NXT UK results: Ilja Dragunov vs. Roderick Strong
Taped at BT Sport Studios in London, England
The show opened with a look at tonight’s main event between NXT United Kingdom Champion Ilja Dragunov and Roderick Strong
Primate defeated Wild Boar
Eddie Dennis led out Primate and T-Bone on chains.
The match started out with a wild brawl and Primate and Wild Boar attempted to kill each other with death. Boar eventually got the better of his former partner with some ground and pound and a vicious slam. Boar then rolled to ringside in an attempt to go after Dennis, but he couldn’t get to him yet.
Back in the ring, Primate hit a pop-up powerbomb and floored Boar with an elbow. Boar came back and squished Primate in the corner. Before Boar could do more damage, T-Bone got on the apron, leading to Dennis hitting Boar with a chain to briefly knock him out and allow Primate to score the pin.
After the match, Symbiosis put the dog collar around Primate’s neck and proceeded to beat and choke him with the chain until suddenly Mark Andrews, Boar’s former friend, ran out to make the save with a steel chair in hand. Symbiosis ran off.
– Sam Gradwell was being interviewed backstage when he opened his bag and found it full of (colorful!) maggots. He immediately suspected Kenny Williams to be the culprit.
– Die Familie were in a hotel room or nice apartment overlooking the city. Charlie Dempsey said he tapped out Wolfgang before and will do it again. He warned Teoman that A-Kid was a dangerous opponent and asked him what “the eye saw.” Teoman smiled and said the eye saw that people say pain is only temporary, but for A-Kid, it will be permanent. They smiled and toasted to their continuing success.
– Dave Mastiff and Jack Starz were working out in the UK Performance Center while the Coffey brothers did the same in the background. Joe Coffey was spotting Mark Coffey and got distracted when Mastiff loudly roared after finishing his lift. Joe left his spot and Mark almost got crushed by his weight. The two teams had words.
Charlie Dempsey (w/ Rohan Raja) defeated Wolfgang
Dempsey locked on a cravate early on and took Wolfgang on a tour around the ring and the mat while holding on. Wolfgang then locked on an armbar and also held it for a long time.
Dempsey came back with a leg lock, kneebar, and Cobra Clutch until Wolfgang threw him off. Wolfgang hit an elbow drop and then went for a spear, but he got kneed in the face. Dempsey further worked over Wolfgang’s leg until Wolfgang escaped.
In a scene right out of wXw in 2019, suddenly the big eye (EZEL) appeared on the big screen, distracting Wolfgang and the referee, allowing Raja to get on the apron. Wolfgang speared Raja, but he ran right into a bridging double underhook suplex from Dempsey. Dempsey held onto the bridge and pinned Wolfgang to get the win.
Dempsey then fluidly rolled backwards out of the bridge and teased some ground and pound, but he did not go through with it.
– NXT UK Women’s Champion Meiko Satomura was asked about Isla Dawn stealing her title belt. She invited Dawn to the ring for next week to talk face-to-face.
– Kenny Williams came out of the shower and went to his locker room. He was asked about cockroaches in Sam Gradwell’s bag but said they were maggots, revealing himself as the culprit. Williams found a mean note on his locker, which set him off.
– Xia Brookside bragged about the help she got from her daddy and her new friend last week. She introduced us to Eliza Alexander (the former Lizzy Evo), who said she would have Brookside’s back and also is there for herself. Alexander will make her NXT UK in-ring debut next week.
– Sid Scala was in his office with Moustache Mountain and Oliver Carter & Ashton Smith. Trent Seven was all cocky again and the teams started bickering, but Scala announced that the teams will face off in a two-out-of-three falls match for the NXT UK Tag Team titles in two weeks. They shook hands on it and Seven said Moustache Mountain would “beat them again, two times.” Smith and Carter complained about that wording.
– Wolfgang confronted the rest of Gallus about not having his back at ringside for his match against Dempsey.
NXT United Kingdom Champion Ilja Dragunov defeated Roderick Strong to retain his title
Dragunov entered to his incredibly bland and generic new music but still did his orchestrating motions during his entrance in tune to his old theme, so this may have been dubbed in.
They locked up and Strong got the better of things with a hammerlock before Dragunov got a headlock on. They tried hitting each other in the ropes and eventually traded chops. Dragunov then took down Strong with a bicycle kick. He charged at Strong, but Strong moved out of the way and Dragunov crashed into the ring post.
Strong immediately followed Dragunov to the outside and slammed him into the ring steps shoulder-first, then proceeded to work over the champion’s shoulder with attacks and submission holds. Dragunov tried a corner attack but got caught in a backbreaker instead.
Dragunov finally came back with a dragon screw, then hit an explosive attack on Strong’s left knee. Dragunov applied a single-leg Boston Crab, a kneebar, and Stretch Muffler, so the story of the match became Dragunov’s injured shoulder vs. Strong’s injured knee.
Dragunov hit German suplexes and then followed with a Gotch-lift suplex. Strong managed to evade a Torpedo Moscow, then dragged Dragunov to ringside once more and slammed him on the ring steps. Strong hit a backbreaker off the top rope, but he further injured his knee on the move. He still got a nearfall off the attack.
Dragunov came back with a series of strikes, two flying head kicks, and spinning chops. Strong hit a flying knee, but Dragunov evaded him off a whip and hit Torpedo Moscow for the pin and successful title defense.
Final Thoughts —
The opening match was again more of an angle to further the Symbiosis vs. Wild Boar storyline. This will probably lead to a tag team match with Wild Boar & Mark Andrews vs. Symbiosis and/or some sort of chain/dog collar match with Eddie Dennis down the line.
Charlie Dempsey continues to impress with his unique technical style, and he is still reserved enough toward Die Familie that I could see him splintering off on his own again down the line. The perfect group for him would be his father’s Blackpool Combat Club — but sadly he’s in the wrong promotion for that.
The main event was really good and told a great story of selling injured body parts that rarely is done these days. Ilja Dragunov keeps being a dominant champion who takes on all challengers, and Roderick Strong also looked great here. Dragunov’s generic theme really hurts the overall presentation, though (the same goes for Imperium’s new theme, just for the record).
Next Week —
- A-Kid vs. Teoman
- Gallus (Joe & Mark Coffey) vs. Dave Mastiff & Jack Starz
- Eliza Alexander’s NXT UK in-ring debut
- NXT UK Women’s Champion Meiko Satomura and Isla Dawn go face-to-face
In Two Weeks —
- Two-out-of-three falls match: NXT UK Tag Team Champions Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) defend against Oliver Carter & Ashton Smith