Four months after crowning the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Champion, we’re back for another special as WWE visited Norwich for a show that had good wrestling, and a few teething problems.
Coincidentally scheduled for around the same time that ITV’s World of Sport was due to tape (before it was cancelled), WWE corralled the stars of 205 Live and their UK-contracted talent to Epic Studios in Norwich for two days of shows in front of fans in lawn chairs. Seriously. We’re only getting a variety of matches from those tapings here, since the results of two of those matches have already been given away ahead of tomorrow’s NXT Takeover.
Ahead of the show, WWE posted two matches from the first night of the taping over on their YouTube channel – with tournament rematches seeing Pete Dunne take on Sam Gradwell, whilst Wolfgang faced Trent Seven. We’ll cover those one day…
Anyways, we opened with a recap of the tournament from Blackpool, complete with talking heads saying how much their careers have risen since doing that tournament, before crashing to Norwich where we have Jim Ross and Nigel McGuinness in front of a green screen doing the call. That didn’t look fake at all!
Trent Seven vs. Pete Dunne in a number one contender’s match is on the show tonight, as is Tyler Bate defending the WWE UK title vs. Mark Andrews. Hmm… I wonder how those will go!
Wolfgang vs. Joseph Conners
We get a promo video for both men after their entrances, and when we do get underway it’s Conners who gets the upper hand with an early wristlock, before Wolfgang used his size advantage to fight free and hoist up Conners for a stalling suplex.
Wolfgang keeps on top of Conners with a slam as he looked to head up top, only to get caught as Conners shoved him down to the floor for the spot that would usually have taken us to a commercial break. Instead, Conners nails a baseball slide to keep the Scotsman down as he headed out to pound on him on the apron.
A plancha into the ring from Conners gets him a near-fall as the crowd fell silent so he could mock Wolfgang’s howls, before he dragged the Scotsman across the ring post to stretch him. This gets the crowd into the match, as we get duelling chants before a release back suplex gets Conners a near-fall. Eventually Wolfgang fights back from a chinlock and back body drops Conners, squashing Joseph with a cross body into the corner ahead of a double axehandle smash off the top.
Conners tries a crossbody of his own, but Wolfgang almost turned it into a Codebreaker as he got the knees up. Regardless, Conners kept on fighting, landing a chokebomb for a two-count, before another double axehandle off the top was met by a spear from Wolfgang – who went all Roman Reigns – before hitting the Howling (senton) for the win. By WWE standards this wasn’t that bad a match, but it absolutely was NOT the first match I’d have put on the TV airing! ***
One match in, and I’m sorry, but Jim Ross is not a good fit for this. Who heard him do World of Sport and thought that it would change here? Or perhaps all of this was to take him away from other projects in the UK… also, these production values are shocking compared to the usual WWE standards, with lights right in the camera shot whenever the camera dared to look up.
Backlash commercial time… that’ll hold up well!
Backstage, Mark Andrews is warming up, as is Tyler Bate, and it’s time for some 205 Live action.
TJP & The Brian Kendrick vs. Dan Moloney & Rich Swann
These guys’ theme songs are badly muffled… is this down to the production again? Poor Dan Moloney, he got the Alan Partridge tribute, with “Dan” being shouted incessantly his way. Unfortunately somewhere here, JR confused Norwich with Birmingham, which just shows… he needs to be doing these live, or not at all.
Kendrick starts us off with a kick to the gut against Moloney, who seems to be relishing being a good guy. The early story is Moloney – painted as being inexperienced – is kept isolated as Rich Swann was left watching on from the apron, with TJP scoring an early near-fall from a suplex. JR asked what a wanker was, and that made tape, so you can tell what level of quality control this had for a show that aired in the afternoon in the States!
Moloney gets a break when he did a switcharoo, “forcing” TJP to repeatedly hit Kendrick with a load of armbreakers on the apron. Dan makes a comeback, scoring a kick on the apron to TJP for a two-count, before Swann and Moloney did a double dab and a double hiptoss to send TJP to the outside, where Moloney sent his own partner courtesy of a back body drop!
