Noam Dar continued to annoy the NXT UK fanbase as he locked horns with the elder statesman of British Strong Style on the final Wednesday night episode of NXT UK.
We’re on the penultimate set of matches from Cardiff, and we open with shots of Trent Seven and Tyler Bate walking with luggage.
Oliver Carter vs. Ligero
Carter lost in his debut to Joseph Conners a few weeks back so… second time lucky?
Ligero’s dropped the wacky Bowser horn shoulder gear he wore last time around at Download, as Vic and Nigel on commentary’s talking about him trying to reinvent himself. Carter goes in with a headlock and a wristlock to start, before Ligero blocked a La Magistral cradle to score a two-count. Two people try to lead duelling chants as Carter flipped out of a ‘rana, then an armdrag as he looked to take Ligero down instead. He log rolls underneath a dropkick, but can’t avoid a knee strike… Carter boxes his way back in before he landed an up kick from the mat, weakening Ligero for an overhead belly-to-belly.
Ligero goes for an O’Connor roll, but Carter blocks it and comes back with a Quebrada for a near-fall. To utter silence. A monkey flip from Ligero sends Carter into the corner, with the masked man following up with a slingshot cutter through the ropes… a superkick weakens Carter some more ahead of the C4L DDT… and that’s all. More offence this time from Carter, but a second loss in a row means he’s still looking to get off the board. **¾
During that match, they announced via a graphic that NXT UK moves to Thursday nights from next week, at the same time (8pm UK).
WALTER’s at the Harry in Enfield… he hijacks a cameraman and yells at some trainees, including… hi Tate Mayfairs! He’s mad at the trainees for being too relaxed, and goes into the ring to watch Spike Trivet lock up and do drills. Poor Spike has to go through it through WALTER, and gets chopped. The rest of the trainees scarper as I feel sympathy for Spike, as WALTER’s now showing himself up as a bully in the name of being a serious wrestler. He reckons “this place won’t last” as we fade away…
They repeat the news of the timeslot change…
…and here comes Tyler Bate! He’s not going full pelt during his introduction, and tries to talk about what happened at NXT UK Takeover, but since he’s a star the crowd chant over him. Tyler called it the toughest night of his career, so much so it’s taken him nearly four weeks to talk about it. Bate apologises for letting the crowd down, and says there’s a lot of fight left in him. That’s the cue for Jordan Devlin to ruin the party, slow clapping Tyler on his way out.
Devlin has a mic too, and complains about being sidelined at Takeover Cardiff in place of Tyler the failure. We get all the what chants here as Devlin says he’s pushed WALTER further than Tyler has, and how he’s the Ace. Jordan calls himself a man (compared to Tyler the “big strong boi”), before Tyler chased him down. They’ll lock horns in the not too distant future I reckon, and it’ll be a delight.
We’ve VT of Tegan Nox from Takeover, coupled with a recap of her (sadly) brief WWE career to date and her latest rehab spell, coupled with some sneaky CCK merch on the Network. She’s facing Kay Lee Ray next week, so this was needed to reintroduce Tegan to the television fanbase, especially since her only TV match since the Mae Young Classic was that ultra-quick squash of Shax a few weeks back.
Nina Samuels vs. Dani Luna
Nina seems to be getting warmed up in recent weeks, but with Kay Lee Ray being a bad guy, I don’t know if a title shot works for her just yet?
Luna got some cheers as she’s based out of the nearby Dragon Pro training school/promotion, but I’ve a feeling this may be another brief outing. Nina starts by taking Dani down with a wristlock, but it gets reversed as Luna ends up scoring with a hiptoss instead. Kicks and a knee lift lead to Nina going into the ropes, but Dani can’t complete a slam as she has to make do with a spinning elbow instead. Nina’s right back with some ground and pound, as the Cardiff crowd tried to get behind Dani, who ends up taking a Curt Hennig neck flip for a near-fall.
Luna’s choked in the ropes, then stretched, then met with a dropkick as Nina continued to take shortcuts. A strait jacket hold is next as Luna’s kept on the mat, but Dani stands up and backs Nina into the corner to break free. Clotheslines keep Nina on the back foot, as does a pump kick, before a deadlift suplex turned into a brainbuster for a near-fall. Nina rolls onto the apron and catches Luna with a head kick, following up with a slingshot corkscrew press for a near-fall. Another crossbody from Nina gets caught and turned into a fallaway slam for a near-fall, but Nina’s quickly back in with the Final Act (a swinging neckbreaker/slam) for the win. A rare, ultra-competitive squash here, but it’s Nina who picks up the win to keep her bubbling along. **¾
TRENT SEVEN IS SHOWING HIS ARSE. Oh, and warming up, because he faces Noam Dar next.
Noam Dar vs. Trent Seven
We get going with Dar heading into the ropes, looking to wind up Trent from the off.
Some biting and a wristlock got Dar ahead, but Dar heads into the rope as he begs for a break and some space. He’s back with a headlock takedown on Trent, throwing in some sneaky hair-pulling of Trent’s moustache behind the ref’s back as it’s all about the shortcuts for Noam. A pratfall trips Trent, but he’s right back with a leaping crossbody and a hiptoss, following in with a slam and the Hogan legdrop for a two-count. Brother. Dar goes back to the beard before he crotches Trent on the top rope, and clotheslines him off of it as the Scotsman was having his merry way with the former NXT tag champ.
Dar tosses Trent outside where the shenanigans continue, before a cobra clutch was used to ground Trent back inside for another two-count. Trent tries to fight back with uppercuts, but Dar decks him again before he pulled up Trent for a… Tyler Driver? Trent powers out and begins to chop his way back in, catching Dar with a surprise DDT for good measure, as commentary threw in the fact that Trent’s not been on TV for several months. A sit-out side slam gets trent a near-fall as he proceeded to follow Dar outside with a tope, but Trent misses a dive back inside. He recovers, but a Seven Star lariat’s stopped with a kick to the knee… only for Trent to land it anyway despite being dizzied. That’s good for a near-fall, as Trent looked for a Burning Hammer, only for Dar to go back to the beard.
Dar sidiesteps a charge and traps Trent in the corner with a Lionheart pump kick, following up with a lariat to the back of the head as he continued to build momentum. Noam stops to grab Trent’s towel, because messing with props is fun, like shoving it down your trunks. That just earns Dar a second Seven Star lariat before Trent mauled Dar with some clubbering in the ropes, which led to everyone’s favourite finish – disqualification for kicking too much arse. ALL OVER A TOWEL. The match was getting good until that turn-off as well… **¾
Dar leaves with the towel as Trent fumes… all while Nigel on commentary painted the picture that Trent is on the downswing. I can’t argue that logic.
A solid show of NXT UK, even if none of the matches stood out from the pack. Still, they’re trundling along as we continue the long road without a Takeover… Next week, NXT UK moves to Thursday – and since we’ll be in Germany for wXw World Tag Team Festival, we’ll be covering it a little later than usual…