NXT UK – November 19, 2020: They Don’t Mean As Much These Days
IMG Credit: WWE
NXT UK
Date: November 19, 2020
Location: BT Studios, London, England
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Andy Shepherd
It’s title night as Kay Lee Ray is defending the Women’s Title against Piper Niven but this time it’s a Falls Count Anywhere match. Other than that we have some interesting things going on around here and hopefully some of that leads into some better stories as we move forward. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
We open with both Ray and Niven promising to leave as champion. Short and to the point.
Opening sequence.
Joe Coffey vs. Sam Gradwell
They fight over the lockup to start but the grappling doesn’t get either of them anywhere. Gradwell knees him in the ribs and tries to tie up the arm. Coffey is right back with a running dropkick to Gradwell’s braced knee, which is then wrapped around the rope. Gradwell tries to take him to the mat but gets hit in the knee again. A piledriver attempt is blocked so Coffey knocks him to the mat instead.
Coffey stands on Gradwell’s knees and slaps him in the face but Gradwell is right back to slug away. A Downward Spiral gives Gradwell two but Coffey (whose eye got busted open somewhere in there) slugs away to slow him down again. The running knee in the corner rocks Gradwell and All The Best For The Bells finishes him at 7:03.
Rating: C. These two beat each other up rather well and that’s where Coffey tends to shine. He can brawl with some of the best of them around here and it’s a smart move to keep him looking strong around here for a bigger match down the line. Then you have Gradwell, who needs to be completely rebuilt after not having much of a start in the first place. This was a good first step as he put up a solid fight.
Sid Scala is trying to announce a Cruiserweight Title match for next week but Jordan Devlin cuts him off, saying that Scala and Johnny Saint should be on their knees, thanking him for appearing. Kenny Williams and Amir Jordan come up to say they both want a shot. Devlin says figure out a challenger and come find him.
Ilja Dragunov talks about how he was going to have to be dragged out of the ring against Walter and it was going to be a war. That’s rather accurate and the highlights of the match show just how brutal it got.
Alexander Wolfe gets annoyed at Gallus celebrating Joe Coffey’s win so Coffey says he’s ready to fight in the ring or in the parking lot. Wolfe seems interested.
Pretty Deadly vs. Oliver Carter/Ashton Smith
Carter and Smith have new gear and music. Smith works on Stoker’s arm to start but it’s off to Howley anyway. That’s fine with Smith as he works on Howley’s arm instead so it’s already back to Stoker, who gets in some arm cranking of his own. Smith powers him up and onto the corner, followed by a suplex for two. Carter comes in for something like Private Party’s Silly String into a splash for two more on Stoker.
Howley tries to sneak back in and is armdragged right down, followed by a crossbody to give Carter two more. The referee has to get Smith out of the ring though, allowing Stoker to trip Carter into the buckle for a nice double team. The chinlock goes on as commentary tries to figure out which movie stars Pretty Deadly most resemble. Stoker is back in for a running elbow to the face in the corner and the armbar goes on again.
Howley comes in to elbow Smith but Carter crawls over to him for the hot tag anyway. House is cleaned in a hurry and a Blue Thunder Bomb gets two on Howley. Everything breaks down and a superkick drops Howley. Stoker puts the foot on the rope though and hits Smith with an uppercut, allowing Howley to grab a rollup with trunks for the pin at 8:29.
Rating: C+. Pretty Deadly is rapidly becoming a nice little heel team and that’s a good place for them to be. They’re not ready for the top of the card yet but I could very easily see them taking the Tag Team Titles one day. I still can’t remember which one is which, but even NXT UK made a joke out of that last week. The pretty boy heel gimmick might not be the most original gimmick, but it is one you see so often because it’s always going to work.
A ticked off Mark Andrews yells about Eddie Dennis costing him eight months of his career. Flash Morgan Webster says Eddie broke fifteen years of their friendship so now they’re breaking him.
Various wrestlers talk about Rampage Brown. They’re making him feel like a big deal in a hurry.
Levi Muir vs. Saxon Huxley
Huxley is rather aggressive to start and slaps on a quickly broken headlock. Muir gets knocked into the corner and there’s a face wash to make it worse. We hit the neck crank but here’s Jack Starz to cheer for Muir. That starts a comeback but Huxley punches him out of the air in a hurry. A hard running clothesline finishes Muir at 3:33.
Rating: C-. I’m still not much on Huxley but this was the best performance he’s had so far. Huxley has some angry charisma and looked like a monster here, though I’m going to need to see more of him to be convinced. Muir is in the same place, though his pretty good physique should be enough to keep him around for the time.
We look at A-Kid and Trent Seven making it to the Heritage Cup finals. They’re both ready to win to prove themselves.
Amir Jordan gets a Cruiserweight Title shot against Jordan Devlin next week.
Women’s Title: Piper Niven vs. Kay Lee Ray
Ray is defending and Falls Count Anywhere. They slug it out in the aisle before the bell with Niven getting the better of things. Niven takes her inside for the opening bell so Ray bails straight to the floor again. That doesn’t work well here as Niven runs her over and gets an early two. It’s time to bring out the weapons early on but Niven settles for whipping her into the barricade instead. A sunset flip over the barricade gets two on Niven but she gets in a chair shot to cut the champ off.
Ray is back with the bell which she pelts at Niven’s head. Since that might cause a bad case of death, Niven slips away and it’s a spare turnbuckle to the knee to take Ray down again. Ray kicks her way out of a leglock attempt and they head back inside, where the knee is fine enough for a superkick. The Gory Bomb doesn’t work though and Niven hits a headbutt to put them both down. Ray gets in some kendo stick shots before wrapping a chain around Niven’s face.
That earns her a spinebuster onto a trashcan for two and they head outside again. This time Ray sends her face first into the floor for two more but Niven is right back with a suplex to drop Ray again. Cue Jinny to jump Niven but she’s gone just as fast, leaving Niven to grab a backslide for two. They head backstage for a change with Niven blasting her over the head with a framed poster. Since it’s just a framed poster, Ray is back with a guitar shot for two more.
The Gory Bomb onto a chair is countered into a Piper Driver onto the chair for another two. You would think a finisher onto a chair and then onto concrete would be good for a pin here but they don’t work that way anymore. Niven whips out a pipe and blasts Ray’s knee again but Ray whips her into an anvil case. A backdrop sends Ray onto the cases though and Niven is ready to drive her through a table. Cue Jinny again to chair Niven through said table, with Ray landing on top to retain at 14:58.
Rating: C+. They had a good fight though Niven looks like the worst choker in all of WWE at the moment. Jinny interfering does help, but they lost me on that Piper Driver through the chair only getting two. If that’s not enough to finish Ray, what else was going to? Ray’s title reign is impressing me, and a showdown with Xia Brookside in a big underdog win could be a great thing to see. What we got here worked, but it did go on a little longer than needed.
Overall Rating: B-. NXT UK does something special by taking a bunch of people who aren’t that well known and turning them into a pretty nice roster all things considered. We got a good main event, some stuff set up for later and some teases for things that are going to be coming at some point. Solid show here as NXT UK is back to where it was before everything stopped.
Results
Joe Coffey b. Sam Gradwell – All The Best For The Bells
Pretty Deadly b. Oliver Carter/Ashton Smith – Rollup with trunks to Smith
Saxon Huxley b. Levi Muir – Clothesline
Kay Lee Ray b. Piper Niven – Pin after Jinny knocked Niven through a table
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Pretty Deadly is pretty awesome.
Their entrance theme and dance are one of the nest in the business today.
I like the name, the gear, ring work, all of it.
I still don’t know which is which though.