The crowd volume gets turned up as Kendrick gets back into the ring, whipping Swann chest-first into the turnbuckles, before Moloney comes back to kick his opponents into an “accidental” DDT. Of course, the crowd loved to chant “Dan” for everything he did, before booing as a back heel kick from TJP put the bad guys back in the driving seat. Whilst covering his ears to block out the crowd chants.
Swann gets a tag back in as he unloads on kicks on Kendrick, including a flipping Rocker Dropper for a near-fall, before TJP suckered Moloney to dive out of the ring, which left Swann vulnerable for the Captain’s Hook… but Moloney came in to break up the submission and get tagged in. Anyone unfamiliar with Alan Partridge would think Dan is over like rover here – and he probably is, but those chants really help – but it was Moloney who ended up taking the fall after he was rolled up by Kendrick using a handful of tights. ***
These aren’t bad matches, but I just cannot get over how “rough” these production values are. WWE’s somehow made a studio look indy, whereas a company like PROGRESS makes music venues look top notch. There’s something wrong when THAT happens!
They show clips from the Wolfgang/Trent Seven match from the first night of the taping, before a backstage promo with an iced-up Trent. Apparently there’s no brones, but at least it’s not broken. At least until Pete Dunne confronted him and threw the iced-up arm into a wall.
We’re back with Jim Ross and Nigel McGuinness in front of the green screen, with no cheering crowd. Or any background noise at all…
We get a Pete Dunne promo video next, then one for Trent Seven, and that number one contender’s match is next. I wonder who’ll win!
Number One Contender’s Match for WWE United Kingdom Championship: Pete Dunne vs. Trent Seven
They’ve redone Pete’s music, as a slightly heavier version of the song he’s using in PROGRESS. Speaking of, Pete had the PROGRESS title between his teeth, which is REALLY WEIRD TO SEE.
We get underway with chants of British Strong Style, as Dunne tried to avoid Trent early whilst JR decided to ruminate over Peter’s kneecap tattoo. Dunne goes for an armbar, but Trent releases himself as he went in with a chop to send Dunne into the corner, before he pulled Pete off the top rope and into a clothesline.
Dunne comes back by kicking away at Trent’s taped elbow, before taking him outside to trap the arm between the ring and steps… and yes, kick the steps into the injured limb. They return to the ring where Dunne continues to work over the arm, pulling at the tape to help him pull the arm all the way back into a pinning predicament.
It’s all arm work from Dunne here, before Trent looked to chop his way back in – using the injured arm – en route to landing a DDT to give him a breather. We see a tope from Trent, but when he returned to the ring he was back on the defensive, before trying for a Bitter End that was blocked and turned into a Seven Star lariat that was also blocked.
Dunne keeps up the pressure with a snap German suplex off the ropes, before Seven landed almost a Next Stop Driver for a near-fall. A charge from Trent misses as Dunne sends him shoulder first into the ring post, as an X-plex release suplex followed for a two-count. From there, Dunne goes for a Kimura that’s quickly broken through the ropes, so they head outside as Trent’s whipped shoulder-first into the crowd barriers.
They head onto the apron as Pete toys with Trent some more, but it ends badly as his attempted suplex was blocked and turned into a Dragon suplex on the apron! Yeah, that one may not be a regular occurrence on the main shows!
Both men narrowly beat that ten-count, before Dunne wrenched away at the injured arm to free himself of a superplex attempt, but instead Trent comes back with a Dragon superplex… but Dunne lands on his feet! Seven gets back up and flattens Peter with a lariat for a near-fall, prompting chants of “British wrestling”.
Trent goes for the Seven Star lariat again, but Dunne counters with a mounted Kimura, only for Trent to power back up and land a Dragon suplex! A spinning backfist takes Trent into a torture rack, but Dunne escapes and gets the Bitter End, and that’s all folks! The elbow injury both added and removed something from this match, as this wasn’t the all-out war you’d see elsewhere, but this was a really good outing from two of Britain’s best. ****
After the match, Dunne promised he’d win the UK title in Chicago… by any means necessary.
