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Hey kids, Sully here! Filling in for Riju and taking a look at this past week's NXT UK event, Takeover: Cardiff.
First, sorry for the delay on this one. As you can imagine it's been a hectic 24 hours.
I'm going to be honest with you guys. Despite my lofty position as "Guy Who Writes About Pro Wrestling For a Living", I'm pretty behind on the NXT UK scene. I followed the original tournament to crown the first WWE United Kingdom Champion, and I caught the first UK Takeover event.
Come to think of it, the last big NXT UK match I saw was when Pete Dunne lost his United Kingdom Championship to WALTER. So, I guess my gap of NXT UK knowledge is as long as Dunne's title reign. So that's weird.
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Still, I'm familiar enough, and NXT UK does have a ton of great talent - you've got to be pretty confident in your roster if you're letting Pete Dunne move to another brand.
So, I'm diving back into the WWE NXT UK world with Takeover: Cardiff, a city I have never visited by I did watch the first few seasons of the revived Doctor Who series, so I've... seen it? Whatever. Doesn't matter. Where's the five things that I, the folks on Twitter, and my colleagues at SK took away from the event.
Also, if you want the straight-up results, here ya go.
#5 This show was exhausting
So, the entire show... this basically sums up the conversation myself and the rest of the SportsKeeda Wrestling staff were having:
"That was the match of the night. No, that was match of the night! No, that was match of the..."
This isn't to say the show wasn't well-paced. The opening bout with Noam Dar and Travis Banks was a good appetizer. It was also the only match that either wasn't for a title or had a stipulation. Every match afterward felt like it meant something... and that's no disrespect meant to Noam or Travis, who put on a great match.
Also, Tegan Nox was there, announcing her arrival to NXT UK! How great is that?
So great, you guys.
#4 That's how you do a Last Man Standing match
Joe Coffey vs Mastiff was the very definition of a hoss fight. And this hoss fight was an absolute treat to watch.
That's two behemoths, holding folding chairs, and literally colliding into each other. That's just...
There's no other word for it. That. Is. Ridiculous.
What was even more impressive was the story they told during the match. While there was certainly a previous rivalry established to make a match of this type necessary, it was expanded upon even further during the bout itself.
As the match went on, Mastiff and Coffey began developing a begrudging respect for one another, which was really demonstrated - again - in the joust above.
There were other little moments, too, and if it wasn't for the somewhat-cheap but also-kind-of-brilliant ending of the match (Coffey basically kicked out the riser Mastiff was pushing himself up on at the last second), you would have gotten the feeling this would have ended with a double count out and possibly some sort of alliance forming between the two.
Whatever happens, it was pure entertainment and one of the best matches on an already stacked card.
#3 NXT Tag Team Championship Triple Threat ends with WWE history being made
With WWE adding more brands seemingly regularly, and with WWE's roster getting more international almost as regularly, these historic "firsts" in regards to title reigns are becoming more common. That doesn't mean they're any less special - consider Kofi Kingston's WrestleMania 35 victory, becoming the first African-born WWE Champion.
Pro wrestling is made of moments and these types of moments are always exciting.
Take, for instance, the NXT UK Tag Team Championship victory of Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster, who have become the first two Welsh wrestlers to win a WWE title. The acrobatic tag team defeated Gallus and champions Grizzled Young Veterans in a spectacular Triple Threat match.
Now, you could say "well, it's only NXT UK, so it's not a big deal" or "of course they won, they were in their home country and WWE loves to do that stuff." You could say that. But don't. Because that's the kind of crap that a jerk would say and you're better than that.
It wasn't just the pride and excitement on the faces of the new champions, either, realizing they made history - but the Cardiff audience, as well, as they finally have two Welsh performers to admire ever since Mason Ryan burned out of the company a few years ago.
I also hope the team cuts at least one promo in that crazy moon man language the Welsh speak sometimes because that stuff is amazing.
Seriously, though, congrats to the new champs and there - no joke about it - historic achievement.
#2 Two major losses lead to even bigger questions
The two NXT UK singles title matches had two very different outcomes, but they both left big questions for the folks on the losing end of each.
Toni Storm took on Kay Lee Ray in a very personal match for her NXT UK Women's Championship, only to take the pinfall. Ray stood dominant at the end, as Storm was literally in tears on the arena floor following the loss. As the above Tweet seems to intimate, it seems like the victory is pretty final.
Storm has been positioned as the centerpiece of NXT UK's Women's division for a while now, so it's hard to say what this loss means for her, roster-wise. Will she be joining the woman she defeated for the belt, Rhea Ripley on....
Look, I hate to call it "regular" NXT, because I don't want to demean NXT UK but... I'm going to call it that...
... regular NXT? Could she even be skipping that and heading right to RAW or SmackDown? Or are they setting her up for a redemption story in the very near future before moving her anywhere?
On the other hand, NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER fought an absolute classic of a match against former champ Tyler Bate - and came out victorious. All is not lost for Bate, however. Well... except for the match. He lost that.
WWE looked to be setting up Bate as a major player in their fledgling NXT UK brand by making the young the inaugural United Kingdom Champion. However, it was Pete Dunne that really stole the spotlight - and who eventually won and held that championship for.... what was it... a hundred and sixty years?
Well, the Bruiserweight lost that title to WALTER and then made his way to, you know, "regular" NXT. That left the other former champ, Bate, to try to regain what he lost and defeat this Austrean menace.
It was a riveting match that told an amazing story but after.... what did Nigel say, 40 minutes?... WALTER hit a massive clothesline and pinned Bate to retain.
WALTER still reigns supreme over NXT UK, but the real question is - where does Tyler Bate go from here. His mates in British Strong Style came to the ring to help him to the back, and it certainly felt like an "NXT farewell", with the crowd on their feet. Hopefully we'll find out soon where he lands.
And, finally, who is next to challenge WALTER for that belt?
#1 Cesaro once again makes a new NXT star
In 2014, Cesaro had an epic series of matches against future NXT champion Sami Zayn - matches some called the best matches of that year. It went a long way to establishing Zayn's place not just in NXT, but eventually on the main roster.
At Takeover: Cardiff, Cesaro once again worked his magic in an absolute gem of a match against Ilja Dragunov. It was an extremely hard hitting affair that led to the Russian brawler nearly get the pinfall win a number of times.
Sadly for Dragunov, Cesaro caught his opponent in one move too many, and got the pin. But, before heading back to the locker room, Cesaro returned to the ring as an exhausted Ilja struggled to get to his feet.
After insinuating that he was about to attack his vanquished opponent, he stopped short and shook Dragunov's hand, and pulled him in for one of those many embraces that only athletes who just tried to maim each other can pull off.
Cesaro deserves to be a big star. All over the world. But he seemed so incredibly comfortable in the UK/European atmosphere at Takeover that this may actually be his real calling.
And, hopefully for Ilja, Cesaro's magic has rubbed off on him much like it did Zayn.
OK, that's it! I'm all done! Thanks for reading! Remember to comment in the, you know, comments section, and follow us on Twitter at @SKProWrestling!
