NXT UK results: Dragunov vs. Brown vs. Coffey
Taped at BT Sport Studios in London, England
Mark Coffey defeated Sha Samuels (6:36)
The big hosses clashed right away, with Samuels getting the better of things. He eventually went for the Butcher’s Hook, but Coffey broke the hold. Coffey hit a few shoulder blocks and a bulldog off the second turnbuckle for a near fall, followed by a slam for another one.
After some more back and forth, Coffey stunned Samuels with an enzuigiri, then followed up with a diving European uppercut for the pinfall victory.
– Rampage Brown warmed up backstage.
– Emilia McKenzie was happy about Meiko Satomura winning the NXT UK Women’s Championship and said she was proud to call Satomura a friend. The lights flickered as Isla Dawn slowly crept into the frame. McKenzie said she didn’t know where Dawn crept under from, but they had unfinished business. Dawn laughed. Still better than Alexa Bliss being creepy.
– At the NXT UK Performance Center, someone named “Mila” (I believe Mila Smidt from France, who had a tryout in Germany back in 2018) was interviewed about her first week of training here. The lights turned out and Aoife Valkyrie stormed into the ring. Valkyrie started running the ropes and doing flips. Mila watched and Jinny walked up.
Jinny called Mila pathetic for watching someone else train, especially someone who watched others from a distance and didn’t know who was watching her. Mila said she’d like to face Valkyrie and thought she could beat her, “just like Meiko did.” Jinny told her to look at the floor and not her and didn’t care for what Mila thought.
– Video from after last week’s show aired. Subculture celebrated their victory backstage until Pretty Deadly walked up. The two teams had words and it looks like we’ll get an NXT UK Tag Team title match between them soon.
Stevie Turner defeated Laura Di Matteo (4:13)
This was Laura Di Matteo’s first match on NXT UK. The Italy native made her debut in 2015 as a product of the PROGRESS wrestling school and spent a good portion of her career in the UK, wrestling for PROGRESS and Pro Wrestling: EVE, as well as some other groups.
Di Matteo also appeared in Germany for wXw and the German Wrestling Federation, where she is the current Women’s Champion. Di Matteo has wrestled across Europe in France, Italy, Spain, Austria and other countries.
Turner locked in a cravat early but Di Matteo countered. Turner came back and choked Di Matteo on the ropes, then kicked her repeatedly. Turner locked in a straightjacket choke. Di Matteo fought back but was quickly stopped again. Turner then hit a cool looking rope-assisted flatliner for the win.
– Mark Coffey and Wolfgang talked about them each winning a singles match lately. Joe Coffey was warming up for his match later tonight.
– Nathan Frazer was working out at the UK PC when Kenny Williams interrupted and called him out.
– A video aired featuring an NXT UK branded briefcase on a table. A woman in a robe approached, unlocked it, and took some papers labeled “NXT UK confidential” out of it. She looked through them, then signed what appears to have been a contract. The signature line read “Blair Davenport.” It is unknown who this new signee is, but WWE filed a trademark for the name last month.
– A video aired focusing on next week’s NXT UK Heritage Cup Championship match between Tyler Bate and Jack Starz. Bate said Starz’s work ethic is unparalleled and he’s well-respected. Bate said that’s why he chose Starz as his first challenger.
Starz talked about Bate being one of the best in the world and how he was backstage in 2017 when Bate won the WWE United Kingdom Championship. They showed pictures of Starz in the ring celebrating with Bate. Starz said he initially felt unworthy and was still scratching and clawing to get a spot when Bate won the title.
Starz talked about coming up through the “summer camp circuit” (an annual six-week summer tour through various English summer camps with daily shows by All Star Wrestling, the UK’s oldest remaining promotion run by Brian Dixon) like many British wrestling legends had. Starz said he was proud of it.
Starz claimed that he had more tryouts than anyone else in WWE history and was told time and time again that he was not what they were looking for, but he refused to give up. Starz said his hard work would pay off when he faces Bate.
Teoman defeated Oliver Carter by submission (7:03)
A promo by Carter aired during his entrance. Carter talked about his partner Ashton Smith not being here because of family issues.
Teoman and Carter traded holds early, then avoided each other. Teoman slapped Carter, but he came back and ran wild for a bit. Carter threw Teoman into the steps outside, but Teoman played possum and evaded a kick. Teoman then took over once back in the ring.
