NXT UK results: WALTER makes his WWE in-ring debut

Taped January 13, 2018 at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England

Quick results —

In the main event, Moustache Mountain took their first step back at redemption after their TakeOver loss to the Grizzled Young Veterans, beating Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel in a great match.

WALTER also made his debut, impressively squashing Jack Starz. In other matches, Dave Mastiff beat Jay Melrose and Jinny defeated Kasey Owens.

Zack Gibson and James Drake cut a promo on their Tag Team title victory and were told by Sid Scala that they would face Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch soon. WWE also built up the NXT UK talent at Royal Rumble Axxess, with Rhea Ripley getting a rematch against NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm in Phoenix.

Full rundown —

The show opened with a video hyping the debut of WALTER, showing clips of him coming out at the end of NXT UK TakeOver along with a number of tweets from people being excited about it.

“Bomber” Dave Mastiff pinned “Primate” Jay Melrose in 5:00 after hitting his running cannonball senton into the corner

They locked up a number of times with neither man getting the upper hand. Melrose tried shoulder blocking Mastiff, but the Bomber didn’t budge and went on to wipe Primate out with a running crossbody.

Melrose came back with kicks, strikes, and headbutts that put the big man down. He worked for a double wristlock, but Mastiff mostly managed to block it. Mastiff eventually hit two big sentons on him, then hit a deadlift German suplex and the running cannonball senton into the corner for the win.

– Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness talked about the NXT UK Tag Team titles and we saw clips from Zack Gibson & James Drake winning the titles at TakeOver. A graphic announced the team would celebrate their victory next.

– A highlight video on Xia Brookside aired. She returns to action next week

– James Drake and Zack Gibson came out for their championship celebration. Gibson said that while every other team was brainstorming for a nickname, they were focused. As Moustache Mountain got shiny new pants, they were focused on their goal — and that’s why they are the NXT UK Tag Team Champions.

For the first time, Gibson referred to their team as the Grizzled Young Veterans and said soon the titles would be considered the most important ones in WWE. Sid Scala came out and mentioned that NXT UK would travel to Phoenix and announced that Gibson & Drake would defend their titles against Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch “soon.”

– A graphic announced that the debut of WALTER, who McGuinness called the “Austrian Anomaly,” would air next. I will of course continue to properly and respectfully address my fellow countryman as the “Ring General.” Sure, he may hail from Simmering, but that is no reason to call him an anomaly.

– Ligero vs. Mark Andrews was announced for next week.

WALTER pinned Jack Starz in 2:35 after a powerbomb

WALTER, 31, was born in Vienna, Austria, and after spending a few years playing soccer, he started training in 2005 under Michael Kovac.

After having his first few matches with Austria’s Rings of Europe, he made his wXw debut in 2007 and also embarked on a tour/dojo training stay with Japan’s ZERO1, training under Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Tomohiro Ishii and wrestling as the masked mascot Gha-cha-ping.

WALTER quickly became a regular and household name in wXw under the name of Big van Walter, winning the 2010 16 Carat Gold tournament and going on to become a three-time wXw World Unified Wrestling Champion and three-time wXw Tag Team Champion. He also became the head trainer at the wXw Wrestling Academy when they opened their doors in 2015 and became the only full-time employed wrestler for a promotion in Europe at the time.

He wrestled mostly in Germany until 2016, when he first started going to the United Kingdom and working for promotions such as PROGRESS and RevPro. In 2017, he started appearing in the United States for promotions such as PWG and EVOLVE, eventually winning the PWG, PROGRESS, and OTT World titles, as well as the PROGRESS Atlas title twice.

WALTER is considered one of the best big-man and overall indie workers of the past few years and eventually signed with WWE, on the stipulation that he would not have to move to the U.S. permanently.

WALTER majestically strode to the ring and gracefully hit his Ring General pose amid “WALTER’s gonna kill you” chants. Starz tried attacking WALTER, who merely brushed off the smaller man’s laughable offense, then proceeded to carve his chest in with a mighty chop. WALTER pursued his victim to ringside, picked him up for a back suplex, and smashed him onto the apron.

Being a fair and graceful beast, WALTER signaled to Starz that he may now stand back up and properly face the behemoth. As Starz failed to comply, WALTER started kicking at him for encouragement.

