NXT UK – February 6, 2020: It’s Becoming A Favorite

IMG Credit: WWE

NXT UK
Date: February 6, 2020
Location: York Barbican, York, England
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Aiden English

It’s time for a big fight and that means no turnbuckles this time around. The main event for this week is Eddie Dennis vs. Trent Seven in a match with all of the turnbuckles exposed after Dennis cheated to win at Takeover. Other than that, we continue the build towards…well I’m not sure actually as it could be a long time before the next Takeover. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Piper Niven vs. Dani Luna

Piper drives her into the corner to start but Luna drives her right back thanks to a powerlifting background. That earns her a cobra clutch but Luna is out with a kick to the face. Luna can’t slam her though, allowing Piper to slam her down instead. A seated crossbody sets up a chinlock but Luna fights up and dropkicks the knee. The real power display sees Luna get her up in a fireman’s carry but can’t do anything with it. Instead, Niven slips out and grabs the Michinoku driver for the pin at 4:33.

Rating: C-. Luna is a newcomer and got to show off with the power game, which is what you can do with a monster like Niven. It wasn’t a great match or even a very good one, but Luna made an impression and Niven got the win to get her back on track. The power displays were what mattered here though and they worked out as they were supposed to.

Gallus is ready for Danny Burch/Oney Lorcan.

Jordan Devlin is very proud with his new title and now he’s proven his greatness.

A-Kid vs. Tyler Bate

Mentee vs. mentor. The fans start singing to Tyler as A-Kid takes him down with a waistlock. That’s broken up in a hurry and we have an early standoff. Bate headlocks him down but A-Kid reverses into a headlock. Back up and A-Kid scores with a northern lights suplex but Bate is right back with a suplex of his own. The running shooting star press is countered into a triangle choke so Bate muscles him up into the airplane spin. That’s broken up as well and A-Kid throws him to the floor for a moonsault from the top. Back in and Bate hits the rebound clothesline and the Tyler Driver 97 for the quick pin at 5:52.

Rating: C+. A-Kid is someone who could go somewhere around here and that’s a good sign for the future. He’s young and talented, though I’m not sure how much he has done to stand out just yet. What matters though is the fact that he is hanging with one of the biggest stars around here and that’s a good sign. Bate is…well he’s Bate and I think that speaks for itself.

Post match respect is shown but here’s Joseph Conners to say Bate can come find him when he wants to fight a man instead of a boy. If Bate can’t make him interesting, no one can.

We look back at last week’s main event, capped off by Dave Mastiff and Walter staring each other down.

After last week’s show, Mastiff went Walter hunting to no avail.

Ashton Smith/Oliver Carter vs. Pretty Deadly

Smith shoulders Howley down to start and gets two off a stalling suplex. Carter sunset flips in for two and it’s off to Stoker, who gets beaten up as well. It’s already back to Smith, who beats up both of them at once, including a backdrop to Howley. Stoker offers a distraction though and Howley gets in a cheap shot to take over on Smith.

That means the heels can start the tandem offense, setting up a seated abdominal stretch to keep Smith in trouble. A backdrop puts Howley on the floor again and the hot tag brings in Carter to clean house. Stoker intentionally low bridges Howley to the floor to get him out of trouble but Carter beats them both up again. A One Winged Angel into a backbreaker finishes Stoker at 5:45.

Rating: C. Just a match here but what matters here is adding in some new teams. There are only so many teams around here and it’s a good idea to add in some new ones where you can. Carter and Smith can be fine as the plucky team who can go somewhere in the future, while Pretty Deadly is likely to get a bit better when they’re given some time to do some promos or vignette.

Post match Pretty Deadly jumps Smith so Carter can make a save.

Ilja Dragunov beat up a tire earlier this week but makes it clear that he’s ready for Joe Coffey.

Here’s Kay Lee Ray for a chat. She says she’s never giving this title up but we pause for a Toni Storm chant. Ray talks about how she has all of the power and respect and there is nothing Storm can do about it. Cue Storm to say Ray stole the win at Takeover and the title belongs to her. Ray issues another challenge: they can have an I Quit match, but when Storm loses, she’s done getting title shots. Storm can think about it.

Aoife Valkyrie debuts next week.

Eddie Dennis vs. Trent Seven

There are no turnbuckle pads and anything goes. Seven jumps him to start and takes it to the floor for a whip into the barricade. Eddie is back with a whip into the steps though and it’s time to throw the top half of the steps away. A forearm puts Seven down again but the Severn Bridge into the crowd is broken up. Instead, Seven grabs a DDT onto the steps and they fight into the crowd for a change.

Another whip into the barricade has Seven in trouble and now the Severn Bridge over the barricade and onto the steps gets two. That’s only good for two so Seven tries to whip him into the corner, but Eddie is smart enough to drop to the floor and avoid the steal. They go back into the crowd with Seven being sent over to the commentary area.

The Severn Bridge is broken up again and it’s a Birminghammer off the announcers’ table onto another table and they’re both rather down (with Dennis apparently injuring his shoulder in the process). They would have been better off having this as a falls count anywhere match so that could have been the finish.

Dennis is sent back to ringside but Trent misses a corkscrew dive off the barricade. They pull themselves to the apron and it’s Seven going into the buckle first. The Next Stop Driver is blocked and Eddie is whipped into the corner, setting up the second Birminghammer for the pin at 11:25.

Rating: B-. Injury aside, this could have been really good if they had let it be a regular street fight and given it a bit more time. The problem is they barely went near the buckles until the end as the rest was spent on the (good) brawling in the crowd. I liked the intensity though and the match felt like a main event, but it could have been something even better but as such we only got something good.

Overall Rating: B. The main event is the best thing on the show but what mattered here was how much they seemed to get in despite not even being on the air for an hour. This felt very similar to one of the great NXT formula shows and that’s some of the best praise I can give it. A bunch of stories were advanced or at least mentioned and the show never felt like it had too much going on. I liked this a lot and this show is rapidly becoming a favorite.

Results

Piper Niven b. Dani Luna – Michinoku Driver

Tyler Bate b. A-Kid – Tyler Driver 97

Oliver Carter/Ashton Smith b. Pretty Deadly – Electric chair backbreaker to Stoker

Trent Seven b. Eddie Dennis – Birminghammer

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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