Previously on the Best and Worst of NXT UK: Mark Coffey fought Walter, his brother Joe fought Ashton Smith, and Rhea Ripley attacked Toni Storm.
Click here to watch the show on WWE Network. If you’d like to read previous installments of the Best and Worst of NXT UK, click right here. Follow With Spandex on Twitter and Facebook. You can also follow me on Twitter if you want.And now, the Best and Worst of NXT UK from February 13, 2019.
Best: Romp Her Stomp Her
I love segments where wrestlers come out in street clothes, especially women wrestlers, because there’s a lot more variety in their style. Toni took that to the next level for this promo, by coming to the ring in a black leather jacket over a green and blue plaid romper. It’s a bold choice, and you could certainly say that it looked a bit like she threw her jacket on over her pajamas, but honestly she looked really great. Toni’s really come into her own lately, and her style becoming more unique reflects that confidence. Rhea Ripley had a more standard tight-pants-and-tank-top look when she showed up (although god bless that wallet chain), but it both suited her character and showed off her biceps, so I can’t actually object.
Anyway, Toni was here to cut a promo about how how she’s a champion and Rhea’s just a bully, so naturally by the time she got to the line “I already kicked Rhea Ripley’s arse, and I’ll gladly kick her arse again,” Rhea showed up to say that she hates everything about Toni (although she didn’t mention the romper, to my surprise). This is classic pro wrestling hero/villain stuff, and they’re making it work. Toni came off as a bit timid at first, but then she was the one to attack Rhea, beating her down until Rhea escaped from the ring and proclaimed that she’s ready for her championship rematch, because I guess that clause is still in effect in the UK.
Worst: Celtic Brutality
I was skeptical of this match from the beginning, perhaps unfairly. I’m just still used to the obnoxious dirtbag version of Noam Dar from early 205 Live and his relationship with Alicia Fooooooox, and for that reason I have a hard time buying him as a babyface. I do enjoy his outer space gear, though. Jordan Devlin is a very good heel, on the other hand, even if the extent of his character seems to be “I’m Irish and mean.” Also, you can tell that Devlin literally went to the Finn Bálor school of wrestling, because he wears tiny shorts that unabashedly display the outline of his Jimmy Connolly.
Over the course of the match, Jordan’s brutality did a pretty good job of getting me to invest in Noam Dar. Devlin can take holds that are boring when most wrestlers do them, and make them look like spontaneous expressions of pure malice. It’s a good skill to have. The two brawled to the outside, and Devlin was about to deliberately break Noam’s ankle against the steel steps, when Travis Banks showed up for the save. At that point the match because about a previous rivalry instead of the people who were actually supposed to be fighting. That can be a good storytelling technique in wrestling, but honestly it can also be pretty annoying.
Banks stayed at ringside when Dar and Devlin got back in, so he could continue interfering. He pushed Jordan’s feet off the rope when Jordan was using that illegal bit of leverage in a pin attempt, and then Travis hauled off and tried to punch Jordan in the face. Unfortunately for Banks, that led to a kick to the head from Devlin that knocked Banks off the apron and onto the floor. Fortunately for Noam, he used the distraction to get the pin.
There was a lot of good in this match, but there was also a lot around the edges that just didn’t work for me. I liked the payoff afterwards, though, when Jordan started to beat up Noam, and then Travis pulled the Irishman out of the ring and just beat the crap out of him, basically knocking him up the ramp and out of the arena impact by impact.
Best: Couture Versus Street Style
This entire taping happened at Phoenix during Royal Rumble weekend, and that means that this is the first of several crossover matches between the two NXTs. It’s exciting that they’re embracing that idea so soon, and I wouldn’t mind them doing it regularly — there’s no world in which Mia Yim isn’t a better opponent for Jinny than some unsigned UK-based jobber (no offense to Candy Floss, Charlie Evans and so on, any of whom I’d love to see get contracts). It’s also interesting that we’re setting a precedent for NXT UK shooting episodes in the US. I’m curious to find out if they’ll keep doing it on big PPV weekends.
