Welcome back to NXT UK. This week we get to finally see WALTER back in his NXT home, Gallus lay down one hell of a gauntlet, the Grizzled Young Veterans look to get a win back on the cards after losing their tag titles and we managed to get an even better match between Trent Seven and Noam Dar. But just who would win that bout, Noam Dar or the man he considers a dafty? Also, on the show, we saw Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter team up and an exhibition bout between Ligero and Travis Banks. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Imperium Opener

WALTER is finally back in NXT UK. The king of the brand and ruler of Imperium was back to address the NXT UK universe. He claimed no group or man could beat Imperium. This was stopped pretty early on as Gallus barged in on this little self-glorifying promo. Joe Coffey laughed at the statement it was WALTER’s kingdom and the crowd laughed along too. They were going to congratulate Imperium for ridding NXT UK of British Strong Style but could not stand the arrogance of WALTER and co. Imperium aren’t the top boys, Gallus are. Even Mark Coffey got in on the action calling WALTER Jolly Wally. Whilst Gallus hold the belts, it will still be their kingdom.

Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter via Ticket to Mayhem

NXT UK’s former tag champions had the first match of the night against the team of Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter. The pair of loveable losers gave it their all and on multiple occasions had the Veterans on the ropes. Carter was the target of the pair’s cruel intentions but managed to get his licks in and show off some more of his unique striking offence. The star though was Ashton Smith who had to play hot tag and use that momentum to get one over on Zack Gibson and James Drake. He managed this for a while but again, fell short to the dastardly tricks and survivability of the Veterans. They managed to make some impact off of the former tag titles but were not able to pick up the big win as a Ticket to Mayhem was punched in Smith’s face. After the match, the Veteran’s took out their frustrations on the losing team but the fun was broken up by another pair of former Tag champions, Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews. They scared off the Grizzled Young Veterans who ended up having a staredown with Gallus on their way out of the arena. It seems that a match could be brewing.

Travis Banks vs Ligero ends in Double Pin Fall

This was a nice little contest. There was no real context going into it but more an exhibition match between two guys who needed a kickstart to their momentum. They put on a clinic of good wrestling and managed to transition between different styles of wrestling at will. They went from technical to strong style to a constant chain of roll-up attempts with ease. It was short, sweet and the finish just means we’ll get a bigger and better match down the line. The pair needed something to do so this perfectly fills that void. I want to see more between the pair and thanks to the oddly used but at least realistically done double pinfall, that’ll be possible. Neither man was happy about the result but they were at least sportsmanlike about it.

Trent Seven defeated Noam Dar via Burning Hammer

Now, this was a main-event. We got Round two in the now personal feud between Trent Seven and Noam Dar. He would have to control his temper this time unlike the first round when he gave Dar a win via DQ. Dar had gone all out to rile Seven up with anti-British Strong Style promos and actions as well as using the BSS towel as a wipe. For this round, he attacked before the bell as Seven made his entrance and made the arm of Seven a target. Once the match began, though Seven seemed to shrug it off and had fun overpowering Dar, it became a battle of brains vs brawn as Seven was beating Dar down and Dar was using sneaky tactics to escape or trying to out technique Seven. He would end up taking away an arm and a leg from Seven and making him an easy target for submissions. This would not win him the match though as Seven overcame and used some of his British Strong Style teammates’ moves to win him the match. We saw Bop and Bang and the Wishbone lead to the Burning Hammer that would win him the match. He also shut down the No Pinky No Party taunt by bending Dar’s pinky. It was an excellent match with great in-ring action and psychology. Dar was in top prick mode and it was fun to watch him get his jaw smashed in and his fingers snapped. Trent Seven is currently the only guy from British Strong Style with any momentum left now. I hope that leads to good things.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30QoG0nXLvM]

So, there you have it, another week of NXT UK reviewed for your reading pleasure. It was a pretty good week all things considered. A great tag match, a great singles bout and a “seven-star” main event. It was all worth watching plus they are starting to tease a Gallus vs Imperium feud that is sure to blow the roof of the venues they use. We now have to look forward to Devlin vs Dave Mastiff and the debut of A Kid. That’s going to be something special. Oh, and Xia Brookside wants a piece of Kay Lee Ray… I do hope she gets that soon.

All images courtesy of wwe.com Video courtesy of WWE YouTube