It’s Heritage Cup final day on NXT UK, as Trent Seven and A-Kid clash to win the inaugural tournament.
Quick Results
Jordan Devlin submitted Amir Jordan in 9:39 to retain the NXT Cruiserweight Championship (**¾)
Jinny submitted Isla Dawn in 5:02 (***¼)
Heritage Cup – Final: A-Kid beat Trent Seven by 2 falls to 1 at 5:17 of Round 7 to win the Heritage Cup (***½)
We open with a montage for the Heritage Cup, featuring William Regal and the British Bulldog to spotlight the past, followed with A-Kid and Trent Seven talking about the importance of winning the tournament here. Trent “needs this… now” because age isn’t on his side.
Once again, we’re at the BT Sport studios, with Andy Shepherd and Nigel McGuinness on commentary.
NXT Cruiserweight Championship: Amir Jordan vs. Jordan Devlin (c)
Ooh, I bet Jordan wins. Amir’s straight to the ring to open the show, as commentary tries their damndest not to name the “other” NXT Cruiserweight champion. We get the “big match” introductions, with the spotlight and all, and some dubious golf claps too. Is this wrestling or the Open?
Devlin circles Amir to start, as we begin with a shoulder tackle and a headlock takedown from the Irishman. He works Amir’s arm, but the challenger cartwheels free and yanks down Devlin’s arm. Devlin’s back with a back elbow off the ropes, then with a snap slam and a knee drop as he got some two-counts. A back suplex drops Amir, who’s caught with chops going into the corner… but Amir returns in kind before an Irish whip took Devlin into the opposite corner. Amir runs into a dropkick moments later as some punches from above keep Devlin on top, as does a neck crank. Amir tries to fight back, but runs into the Air Jordan uranage/standing moonsault combo, then got send outside as Devlin stood on him by the guard rails.
They return to the ring where Devlin rolls Amir to the mat and levers back the bad arm again, before a backbreaker left the challenger down once more. A knee to the gut sets up for an abdominal stretch, but Amir hiptosses free and began a comeback, dropping Devlin with a clothesline, then meeting him in the corner with a splash. There’s a back body drop too, as a clothesline sent Devlin over the ropes to the outside, where Amir quickly follows with a tope. Amir’s fired up as he rolls into the ring for a Flatliner, which nearly gets him the win, before he got caught with a gamengiri as he headed up top. Devlin follows him up top, looking for a one-man Spanish fly, but instead had to block a sunset bomb… then Amir’s counter into a modified Iconoclasm for a near-fall.
From there, Amir’s back up top, but the senton bomb lands in Devlin’s knees, before a Cloverleaf forced the submission. So no, Amir Jordan didn’t get his first televised singles win in a decent but too-methodical TV match. **¾
We see Rampage squatting at the UK PC… random interview guy asks him what’s next, which just happens to be Saxon Huxley doing pull-ups. Eh, I’ll take that.
Noam Dar vignette time. He’s getting a chat show. “The Supernova Sessions.”
“Earlier this week”, The Hunt and Eddie Dennis are at the UK PC when they’re jumped by Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster. Luckily for them, referees and trainers were waiting to separate them from the shaky camera.
Isla Dawn vs. Jinny
Impressively, they’ve only had one prior match on NXT UK – which is probably going to be far lower than the number of the times Jinny calls Isla a “stupid girl”… we get a replay of last week’s main event finish, including THAT cameraman looking happy with himself.
Something about momentum. Gotta say momentum a lot. Dawn comes in with a side headlock, but Jinny reverses it before Dawn caught her in the ropes and chopped her back. A kick and a double knee drop flattens Jinny for a two-count, but a follow-up PK misses as Jinny came back with a Koppo kick. Boots take Isla into the corner for some mudhole stomping, with some forearms keeping Isla down. She mouths off at Isla before trapping her in an Octopus hold, but Dawn staggers to the rope and breaks the hold. Jinny doesn’t really break the hold,a nd rolls her down into a chinbar, then a crucifix pin as Jinny continued to work the arm.
Some short-range boots knock Dawn down again, but Isla gets free and hits a head kick, and followed up with some more to trap Jinny in the ropes. A Saito suplex followed for a two-count, before Dawn looked for whatever her finish was… but Jinny gets free and swept the leg to send Isla into a facebuster. Isla responds with a Tarantula-like stretch in the ropes, but she then headed up top, and had to leap over Jinny. A kick’s caught, with Jinny hitting a rear spin kick, before a STF-like submission forced the win. This was a pleasant surprise – plenty of aggression from both women as this looked more like a contest than some matches on this show can. A real fun five minutes of TV. ***¼
Post-match, Jinny bragged about Piper Niven being in hospital. I don’t think they ever put that in canon before now… but I guess that clears the way to Jinny vs. Kay Lee Ray for the title?
The assistant to the general manager’s asked about the Heritage Cup, but of course he’s interrupted. It’s Alexander Wolfe, demanding a match with Joe Coffey – with the rest of the Scots banned from ringside. He gets the match, but Imperium’s banned too. I mean, I’m sure WALTER’s crying over that…
They show a video package on the Hunt “ending their decade long friendship” with Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster. They face off next week… in addition to Coffey vs. Wolfe… and I’m guessing an announced-on-the-afternoon women’s match to round out the template.
Heritage Cup – Final: Trent Seven vs. A-Kid
Remember, we’re under best-of-three-falls in the rounds system here… Trent beat Dave Mastiff and Kenny Williams to make it here… A-Kid went through Flash Morgan Webster and Noam Dar.
