UK Championship Tourney Part 1

Okay, so technically the first UK Championship tournament wasn’t branded NXT, but as of now it has been folded into the Yellow Brand, so I’m retroactively calling this an NXT show.

January 14, 2017 – Blackpool, Lancashire

Trent Seven def. HC Dyer {First Round Match}
Seven’s voice is honey from heaven. Let’s get this guy a podcast now. Dyer’s mannerisms are cartoonish and lame. Seven’s finisher is as delightful as his voice. Glad the right guy went over. **¼

Jordan Devlin def. Danny Burch {First Round Match}
Burch is an NXT guy, so there’s your connection right there (I’m not being defensive, you’re being defensive). He’s in full Vinnie Jones mode tonight. Actually, a lot of the guys on this show look like characters in a Guy Ritchie movie. Devlin was trained by and looks like Finn Balor, who is in the crowd. This was going along pretty well actually, with the exception of a boring Devlin control section, but then the finish was very odd. Devlin caught the back of Burch’s head with a kick, cutting him pretty badly there, but then Burch clearly kicked out at 2. The commentators don’t know how to explain it away, which is just confusing and bad. Devlin attacks Burch after the match. I hate this kid and his oddly proportioned body, so I guess if nothing else they did a good job getting him over as a heel. **¾

Sam Gradwell def. Saxon Huxley {First Round Match}
Huxley looks like if Scott Rogowski from HQ fucked Jesus Christ and their son got into wrestling. The crowd is split on him, chanting “Let’s go Jesus” and “Jesus sucks.” That’s not very WWE PG, but it is hilarious. The crowd’s various Jesus chants were probably more interesting than the match, which was pretty boring after the first couple minutes. *¾

Pete Dunne def. Roy Johnson {First Round Match}
Wow, Johnson is bad. However, this was a nice showcase for Dunne, showing him as a hard-hitting, shortcut-taking, charming (the way he was deferential to the referee every time he cheated was awesome) scamp. Let’s get him a better opponent! *½

Wolfgang def. Tyson T-Bone {First Round Match}
Speaking of Guy Ritchie, T-Bone has a fighting traveler gimmick. This was a solid heavyweight brawl, and probably the most consistently good match in the tournament so far. ***

Joseph Conners def. James Drake {First Round Match}
It’s kind of messed up that Connors cut off part of his own ear just so that we’d be able to tell him and Drake apart. Michael Cole said this would be a show stealer, but I can promise you I’ll have forgotten about this match by the time I post this review. **

Mark Andrews def. Dan Maloney {First Round Match}
This was a lot more entertaining than most of the matches on this show, but it looked very rehearsed. I’m not sure if it’s that Maloney very obviously communicated with Andrews during the match, or because both guys telegraphed a few spots, but either way they weren’t good at hiding the cooperative nature of this thing. Could have been great if not for that. ***

Tyler Bate def. Tucker {First Round Match}
Nigel McGuinness said the quiet part out loud about this match on commentary, “It’s a little spotty.” That’s a little unfair of Nigel, as the match actually had a pretty good flow. Bate comes away looking like the patron saint of British wrestling, and Tucker didn’t look half bad either. I’m sad he’s out of the tournament. Skip the rest and watch this match, if you’re curious. ***½

During a show-ending presentation, Dunne attacks Gradwell, his opponent for the next night. William Regal flips out over it, and Dunne more or less says aw shucks, Mr. Regal, I didn’t meant to hurt anyone. Love this kid.