Mark Andrews and Noam Dar kick off the Heritage Cup Contender’s Tournament on this week’s NXT UK.
Quick Results
Wolfgang pinned Flash Morgan Webster in 7:30 (**½)
Amale pinned Nina Samuels in 4:51 (**)
Heritage Cup Contender’s Tournament – First Round: Noam Dar beat Mark Andrews by 2 falls to 1 at 2:38 of Round 5 (***)
We’re back at the BT Sport Studios in London… Andy Shepherd and Nigel McGuinness are here to shout at us. I mean do commentary…
Flash Morgan Webster vs. Wolfgang
This was set up when Webster slapped Wolfgang last week… and both men point to their necks to remind us of that. A LOT.
Webster ducks and dives early on to escape Wolfgang, throwing another slap before Wolfgang threw him down. Another slap stings the Scotsman, as Webster scarpers, then came back in for a side headlock. He’s pushed off, and ducks a clothesline, before Wolfgang clobbered him with an overhand punch. A cravat rolls Webster down for a two-count, but Webster’s knee strike takes Wolfgang through the ropes and to the outside. He’s loopy, so Webster chases him around… only to get thrown back inside so Webster could hit a plancha… which Wolfgang repositioned into a backbreaker on the way down.
Throwing Webster back inside, Wolfgang chucks the Welshman into the corner, before a bear hug almost squeezed the life out of Webster. Some knuckles in the ribs in an abdominal stretch, then a charge into the corner looked to keep Wolfgang ahead, but Webster sidesteps a charge before he floated back into the ring. A dropkick takes Wolfgang into the ropes, with a Quebrada following from Webster. He fakes out for a headbutt, before Webster went for something. He’s back body dropped away, then met with a Kitchen Sink knee from Wolfgang, whose diving elbow nearly wins it. Another crossbody from Webster’s caught, but he’s able to reposition and spike Wolfgang with a reverse ‘rana, before a diving knee almost got the win.
Victor Meldrew replaced Nigel McGuinness for a second, as Webster heads up top for the Shadows Over Malice… but he lands in Wolfgang’s knees, then took a spear tackle as Wolfgang left with the hard fought win. Decent enough for a TV match, but this felt like a plodding seven minutes. **½
The Assistant to the Regional Manager has news. In two weeks we get Joe Coffey vs. Rampage Brown in a match that can only end via KO or submission. Hey, it’s 5* Wrestling again!
Backstage, Mark Andrews hasn’t spoken to Flash Morgan Webster after his loss. It’s just window dressing for Isla Dawn in the background creeping everyone out, winding up Dani Luna too.
Earlier at the PC, Tyler Bate’s using a massage gun on his head. Trent’s with him too, was Tyler’s eager to claim the NXT UK grand slam by beating Pretty Deadly for the tag titles. That’s next week…
Earlier this week, the Assistant to the Regional Manager is in his office with Jinny and Joseph Conners, announcing a no-dq match with Jinny and Aoife Valkyrie in three weeks’ time, with Conners locked in a cage for the duration of the match. Jinny throws a chair and gets to change her tag line: stupid boy! At this point this is a parody now, right?
Nina Samuels vs. Amale
Nina’s looking for a win to get back towards a title shot, I guess?
Samuels charges at Amale at the bell, throwing her to the mat with hairmares, but Amale fought back, whipping Nina to the corner for a clothesline, then a bulldog for a two-count. A cravat restrains Samuels, who’s rolled down for a two-count, before Nina came back with a roll-up of her own. They’re racing through stuff as a neck flip gets Samuels a two-count, while boot choking led to Nina pulling Amale into the corner. Double knees keep Amale rocked, as did running the rope against Amale’s face, before another turnaround saw Amale stomp on Samuels ahead of a face-washing kick in the corner.
A Fisherman’s neckbreaker takes Samuels down for a near-fall, while an inside cradle got Nina a two-count. Nina follows with spinning tiltawhirl backbreakers for two-counts, but Nina misses a dropkick, hanging herself up in the ropes, allowing Amale to land a neckbreaker, then a Northern Lights for a near-fall. From there, the Heartbreaker – a sit-out Exploder of sorts – gets the win for Amale. They crammed a lot into their time, but this was a real “get your stuff in” TV match. **
Video package time for the WALTER/Dragunov match on Takeover next weekend… with lots of clips of the first match last October, heavily filtered against Dragunov talking about how he’d lost respect for WALTER as he’s now ready to become invincible. Or unbesiegbar, if you will.