WALTER hit a knee, and as Starz cowardly tried to flee beneath the Ring General’s legs, the big man, quick and graceful as a cat, caught his prey, drove him hard into the corner, numbed him with a big Shotgun dropkick, and mercifully ended the affair by hitting a picture-perfect powerbomb for the victory.

After witnessing the mayhem in the ring, McGuinness then smartly proclaimed that he never wished to wrestle again, correctly assuming that the greatness that is WALTER would pound him into submission. I already feel a great deal of compassion for anyone foolish enough to cross the Ring General’s path.

– A video of Jinny beating Isla Dawn two weeks ago aired.

– A video taped during the break showed WALTER going backstage and Mark Coffey foolishly trying to confront him. Just as WALTER looked to consider the proper way to separate the Scot’s head from his shoulders, Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner walked up.

Barthel, in German, said that “it took a long time.” He continued in English that if WALTER was ever looking for friends on the brand, they would be here. WALTER just stared at his RINGKAMPF brother and walked away, probably deeming it unfair to form the most powerful faction in NXT UK just yet.

Jinny pinned Kasey Owens in 5:09 after hitting the Makeover

Owens, who is from Ireland, made her debut in 2010 after training under Bonesaw McGraw. She started out in her native Ireland and wrestled for promotions such as Pro Wrestling: EVE, ICW, and Southside Wrestling Entertainment. She also embarked on tours of Japan, working for Ice Ribbon in 2013 and for Stardom in 2016.

Jinny applied an armbar and drove her nails into the skin on Owens’ arm. Jinny kept the pressure on with a headlock and a running shoulder block. Jinny turned a bodyscissors by Owens into a heel lock, but Owens made the ropes.

Jinny hit a flying headscissors, then rammed Owens into the barricade on the outside. Owens came back and applied an armbar over the ropes, holding on until the count of four. Jinny then quickly came back with the Makeover for the pin.

– Rhea Ripley stormed into Johnny Saint’s office and demanded a match in Phoenix, proclaiming herself the best of both brands and demanding a rematch with Toni Storm. Saint asked her for a moment.

Shortly after, the match was announced to take place in three weeks, when matches from Phoenix will start airing on NXT UK.

– In a tweet by Saint, next week’s main event was announced as WALTER taking on Mark Coffey. I already pity the fool.

Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) defeated Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel in 13:08 when Seven pinned Barthel after a snap dragon suplex/springboard lariat combo

Bate and Barthel started out with mat-based grappling, with Bate eventually walking out of a headlock backwards on his hands. Bate continued to use creative escapes on a spinning toe hold as Aichner shouted advice from his corner in German. Aichner and Seven both tagged in.

Aichner used his power to gain some momentum — but it did not last long, as Bate tagged back in and hit his assisted somersault senton. Barthel was back in with Bate, but Aichner quickly blind tagged himself back in, launched Bate high into the air, caught him again, and sent him crashing to the mat with a twisting slam. The heels worked Bate over, with Barthel hitting a running European uppercut and then isolating Bate in the corner.

Bate finally managed to impressively power out of a bodyscissors, picking Aichner up in the process and slamming him to the mat. He finally managed to make a hot tag to Seven who ran wild with a DDT, snap dragon suplex, and Falcon Arrow for a near fall on Barthel.

Aichner was back in but was quickly overwhelmed. As Moustache Mountain tried for their snap dragon/lariat combo, Barthel kicked Bate in the head as he went for his springboard lariat. In the melee that followed, Bate hit a big dive on Barthel onto the outside while Seven hit the Seven Star Lariat on Aichner for a near fall.

The heels came back with a spinebuster by Aichner on Seven, followed by a running kick by Barthel for another near fall.

Barthel managed to grind Bate’s offense to a halt, throwing him off the ropes right into a brainbuster by Aichner, but Seven narrowly managed to make the save. After thwarting an attack from Aichner and Barthel, Bate hit a double rolling kick against both. Seven and Bate then managed to hit their snap dragon/springboard lariat combo on Barthel for the win.

Next week —

WALTER battles Mark Coffey in the main event, while Ligero faces Mark Andrews and Xia Brookside will be in action.