NXT UK – January 30, 2020: I Could Go For That
IMG Credit: WWE
NXT UK
Date: January 30, 2020
Location: York Barbican, York, England
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Aiden English
Things have already changed since last week’s show as NXT and NXT UK split at Worlds Collide. Despite being down a man, Imperium defeated the Undisputed Era in the show’s main event. Jordan Devlin even brought home some gold by winning the Cruiserweight Title. Now almost none of that is going to mean much here because this show was taped in advance, though we’ll likely get some videos taped since. Let’s get to it.
Here is Worlds Collide if you need a recap.
Quick recap of Worlds Collide.
Opening sequence.
Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. The Hunt
Burch and Boar start things off with Danny working on the wrist and taking it over with a headlock. Boar is back up with a shoulder in the corner and Primate comes in with a springboard double stomp to the back. Lorcan comes in and hits Primate in the face to take over, setting up a double chop from Lorcan and Burch. It’s already back to Boar though and the wild running starts charging around at everyone.
That just earns him a double suplex to give Lorcan two and we hit the abdominal stretch. A bite to the arm allows the hot tag off to Primate and house is clotheslined in a hurry. Primate hits the post though and Burch’s powerbomb gets two. Everything breaks down again and a bunch of headbutts have people staggered. Primate gets uppercutted out of the air, setting up the elevated DDT for the pin at 7:24.
Rating: C. They packed in a lot of energy here and that’s the kind of thing that these teams should have been doing. The Hunt continues to be one of the more entertaining teams around while Burch and Lorcan are great for a gatekeeper team who might even win the titles one day. That’s a valuable team to have around and they had a fun match here.
Toni Storm is upset because Kay Lee Ray is still in her head.
Here’s Eddie Dennis for a chat. He shows us a clip of his destruction of Trent Seven at Takeover and brags about the destruction in a bit of a scary voice. Cue Trent (he gets around these days) to pull off a turnbuckle pad and say that Eddie used it to win at Takeover. Since Eddie is so tough, let’s have a street fight with no turnbuckle pads. Dennis doesn’t answer but does lunch at Trent, who sends him outside. Of note: Trent sounded fine here, which doesn’t do much for continuity after Finn Balor attacked him earlier this week. The perils of a taped show.
A-Kid wants to impress Tyler Bate so they’ll have a match next week.
Aoife Valkyrie is coming in two weeks.
Nina Samuels vs. Isla Dawn
This is their fourth match on this series alone. Samuels snaps off headscissors so Dawn grabs a rollup for two. Back up and Dawn bridges into a cradle for two more so Samuels sends her to the floor. A handspring kick to the face knocks her off the apron to give Samuels two back inside. Samuels drops a leg and grabs a quickly broken chinlock, only to have Dawn send her hard into the corner. Dawn pulls her off the top and hits a top rope Meteora, setting up the half and half suplex for the pin at 5:03.
Rating: C-. The match wasn’t bad but there is only so much you can do when they keep having the same match over and over again without actually getting anywhere. These two have been stuck in the midcard of the division for a long time now and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I’m not sure if either of them can move up to the title scene and therefore, they come off as little more than filler.
Ilja Dragunov says he will not miss again.
Burch and Lorcan want Gallus.
Tyson T-Bone vs. Ridge Holland
Holland drives him up against the ropes so T-Bone hits him in the head. The slugout is on until Holland snaps off an overhead belly to belly. Some uppercuts have T-Bone on the ropes again and again he comes right back with some wild swings. Holland fires off some headbutts though and an Alabama Slam sets up Northern Grit for the pin at 3:13.
Rating: C. They got in some hard shots here but Holland showed off more potential here. If he gets a character to go with the look and hard hitting, they have something with him. He can be the body guy around here and the kind of powerful physicality can take him a long way. T-Bone isn’t going to get pushed but he’s a fine brawler and that’s a good thing to have around.
Next week: Tyler Bate vs. A-Kid and Trent Seven vs. Eddie Dennis in a steel corner street fight.
Imperium vs. Dave Mastiff/Flash Morgan Webster/Mark Andrews
Walter is the odd man out here, with the Wolfe injury being mentioned on commentary because putting in commentary later is a useful tool. Andrews and Barthel start things off and the size difference is rather notable. Barthel takes him down and works on the arm to start, even spinning around while holding an armbar. It’s Aichner coming in for an armbar of his own so Webster comes in to try his luck.
A running hurricanrana is easily countered and Aichner cranks on the ankle while pulling him over to the ropes. Webster knocks Barthel down though and hits a standing inverted Swanton for two. That’s enough to bring in Mastiff and a hiptoss has Aichner down. It’s already back to Andrews, who spins around for a headscissors to send Aichner over for the tag to Barthel.
The fast tags continue with Mastiff grabbing a delayed vertical suplex for two on Barthel, setting up Andrews’ basement dropkick for the same. Webster climbs onto Barthel’s back for a hurricanrana to Wolfe but Wolfe is right back with a SCARY German suplex to drop him onto the back of his head. Things slow down in a hurry and Webster is tied in the Tree of Woe for the running double dropkicks.
A spinebuster into a penalty kick gets two but Webster is right back up with the tag off to Mastiff to run people over. Everything breaks down and Barthel throws Andrews to Aichner for the suplex, only to get reversed into the Stundog Millionaire. Andrews and Webster hit the stereo flip dives and Mastiff dives off the apron onto all three villains. Mastiff even mocks the Imperium pose, drawing out Walter to jump him from behind. That earns Walter a right hand to the face but it’s Aichner hitting a brainbuster on Andrews for the pin at 11:27.
Rating: B-. Mastiff has been one of the more interesting people around here for a long time now as he looks like any other big guy who shouldn’t have much of a run around here. However, he’s stayed relevant since his debut and while he isn’t going to win, it isn’t insane to put him against Walter. The others were their usual selves and I can go for more of them in spots like this.
Walter and Mastiff stare each other down to end the show. I could go for that.
Overall Rating: C+. Not too bad of a show here, though the continuity issues from Worlds Collide and NXT were a little distracting (not a big negative, just distracting). The Mastiff vs. Walter stuff feels like a mini filler feud until we get on to the Wrestlemania season stuff and that’s acceptable. The rest of the show was pretty skippable, but it was still a fine enough show that didn’t get dull so well enough done.
Results
Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch b. The Hunt – Elevated DDT to Primate
Isla Dawn b. Nina Samuels – Half and half suplex
Ridge Holland b. Tyson T-Bone – Northern Grit
Imperium b. Dave Mastiff/Flash Morgan Webster/Mark Andrews – Brainbuster to Andrews
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