Toni Storm’s future title shots were on the line as an I Quit match headlined this week’s NXT UK.
With Super Showdown in Saudi Arabia airing in NXT UK’s usual slot, this show’s been bumped up by a couple of hours for one week only. Thursday afternoon graps? It’ll never work…
We open with a video package as Toni Storm calls Kay Lee Ray dumb for picking the I Quit stipulation… and yes, we’re still at the Barbican in York – it’s the penultimate set of matches from those tapings – with Tom Phillips and Aiden English on the call.
Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) vs. The Hunt (Primate & Wild Boar)
They may be on “full fat” NXT now, while Aiden English was bringing the dad jokes. This was the Hunt looking to get payback for a comment a few weeks back…
Drake and Primate start, but a clothesline has Primate ahead from minute one… until Gibson grabbed hold of Drake’s hand to lead him to a tag. I mean… that’s an analogy in action? Gibson’s in next, and he’s able to catch out Boar with a kick before some double-teaming allowed the former NXT UK tag champions to dropkick Primate off the apron.
Drake’s back with a short-arm clothesline on Boar, before Gibson distracted the ref by calling out Primate’s attempt to run into the ring. A double-team clothesline followed as Tom made an NBA reference that I’m sure the UK audience will completely get. Boar tries to fight back, but he’s caught with a backbreaker from Drake… then their double-team slingshot backbreaker on the floor.
A grounded cobra clutch from Gibson wears down Boar some more, but Boar manages to get free and make a tag out to Primate, despite Zack’s best efforts. Primate runs wild throwing Drake into the ring too before running from corner-to-corner with clotheslines. Primate focuses on Drake, dumping him with a back body drop before spearing Gibson for a near-fall.
More suplexes from Primate spelled the end of his offence as Gibson’s back with a double-team superkick-assisted neckbreaker for a near-fall. Primate avoids a Ticket to Mayhem as the Hunt hit duelling Germans on Drake and Gibson… but in the end, the Hunt looked to hit duelling swandive headbutts, only for Gibson to pull down Boar as he got thrown into the ring steps. Primate keeps trying to push on with a double sledge to Drake, but a blind tag brought back Gibson as a Ticket to Mayhem out of nowhere gets the win. This was almost a glorified squash, save for the minute or so the Hunt had. Fun, but the Hunt are well and truly slotted aren’t they? ***
Promo package time for Ridge Holland. Bet you forgot about him. He’s back next week…
Jack Starz vs. Kassius Ohno
This was set up via an encounter at the UK PC. That you’d only have seen had you followed this show on social media. I hate it when shows do that… like you can’t make time on the hour a week you have?
York’s an Ohno town it seems, as we start with him working over Starz’s wrist, before blocking a snapmare attempt. Instead, we get a Razor Ramon-esque abdominal stretch before Ohno went back to the wristlock, which is countered out of with a back body drop. A big boot gets Ohno back in, as he returns to the holds, using a nice hammerlock on the way to a backbreaker. More wrist work torques Starz’s arm, before a seatbelt clutch almost got Ohno the win. Staying on the wrist, Starz has to fight out, which he does by log rolling Ohno before he almost got tossed outside. Starz stays on the apron and springboards back in with a back elbow, then with a butterfly suplex before a sunset flip is sat down on.
Starz counters the counter as he rolled up Ohno for a near-fall, before he’s caught on the top rope and armdragged back to the mat as Ohno got the quick submission with a Kassius clutch. A good ol’ TV squash, with Starz getting his customary moment of hope. **
Backstage, Radzi’s with Isla Dawn as they talk about the women’s division. A good, neutral topic that can lead to nothing, right? Of course not, Isla talks about Aoife Valkyrie, and how impressed she was with her… and as luck would have it, they had a match booked for next week. Talk about burying the lede, Radzi!
Travis Banks is in the PC, mad at Alexander Wolfe for his comments a few weeks ago. He begs Johnny Saint to book the match for next week.
