Ilja Dragunov and Alexander Wolfe had a no-DQ thriller as NXT UK began the new year with a bang.
After a week off for a Best-of show, NXT broke into 2020 with some big news: they’re moving to BT Sport. We’ll wait and see how that affects the broadcast on the WWE Network, since we don’t have BT Sport… maybe it’ll mean another change of date, and perhaps a change of approach for the show itself. We open with Sid Scala and Johnny Saint announcing two more matches for Takeover: Trent Seven vs. Eddie Dennis is confirmed… as is Tyler Bate vs. Jordan Devlin. Cue titles, and we’re back in Hull as Tom Phillips and Nigel McGuinness have returned to the commentary desk.
Dave Mastiff vs. Kona Reeves
Those camera shakes look a little weird when they’re not consistent… Kona Reeves has a microphone again, and complains that his last loss was because of jet lag. Sounds plausible.
Kona tries to get Dave to lay down for him, but instead he’s just punched out as Mastiff tackled him out of the ring. By the way, that Vader-ish singlet’s gone… On the outside, Reeves throws Mastiff into the apron, then into the ring steps, as Kona tried to get the count-out win. For some reason he pulls Mastiff back in to break the count, so he could hit a running knee and some shots while Mastiff had been covered by the apron. A DDT from Reeves gets a two-count, before he threw some punches and a running boot for another two-count. Mastiff hits back with a back body drop, then a release German suplex to take Kona into the corner… for a cannonball… and that’s it! Very TV squashy, especially since Reeves is likely not coming back. **
After commercials, Toni Storm heads to ringside for promo time. Hey Dopper. She tells the crowd she’s back after Kay Lee Ray had gotten in her head, then called out Piper Niven for an apology. Luckily, this being wrestling, her music and video was already cued. Toni tries to get Piper to step down from the title match, so she can get Kay Lee Ray one-on-one… and Piper’s not up for that. Toni tries to pull her back, and gets headbutted for it… and the pair then have a scrap. Kay Lee Ray wanders out to cackle at the situation, and we cut away…
They run through the Takeover card:
NXT UK Women’s champion: Kay Lee Ray (c) vs. Toni Storm vs. Piper Niven
Eddie Dennis vs. Trent Seven
Jordan Devlin vs. Tyler Bate
Ladder Match for NXT UK Tag Team Championship: Gallus (Wolfgang & Mark Coffey) vs. Imperium (Fabien Aichner & Marcel Barthel) vs. Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) vs. Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster
WWE UK Championship: WALTER (c) vs. Joe Coffey
Ligero vs. Kassius Ohno
Commentary’s leaning into Ohno’s vow that he’ll not use strikes because he’s no longer the “knockout artist”. Even though it still says that on his gear.
We start with Ohno working Ligero’s arm, grabbing a key lock on Ligero, who rolled free as he tried to out-wrestle Ohno, taking him into the corner for some headscissors that sent Ohno packing to the outside. Ligero throws a right hand to keep Ohno on the outside, before a brief chase led to Ohno catching Ligero by the horns on the way to a chinbreaker into the ring. Ohno adds some pressure with a Kassius Clutch – a hanging cravat that had Ligero dangling by his neck before he faked out a forearm… and had Ligero kick him away. Ligero lifts Ohno to the outside, then went for a wild tope con giro, following up with a missile dropkick back inside.
Ohno tries to catch out Ligero by moving his mask, but instead Ligero escapes and goes for some pinning attempts, landing a snap stunner and a Code Red for a near-fall. In among that, the Ogdens get themselves heard on TV as Ohno began to fight back, trapping Ligero in the ropes, before Ohno rolled in with a version of the Muta lock for the flash submission. That really was out of nowhere, and perhaps a touch too short, but it gets Ohno over as someone who can kill you with anything, anywhere. ***¼
Post-match, Ohno tells us he’s realised why he lost to Tyler Bate… and it’ll never happen again because he’s focusing again on being the best British wrestler there is.
We cut to a promo with A-Kid. It’s all in Spanish, so Joseph Conners interrupts and rants about being Takeover-worthy.
Backstage, Ohno brags about being the best British wrestler ever… and gets interrupted by Dave Mastiff. That’s leading to Mastiff vs. Ohno in a heavyweight clash… I guess on the Takeover pre-show?
Oliver Carter & Ashton Smith vs. The Outliers (Dorian Mak & Riddick Moss)
So we’ve got NXT UK’s perennial prelim guys teaming up now, against an imported duo from the Largo loop… who looked impressive in defeat last time out.
