This week on NXT UK we see a semi-final from the Heritage Cup, and the return of “full strength Gallus.”
Quick Results
Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey & Wolfgang pin Sam Gradwell, Sam Stoker & Lewis Howley in 9:44 (**½)
Jinny pinned Aleah James in 3:45 (NR)
Heritage Cup – Semi-Final: A-Kid defeated Noam Dar by 2 rounds to 1 (2:10 of round 5) (**½)
One week on from the much-lauded NXT UK title match, we’re back at the BT Sport studios in London to see what’s next… we open with a recap of THAT match, and a parade of Tweets of those loving the match. I swear wXw’s Avalanche was one of those in the flurry of tweets they showed…
Cue titles, cue Andy Shepherd and Nigel McGuinness on commentary… and we start with some Gallus.
Gallus (Mark Coffey, Joe Coffey & Wolfgang) vs. Pretty Deadly (Sam Stoker & Lewis Howley) & Sam Gradwell
I know it’s autumn in London, but really? A pac-a-mac for entrance gear? This was Sam Gradwell’s first match in over two years after a long time out with a knee injury… and it’s the partners that don’t get along gimmick with Pretty Deadly.
Sam Stoker and Mark Coffey start us off, with Mark landing an early armdrag, then a Cornish Hype before Wolfgang tagged in. He gets caught with a dropkick as Stoker tagged in Lewis Howley, who found himself on the mat with a wristlock,before a shoulder tackle knocked him down again. Joe Coffey’s in, but Howley rolls away, only to get his arm worked over as the played the fake Thunderdome gimmick on the video screens. Howley backflips off the ropes, but gets hiptossed instead as Sam Gradwell tagged in for his first action in ages. A side headlock from Coffey’s pushed off, as Gradwell hits a leapfrog, then grazed Coffey with an elbow before the Scotsmanr returned with a pounce… which drew in Pretty Deadly to get rugby tackled to the outside too.
After things calm down (with no crowd to gee on the good guys), Gradwell tags in Howley, who’s instantly pulled into an armbar. Repeated Irish whips take Howley into the corner… but a kick from Stoker on the apron caught Wolfgang by surprise as Pretty Deadly looked to take over. Except Wolfgang overpowers a double clothesline attempt and held Stoker at bay as Mark Coffey returned with a side headlock. Stoker fought free to bring in Howley, but he’s met with a similar fate… so Stoker tags back in and catches Mark with a DDT out of nothing. That gets a two-count as Gradwell tags in to help keep Mark in the corner. A knee to the back, then elbows and double sledges to the head, as tags get us to Joe Coffey and Lewis Howley.
Joe’s back body drops clear out Pretty Deadly, before a belly-to-belly on Howley left him prone for a swinging front facelock. A butterfly suplex is next for a near-fall as Gradwell broke up the pin. The ring fills, then clears as we go back to Gradwell and Joe… a STO from Gradwell nearly nicks it, but Coffey kicks out the bad knee then hits Awra Best for the Bells for the win. Decent enough, but missing a spark as they continue to tease Gallus vs. Pretty Deadly. **½
We’ve got talking heads as Noam Dar and A-Kid preview their semi-final in the Heritage Cup. Dar beat A-Kid just before the shutdown, and he reckons he’ll do it again, but A-Kid vows to make it to the finals instead.
They replay the Hunt attacking Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews last week. Apparently Flash and Andrews are on the injured list because of that…
Meanwhile, Rampage Brown is at the UK PC with the Assistant to the General Manager. He’s shown around, and watches Jack Starz doing drills before he’s ushered off to sign his contract.
Aleah James vs. Jinny
This was Aleah’s debut with WWE – she was last seen with Rev Pro, upsetting their former women’s champion Zoe Lucas in 21 seconds on the Epic Encounters show a month ago. She got the “already in the ring” treatment…
The referee calls for the bell before Jinny even had her robe off, but Jinny starts by taking Aleah into the corner, before shoving her down. A Judo-style takedown is next, as James returns fire with an armdrag, but knees from Jinny and an Irish whip bounce the rookie into the corner for some stomps. More stomps by the ropes follow, but James hits back with a dropkick… only to get her leg swept as she crashes face-first into Jinny’s knee. A short clothesline gets a two-count, while a strait-jacket choke bent James over Jinny’s knee… but she powers up… and gets pushed to the mat. Jinny keeps going with her stomp and line of dialog, calling James a “stupid girl” again and again.
Another Irish whip takes James to the corner, but she floats over Jinny and finds a way back in with headscissors… before Jinny ducked a crossbody. One ripcord Koppo kick later, and that’s the win. Very squashy.
After the match, Jinny said that this was an example of her ruthlessness and her killer instinct. Saying Piper Niven’s name draws her out. They bicker, until Kay Lee Ray comes out to brag about being champion, then threw a chair into the ring… setting up for Piper to use the chair on Jinny. Jinny slaps Piper, who headbutts her instead before she used the chair on Jinny… prompting Aleah James to make the save. Except she then took a Piper Driver, as Niven then proceeded to do the same to Jinny on the chair, prompting Kay Lee to scraper to the back, tripping over herself in the process. I like this turn in direction to get rid of the “happy go lucky” Niven, but this whole segment wasn’t great…
Eddie Dennis gets a vignette now, talking about how he stands alongside a Primate and a Boar. There’s a good use of a video of Eddie with Mark Andrews (with Wild Boar in the background) as he put down his “friendship” with Mark as an “exploitation”, before they brought up Primate’s real-life military background. Not sure I’m so keen on Eddie pulling the strings for the Hunt, but this was a good reintroduction package for the act.