A-Kid vs. The Brian Kendrick
This one was built up last week as Kendrick “gave A-Kid some advice”…
Kendrick’s a little tentative to start, before A-Kid caught Kendrick with an armdrag off the ropes for a near-fall. An armbar follows, but Kendrick tries to block it and stands back up… only to get caught with another armdrag. A dropkick followed, but Kendrick grabs the arm and dove through the ropes to catch A-Kid in the strands, before a cravat kept A-Kid on the deck.
A-Kid gets free as my feed went… and recovers as he almost won with a crossbody off the top. The crowd starts getting into it as he caught Kendrick with La Mistica, but Kendrick escaped and proceeded to catch A-Kid in the ropes. That led to a butterfly superplex, and some polite applause as Kendrick gets a near-fall, before A-Kid had to squirm out of a Captain’s Hook… following up with a backflip DDT off the top rope for the win. A solid win for A-Kid, but this felt very flat at times. ***
Next week: WALTER defends the NXT UK title against Dave Mastiff. It’s back at the usual 8pm UK time on Thursday, but we’ll be watching it a little later than that… We get a promo video for that as Dave Mastiff talks. He accuses WALTER of standing for greed, then tells us he needs the NXT UK title.
I Quit Match for NXT UK Women’s Championship: Toni Storm vs. Kay Lee Ray (c)
If Toni loses, she can’t challenge Kay Lee Ray again – and this crowd is shockingly subdued given the stipulation.
The pair charge at each other at the bell, then head outside as Storm threw the champion around the ringside area. The ring post, the steps, the guard rails, you name it. In the ring, the pair trade kicks until Storm countered a springboard with a German suplex… then teased a Storm Zero, but let go so she could go for a submission with a STF. Referee Joel Allen’s got no mic by the way, unlike I Quit matches of old…
Ray gets to the ropes, but it doesn’t matter… so Storm reapplies the hold before she let go. Just because. Kay Lee sneaks back in with a DDT, before she stretched Storm in the ropes, letting go as well so she could go for a Gory Bomb… but insteads holds on for a Gory special, stretching out the Aussie before an attempted Gory Bomb into the ropes was countered into an Octopus hold by Storm.
That’s broken up with Storm throwing Ray outside, as she followed up by grabbing a table from under the ring. The table’s set up, but Kay Lee Ray takes control as she took Toni up top, teasing a superplex through the table on the floor. Toni tries for a German superplex through the wood, before she placed Kay Lee on the table and hit a splash through it!
Dragging the champion towards the ring, Toni goes for a Storm Zero, before letting to as Kay Lee cuts off a dive and lands a draping DDT off the apron to the floor. More plunder comes as Kay Lee Ray went for some tape… learning from Yano? Yep! She tapes Toni’s hands behind her, leaving her defenceless… but a headbutt saves Toni from a chair shot.
Kay Lee kicks away the legs though, before setting Toni’s head in the chair and superkicks it. She then uses the chair, driving it into Toni’s neck before she threatened to Pillmanize the neck… which drew out Sid Scala and Johnny Saint. They arrived too late as Toni gets the chair stomped onto her, so Kay Lee heads to the top rope and stomps again as Piper Niven came out. Again, too late. This is looking a wee bit too violent for just before 4pm on a Thursday, and when Kay Lee threatened to jump again, this time off the top rope, the referee waves it off. Presumably because Toni had said those words. Well, it’s a definitive win, but the dastardly finish drew nary a reaction from the York crowd. Wow. ***
You’ve read it before. For the most part, NXT UK is a cold, paint-by-numbers, identikit wrestling show that somehow manages to extract very little from the talented roster at hand. As such, the crowds are really reacting in kind… as witnessed with the ice cold reactions to the main event. Still, at least the finish of the main event means that they *have* to do something different now with Toni and the women’s division, right?