Teoman went for the crossface but transitioned into a Fujiwara armbar that Carter broke on the ropes. Carter evaded a handspring back elbow and hit a quebrada instead. Carter got a near fall off a superkick, then followed with a scissors kick for another one. Teoman came back and hit a tornado DDT off the turnbuckles for a near fall, then immediately transitioned into the crossbar on the kickout for the submission victory.
Teoman locked in the crossface once more after the match until Rohan Raja ran to the ring and faced off with Teoman, who asked him in German if Raja wanted to punch him. Teoman backed away and almost left the ring, but then turned around and pointed to his eye. Raja then attacked Carter, pounded on him, and gave him a Codebreaker. Teoman and Raja then left together.
– Ilja Dragunov warmed up for the main event.
– A-Kid talked about losing his Heritage Cup Championship to Tyler Bate but said that defeat is part of every champion. He said Jordan Devlin became cruel after losing his Cruiserweight Championship and he would teach Devlin to respect defeat when they face off next week.
Ilja Dragunov defeated Rampage Brown and Joe Coffey in a triple threat match (16:16)
This was a tremendous hoss fight, so I’ll just list some of the highlights. Coffey paired off with both opponents early on, then got taken out briefly as Brown powerslammed Dragunov. Coffey hit an overhead belly-to-belly on Brown before Dragunov got back into the mix. Brown threw Dragunov into a German suplex by Coffey. Coffey had Brown in a Boston Crab when Dragunov returned from ringside and started punching Coffey, who held on. He then hit a running kick to break the hold.
Brown hit a double back suplex on both men. Dragunov hit a bridging Gotch-lift German suplex on Coffey. Brown hit a fireman’s carry drop on Coffey, then Dragunov followed with a senton. Brown gave Dragunov a spinebuster onto Coffey. Dragunov nailed Brown with the Konstantin Special.
Dragunov hit a Coast-to-Coast top rope dropkick on Brown, then Coffey nailed him with a Glasgow Sendoff that smashed Dragunov into Brown for good measure. Coffey hit a double-jump crossbody off the top to both opponents on the outside.
Coffey got a near fall on Dragunov after a missile dropkick from the top. Coffey nailed Dragunov with All the Best for the Bells, but Brown speared Coffey through the ropes and they fought on the outside. Dragunov had some sort of injury to his midsection and collapsed, but he willed himself to beat on Brown and hit two German suplexes on him. Brown then double German suplexed Dragunov and Coffey. Coffey dropped Brown with an electric chair.
Dragunov hit Torpedo Moscow on Coffey as he was in the middle of hitting All the Best for the Bells on Brown. Brown then hit the Doctor Bomb on Coffey, but Dragunov broke up the pin. Dragunov then hit a springboard Torpedo Moscow off the second turnbuckle on Brown to gain the hard-earned victory.
Dragunov celebrated his victory before NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER entered the ring. He nodded at Dragunov approvingly, asking him in German if he had his eyes on the title. WALTER then slapped him down hard, applied a choke, yanked Dragunov off his feet, and proceeded to choke him out, just as he had done in their legendary bout last year.
WALTER urged a semi-conscious Dragunov to look at the belt before posing over the fallen Russian with his foot on Dragunov’s chest.
Final Thoughts —
Another strong show. Mark Coffey vs. Sha Samuels was a fun brawl. Stevie Turner also looked good in her outing with Laura Di Matteo, who I hope we will see more of in the future. Teoman turning Rohan Raja to his side is intriguing as he slowly builds his NXT UK version of his previous EZEL stable. Those two against Oliver Carter & Ashton Smith will also be good.
They also really built up Jack Starz as a challenger for Tyler Bate’s Heritage Cup next week. The NXT UK video packages are so effective and great — it’s a shame they are seen by so few people.
The main event was a tremendous “mean guy match” between three hosses. As strong style as it gets in WWE with some super hard-hitting action. It is now certain that we will get a WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov rematch, hopefully in front of fans, who will scream, gasp, and cry bloody tears of joy once this epic encounter goes down one more time.
Next Week —
- NXT UK Heritage Cup Champion Tyler Bate defends against Jack Starz
- A-Kid vs. Jordan Devlin
- NXT UK Women’s Champion Meiko Satomura will address the NXT UK Universe