“During the break,” Niven scrapped with Kay Lee Ray until referees and the Assistant to the Regional Manager appeared to break them up. Very WWE. That leads to the announcement of a Falls Count Anywhere match between the two of them for the title in two weeks’ time. O-kay?
Next week: Rampage Brown debuts. What’s the odds it’ll be against Jack Starz? Oh, and Dave Mastiff vs. Trent Seven in the other Heritage Cup semi-final. Plus you’d bet an announced-on-the-night women’s match.
They remind us of the Heritage Cup rules… and it’s main event time.
Heritage Cup Semi-Final: Noam Dar vs. A-Kid
Round 1: A-Kid tries to trip Dar early, but gets taken down as the pair scrambled for a hold before A-Kid spun away to safety. Dar’s waistlock takedown is countered with a front facelock as A-Kid tried to slow down the pace, but Dar gets free and countered with a wristlock, moving into a side headlock, which A-Kid replied to in kind before a shoulder block and a side headlock takedown snapped the Scotsman to the mat. Wash, rinse, repeat, but Dar gets free by crotching A-Kid on the ropes before charging him to the outside as time ran out.
Round 2: Dar’s more measured to start the second round, grabbing a knuckle lock before he worked his way into a cravat. The snapmare frees A-Kid, who tries for a throw, but instead he has more luck with a springboard armdrag and a dropkick for a two-count. A-Kid keeps on a chinbar, but he’s backed into the corner, then lifted up top as Dar kicked him down to the mat for a two-count. Staying on the leg, Dar drops an elbow, then pratfalled A-Kid off the ropes before a swinging backslide eventually took the Spaniard down for a near-fall… with A-Kid kicking out as he turned in for a crossface that Dar gritted his teeth on to ride out the clock.
Round 3: Dar gets up at the bell, but instantly goes between the ropes looking for pace. He’ll have his own curry line next. He comes back with a front facelock, which the pair exchange until an O’Connor roll from A-Kid was blocked. A-Kid returned with a Northern Lights suplex, rolling through into an armbar, but Dar escapes and rolled him up for a two-count. There’s a back elbow from A-Kid, who then leapt out of the corner, avoiding Dar before the Scotsman elbowed him back and into a Flatliner. A diving clothesline to the back of the head gets Dar a two-count, before Dar locked in an armbar that forced a submission with 57 seconds left in the round. Dar held the hold on for a little longer than he should, but there’s no warning or what have you.
Round 4: A-Kid’s on the back foot, with Dar kicking his foot out again, causing the Spaniard to crash onto the bad arm. Dar then resumes focus on the leg as the panning camera shows the time-remaining clock, and it’s all one-way traffic here as Dar keeps going for the bad leg. Strikes take A-Kid into the ropes, but he rebounds into the back of Dar with a sleeperhold, before pulling him into a Euro clutch at 1:25 of the second round to tie it up. Do all of these matches have to go 1-0, 1-1, 2-1? Two falls to a finish doesn’t mean a split decision!
Round 5: A-Kid slaps down Dar early on, but the Scotsman tries to put distance between the two of them as A-Kid misses charges into the corner. One of them took A-Kid to the apron, where his legs were swept as a low dropkick knocks him outside, but Dar follows him outside for a mid kick, and for a gawp at the trophy. A-Kid 619’s Dar on the apron and makes it back inside… but Dar beats the count-out just in time. He’s caught with a diving kick as A-Kid tried to nick it, then again with a crossbody off the top as we hit the final 30 seconds. The pair trade strikes on their knees as I wonder what’ll happen in a draw… with the strikes intensifying as time runs out.
Round 6: Ah, so they just stick on another round (and potentially a seventh, sudden-death round). Dar tries to kick out the leg, but has more luck with a mid kick before a rolling pin combination led to some scrappy near-falls, with A-Kid eventually rolling Dar into the omoplata. It’s countered as they keep trolling the ref with pinning attempts, before they broke up. Duelling clothesline see them smash into each other, before a Judas Effect from Dar knocked A-Kid down. Dar tries to follow up, but runs into a leaping enziguiri before another omoplata forced the submission with fifty seconds left. This was fine, but the implementation of these rules in NXT UK isn’t going well – even if all you’re going to do with a draw is tease it, at least explain the “what might happen”. Some may enjoy this more than I did, but this just felt real scrappy. **½
They go off the air with A-Kid staring at the trophy…
After all of the hype from last week’s WALTER vs. Ilja match… this was exactly the sort of non-follow-up show I expected. NXT UK has always been prone to not capitalising on the moments of hype they do get, and that was very much the case – coming back down to earth with a bump. Yeah, there’s build for things in the future, but this was very much a return to the normal, complete with the knock-off Thunderdome crowd. On a taped show.