NXT UK Results: First NXT UK Women’s Champion crowned
Episode twelve (taped August 26 at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England)
Quick recap
Rhea Ripley was crowned the inaugural NXT UK Women’s champion, beating Toni Storm in a hard-fought battle. Story of the match was Toni injuring her back early on, so she couldn’t hit Storm Zero and fell victim to Rhea’s Riptide in the end. In other matches, Tyler Bate (replacing Sid Scala) beat Joe Coffey by DQ when Mark Coffey and Wolfgang interfered, leading to a brawl between Gallus (the new name for Wolfgang & the Coffey Brothers) and British Strong Style. Ligero beat Dan Maloney in a fun match and Zack Gibson & James Drake beat Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams.
Full rundown
The show opened with a recap of the NXT UK Women’s Championship tournament, leading down to the two final participants. Nigel and Vic talked some more about the tournament in the studio, as we saw Rhea Ripley and Ton Storm warm up for their match backstage.
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Tyler Bate (replacing Sid Scala) beat Joe Coffey by DQ in 9:47 due to outside interference
Coffey was supposed to face Sid Scala, who came out in a suit and with a microphone and said he had not been medically cleared to compete. He said Johnny Saint had given him permission to introduce his replacement, who was Tyler Bate.
Bate got right down to business, attacking Coffey with strikes and a punching battle ensued. A dropkick by Bate sent Coffey to the outside and Tyler followed up with a tope and after some back and forth on the outside, hit a flying European uppercut off the ring steps. At that point, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang came back out which distracted Bate and he got smashed into the ringside barriers.
He couldn’t lift up Coffey for the airplane spin and Coffey took over, hitting a butterfly swing into a butterfly suplex, before applying a double arm stretcher submission. Bate eventually reversed out of it, but got backed into the corner and ate a high belly-to-belly overhead suplex for his troubles.
A striking battle was won by Bate, as he hit a huracanrana and a standing shooting star press for a two-count, Mark Coffey got on the apron, which distracted Tyler Bate and Joe went for a pop-up power slam. Trent Seven came to the ring at that point to even the odds somewhat. Coffey missed a reverse body press off the top and Bate hit his neck-and-shoulders springboard lariat and managed to pick up Coffey for an airplane spin, even doing a squat in the middle of it, before spinning him some more in the other direction.
Coffey briefly got a few more shots in, but was wiped out with a rolling kappa kick. Bate set up the Tyler Driver ’97 but Wolfgang and Mark Coffey interfered for the DQ.
Trent Seven got in the ring to help out his mate, but the heels took over, until Pete Dunne’s music hit and he stormed out to a big pop and evened the odds. The heels were sent to ringside, briefly tried to come back into the ring but were finally driven off by British Strong Style.
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A graphic announced Dan Maloney facing Ligero next
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Ligero beat Dan Maloney after a springboard swinging DDT in 5:13
Maloney slapped Ligero right away and received a leg kick in return. He then picked up Ligero for a suplex and put him down on the apron, but Ligero flipped back into the ring and hit a dropkick for a quick cover. He went for a huracanrana but Maloney caught him and held him in position, but before he could capitalize, Ligero escaped and hit a flying huracanrana off the middle rope for a near fall.
A spine buster briefly stopped Ligero and a submission slowed the match down. Maloney briefly took over but missed a leg drop off the second turnbuckle. Ligero came back with a Rey Mysterio style seated senton off the top, followed by an enzuigiri. Ligero hit an assisted Sliced Bread, bouncing off the top rope and Maloney rolled ot the outside.
Ligero kept pushing, hitting a somersault senton on the bigger man and finally back in the ring, hit a springboard swinging DDT for the win.
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A graphic announced the upcoming tag team match, pitting Zack Gibson and James Drake against Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams. This was followed by a WWE Shop commercial
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Zack Gibson & James Drake beat Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams in 8:26 when Gibson pinned Williams after hitting Ticket to Ride
“Shoes off, if you hate Gibson” chants could be heard immediately, as the fans held their shoes into the air. Gibson and Williams started out and Gibson locked in a cravat and a side headlock right away and tagged his partner in crime. Williams rolled up Drake and hit a springboard back elbow before tagging out himself. Jordan hit a high hip toss and a drop kick and did his dance.
After being hit by a cross body and a drop kick, Drake was blind tagged by Gibson on a whip-in and the Grizzled Young Veterans hit a double chop to Amir’s throat.
