, who is a role model for kids who might not feel like they belong due to their size. She was determined to make it to WWE and has proven everyone wrong due to her passion and heart.
Travis Banks vs. Ligero
Rematch after a double pin last month. They chop it out to start and an exchange of kicks to the face gives us a double knockdown. Ligero gets two off a clothesline and it’s off to something like an Octopus. That’s broken up and a standing clothesline just gets on Banks’ nerves. They go to the same double cover that gave us a draw last time before chopping it out again.
Banks knocks him into the ropes and hits a missile dropkick to a seated Ligero for a different visual. Ligero is right back with a Code Red for two but neither can get anywhere off a small package. The Kiwi Crusher gives Banks two so he goes up, only to get caught in a superplex. They head to the apron with Banks hitting a fisherman’s suplex but Ligero is right back with C4L on the floor. With Banks down, cue Joseph Conners to post Ligero. Back in and the Slice of Heaven finishes Ligero at 9:56. Banks did not see what Conners did.
Rating: C+. I wasn’t all that interested in seeing this one again but they had an entertaining match and I was wondering what was going to happen here. That being said, Conners can fall in a hole and never come out because he is one of the least interesting people NXT has put out there in a LONG time. It just isn’t there and that is showing more and more every single time.
Post match Conners beats up Banks as well. Conners grabs a mic and says this was supposed to be him but he has been overlooked. He is sick of the excuses and if he has to suffer, so does everyone else.
Ridge Holland debuts next week.
William Regal was at the NXT UK Performance Center this week when Alexander Wolfe came up to Regal and the NXT UK bosses. Wolfe wanted a match with Ilja Dragunov and didn’t want to hear from Sid Scala. Johnny Saint makes the match for next week.
Kassius Ohno vs. Tyler Bate
The fans start singing about Bate and it’s some standing grappling early on. Bate works on the wristlock but Ohno takes him to the mat for one of his own. That’s broken up and it’s an Octopus hold, only to have Ohno pull him down into a reverse chinlock with Ohno sitting on the mat. Back up and it’s a standoff until Ohno hits some palm strikes, only to throw a closed fist when the referee turns his back for a good heel move.
Back up and Bate is sent into the corner for the Jack Gallagher raised boot, plus a headscissors. Ohno sends him to the apron and then into the post to really take over for the first time. Bate’s shoulder is banged up and Ohno brings him back inside for a backsplash. One heck of a chop has Bate in trouble so Ohno stops to yell at the crowd for a bit.
We hit the cravate with Ohno lifting him up to make it almost like a guillotine. Bate gets dropped down like a Stunner for two and Ohno is rather confident. Some suplex attempts don’t work for Bate until he just muscles Ohno over, followed by the running forearm in the corner. Another suplex lets Bate nip up for the running shooting star and another near fall. The Tyler Driver 97 is countered with a backdrop so hard that Bate lands on his face.
The Cyclone Boot gives Ohno two and frustration is setting in. Ohno hits a headbutt but Bate starts swinging and hits Bop and Bang for two. The Rebound clothesline is blocked with a forearm to the back of Bate’s neck but Ohno misses a moonsault. Bate muscles him up for two off a German suplex and they’re both down.
Ohno gets up with a pump kick so Bate hits the big clothesline to put Ohno on the floor. The big dive is forearmed out of the air and Ohno’s Dream Crusher gets two. Ohno demands that the fans chant his name and takes Bate up top, only to have Bate slip down for a spinning torture rack slam. The Tyler Driver 97 is good for the pin at 24:03.
Rating: B+. The time helped this one and made it feel all the more epic. Bate looks pretty standard when you just look at him but my goodness he can turn it on. Then you have Ohno, who looks like he doesn’t belong anywhere near a ring but has the psychology to make up for his lack of a physique. Heck of a match here as Bate does it again and Ohno surprises me one more time.
Overall Rating: B. That main event is more than enough to make up for what was just an ok show otherwise. Sometimes you need to just go out there and have an awesome match, which is what happened here. They even have the Gallus vs. Imperium battle for down the line, making this a rather nice sign for the future. NXT UK has had some issues with putting on an entertaining show without the top talent and they did it here. Well done indeed.
Results
Kay Lee Ray b. Xia Brookside – Gory Bomb
Travis Banks b. Ligero – Slice of Heaven
Tyler Bate b. Kassius Ohno – Tyler Driver 97
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Xia Brookside is cute as a bug, she just has that naturally beautiful smile that helps make it easy to root for her. She has underdog written all over her, which is appropriate given that she’s all of maybe 20 years old.
I hadn’t seen the first Banks vs. Ligero match, so I wound up enjoying this quite a bit. Nice physical match with two even matched men in terms of size, strength, speed, etc. just trying to see who’s better. I’m with you on Joseph Conners as he’s just utterly forgettable and when you’re reminded of him, you remember why you forgot him in the first place.
Bate vs. Ohono was great. A lot of what went on reminded me a lot of Bate’s match against Walter at TakeOver: Cardiff in that Bate is able to tell the story of being so overwhelmed by a much bigger opponent that you immediately buy into every bit of offense he hits, especially the little stuff. For instance, the fans popped every time he did something that’s more of a normal move like the bridging German Suplex, the Exploder Suplex, etc. because he’s been wailed on by Ohno and it makes the moves seem all the more spectacular when he lands them.
Probably the best NXT UK episode on quite a while.