First off, thank you, Chris White, for taking the reigns of the review last week as I was away getting showered with glass at TNT’s DOA Tournament. After the manic nature of last week’s episode, it was time for some scores to be settled. Eddie Dennis would clash with Trent Seven in a steel corners street fight, A Kid and Tyler Bate would battle for the sake of sportsmanship and certain champions would make their intentions known. Plus, plenty of other things thrown in so, without further ado, let’s get back into the action.

Piper Niven defeated Dani Luna via Michinoku Driver

The first match of the night saw Piper Niven take on one of NXT UK’s newest signees in Dani Luna. The former powerlifter looked to be the perfect counter to the strength and size of Niven so, on paper, the match looked to be a competitive one. The pair started by locking up, Niven tied Luna up but she was able to escape and started laying some kicks in on Niven. The pair outmanoeuvred each other for a while but Luna was caught and slammed by Niven. Piper continued the assault by locking Luna in a Cobra Clutch and knocked her down to the mat with a clothesline when she tried to exist. Luna tried to get back into the match with some headbutts but Niven returned fire with her own and threw her into the corner. Luna tried to fight out of the corner, the pair traded fireman’s carries with Niven winning the exchange and finishing Luna with the Michinoku Driver. This was a fast bout that delivered the expected result. Hopefully, now that Luna is fully signed with NXT UK, we can see her pick up some wins. She wasn’t totally demolished here but it was a pretty one-sided match.

Tyler Bate defeated A Kid via Tyler Driver 97

Next up was the battle of student and master as A-Kid took on his mentor, Tyler Bate. The pair had decided to have a friendly bout to test their skills and entertain an audience. Bate has preached about A Kid’s excellence so this was the perfect time for Kid to back up those claims. The pair started with a series of technical exchanges that A Kid kept control of. He seemed to have the better of Bate early on, potentially from Bate underestimating his protégé. The pair kept going hold for hold and transition for transition until Bate tried to go for a Shooting Star Press that Kid reversed into a triangle hold. Bate reversed this into an Airplane spin but Kid reversed the reversal into a roll-up and kicked Bate out of the ring. Kid followed it with a Moonsault to the outside but any further aerial offence was stopped by Bate dropkicking Kid out of the air. He kept going with a rebound lariat and quickly ended the match with the Tyler Driver 97. Simply put, this match was too short. The pair have amazing chemistry and the match felt like it was over before it had even really begun. I want to see more from this duo in the near future. The pair shook hands but any celebrations were broken up by the appearance of Joseph Conners who challenged Bate to stop fighting boys and instead take on him.

Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter defeated Pretty Deadly (Sam Stoker & Lewis Howley) via Ultra-Goroshi

Another pair of new signees and common jobber fodder Pretty Deadly were in action after that facing the underdog team of Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter. Smith and Carter were still riding the high of their previous win and looked to continue the streak here. Smith started by locking up with Howley and nearly won with a stalling suplex. Carter was tagged in and he started working over Stoker with his unique brand of strikes. Smith was tagged in but Stoker stomped the foot and Pretty Deadly tried to double to him but they got flattened with a double clothesline. Smith got caught in the ropes so Howley kicked him out of the ring and Pretty Deadly took advantage. Smith withstood their attacks and made the hot tag to Carter who took down both Stoker and Howley then nearly won with a Pumphandle Uranage. Pretty Deadly bailed to the outside then nearly won the match by hitting Crossing uppercuts. Unfortunately for them, they missed a blind tag to Carter who then worked with Smith to eliminate Howley. The match was won with an Electric Chair Neckbreaker I’m going to call the Ultra-Goroshi. It looked painful as hell so it’s definitely a good finisher. An excellent finish to an all-round good match that gave Smith and Carter another win and didn’t make Pretty Deadly look like jobbers. In fact, they looked pretty aggressive, attacking after the match and wiping out Smith.

Kay Lee Ray’s Challenge

Kay Lee Ray came out next to lay down a challenge to Toni Storm. She’d originally come to the ring to brag about being Women’s Champ but her snide remarks about Toni Storm brought the woman herself out. She called Storm obsessed and offered up an ultimate challenge. One final title match under I quit rules. Storm was quick to accept but there was another stipulation, if Storm loses, she would have to give up her obsession with the gold. Kay Lee Ray posed with the belt before leaving Storm to consider the challenge.

Trent Seven defeated Eddie Dennis via Burning Hammer

The main event saw a street fight where the turnbuckle pads had been removed from all four corners of the ring. This was direct symbolism to the belief that Eddie Dennis only won his TakeOver match because of an exposed turnbuckle. The pair wasted no time, with Seven going on the attack right as he got into the ring. He battered Dennis in and around the ring until Dennis launched him into the steel steps. Dennis set up the steps to launch Seven into the crowd with the Severn Bridge but Trent escaped and DDT’ed Dennis onto the steps. Dennis tried to bail into the crowd but Seven followed him out. This was a trap and Dennis launched Seven into the barricade then tossed Seven over the barricade and onto the steel steps with a Severn Bridge. The started to brawl again, with Seven going full-on Kojima in the crowd with some chops. The fight went to the announcer’s table with Dennis setting Seven up for another Severn Bridge but Seven hit a Burning Hammer through a table next to it. He sent Dennis back towards the ring and hit a Twisting Senton onto Dennis on the ring floor. The pair fought around the exposed turnbuckles and set up a for their finishers. Both men tried their hardest to avoid eating steel but eventually, Dennis finally met the turnbuckles. Seven put Dennis out of his misery with a Burning Hammer and avenged the TakeOver loss he had received. Both men were battered and broken from this so I imagine even Seven will feel this in the morning. A nice main event with some great spots. I have enjoyed the intensity and villainy of Dennis but I couldn’t help but feel happy Seven was able to overcome him. Some people will probably find this match a bit dull but I enjoyed it.

So, there you have it, another episode of NXT UK reviewed for your reading pleasure. It was another loaded show bolstered by some nice tag action and a vicious main event. I feel A Kid and Tyler Bate should have gone longer but I’m guessing it is meant to just be a taster of things to come. If that is the case then I want to see more. Seven appears to have exorcised the demon that is Eddie Dennis for now but do demons ever really die? Looking forward though, we’ll see more of Lorcan and Burch next week and there’s always surprises around the corner in NXT UK. Let’s hope the show quality continues to stay high and we see more new stories breakthrough. I can’t wait to see more of the head games Kay Lee Ray is going to play with Toni Storm.

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