WWE United Kingdom Championship: Mark Andrews vs. Tyler Bate (c)
Tyler pleases the crowd by giving them a wave, and this crowd has woken up for this main event it seems. We start with a wristlock as JR tries to find someone from the past to compare Tyler Bate to… Nigel McGuinness proffers Jim Breaks as Andrews grabbed an arm, only for Bate to escape as they ended up squaring off.
After a trip up, Tyler grabs a toe hold as he segued into another armbar, as the pair go back and forth with basic holds, featuring Bate escaping a front facelock by… lifting up Andrews and placing him on the top turnbuckle. From there, Bate grabs a full nelson that Andrews escaped from three times, before again getting tripped into an eventual Indian deathlock and then a surfboard stretch.
Andrews manages to drag himself to the ropes to force a break, and we’re back to the feeling out as both men tried for armdrags before Andrews cartwheeled out of a ‘rana as both men finished with duelling dropkicks for another stand-off. From there, Bate gets shoved into the ropes as Andrews hits the Northern Lights into a dropkick for a near-fall, before the challenger started to focus over Tyler’s arm.
An Octopus stretch forces Tyler to hold on until he made the ropes, and from there Bate broke into a stride, slamming Andrews then landing a snapping senton for a near-fall, before pulling off a reverse Boston crab – or Colt Cabana’s Billy Goat Curse. Bate quickly turned that into a pendulum swing, before rolling over for a near-fall as Bate firmly kept himself in the driver’s seat.
Andrews kicks himself out of the corner and flies into a ‘rana on Bate, who slipped to the outside and into the path of a tope con hilo into the aisle! Back inside, Andrews gets the Northern Lights suplex, before taking too much time to follow up as Bate gets a schoolboy for a two-count, only for Andrews to return the favour with a standing moonsault.
Bate leaps over Andrews, who sailed to the outside and into a tope from Tyler, and that seemed to be the cue for a Tyler Driver… but Andrews backdropped into a Northern lights suplex for a near-fall. We had a take on a ‘rana for another near-fall after Andrews countered another Tyler Driver, but Bate cuts off a springboard with an uppercut before the pair ended up on the apron… which Andrews takes advantage of by delivering a Sliced Break onto the apron!
Tyler remains outside, where he thought he’d caught a tope from Andrews… but it’s turned into a DDT for an eventual near-fall after Andrews had a hard time getting Bate back into the ring. Eventually though, Andrews tried for a top rope ‘rana and found himself shoved onto the top rope, where Bate brought him back into the ring with a diving European uppercut for a two-count. We get a brief exchange of forearms between the two, with some chops thrown in until Andrews fell for the bop/bang left hand from Bate… who followed up with an airplane spin, which Andrews turned into a reverse ‘rana!
Bate kicked out at two after that, and took his time getting back up… only to pop to his feet as Andrews went up top. An enziguiri rocked the Welshman, allowing Bate to head up top for a super gutbuster, but this time Andrews countered it into a ‘rana and a running shooting star press for another near-fall!
Exasperated, Andrews pulled up Bate, but fell into a superkick as Bate sprung off the top rope shoulder-first into a lariat. A stundog millionaire from Andrews countered a suplex as the pendulum continued to shift, which meant only one thing… a shooting star press attempt that gets nothing but the knees of Tyler, who eventually followed with a Koppo kick before finishing him off with a Tyler Driver to retain! That was AMAZING. These two can always be counted on for a great match, and right here they put on a great slice of graps! ****½
After the match, Pete Dunne hit the ring and attacked Mark Andrews as he headed to the back. William Regal quickly headed out to calm things down, as the show ended with a face-off between Dunne and Bate ahead of their match in Chicago this Saturday.
Whilst the top two matches’ results were telegraphed by WWE perhaps not having their ducks in a row when this was taped, the wrestling on show here was phenomenal. The only question I have is how this can be parlayed into a regular weekly product with the current roster without it getting stale too quickly. Still, for now, it’s going to be a fun ride… but there’s a lot of polishing left to be done, as the production values here were nowhere near what you’d expect from a WWE product, whilst Jim Ross, I’m afraid, was lacking in a lot of product knowledge, and was at times painful to listen to as someone who has fond memories of JR in his peak.