NXT UK results: Travis Banks returns against Wolfgang

Quick recap:

Travis Banks returned from his shoulder injury, making his NXT UK TV in-ring debut against Wolfgang and defeating the big man in a match marred by interference from both Gallus and Moustache Mountain.

Joseph Conners beat Dan Moloney in the opener, while Dave Mastiff tamed the “Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman. Ligero managed to defeat Tyson T-Bone, and NXT UK Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley made short work of the debuting Candy Floss. In other news, Eddie Dennis stalked Dave Mastiff backstage and Sid Scala promised more on the NXT UK Tag Team titles for next week.

Full rundown:

– The show opened with the same graphic and scrolling message as the last episode, remembering the Dynamite Kid.

– Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness were in studio and talked about our main event, Wolfgang vs. the returning Travis Banks.

– We were also told that Rhea Ripley would be in action tonight.

Joseph Conners defeated Dan Moloney in 4:51 after hitting Don’t Look Down

We took a look at Conners turning against Saxon Huxley a few weeks back and him beating his former partner three episodes ago.

They locked up and Moloney actually hit a judo hip toss, taking Conners down, then hitting a back body drop. Conners came back and actually attacked Moloney’s ear, I guess because he still is mad for losing half of his in a bar fight. He went to ringside and actually attacked Moloney from there, raining forearms across the back of his head on the apron. He took Moloney down with a clothesline and applied a chinbar.

Conners drove Moloney into the corner, but Moloney came back with a spinebuster. Conners managed to turn the match around once more, hitting a sunset powerbomb that drove Moloney into the turnbuckles, then hit Don’t Look Down for the win.

– Joseph and McGuinness talked about Banks and Wolfgang some more and then mentioned the women’s division.

– Radzi Chinyanganya was backstage with Isla Dawn, asking her if who she was as a person would help her rise. Dawn said that who she is and everything she does comes from a place of good, a place of honesty. Truth and spirit are the qualities she needs to send her on her journey for the NXT UK Women’s Championship.

Rhea Ripley interrupted the interview and said that last week she told Johnny Saint and Sid Scala to find her suitable competition, not just competition — and that while she found someone for tonight, she suggested that Dawn watch her match closely.

– A graphic announced Dave Mastiff would meet the “Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman tonight.

– We saw Moustache Mountain arriving at the building earlier today where they were confronted by Gallus. The two factions almost got into a brawl, but a number of officials, including Scala and Saint kept them apart. Saint commanded Gallus “Away with ya, away!” Johnny Saint is the best.

“Bomber” Dave Mastiff defeated “Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman in 4:09 after the cannonball into the corner

They briefly locked up and Hitchman attacked right away, but Mastiff sent him to the mat with a hard forearm, then trapped both of his arms behind his back and rained down some elbows that had the Boar dizzy. He had Hitchman in a waist lock — but he escaped and Mastiff missed with a charge following that.

Boar hit a running senton onto Mastiff in the corner, then tried for an armbar and actually fish hooked Mastiff’s mouth. Mastiff came back with a headbutt, forearm strikes, and a running senton of his own. Boar came back with a couple of shoulder blocks that had the big man wobbling, then hit a running spear into the corner, which took Mastiff down.

As Hitchman came flying in with another hurled senton, Mastiff got his shotgun dropkick into the corner and finished things off with his cannonball for the victory.

– We took a look at Travis Banks being taken out backstage from the first set of tapings (he actually had a legit shoulder injury at the time) as the announcers talked about tonight’s main event.

– A graphic informed us that Ligero would meet Tyson T-Bone next.

– Radzi was backstage with Mastiff, asking how he felt, since he still was undefeated. Mastiff said he felt great, that people shouldn’t underestimate the Wild Boar, but that he was the better man tonight and was going all the way to the top. As he talked, a figure was seen in the background, but the camera was out of focus.

As Mastiff walked away, the camera focused on the person in the background, and it was Eddie Dennis peeking at Mastiff from the doorway. I’m sure headmaster Dennis suspended kids for less than creepily spying on other kids.

Ligero defeated Tyson T-Bone in 6:32 after a springboard splash

Ligero hit some leg kicks early, trying to attack the larger man’s base and ducking his attacks. This worked well for a while. Ligero even hit an enzuigiri from the apron to T-Bone in the ring. A right hand by T-Bone sent the Leeds Luchador to the outside and T-Bone got a few punches in as Ligero was leaning into the steel steps.

Back in the ring, the big man hit a fallaway slam, then locked in a rear chinlock. Ligero came back with more leg kicks and another enzuigiri, a dropkick, and a top-rope assisted Sliced Bread. T-Bone recovered and hit an exploder, then a running kick and a running hip attack into the corner, leading to a near fall.

T-Bone missed his knockout punch and tumbled to ringside. Ligero hit a running somersault from the apron and followed up with a springboard splash for the pin.

