This post is going to be something of a drag because when I was first burning through the NXT/proto-NXT UK archive in 2018 I was not writing reviews that you’d call detailed. You might not even call them comprehensive enough to be worthwhile. But NXT UK is removed enough of a show/brand from NXT that I feel like its title belongs in this archive so I’m mashing together the very few title change reviews that exist and adding it.
January 15, 2017 – Blackpool, Lancashire
Tyler Bate def. Pete Dunne {WWE UK Championship Match}
From the UK Championship Tourney. This match was an excellent affair, with a super hot crowd and good back and forth wrestling but missing a little something to put it over the top. You want me to say more about it? I just watched 1,000 British matches and I don’t have any words left. Bate finished off Dunne at 15:12 with the Tyler Driver ‘97. Regal, Fit Finlay, Triple H, and Finn Balor all congratulate Bate on the win. ***¾
May 20, 2017 – Rosemont, Illinois
Pete Dunne def. Tyler Bate {WWE UK Championship Match}
From NXT Takeover: Chicago. Why does Nigel McGuinness say that Bate has been fighting for over a decade when he debuted 2 years before this? Dunne, however, has been wrestling since he was 12. This match actually had a lot more fire than their first, which might have been because they were performing in front of many thousands more fans who got behind them. It also had a better finish, which saw Dunne hit Bate with the Bitter End in 15:27. It’s also the first WWE UK match that made me believe that these guys could carry their own brand, which we were still waiting for over a year after the fact when I wrote this. Before this it was feeling a lot like indie guys doing indy stuff but a little more restrained on WWE TV. Sadly, the NXT UK show has become so incredibly restrained that many episodes just don’t feel like they should exist. ****¼
April 6, 2019 – Brooklyn, New York
WALTER def. Pete Dunne {WWE United Kingdom Championship Match}
From NXT Takeover: New York. I’d assumed that WALTER would dominate Dunne here the way Riddle did to Dream, but Dunne was in control for a good portion of this match. It seems they’re not going to let WALTER be the dominating force I thought he’d be, which I suppose is fine if his competitive matches are this good. Watching this live in the arena I felt as if I would get in trouble when the crowd shushed itself so they could hear WALTER’s chops. That’s some serious public shaming. I also got really scared every time they both went to the top rope because of my PTSD after watching the Takeover: Blackpool main event. I think the finish here should have been the superbomb, as the giant WALTER winning with a Superfly Splash (at 25:40) seems out of character. I guess they figured they needed something big to happen to justify Dunne losing the title after almost 700 days as champion. That said, the first splash attempt that Dunne blocked with a submission was a spot that happened in the previous match, which really irks me. Now, seriously, let’s have the next title change happen in the UK. ****¼
As of this writing, WALTER is still the champion over two years later. During his reign, the title was rebranded the NXT UK Championship. And that’s that. The reign has been filled with great matches and a couple really good angles, but I’d really like Ilja Dragunov to get his act together and win the title in a rematch already.