On this week’s NXT UK, we’ve a three-way between Ilja Dragunov, Rampage Brown and Joe Coffey.
Quick Results
Mark Coffey pinned Sha Samuels in 6:36 (***)
Stevie Turner pinned Laura di Matteo in 4:13 (*¾)
Teoman submitted Oliver Carter in 7:03 (***¼)
Ilja Dragunov pinned Rampage Brown & Joe Coffey in 16:15 (****)
We’re back at the BT Sport studios in London, with Nigel McGuinness and Andy Shepherd on the call…
Mark Coffey vs. Sha Samuels
They give us a reminder of Mark Coffey’s awful accents from last week that led to this…
We open with a tie-up, with Sha finding a side headlock before Coffey’s shoulder tackles led to him taking Sha into the ropes. An O’Connor roll’s blocked, but Coffey finds a way in with an armdrag, but Sha fought out and clotheslined the Scotsman moments later. A second clothesline dumps Coffey as Sha looked to dictate the pace while Nigel brought up Sha’s (legitimate) attempt at politics years ago. Sha slams Coffey, before a series of elbow drops led to a two-count. Coffey fought out of the Butcher’s Hook, then propelled Sha with a back body drop as the comeback continued with clothesline and shoulder blocks.
Coffey lands a Rick Steiner-ish bulldog off the middle rope for a two-count, before a side slam from Coffey nearly won it. Sha hangs onto the ropes to avoid a clothesline, then returned with a spinebuster, before a Butcher’s Hook was countered when Coffey pushed back out of the corner. Sha’s left holding his ribs, but fought back with some forearms… only to get caught with a diving kick, then a diving uppercut… and that’s the win. Not the result I’d have gone with, given Coffey’s been established as a tag guy, but I guess Gallus is slotted at the top regardless in these parts. A fun TV match nevertheless. ***
Rampage Brown is doing push ups backstage…
Then Emilia McKenzie’s being interviewed about Meiko Satomura… only for Isla Dawn to wander up and mess around with the lights. Yep, the supernatural bollocks makes it across the pond. Emilia just walks off, and I guess they’ll face off next week?
At the UK PC, we’re introduced to Mila…whose interview is interrupted by the lights going out, and Aoife Valkyrie doing stuff in the ring. Jinny walks by too to berate Mila, and I guess we’ve two matches there. She was later named as Mila Smidt, who’s had a few matches around Europe…
Laura di Matteo vs. Stevie Turner
It’s an “already in the ring” debut for di Matteo, who only just returned to PROGRESS last week…
We open with a lock-up as Turner took di Matteo into the corner for an elbow, before a cravat led to a roll through and a chinlock that was escaped by the Italian. Turner’s wristlock counters it, before di Matteo was taken into the ropes for a kick to the side of the head. Di Matteo tries to fight back, but gets caught with a pump kick, before a straitjacket choke had di Matteo down to her knees. Laura escapes and lands some dropkicks, but misses one in the corner and gets caught with an elbow drop out of the corner before a rebound Flatliner gets the win. Your by-the-numbers squash, I’m afraid… *¾
Gallus are celebrating and preparing backstage… and then we go back to the PC as Nathan Frazer’s doing drills. He’s interrupted by Kenny Williams, who challenged him to a match. Can we not have James Mason on the show every now and then?
Vignette time. Someone’s opening a briefcase to reveal a contract… Blair Davenport is coming. That’s gotta be Bea Priestley, right?
Tyler Bate tells us he wants to defend the Heritage Cup against Jack Starz… but Jack doesn’t feel like he deserves the shot. Starz recalls all of the failed tryouts he’s had, but he’s kept pushing on… and apparently that’s what he now feels qualifies him for the match. It’s stirring underdog stuff, but I don’t know if Tyler is the right guy opposite him for this story?
Oliver Carter vs. Teoman
In another universe, these two were part of the same side… and Oliver had way catchier music. Ashton Smith is with family instead of accompanying Carter, to keep that going…
We open with a lock-up, but Carter’s an early aggressor as he went for Teoman, eventually landing some headscissors before Teoman slapped back. Right hands knock the German into the ropes as Carter unloaded on the rather unlucky kid, throttling him into the corner before landing a leg lariat. A clothesline sends Teoman sailing to the outside, before Carter faked out a baseball slide, opting to hit a plancha instead. Taking Teoman into the stairs led to a missed kick as Carter ends up having his arm thrown into them… as he’s then met with a sliding forearm back in the ring. That gets Teoman a two-count as he began to work the arm, slowing down the pace to boot.
