WWE UK Championship special results: Tyler Bate vs. Mark Andrews

The Open

The WWE UK Championship tournament brought a lot of new eyeballs on UK talent, and the tournament itself is recapped to start the show. Tyler Bate talks about how his career has changed since winning the title, while Wolfgang talks about how his social media following has grown since then. Trent Seven says he wants to be the face of the company in the UK, while Pete Dunne says he’ll take the crown.

Jim Ross and Nigel McGuinness introduce us to Norwich, England. Tonight, Trent Seven faces Pete Dunne to determine who faces the champion at NXT TakeOver: Chicago, while Mark Andrews faces Tyler Bate for the UK title in the main event. 

Wolfgang vs. Joseph Conners

We get highlights of Wolfgang’s work from the UK Title tournament. Conners comes out looking incredibly intense with a stare that makes him stand out instantly. His power moves from the tourney are showcased and they talk about how he lost his left ear.

Lots of near falls leading to the final sequence. Conners lands a powerbomb for a two count and goes for a diving something, but eats a big spear. A swanton bomb gets the win for Wolfgang.

TJP and Brian Kendrick vs. Dan Maloney and Rich Swann

Kendrick starts against Maloney, who bullies Kendrick around until Kendrick outsmarts him and attacks the arm. TJP and Kendrick work the arm before we get a spot that I haven’t seen since ESPN Classic aired the AWA and Ron Fuller did the stump puller to his own partner. Maloney switched out with Kendrick and TJP went from blindly cranking on Dan’s arm to Kendrick’s.  TJP looks over and sees them and then apologizes to Kendrick.

Kendrick tags in and gets the Captain’s Hook, but Maloney makes the save. Maloney clubs away at Kendrick, but the heels cheat to win by having TJP hold Kendrick’s arms for a hotshot. Kendrick wins with a small package using the tights.

Trent Seven’s injury in the UK Championship tournament is shown before he tells Charly that he’s hurt, but it’s just tendon damage. Pete Dunne attacks him to set up the number one contender’s match. Dunne says he’s now getting the credit he deserves and he’s where he should be. Trent Seven is shown hitting nasty strikes and winning with the Seven Stars. Andy Shepherd is mid-ring to do introductions for the match. Dunne comes out with the PROGRESS championship in his mouth. Trent comes out and they leer at each other menacingly.

#1 Contender’s Match: Pete Dunne vs. Trent Seven

They go back and forth off a collar-and-elbow tieup before Dunne circles around to try and gain a good position on the damaged right arm of Seven. Dunne takes him down and tortures him for a bit, but Seven escapes and lands a series of chops. Dunne gets pulled off the second rope and eats a left arm lariat to the gut for 1. Dunne goes behind, but Trent’s rope escape leaves the arm open for a hard shot to the arm. They brawl to the floor and Dunne lands a nasty forearm strike to the jaw. This allows him to trap the arm in the steps and kick the arm into the post.

Dunne talks smack on the apron and eats a slap before kicking away, but opening himself up to a Dragon suplex on the apron! They’re both down for a 9.5 count before rocketing back in. This gets a well-deserved “this is awesome” chant and it’s easily the best match on TV in at least a month. Trent goes up top for a superplex, but Dunne attacks the hand. Trent still goes for a Dragon suplex off the top, but Dunne flips to his feet and lands a forearm before eating a backfist and then landing an enzuiguri.

Dunne runs off the rope, but eats a lariat for 2.5. Trent goes for a Seven Star lariat, but a bodyscissors counter opens the door for the Kimura. Seven recovers and hits a Dragon suplex and a backfist. Dunne avoids a wrist clutch burning hammer and lands the Bitter End to win it and go to TakeOver Chicago to face the winner of tonight’s main event for the UK Title.

Dunne says that people would get hurt and did before they hype up the WWE 24 special on Finn Balor. A Mark Andrews hype video showcases his work in the UK tournament while Tyler Bate says he’ll show the world why he’s the champion. This was simple and effective. Andrews comes out to a really cheery fast-paced song that is delightfully amusing and lets the crowd swing their hands around. Bate and his outstanding game show theme come out to a mild applause.

WWE UK Champion Tyler Bate vs. Mark Andrews 

Andrews and Bate shake hands to start things off before a quick takedown exchange. Bate works him down on the mat and focuses on the arm. Andrews counters with matwork of his own before a kneeling armbar. Bate recovers and starts to work on the leg and going back to the arm. Andrews uses some Johnny Saint tactics to escape a wristlock.

Andrews locks on a front facelock before Bate puts him up top calmly. Andrews is in a full nelson, but escapes with more British technical wizardry. Bate wrestles him down and locks on a standing surfboard before a cartwheel and a running rana lead to Andrews doing a cartwheel. Mirror image dropkicks lead to a standoff. They jawjack and Andrews gets a dropkick for 2 before locking on an octopus stretch. Tyler begins to go to the rope, so Andrews turns it into a cradle for 2.

Andrews hits a 619, but eats another uppercut and a long airplane spin before going to turn it around, but eating an inverted rana for 2. JR points out that Andrews is doing well for himself while not flying around endlessly and saving his flying for when it matters. Andrews goes up for the shooting star press, but Bate stops him and goes for a Lambeu leap before eating a rana.

A running SSP gets 2 for Andrews. Andrews lifts him up, but eats a superkick and a modified slingshot lariat. Tyler goes for a suplex, but eats a stunner. Andrews goes for the SSP, but Bate gets the knees up and sends Andrews to the other side of the ring.  Andrews rolls into mid-ring, but eats a koppo kick and the Tyler driver ends it.

This was an outstanding match, but a notch below Dunn-Seven, which was an absolute must watch. Dunne comes down to attack Andrews and stares down Bate before their Takeover match. 

Final Thoughts:

This was an outstanding show and easily the best single show that WWE has done since either night of the UK Title tournament. They have struck gold with every single person showcased on this program and Pete Dunne feels like a top-level heel in the making. It’s hard to imagine him headlining Raw, but it’s very easy to see he and Nakamura engaged in a WWE Title feud on SmackDown in a year’s time.

Hopefully he doesn’t spend too much time outside of the main roster, because they could just transplant every part of his act to the main roster without any alteration and they would have someone who fans could genuinely hate. His physical style stands out as much now as Finlay’s did over a decade ago when he returned, and hopefully they continue to allow him to do what he does and don’t “improve” him by sanding off the rough edges.