NXT UK – October14, 2021; These Guys Can Fight
NXT UK
Date: October 14, 2021
Location: BT Sports Studios, London, England
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Andy Shepherd
It’s championship week as Ilja Dragunov is back to defend the United Kingdom Title against A-Kid. That has all the makings of a great match, but more importantly, there will be a crowd here for the first time in WAY too long as the United Kingdom has started to lighten their Coronavirus restrictions. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence, with a new song.
The fans are back!
Blair Davenport vs. Stevie Turner
Davenport jumps Turner before the bell as we start fast. That’s fine with Turner, who fights back at the bell and scores with a Thesz press to hammer away. Some right hands in the corner don’t work out so well as Davenport drops her face first onto the turnbuckle and scores with a basement dropkick to the back of the head. Turner is back up with a running boot to the face and some neckbreakers get two. Davenport BLASTS her with a kick to the head for two more but Turner is back with a Side Effect for the same. That’s enough for Davenport, who knees her in the face and hits a Falcon Arrow for the pin at 4:36.
Rating: C. This was short and to the point, as Davenport shrugged off Turner’s offense and pinned her in short order. You can tell that Davenport is likely the next big thing and eventually the top star in the division, but we still have a little while before we get that far. They had another good step here though, as it is nice to have Davenport back in the ring.
Sha Samuels commandeers a birthday party and gives it to Noam Dar instead. Samuels isn’t happy with the banners but Dar says this can be a warmup for the real celebration when he wins the Heritage Cup.
Rohan Raja makes excuses to Teoman for the Heritage Cup tournament but Teoman promises that the family will grow soon.
Sid Scala has a match to announce when Jinny and Joseph Conners come in. As luck would have it, the match was about her, as Jinny challenges Meiko Satomura for the Women’s Title in three weeks. Jinny’s advice to Scala: burn his clothes.
Flash Morgan Webster vs. Sha Samuels
Webster dodges to start and scores with some right hands in the corner. A few fast chops annoy Samuels, who takes Webster’s head off with a chop of his own. Some hard kicks to the back give Samuels two and a shoulder to the ribs in the corner gets the same. They head outside with the fans chanting for Webster, who is dropped face first onto the apron.
Back in and Webster suddenly picks up the pace, including a middle rope standing moonsault. Samuels is sent outside for a change and that means a suicide dive from Webster. They head back inside where Webster scores with a running kick to the face for another near fall, setting up a heck of a top rope flip dive to the floor. Back in again and Webster scores with a headbutt but walks into a spinebuster to give Samuels the pin at 8:16.
Rating: B-. They were starting to rock here with that Webster comeback being a standout highlight. This was a rather fun edition of power vs. speed and that is going to work every single time. Webster doesn’t get as much attention as Mark Andrews but he showcases himself well when he gets the chance.
It’s time for another Nina Samuels Show, with Xia Brookside not realizing she is the guest. Brookside calls over Leah James and gets a match with her instead. End of show.
We recap Dave Mastiff/Jack Starz cutting off Symbiosis’ attempt at interfering in a recent tag match. They’re facing off next week as a result.
Gallus interrupts Jordan Devlin’s meeting with Sid Scala. Devlin doesn’t want to hear this and threatens to take Joe Coffey out soon.
United Kingdom Title: A-Kid vs. Ilja Dragunov
A-Kid is challenging and circles around the champ to start until a headscissors pulls him to the mat. They go with some grappling until A-Kid rapid fires kicks to the leg. That earns him a big chop but he nips up and kicks at the leg some more. Dragunov checks one though and snaps off a German suplex, sending us back to the grappling. That’s broken up so Dragunov snaps off the rebound lariat, only to hurt his own arm in the process.
Now it’s Dragunov’s turn to crank on the leg but A-Kid chops his way out of a leglock. The leg gets cranked back again though and it’s time to chop A-Kid in the corner. Dragunov gets two off something like a powerbomb but A-Kid kicks at the bad arm to get a breather. The good arm is fine enough to blast A-Kid….who responds by kicking Dragunov in the face. The kicks to the chest (with the bad leg) don’t do much to Dragunov, who catches the leg and sends us back to a strike off.
A kick to the head sets up a fisherman’s suplex (with the bad leg being raised) for two on Dragunov, who is right back with an STO. Dragunov takes him down with a hard knee to the ribs and the rolling German suplexes, though A-Kid cranks on the arm to escape. Some elbows to the head set up another suplex for two on A-Kid as the fans (accurately) deem this awesome. Dragunov misses a top rope backsplash and gets pulled into a sleeper. With that broken up, A-Kid scores with a running kick to the chest.
An armbar over the ropes has Dragunov hurt again but he drops A-Kid again. Torpedo Moscow is cut off with a kick to the face though and they’re both down one more time. They slug it out with A-Kid getting the better of things and Dragunov not being able to powerbomb his way out of a cross armbreaker. He can however flip out of an Oomoplata, setting up Torpedo Moscow to the leg. Another Torpedo Moscow retains the title at 19:25.
Rating: A-. This was excellent stuff and the two of them beat the fire out of each other. That is what you should be expecting to see from Dragunov these days and A-Kid was able to hang in there with him every step of the way. The battle of limb manipulation was great here and it felt like a huge main event title match. These guys brought it and the match was excellent throughout, as you probably expected.
Dragunov demands A-Kid stand up so the handshake can end the show.
Overall Rating: B+. There is a reason that this show has been so well received as of late and the fans being back only make it better. This show felt important again and the energy from the fans played a bit role in that change. Granted the main event being a nearly twenty minute clinic helped as well, as we had one of the better editions of this show in a very long time.
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As impressive as Dragonov is. I’m worried that if he keeps at this pace he’ll push himself into early retirement. All his matches look like brutal wars.