NXT UK results: Women’s tournament first round concludes
Episode nine (taped August 25 at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England)
Quick recap —
Ligero and Jordan Devlin had a very good main event match. Toni Storm and Rhea Ripley advanced in the NXT UK women’s tournament, joining Dakota Kai and Jinny in the second round. Eddie Dennis and Mark Andrews also were victorious and Ashton Smith challenged Dennis to a match.
Full rundown —
A graphic informed us about tonight’s main event of Ligero taking on Jordan Devlin. We got a quick recap of the NXT UK women’s title tournament and went to Xia Brookside taking on Rhea Ripley.
Rhea Ripley beat Xia Brookside in 4:13 after the Riptide
The “Mosh Pit Kid” Rhea Ripley at just 22 years old (21 when this was taped) has a football (soccer) background and hails from the land Down Under, where she started out at Riot City Wrestling at just 16 years of age, where she eventually won the women’s title twice.. She moved on to Japan in 2015, competing for Diana and REINA and eventually participated in the Mae Young Classic in 2017 and returned again in 2018.
Xia Brookside is the 20-year-old daughter of NXT trainer Robbie Brookside and started out in 2015 with All Star Wrestling. She wrestled for IPW:UK, ICW, RevPro, GWF (in Germany), Defiant and Southside among others and first went to Japan to wrestle for Stardom in 2017. She is a former IPW:UK women’s champion and part of the current Southside tag team champions with Sean Kustom in a mixed team and also competed in the 2018 Mae Young Classic.
Ripley pushed Xia away as she went to shake her hand and proceeded to power the smaller woman down. Xia went for some head scissors in the corner, but Ripley picked her up and buckle bombed her into the turnbuckles before hitting a delayed vertical suplex. Rhea then applied a variation of the clover leaf, using just her hands and picked Xia up almost completely from that position which looked both cool and impressive.
Xia eventually managed to counter and dive between Ripley’s legs and threw Rhea into the turnbuckles head-first in the process. Xia hit a bulldog, tilt-a-whirl head scissors and double knees into the back of Ripley’s head. She went for a body press, but Rhea caught her and transitioned into the Riptide, a pump-handle power bomb for the win.
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We saw Toni Stom and Isla Dawn backstage, preparing for their match.
A graphic informed us that Eddie Dennis would be in action tonight, followed by a NXT UK taping commercial.
Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed James Drake and Zack Gibson backstage, asking about why Drake helped Zack against Trent Seven last week. Gibson stopped him, told him he had known Drake for 13 years and this was just a friend helping a friend. He then threw their names into the hat for the NXT UK tag team title tournament and stated that no team could come close to beating them and nonchalantly ended the interview.
Nigel and Vic discuss the interview and throw it to a WWE.com Exclusive video of the Coffey Brothers and Wolfgang continuing their attack on Moustache Mountain backstage last week, seemingly injuring Seven’s hand in the process.
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Eddie Dennis beat Jack Starz in 3:16 with the Neckstop Driver
Starz is a Robbie Brookside and Dan Collins trainee, who started in 2012 and wrestled for All Star Wrestling, Kamikaze Pro and Preston City Wrestling, among others. He also is a former Kamikaze Pro tag team champion.
This was a glorified squash, with the much taller Dennis toying with his much smaller opponent, patting him on the head to start the match. Starz came back but got caught when attempting a body press, which Dennis turned into a back breaker. A series of European uppercuts actually got the big man down to one knee before Starz missed a dropkick when Dennis stepped out of the way. Starz received a big buckle bomb out of a splash mountain position for his troubles and was pinned after a Neckstop Driver.
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After a WWE Shop commercial, we got another WWE.com Exclusive, this time showing a backstage confrontation between Dave Mastiff and Tyson T-Bone ffrom last week. A Tweet by NXT UK GM Johnny Saint conformed a match between the two behemoths for the next episode.
