Noam Dar’s got his shot at the NXT UK Heritage Cup Trophy on this week’s show, as Tyler Bate made his third defence of the title.
Quick Results
Mark Coffey pinned Rohan Raja in 5:54 (**¼)
Amale pinned Myla Grace in 3:48 (**½)
Charlie Dempsey submitted Danny Jones in 4:54 (***)
Noam Dar beat Tyler Bate by 2 falls to 1 at 2:45 of Round 6 to win the NXT UK Heritage Cup (***¼)
We’re back in our regular timeslot, as we still have distanced fans in the BT Sport Studios in London… but first, a trailer for the main event, focusing on how Dar’s not beaten Bate. Yet.
I can’t get over how much of a step change that new NXT UK theme is from all the angry, shouty music they’ve been using… what’s next? An Art Attack/Splatoon logo redesign?
Mark Coffey vs. Rohan Raja
This was based off of an altercation at the NXT UK PC last week…
Coffey controls the pace early on with an armbar on Raja, but a hammerlock’s countered as Raja steps through the ropes to put on one of his own. A leapfrog from Raja and a Codebreaker to the arm keeps the focus on Coffey’s left arm, as did a throw that took the Scotsman through the corner into the ring post. Back inside, a back elbow from Raja’s good for a two-count, before a missed charge in the corner left Coffey prone again. Elbows from Raja follow, but Coffey rolls him away for a series of shoulder blocks, before a half-nelson slam dropped Raja to the mat. Coffey follows with a Rick Steiner-ish bulldog for a two-count, before Raja went Sky High for a near-fall in return.
Raja’s back cracker lays out Coffey for a two-count, before a quick turnaround ended with a sliding punch as Coffey escaped with the win. “Lol Gallus Win,” you might say. **¼
Post-match, Teoman and Raja attack Coffey and Wolfgang as referees (and James Mason) break it up.
Tyler Bate is warming up backstage… and then we’ve an announcement as Jack Starz/Dave Mastiff, Ashton Smith/Oliver Carter and T-Bone/Primate face off in two weeks time to determine the next challengers for the tag titles.
Backstage, Charlie Dempsey’s interview is interrupted by Mark Coffey and Wolfgang looking for Teoman. That distracts me from how awfully white Dempsey’s eyes are compared to the rest of his head…
Myla Grace vs. Amale
We get the end of Grace’s entrance as this is a debut for the Belfast lass…
Amale’s aggressive to start as she went after Grace, grabbing a side headlock before Grace escaped and tried her luck with some roll-up pins. A push down stomp out of the corner puts Amale on top, as she then yanked Grace into the corner, with a DDT landing for just a one-count. Grace gets dropped with a back elbow for a two-count, as Amale’s chinlock seemingly drew out Blair Davenport to watch from the aisle. Nobody’s distracted yet as Grace hits some headscissors, then trapped Amale in the ropes for a 619 to the gut… then a tornado DDT for a near-fall.
Amale strikes back though, and goes back to the trapped-leg spinebuster… and that’s the win. This was good for the time, but horribly short. **½
Noam Dar’s warming up as Sha’s picking his horses…
Aleah James is interviewed… she’s excited for her win last week, as Nina Samuels takes over. She mocks Aleah’s height, so Aleah walks off set. Snarling face.
“Earlier today,” Flash Morgan Webster tries to happy slap Rampage Brown. Who blocks him and chokes him against the wall. Flash got his match anyway… as I wonder who saw that on Urban Dictionary and thought it was a good idea?
Danny Jones vs. Charlie Dempsey
Right, this one could be good, given how fun Charlie’s last squash was…
Dempsey goes for Jones’ toe early, but gets pushed off into the ropes. A cravat from Dempsey is held on despite Jones’ attempt to roll through, as a cravat suplex followed for a two-count. Jones manages to come back with a hiptoss, then uppercuts, before he dove on Dempsey looking for a rear naked choke. Jones manages to tie up Dempsey in a bow and arrow hold, but Dempsey rolls out and began to rough up the Welshman. A double wristlock traps Jones though, which turned into an armbar before Jones dropped Dempsey with a forearm… Dempsey returns with a Matrix-like throw into the corner, then a gutwrench suplex, before a front facelock suplex nearly won it.