Moss throws Carter down early before he bulldozed through the Ghanaian. Carter hits back with a rewind enziguiri as the Ogdens piped up again, but a running Moss elbow puts Carter down as Mak tagged in. Ashton Smith’s in too, but he’s charged into the corner then Beele’d out of it as the Outliers powered on. Carter’s back to shock Mak with a dropkick, while Moss ran in and took a double hiptoss as NXT UK’s newest tandem looked to be blossoming. Mak snuffs it out as he cornered Carter again, leading to a back suplex from Moss as the Outliers regained the advantage. Mak’s suplex drops Carter for a near-fall, while Smith tried to gee up the crowd… it worked somewhat as Carter got out of Moss’ chinlock, before he fell into a tag in the corner.
Smith’s a house afire here, dropping Moss into a neckbreaker before he booted him in the corner. The top turnbuckle’s gone in a corner as Smith boots Mak to the outside, but Moss capitalises on the distraction… only to get caught with a small package out of nowhere for the win. That’s twice the Outliers have dominated and lost, while doing their opponents no favours whatsoever. I can only assume the Outliers are returning to keep this up. **½
We get a video package for the NXT UK tag team title ladder match… set to the Purge Club’s music at first. I’d have thought this’d have been perfect for the go home show, but going by what was taped… there’s only one match left?
No Disqualification: Ilja Dragunov vs. Alexander Wolfe
These two had a cracker back in November, despite the screwy finish… can they repeat the magic in a no-DQ setting?
Ilja rushed Wolfe in the aisle as the pair fought in time to the Imperium theme – giving me flashbacks to David Starr and Jordan Devlin in OTT last year. Wolfe just about gets his jacket off as Dragunov chops him around ringside, but Wolfe hits a back suplex onto the apron as the pair finally hit the ring. Ilja lands a spinning back chop, then a back senton as Wolfe took too long… and these guys are sprinting. Wolfe lands hard on the outside, and gets kept there with a kick as Dragunov heads up for a flying body press to Wolfe on the floor. Dragunov strokes a Kendo stick, but Wolfe disarms him instantly…
Dragunov demands Wolfe hit him, but his trainer just drops the Kendo stick and dares Ilja to pick it up. It’s a ruse though as Wolfe kicks Ilja in the head, then unloaded with stick shots. Eventually Ilja blocks one and throws some chops to try and disarm Wolfe… who just shrugs it off and uses the Kendo stick to pull Ilja into a neckbreaker for a two-count. Wolfe keeps using the Kendo stick to try and choke out Ilja, but Dragunov gets free and gets the stick for himself… which he gleefully used. Wolfe blocks another shot, but can’t avoid a Konstantin-Spezial-like home run shot with the stick, before a table’s pulled from under the ring. Throwing Wolfe into the ring steps, Dragunov props up the table in the corner… only to get caught out after another scrap as Wolfe caught him, throwing a chair from the floor, then dumped Ilja awkwardly on the edge of the ring with a death valley driver.
Back in the ring, Wolfe tried to DDT Ilja on a chair, but Dragunov escapes and threw the chair right back at Wolfe. Grabbing the chair again, Ilja sets up for a Coast to Coast, and lands it flush for a near-fall. Dragunov gets some more chairs from outside, piling them up in the ring as he prepared for a superplex… but Wolfe slips out and instead goes for a powerbomb. Ilja held on, but couldn’t avoid a nasty German suplex into the chairs, before he got spiked with a DDT for a near-fall. More chairshots await Ilja, who then has a chair rammed into his throat and the mat, before Wolfe slammed Ilja’s hand in the chair. That’s a new kind of Pillman-izing… the other hand’s given the same treatment, but Ilja responds with a clothesline before he picked up Wolfe and hit a running death valley driver through the table, before Torpedo Moscau connected for the win! This didn’t quite have the same spark as their first match in November, but this was a heck of a scrap that didn’t just resort to the stereotype of “hit them with plunder”. ***¾
During the replays, Marcel Barthel and Fabien Aichner hit the ring to attack Dragunov, hitting him with the European bomb as WALTER came out to survey the scene. Joe Coffey runs out to attack WALTER from behind, then runs away as the show ends with Imperium gathering themselves in the aisle.
With NXT UK moving to “proper” TV on BT Sport, they’ll need to start hitting those 45-minute slots they were making so well back when they were seemingly trying this out – this episode of NXT UK ran over an hour… and with nothing on the docket for next week, I’m fully expecting next Thursday to be some sort of preview show… which is far from ideal given that just last week we had a recap show! For an unofficial “go home” show, this came off as kinda flat – it ticked the necessary boxes for the key matches, and ran down the card, but it feels like they perhaps peaked a week too soon?