In the weeks since the last Best and Worst of NXT UK: Four guys won spots in this episode’s Fatal Fourway Match to determine the next contender for the WWE UK Championship, Toni Storm successfully defended the NXT UK Women’s Championship against Nina Samuels, and Walter formed a stable with Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner, which they’re calling Imperium.
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 June 5, 2019.
Best: The Homely Weirdos Division
I liked the Hunt versus T-Bone and Huxley not because it matters in the grand scheme of things. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t, even though Mark Coffey and Wolfgang came out afterward to beat up the Hunt just to try and make us think it did. I like this match because I want to believe that while Jordan Devlin and Walter and Gallus and British Strong style are doing their thing in the spotlight, there’s a whole underground world of less visually appealing weirdos having weird fights with each other. Wild Boar and Primate are beasts, Saxton Huxley’s some kind of strange mystic who looks like evil Jesus and might actually be evil Jesus, and Tyson T-Bone is a bare-knuckle-fighting Traveler who looks legit dangerous but also more than a little like a comedic character from a Guy Ritchie movie.
This match was two animals whose reasoning powers are in question versus two shady guys who aren’t concerned about thinking because they’d rather beat up some dudes (or animals). I’m not even sure what brings Tyson and Saxton together, but I like the way they play off each other, with Saxton being all weird and bendy while Tyson just hits people really hard. I also like Wild Boar and Primate sniffing at Saxton like dogs as he’s laying on the mat after being pinned. I don’t know what the Hunt gained for this win, besides the negative attention of Gallus, but this was fun and sometimes that’s enough.
Best: Anything Kay Lee Ray Does
Kasey Owens is one of NXT UK’s recurring jobbers, so there was never any chance she’d win this match. This match wasn’t about Kasey at all, it was about making sure we’re all familiar with what Kay Lee Ray can do before she finds her way into the women’s title scene. She just took Kasey apart, working her arm and hand one minute, and knocking her out of the ring with strikes the next. I’ll freely admit that if I wasn’t such a mark for Kay Lee Ray this would probably be a “Worst,” but I could watch her do her thing all day. I knew from moment one she’d most likely win with a kick and a Widow’s Peak, but I got excited when it happened anyway.
On that note, I’m going to go ahead and plant this flag now: There needs to be more than one women’s match at TakeOver: Cardiff. For one, I miss the days when it was normal for NXT Domestic to have two women’s matches on a TakeOver, which hasn’t happened in ages. But more importantly, we have Kay Lee Ray, Piper Niven, and Jazzy Gabert, all of whom are varying degrees of new and came in as big stars. Then there’s Rhea Ripley, who’s still a big star despite being out of the title picture, and Jinny who at least ought to be. So whoever Toni Storm defends her Championship against at that show, there’s going to be women left over who deserve something to do on that stage.
Promo Time
Speaking of Jazzy Gabert, she followed Jinny around like a protective girlfriend while the Fashionista explained that befriending the Alpha Female was the best possible wrestling strategy, proving once again that Jinny is the best at wrestling strategy. Also a real charmer who probably benefits from having friends whose English isn’t that strong. In any case, I look forward to seeing these two work together in the ring soon, hopefully against Xia Brookside and Isla Dawn (who joined forces in a backstage segment last week). Jazzy’s going to have awesome solo matches too, of course, but we don’t need to rush things.
Then the Grizzled Young Veterans come out in their adorable church clothes and let us all know that they’re angry. They’re angry that as Tag Team Champions, they’re expected to defend those championships (if only they were on Raw, they’d be fine). They’re particularly angry that they’re being made to defend their titles at the Download Festival. They’re nice lads, James and Zack, and they’re not into sharing a venue with bands like Slipknot. I love a heel tag team that you can take home to Grandma.
It’s Fine: Larger And Larger Gentlemen
As Fatal Fourways for the Number One Contendership go, this one was pretty fun. It had all the spots you expect: Joe Coffey lifted, swung, and slammed Jordan Devlin and Travis Banks simultaneously. Bomber Joe Mastiff and Coffey used Devlin as the shuttlecock for an impromptu game of bareknuckle badminton. Everybody brawled to the outside. Everybody broke up each other’s pins. There was also a really fun bit where Jordan Devlin stood in the middle of the ring with his eyes serenely closed (like a smart wrestler would) while Joe Coffey snuck up behind him. I was rooting for Dave, who’s going to reclaim the Mines of Moria for his people one day, but just when it seemed like had the pin, Jordan hit a moonsault out of nowhere, and the match turned around. Mastiff hi a Finlay Roll on Devlin, but then it was Banks’ turn to appear from nowhere and stop a finish from happening. Coffey and Mastiff knocked each other to the floor, as the big guys so often do when a smaller guy’s about to win, and Travis Banks became the Number One Contender with a Kiwi Krusher to Devlin. Banks is easily the guy in this match I find the least interesting, but this was really just to determine who Walter gets to utterly destroy, so it’s just as well he won.
That’s all for this week. Join me next time when British Strong Style faces Imperium in the ring.