A butterfly suplex from Dempsey lands, as he rolled over into a Butterfly hold… rolling back up into another butterfly suplex… which he then rolled down to the mat for a deep, grounded, face-down chicken wing for the submission. Dempsey offers something massively different to the rest of the roster here, with a wacky series of rarely-seen finishers, which is good, but I’ve a feeling the majority of Nigel’s shout-outs to British wrestlers of yore are going over a LOT of heads. ***
Next week: Jinny challenges Meiko Satomura for the NXT UK Women’s title… and we get a vignette for that.
Isla Dawn’s got her box of half-inched goodies, bragging over everything she’s stolen from the locker room… and she’s looking to progress.
Heritage Cup Trophy: Noam Dar vs. Tyler Bate (c)
Dar won the number one contender’s tournament that wrapped up just before the fans returned… and given how much of Dar’s recent being has been based around the Heritage Cup (be it in matches or setting up matches for others), it might be his time tonight.
Round 1: Dar looks to swing for Tyler early on, but a kick misses, unlike a waistlock takedown as they had the countdown timer way more prominently on the video screens here. Bate grabs the arm, but Dar goes for the wrist only to get whipped down to the mat. Looking for a kick in the ropes, Dar gets nothing but fresh air as Tyler moved, returning with a cravat as Dar was restrained, only for a headlock takedown to resume things as we then broke in the ropes – with the crowd counting down the clock.
Round 2: Bate takes Dar down to the mat as he ties up the legs, before Dar got out and backed into the ropes. Returning with a wristlock, Dar settles for a side headlock, but Bate gets a takedown from his before he booted Dar in the head. The pace goes up as Dar avoids the bop/bang punch, then tripped up Tyler ahead of a swinging backslide… which is blocked as Tyler’s airplane spin also ends early. A double clothesline leads to the pair sitting up like Taker and Brock, just without the laugh, as a lock-up winds down the round.
Round 3: We’re still dealing with counters as a dropkick took Dar outside… he slides back in as Tyler tried to jump outside, then followed in with a leg sweep and a dropkick to take Tyler outside. A throw into the ring steps follow, as Dar rushed Bate back in as a Nova Roller took the first fall at 58-seconds of the round.
Round 4: Dar stomps on Bate’s arm to start, but Tyler manages to get free and charged in with an uppercut in the corner. An overhead belly-to-belly lands, but Tyler’s running shooting star press lands in the knees as Dar nearly rolled him up for the pin. A rebound lariat from Bate connects, before a Tyler Driver’s lifted away… only for Tyler to float back over to hit it at the second attempt for the equalizing fall at 2:02 of the round.
Round 5: The crowd’s trying to get behind Tyler as unsurprisingly, we’re going to end 2-1. Whoever could have seen it coming?! Bate boxes Dar into the corner, but Dar avoids a punch and came back with knees to the ribs before he pulled Tyler off of the middle rope. A diving forearm clocks Bate for a two-count. More kicks drop Tyler again, but he returns with an inside cradle, then a back elbow before a Birming-Hammer was broken up with an eye rake. With Sha Samuels distracting the ref, another elbow decks Bate for a near-fall, before he had his shins kicked away. Tyler returns with a Champagne Super Knee Bar of his own, but Dar holds on and traded punches as we enter the sixth round.
Round 6: Apparently Tyler retains if this ends in a draw – there’s no extra rounds. Dar comes out swinging, kicking Tyler’s leg out of his leg in the ropes before Bate popped up with a superplex to stop Dar on the top rope. My feed crashes at the most inopportune time, returning with Tyler having taken Dar outside, before hitting a Koppo kick back inside. Another rebound lariat’s caught and turned into a Champagne Super Knee Bar, but Bate wheelbarrow German suplexes his way free as Pretty Deadly randomly turn up to applaud. The distraction nearly works as Bate’s rolled up for a near-fall, before another Champagne Super Knee Bar forces the stoppage with fifteen seconds left as Trent Seven’s scuffle with Sam Stoker ended with him accidentally flinging his towel into the ring. The ref counts it, and that’s the screwiest finish that ever screwed – and if you want to go back to NXT UK of old, this builds on Tyler demanding that Trent didn’t throw the towel on him when Tyler won the title… but this just comes across as a banana peel loss while Nigel McGuinness shoehorned English football songs to fit Noam Dar. ***¼
Ignore the screwy finish that actually seems to be building on something, we’re settling into the groove now, as this week’s show fired off more rapid-fire segments like it was the empty-arena days.