Honestly, I was surprised that this match wasn’t the main event of the episode. It was the only match I remembered was happening this week going in, and (in the abstract sense where we all acknowledge that I have to watch this show for work) it was the match I tuned in to see.
Mia Yim is always an intimidating figure in her street ninja entrance attire, not to mention her solid, strong-looking physique, especially compared to Jinny, who’s skinnier than Sasha Banks, if that’s possible. But Jinny makes up for what she lacks in muscle with an excess of tenacity and pure meanness. When you saw her dig her fingernails into Mia’s arm while she had her knee pressed against Mia’s neck, you knew she was determined not just to win, but to put her opponent in as much pain as possible. Jinny’s the sort of person who will kick you in the back of the head with the heel of her boot, and then punch you repeatedly in the same spot while it’s still sore.
Jinny represents the world of high fashion, which is probably even more cutthroat than pro wrestling (and it’s not a work, brother), so it makes sense that she’s a vindictive egotist who’ll do anything to win. That includes pinning Mia with both feet on the ropes. This was the second time in the episode that a heel tried that trick, and the truth is I still don’t really understand how it helps much (especially when you’re as lightweight as Jinny), but it’s a classic wrestling trope that we just kind of accept, and that’s fine. This pin followed a powerful kick directly to Mia’s jaw, so she probably could have gotten the three-count anyway, but cheating lets us know the sort of person she is.
Since the regular women’s roster on this show is pretty shallow, beating Mia helps a lot to build Jinny up for the future. As we saw in the opening segment, Toni and Rhea aren’t done fighting over the Women’s Championship just yet, but as soon as Toni puts Rhea down for the second time, you know Jinny’s coming for that belt, and she probably has the perfect outfit to wear it with.
Best: Reversal Of Fortune
I was so ready to give this match a “Worst” (if you haven’t noticed, doing a “Best and Worst” column makes me a little self-conscious about my own tendency toward positivity). I was annoyed that the women’s match wasn’t the main event, and everybody knew Wolfgang wasn’t going to beat the UK Champion on a random show not even filmed in the UK. Plus, Wolfgang is the opposite of Noam Dar for me, in that I have a hard time buying him as a heel. He can stand behind the Coffey brothers and look big and intimidating, but at the end of the day he’s a nerdy teddy bear of a man, with a tattoo of Falkor the Luck Dragon.
But then the match started with a ridiculously brutal-looking lockup and I was reminded that these guys know what the hell they’re doing. Plus, while Wolfgang can seem a little too cuddly to be a bad guy, Pete Dunne is a total scumbag who’s only a babyface because everybody likes him despite what a nasty piece of work he is. Early in the match, Pete knocked Wolfgang off his feet, and the bigger man looked up at him with a face of absolute fear. That flipped everything on its head and made this a story about that reversal. Wolfgang had to fight just to reestablish himself as the badder dude in this match.
That’s quite a challenge when you’re up against the Bruiserweight, but we could see Wolfgang’s confidence returning once he was back on his feet and got Pete off of his. Once the champion was off-balance thanks to Wolfgang’s uncommonly impressive-looking clotheslines, he picked Pete up and threw him out of the ring so that he bounced off the apron, which didn’t look fun even if you don’t buy that it’s the hardest part of the ring.
Not long after, Wolfgang picked Dunne up again and threw him directly onto the top rope, which Pete bounced painfully off of on his midsection. From that point on, Pete had trouble drawing breath, and you could hear him loudly sucking air. At one point the champ started to get the upper hand and delivered a superplex, but then he was too hurt to follow it up with a pin. But of course he was never going to stop being Pete Dunne, who’s the longest-reigning champion for reason (and I mean besides there not being a division for him to defend it in for a long time), so he inevitably caught Wolfgang in an armbar, leaving the big guy with no choice but to tap. I sometimes think Pete needs to lose the belt just because he’s had it for such a ridiculously long time, but then a match like this happens on a random TV episode, and you wonder who could possibly be as good a champ as him.
That’s all for this week. Join me next week when Rhea Ripley gets her championship rematch against Toni Storm, and the Coffey Brothers face Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster.