Carter tries to chop back, but he’s instantly taken down as Teoman muscled into a crossface… then went for a cross armbar instead as the Ghanaian got the ropes for a break. Teoman’s bust his lip in all of this, and ends up getting caught with a Quebrada from Carter, but that arm’s causing problems, so he swings with the other one to land some clotheslines. A uranage from Carter’s elbowed out of, but Carter keeps going, eventually landing a superkick for a two-count. A scissors kick drops Teoman for a two-count as Carter almost picked up a hard-fought win, before he caught Teoman on the top rope with a dropkick. It’s shrugged off as Teoman flies with a DDT, then rolled Carter into the crossface for the submission. A hell of a showing from Carter here, who hopefully will benefit more in the long run with that performance. ***¼
Post-match, Teoman reapplies the crossface until Rohan Raja ran out to make the save… except Teoman points to his eye and Raja begins to attack Carter. Even the dubbed in boos were mild. A leaping Flatliner has Carter laying, and I guess we’re getting Raja/Teoman vs. Smith/Carter down the line?
A-Kid’s got a sit-down promo as he’s still sore over losing the Heritage Cup to Tyler Bate… but he challenged Jordan Devlin last week… and we get that match next week. Also next week: Tyler Bate defends the Heritage Cup against Jack Starz, who’ll be hoping to earn his stripes… and Meiko Satomura’s back as well.
Ilja Dragunov vs. Joe Coffey vs. Rampage Brown
Commentary’s already screaming before anyone appeared on screen, so expect the usual shoutiness as we get closer to the top of the hour.
Dragunov tries to take a shot early, but Coffey threw him away and propelled Rampage with a back body drop as this one broke down in the opening seconds. Nigel makes a rather unflattering comparison, calling this match “banger racing” as Rampage dumped Dragunov with a slam… then went back to Coffey with chops, only to get caught with an overhead belly-to-belly. Dragunov tries to go for Rampage in an armbar, but instead rolled him down for some crucifix elbows before Rampage threw Ilja into a German suplex by Coffey… so Coffey and Rampage could go at it again. A dropkick from Rampage stops that, but Coffey’s back with a double leg takedown that turned into a Boston crab… which Dragunov broke with some elbow smashes, chops and a front kick.
Coffey has to defend a knuckle lock as Dragunov chopped the neck… punches to the liver looked to weaken it, before Rampage came in with a double clothesline. A double suplex from Rampage followed, but he gets lifted to the outside by Coffey… who gets thrown down by Dragunov, whose backfists led to a teardrop German suplex. Coffey kicks out at two as Dragunov slowly made his way up top… and gets caught by the Scotsman… only for Rampage to roll in and land a Samoan drop on Coffey. Ilja flies onto Coffey too, then Matrix’d away from Rampage… only for Coffey to grab Ilja’s leg so Rampage could hit a spinebuster on Ilja onto Coffey.
Rampage gets a two-count on Coffey after that, then obliterated Ilja with chops and forearms. Dragunov headbutts a clothesline, then hits some of his own… but gets booted by Rampage ahead of landing a Konstantin-Spezial lariat. Ilja heads back up top and hits a dropkick to Rampage… but then got pounced into the corner by Coffey as the action didn’t let up. Coffey lands a double-jump plancha to Dragunov and Rampage on the floor, then threw Ilja back inside for a missile dropkick. The pair throw right hands until Ilja landed an enziguiri… Coffey and Dragunov have a stare-off and another slugfest that led to both men getting knocked down.
Dragunov tries to charge at Coffey with a Torpedo Moscau, but ran into a discus lariat… only for Brown to charge himself and Coffey outside to avoid any pin from happening. Instead, Coffey and Brown charge at each other until Rampage hit a slam on the floor, before he returned to Dragunov. Ilja outfoxed Rampage, taking him down with rolling German suplexes. A mounted sleeperhold’s avoided as we look to get a Human Centipede of German suplexes, which leads to This_Is_Awesome.mp3 being played. Sans any British accent. Coffey’s able to fight back with an Electric Chair drop as whistle.mp3 in the crowd is played yet again, before a Torpedo Moscau from Ilja caught Coffey. Rampage capitalises with a Doctor Bomb, but Dragunov breaks up the pin, then slipped out of a Doctor Bomb to hit a springboard Torpedo Moscau out of the corner for the win. This one massively won me over, a real all-guns-blazing battle that you have to think has gotten Dragunov a step closer to another shot at the NXT UK title? ****
Speaking of… WALTER walks down to the ring afterwards, belt in hand in his new Imperium-branded clobber. They turn up the ringside mics for their chat, but WALTER just slaps Dragunov before pulling him into a rear naked choke as the Russian was left in a familiar spot – out cold on the mat at the hands of WALTER. Please… if they know they’re able to return with fans anytime soon, hold off the match until you can make money from this.
A show marked with the arrival of two new faces to an already stacked women’s division, this was a perfectly fine hour of wrestling with some solid TV-length matches – capped off with a balls-to-the-wall three-way that really hit its stride.