Round 1: We open with a lock-up as A-Kid’s taken into the ropes, before A-Kid returned the favour on Trent. They go to ground, but A-Kid kips up free, before a gutwrench powerbomb got Trent a two-count… and an opportunity to cartwheel away. A-Kid’s not in the mood for nonsense and dives in with a headlock on the mat, which switch into headscissors from Trent, that A-Kid rolls out of as he caught Trent in a surfboard stretch. An attempted reversal came up short, as the time ran out on the first round.
Round 2: Trent starts with a knuckle lock as he looked to bridge the Spaniard over his knee… the neck bridge is forced, but Trent can only get some two-counts off before he broke the neck bridge. A-Kid powers up, then muscled Trent back into the surfboard, pulling Trent down into a stretch, rolling through with him, before Trent nearly fell into a Euro clutch. They lock-up again, but A-Kid rolls Trent into a knee bar, and keeps hold of it as Trent struggled to roll towards the ropes, eventually doing so as he held on until the clock ran out. There’s a right hand from Trent at the bell, which annoyed the Spaniard…
Round 3: A-Kid charges at Trent to kick the bottle out of his hand at the bell. Nice visual. Trent shrugs it off and chops A-Kid into the corner though, only for A-Kid to fire back as they went tit-for-tat with chops and kicks. An overhead kick from A-Kid drops Trent ahead of a PK for a near-fall… a running volley followed, then a leaping thrust kick as A-Kid went 1-0 up at 1:32 in the round.
Round 4: Another running kick in the corner knocks the water out of Trent at the bell. That gets A-Kid a two-count as he rolled Trent into a grounded headlock, moving into a crucifix as he looked for a submission. A-Kid switches into a Fujiwara armbar, but Trent rolled out… and into a triangle armbar as A-Kid looked to be dominating. You know what usually happens next. Trent rolls free and looked for a Seven Stars lariat, but A-Kid rolls him back into a cross armbar. An attempted roll-up gets Trent a two-count, before he tried to powerbomb free, but A-Kid clings onto the hold as Trent powered his way free as time runs out.
Round 5: The final regular round gets going with both men seeming very tetchy with each other. Trent starts to find his ground game as he looked for A-Kid’s back, but A-Kid gets free and grabs a waistlock. Trent runs to the ropes, but falls to a Northern Lights suplex… then countered a follow-up by pulling A-Kid into a DDT for a near-fall. A-Kid pulls himself into the corner, where he’s met with a clothesline… which conveniently knocks him up to the buckles and in place for a Birminghammer. He survives at first, but gets chopped on the top rope as Trent meets him on the top rope for more chops to the neck. A-Kid clings to the ring post as he just had to ride out the clock, but more chops open him up for a back superplex… he switches out and makes the cover, but time runs out. So… A-Kid wins 1-0?
Round 6: Nope. It seems we need to have a best-of-three-falls verdict, so we go to a sixth round. A-Kid misses a leaping head kick, then gets rolled-up for a near-fall. Trent finds a second wind for a snap Dragon suplex, then an Emerald Frosion for another near-fall. After kicking out of a roll-up, Trent levels A-Kid with Seven Stars for another near-fall, before a Birming Hammer lands… but A-Kid gets his leg under the rope to break the pin. Trent looks for a powerbomb, but A-Kid kicks free… only to get spun with a lariat as Trent gets yet another near-fall. Trent looked to argue with the referee, but A-Kid pulls him into a submission attempt, only for a roll-up from Trent to tie it up at 2:30 of the sixth round. We’re going into a seventh…
Round 7: We’ve a sudden-death no-time-limit round – usually WWE hammers these things into your head. Or at least you’d have expected something ahead of time to help build drama, no? A-Kid slaps Trent at the bell as they go back-and-forth with those palm strikes. A lariat from Trent knocks A-Kid down, but he can’t make the cover, so A-Kid drags himself onto the apron, where he’s joined by Trent. They trade kicks and chops, but an up-kick from A-Kid knocked Trent loopy… only for Trent to recover with an Emerald Frosion off the apron to the floor. They actually start a count – so this could yet end in a draw, I guess? Trent rolls back in at seven, but A-Kid dives in at nine and remained on the defensive as Trent pulled him up for a Seven Star lariat, dumping A-Kid to the mat. He pulls A-Kid up for another one, but the Spaniard crumples to the mat… so Trent goes for a Birming Hammer, but A-Kid lands on his feet, hits a superkick, then another diving kick to knock Trent down. A-Kid takes his time following up and gets pulled into an omoplata by Trent, but it’s reversed as Trent inched his way to the rope, almost making it by his finger as the hold’s finally applied, with A-Kid wrenching back to force the submission.
A cracker of a final, in spite of the rules. I mean, when you’re left wondering what’s next, maybe the rules weren’t explained clear enough? Still, a hell of a showing from A-Kid, with what you’d have to call the upset win.
Result: A-Kid beat Trent Seven by 2 falls to 1 at 5:17 of Round 7 to win the Heritage Cup (***½)
Post-match, Trent interrupted the assistant to the regional manager so he could present A-Kid with the trophy, as the show ends with A-Kid getting showered with ribbons.
A good Heritage Cup final capped off a pleasant surprise of an episode from the WWE brand that had been treading water more often than not. This was more than a “one match show”, and while the way they veered from Piper Niven to Jinny as a title challenger may not have won much acclaim, they’re at least looking to put some build behind Jinny as a challenger.