– A highlight video of Rhea Ripley aired, showing her way to winning the NXT UK Women’s Championship.

NXT UK Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley defeated Candy Floss in 2:49 after Riptide in a non-title match

Candy Floss at just 19 (I believe she still was 18 when this was taped) already has three years as a pro under her belt. She was trained at the PROGRESS Projo by Darrell Allen and had her debut in 2016. She wrestled for PROGRESS, Riptide Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling: EVE in the UK, before embarking on her first tour of Japan for Stardom in April of 2018.

Ripley was out first and cut a promo in the ring. She said she was all about opportunities and took her opportunity to become the first-ever NXT UK Women’s Champion. She said she had hand-picked someone from the back to have the opportunity of a lifetime.

Candy Floss came out and Ripley, while seemingly amused by the young woman with the pink hair, offered a handshake and even broke a lock-up off clean as Candy Floss got to the ropes. That was about as nice as Ripley would get, as she started working Candy Floss’ arm.

Candy Floss managed to escape the armlock and hit a running dropkick that had Ripley staggering. The champ quickly came back with a dropkick of her own and applied a rear-naked choke. Candy Floss managed to power out eventually, but a knee to the gut stopped her offense dead in its tracks. Ripley hit a few shoulder charges into the corner and quickly hit Riptide for the victory.

Afterwards, Ripley helped Candy Floss up and even raised her arm, but then quickly attacked her with a forearm to the back of the head. She hit some ground and pound and stomps for good measure and finally threw Candy Floss out of the ring.

– Flash Morgan Webster got interviewed by a number of anonymous journalists backstage. He talked about himself and Mark Andrews teaming up, then Fabian Aichner showed up and Webster confronted him about his match with Andrews earlier. Aichner told him to do something about it next week, if Webster didn’t like how he conducted himself in the ring.

Webster accepted the challenge and the match was confirmed in a graphic.

– Scala and Saint were backstage and teacher’s pet Scala told us that Saint had allowed him to make his first few announcements. He said that Trent Seven would meet Joe Coffey next week and there would also be an update on the NXT UK Tag Team titles.

Saint looked around somewhat bewildered in the background, but I am not sure if this was legit or planned. Still, Johnny Saint is the best. He always looks like the nice grandpa that would give you candy and then simultaneously stretch you if you ate them all at once.

“The Kiwi Buzzsaw” Travis Banks defeated Wolfgang in 4:16 after turning a suplex attempt into a pin when Trent Seven held on to Wolfgang’s leg

Banks, from New Zealand, started out in 2009, wrestling for New Zealand Wide Wrestling early on and supposedly lived in an abandoned train carriage in New Zealand for two years. He eventually went to Japan and wrestled with ZERO1 and first wrestled for AAW in the U.S. in 2013.

He started appearing on a regular basis in the UK in 2016, wrestling for PROGRESS, ATTACK! Pro, Fight Club: PRO, Defiant (WCPW), Southside, RevPro, IPW:UK, Preston City Wrestling, and numerous others. He also first appeared for wXw in 2017 and was part of this year’s 16 Carat Gold tournament. He wrestled at WrestleMania Axxess in 2017 and 2018 and also was part of PWG’s BOLA in 2017 and appeared for EVOLVE a few times.

Banks teamed with TK Cooper as the South Pacific Power Trip and is part of CCK with Chris Brookes and Kid Lykos. He is a former PROGRESS World Champion, a title he actually defended at WrestleMania Axxess this year, won PROGRESS’ Super Strong Style tournament in 2017, and has also held singles and tag team titles in Defiant, RevPro, Fight Club: PRO, and ATTACK!

Wolfgang mocked Banks’ shoulder injury at the start of the match, but Banks hit a forearm as Wolfgang did his howl, then followed up with a few kicks. Wolfgang eventually threw his injured shoulder into the post. As they went to ringside, Mark Coffey provided some distraction to allow Wolfgang to take over and throw Banks into the steps.

Back in the ring, Wolfgang applied a nerve hold. Banks fought back with his injured shoulder, which prevented him from throwing hard punches. He eventually hit a dropkick into the corner. As Wolfgang went outside once more, Banks hit a nice running double foot stomp off the apron onto his opponent. He followed that up with another jumping kick off the second rope back in the ring.

Mark Coffey once more provided a distraction, allowing Wolfgang to hit a running kick, followed by a running back senton and a spear for a near fall. Banks hit Slice of Heaven from the second turnbuckle but couldn’t capitalize as the rest of Gallus once more was on the apron, distracting him.

Moustache Mountain ran out and pulled them off, then Banks hit a suicide dive on the heels. Wolfgang came back with a forearm and went to suplex Banks back inside the ring, but Trent Seven pulled his leg away and Banks managed to land on Wolfgang for the pin and the win in mid-move.

Moustache Mountain celebrated with Banks as the heels avoided another confrontation.