Gibson locked in his seated cobra clutch variant and Drake tagged back in, while Amir was still in the hold. Amir played face in peril for a while, as the heels tagged in and out in quick succession. Gibson slammed Drake on top of Jordan for a two count. After some taunting and more beat downs, Drake finally missed a running dropkick into the corner and Amir managed the hot tag to Williams, as Drake tagged in Gibson.
Williams ran wild for a bit, hitting a dropkick on Gibson and taking out Drake on the apron. He hit a lucha-style roll-through into a face buster on Gibson for a near fall.
Gibson managed to tag back out and the heels went for a double back suplex on Williams, but Jordan pulled him down and hit a dropkick on Gibson as Williams hit a superkick on Drake, which sent both men to the outside. Williams hit a running dropkick through the ropes, but held on to the top rope and skinned the cat back inside, before hitting a double topés with Jordan.
Williams went to the to rope, but Gibson rammed Amir into the steps on the outside, distracting Williams and giving Drake a chance to push him off. With Amir being take out, the heels hit Ticket to Ride, a throw from a tombstone position by Drake into a codebreaker by Williams for the win.
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A split screen saw Rhea Ripley and Toni Storm walk to ringside for the main event.
Johnny Saint’s music hit and he came out carrying the NXT UK Women’s championship, followed by a WrestleMania ticket commercial.
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NXT UK Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley pinned Toni Storm in 9:28 after hitting Riptide to become the inaugural champion
This really was the battle of music styles, as the 80’s rocker, Toni Storm faced the Mosh Pit Kid, Rhea Ripley.
Ripley shoved Storm right away and hit her double arm sign of the horns pose. Toni retaliated with a firearm, slap, spin kick and running boot, sending Rhea crashing into to corner, where she promptly got hit with a hip attack by Toni and rolled to ringside. Toni followed up with a plancha between the middle and lowest rope.
Rhea recovered quickly and whipped Storm into the barriers back first, then briefly rolled back into the ring and stomped hard into Toni’s back on her way back out. This started telling the story of the match, which was Toni not being able to hit some of her signature moves due to her lower back being injured.
Toni came back with some knee strikes and forearm smashed and went for Strong Zero on the apron, but couldn’t lift Ripley up and got back body dropped on the apron. Toni barely made it back into the ring at 8 and Ripley was onto her right away with some ground and pound. Toni came back into the match, but quickly got stopped again with a knee breaker off a headlock attempt.
Ripley locked in her modified clover leaf, putting further pressure on Toni’s knees and lower back. Storm eventually made the ropes for a break, but Ripley kicked her left wrist hard, which still was clutching to the ropes.
Storm came back with some right hand slaps and went for the German suplex, but couldn’t lift Ripley due to her back problems. Ripley went for a back suplex, but Toni escaped and finally hit a snap German and picked Ripley up for a second one. Ripley eventually countered an attempt for a third one, but Toni hit a head butt and finally hit the third German suplex into a bridge for a near fall. She followed up with a running kick, a hip attack into the corner and flying double knees into the corner for another two count.
Ripley briefly took over but missed a corner charge and crashed into the post. Toni tried a bridging pin, but her momentum actually helped Ripley kicking out. Toni went for the Storm Zero, but got back body dropped over the top to the outside. where Ripley threw into the barriers a few more times and managed to get another two count back in the ring. She went for Riptide but Toni managed to escape the move and went for Storm Zero, but again, couldn’t get Ripley up due to her injured back.
Ripley tried for Riptide again, finally hit the move and pinned Toni Storm for the win and the championship.
Johnny Saint and Triple H entered the ring to congratulate Ripley and hand her the title. Rhea hugged both men and they celebrated in the ring together as the whole NXT UK roster came out on the stage to applaud the new champion as the show went off the air.
In a WWE.com exclusive video, Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Rhea Ripley in the ring. She said that this was so unreal and that she really wished she could catch her breath, but she couldn’t. She said Toni, you are a legend and I love you so much. She thanked everyone for coming out and said that it meant the world to her. The fans chanted “you deserve it” and she smiled and said, she was not going to lie, she might.
She thanked all the women who fought so hard for this and said that they were finally making history. This prompted chants of “British Wrestling”. She said she sould continue to rip everyone apart and then went to the top of the stage to pose with Johnny Saint, Triple H and the whole NXT UK roster.