A new location and a new commentator greeted us as NXT UK started this week. Vic Joseph is gone and in his place is Tom Phillips. The former SmackDown play-by-play commentator joined Nigel McGuinness to voice this episode and may be sticking around for the foreseeable future. If that’s the case, I wholeheartedly welcome him. Elsewhere we got The Hunt in action and two of the colossal women in NXT UK collided for our main event. Let’s get into it, shall we?

The Hunt defeated Pretty Deadly via Double Diving Headbutts

There’s not really a whole lot to say for this one. It was a standard tag match that saw the Hunt dominate early on but a dastardly heel distraction gave the Pretty ones a chance to get some blows in. The Hunt withstand, Wild Boar makes the tag and Primate murders the duo til the diving headbutt puts them away. Nothing flashy or fancy, just a fairly inoffensive tag match. Imperium made an appearance after the match to lay some insults but it became a brawl with Alexander Wolfe being the decider. I guess we know who Imperium’s next victims will be now?

Jordan Devlin defeated Jack Starz via Devil Inside

Again, this wasn’t really a match. It was a mugging. Devlin was never going to lose this, especially not after his mocking of NXT UK poster boy Tyler Bate last week. Starz had some fun getting fired up but Devlin clinically and systematically destroyed Starz with strikes and submissions before hitting a Spinning Cutter, lifting Starz out of the cover and finishing him with some Kawada Kicks and a Devil Inside Suplex. It was over quick and Devlin acted like the hard man after the match calling out everyone. However, when Dave Mastiff answered the call, Devlin ran away. Be on the lookout for a match between the pair soon.

Dave Mastiff defeated Kenny Williams via Into the Void

Kenny Williams continues his streak as the loveable loser as he eats defeat yet again. This time to the massive bomber, Dave Mastiff. The rapid Scotsman managed to outpace and outcompete Mastiff early on using his speed to get around his bigger competitor. He had it in the bag until he was launched to the outside and rolled his ankle on landing. He had a limp the rest of the match that would take away his speed advantage and causing his offense to drop drastically. He was unable to connect with several moves and ended up getting battered into a turnbuckle for the Into the Void. Once again it was a valiant effort but he came up short yet again. A streak that seems to be continuing on. One day, he’ll get a win.

Piper Niven defeated Jazzy Gabert via Senton

Last up was the main event, the big clash of the titans between Piper Niven and Jinny’s hired muscle, Jazzy Gabert. This match came about purely because Jinny couldn’t help herself from attacking Piper Niven for showing interest in the Women’s title. Annoyingly this wasn’t really much of a match. It started off well but mostly became a vehicle for Jinny interference and a shock end where Rhea Ripley attacked Jazzy Gabert on the outside whilst the ref was attending to Jinny after Piper attacked her. Rhea’s intervention set Niven up to get the win and the pair stood across from each other in an odd alliance of sorts against Jinny and Gabert. Ripley had beef with the duo since they tried to attack her in recent weeks for stating her own title intentions. It looks to be setting up a tag match in the near future. This may be Rhea’s last ride in NXT UK as she seems bound for the stateside NXT. I hate the fact this was a tease as I actually wanted the match that was initially on offer.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ttQD0Wg2rQ]

Well, that was a rather underwhelming episode of NXT UK. I often try to be positive when it comes to reviewing these shows but this week just felt like it was all tease. The matches were never really there to showcase anything. They were just plot devices. It was serviceable sure but nothing was ever really exciting. It was all just teasing mostly. Devlin/Mastiff, the impending tag titles match, Seven/Dar II, Hunt/Imperium, the potential alliance of Ripley and Niven. All just teases. I am glad we’re getting some semblance of stories now but still; they sacrificed a whole episode to do so. Plus, WALTER is nowhere to be seen, since he’s busy killing people in the States. NXT UK needs its top champ. Next week needs to be better.

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