They show clips of Dragunov in NXT this week, doing a promo that was pretty good considering English is his third (?) language. The Pete Dunne interactions get shown (and having not heard him speak in ages, that Brummie accent’s been hammered out, eh?), then the finish and afters of the Dragunov/Dunne match too. Well, I don’t need to wait til next Wednesday to see this on the Network then!
“After the show two weeks ago,” randomly, Eddie Dennis and Symbiosis are being approached when Saxon Huxley interrupts them. Eddie takes exception to it all.
Next week: Meiko Satomura vs. Stevie Turner for the NXT UK Women’s title. We’ve a vignette/promo from Meiko, telling us Stevie has a lot to learn, and she’s going to teach her that lesson.
Pretty Deadly are at the “WWE Warehouse”. Wait, in Florida? They’ve got WWE memorabilia around, including pictures of Trent and Tyler’s WWE 2K20 promo images and just walk over them. Feel the hype for that big match next week!
Heritage Cup Contender’s Tournament: Mark Andrews vs. Noam Dar
We’re under Heritage Cup rules in this tournament then. Andrews came out with Dani Luna – but no Flash Morgan Webster…
Round 1: Dar takes Andrews down early on, but they head to the ropes for a break as Dar looked to be controlling the tempo. Andrews mocks Dar before a side headlock’s pushed off, leading to a shoulder block from Andrews. Dar’s trip-up has him roughing up Andrews, while some arm work from Andrews led to a wristlock and an escape as the round ended.
Round 2: A knucklelock sees Dar bend Andrews down… sweeping out the leg gets us a two-count for the Scotsman, who then began to stomp away and drive Andrews’ legs into the mat. Kicks from Dar keep Andrews down, but the Welshman keeps kicking out, then rebounded out of the corner for armdrags as the second round ended with Dar getting dropkicked to the outside.
Round 3: Dar got back in just in time for the round to start, and almost fell to a sunset flip in the opening seconds. Andrews tries another sunset flip, but rolled away as Dar tried a stomp, before he got caught in the corner with a kick to the legs. Randomly, Teoman and Rohan Raja come out to watch from the aisle, and they observe Dar hitting a back suplex for a two-count. Stomp 182 catches Dar off guard, before Andrews’ Northern Lights suplex ended with him getting kicked in the knee as he went for the follow-up moonsault. Stundog Millionaire sends Dar outside again, with a tope following. A springboard back in from Andrews misses, but he’s able to go for a backflip kick… only for Dar to catch and turn it into a kneebar for a submission at 2:42 of the round.
Round 4: Teoman and Raja left during the break, while Nigel McGuinness is making up his own storylines to keep things intriguing. The round starts with Andrews leaping away from another kick in the corner, before hitting a 619 in the ropes, then a Dragon screw to neutralise Dar’s leg too. A half crab from Andrews looks to force a submission, but Dar kicks it away, then hit an elbow strike en route to catching an enziguiri. Another knee bar’s countered though as a roll-up from Andrews ties us up at 1:37 of the round. YES. WE’RE GOING 2-1 AGAIN.
Round 5: Flash pins from Andrews looked to end the round early, but Dar went for some grounded kicks, only to get rolled up again for a two-count. Kicks from Andrews sting Dar, who eventually blocks before he caught a 619 and turned it back to the ankle lock. Andrews rolls free, but took a Judas Effect as Dar nearly gets a three-count off that. A uranage from Andrews takes Dar down, and then it’s up top… but Dar kicks him down as Andrews again spent too long up there. Dar gets distracted by Dani Luna, but was able to mule kick Andrews in the knee, before a Nova Roller got the win at 2:38 of the round. My kindgom for a finish to this that isn’t 2-1! ***
Next week: Meiko Satomura vs. Stevie Turner for the NXT UK Women’s title, and Pretty Deadly vs. Moustache Mountain for the NXT UK tag team titles as they try and make up for the “big” title match going to Florida…
A somewhat disposable episode of NXT UK, as all the focus was being placed on the bigger title matches down the road – across different continents. A week to skip, perhaps…