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Mark Andrews pinned “Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman in 5:28 after a shooting star
Boar hit an amateur-style suplex takedown early and worked over Andrew’s arm. Andrews kipped up and eventually flipped out of the hold using the top rope and used some arm drags and a huracanrana for his comeback. Boar escaped to ringside, Andrew hopped the ropes and attempted a moonsault body block, but Boar wasn’t where Andrews expected so he landed on his feet on the floor and got dropped face first on the apron for his troubles.
Hitchman used his body as a weapon with a number of senton variations and a jumping head butt into Andrews’ back. Andrews slid on his knees beneath an attack by the Boar, hit an enzuigiri that sent Hitchman to the outside and this time hit his moonsault body block off the apron perfectly. Back in the ring, he hit a nice springboard somersault seated senton for a two count.
They traded full nelsons until Boar flipped Andrews over with a half-and.half suplex. Hitchman eventually missed a frog splash but still managed to turn Andrews inside out with a stiff clothesline. A suplex attempt got turned into the Stunt Dog Millionaire by Andrews, who finished things off with a beautiful shooting star press.
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Nigel and Vic threw us to an interview with Eddie Dennis. Radzi talked about Dennis being undefeated to which he replied that Starz didn’t even knock him off his feet once. Ashton Smith interrupted, telling Dennis he watched his match last week. Dennis freaked out, telling Smith not to touch him, asking if he knew who he was and telling Smith he’d destroy him.
After a commercial for the Dean Ambrose documentary, we took a look a the women’s title tournament again.
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Toni Storm beat Isla Dawn in 4:07 with the Strong Zero
Isla started strong, hitting a running dropkick into the corner at the bell, followed by a backdrop driver and double knees for a near fall. SHe followed with stomps and kicks, a running knee and then transitioned into the Rings of Saturn, from which Toni eventually escaped. Storm came back with strikes and kicks of her own and took Isla down with a big left boot, followed by a hip attack.
She got stopped by a head kick from Isla though that got her down on her knees, but she quickly transitioned into a release German suplex and quickly hit the Strong Zero (the tiger driver variant this time) for the win. Afterwards, she helped up a devastated Isla Dawn.
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After a WWE 2K19 promo, graphics informed us that both Rhea Ripley vs. Dakota Kai and Toni Storm vs. Jinny would be on the next episode.
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Jordan Devlin beat Ligero in 11:45 with the Island’s Call
This was a very good match, with both guys looking impressive again. They traded arm locks early and Ligero managed to get a two count early on. Ligero escaped to ringisde as Devlin was charging at him, so Devlin bumped into the ropes and Ligero swept his legs. Ligero hit some head scissors and a side kick before falling victim to Devlin’s uranage/moonsault combination. Devlin went for a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker but Ligero turned it into a body block, followed by a running kick and a Code Red for another close call.
Devlin came back with a running knee into the corner and then, in an impressive spot, pulled Ligero up into the air and hit a backdrop driver in one swift motion. Devlin then escaped to ringside when Ligero was on the top rope, so Ligero tried a baseball slide, charged Devlin who moved, jumped up and did a hand stand on the apron, bounced back off the ropes and took Devlin down with another pair of head scissors.
Back inside Ligero went to the top again, but Devlin hit an enzuigiri and got on the ropes as well. Ligero eventually threw him down and tried a splash but got caught in Devlin’s knees. Devlin hit a beautiful standing Spanish Fly for a near fall and went for Island’s Call, but Ligero turned it into a victory roll. They battled up on top once more, but this time Ligero managed to throw Devlin off and hit the splash for another near-fall.
They battled on the apron and on top of the steps, but Devlin kicked Ligero’s legs way and he took a dive onto the steel steps. Devlin hit a moonsault off the second turnbuckle to the outside and back in the ring followed things up with a running knee and the Island’s Call for the victory.
Afterwards, Devlin screamed into the camera that Pete Dunne was on his radar as the credits rolled.