NXT UK 29

February 6, 2019 – Blackpool, Lancashire

Ligero def. Mark Andrews
Ligero beat Andrews in 9:03 with the Si For El. This was a case of two guys just running through their stuff and not adding any real context or meaning to the flow of the thing. The final minute was exciting enough to get the crowd into thing, but eight minutes of the same old before that didn’t do much for me. Andrews and Ligero make nice after the match. **½

In America, Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch are revved up to fight the Grizzled Young Veterans for the NXT UK Tag Team Championships in three weeks. In England, Pete Dunne was impressed with WALTER’s in-ring debut. But he’s not scared, and he’s ready to face him when the time comes.

Xia Brookside def. Candy Floss
Brookside won in 7:31 with the Brooksy Bomb. I guess if you want to make Brookside look serious by contrast then putting her against an even more brightly colored wrestler is one way to do that. I lamented a couple weeks ago that Isla Dawn wasn’t sticking with the mat wrestling she showed in her match against Brookside, and it seems that’s because it’s going to be Brookside’s shtick instead. I’m cool with that, though this match didn’t pull the Johnny Saint style off as well as (and in fact abandoned it down the stretch) the match against Dawn did. Rhea Ripley runs out and attacks both ladies after the match. Toni Storm tries to make the save and gets laid out. **

Jordan Devlin is going to make a statement against Noam Dar when NXT UK comes to Phoenix, because he’s offended that Dar only had a couple of matches for the brand and then ran back to America. That could be quite good.

Joseph Conners def. Mike Hitchman
Conners won in 5:27 with the Don’t Look Down. That’s a terrible name for a finisher, and it’s a bad finisher. Can we just be real about the fact that neither of these guys is going to get over on their own? They should just be paired up if they’re going to stick around, and frankly I’m frustrated that Hitchman isn’t wrestling exclusively with Primate. Connors screams during the match that Hitchman is, “taking it away,” but that makes no sense since Hitchman is one of the few people less successful than Conners on this show. Hitchman did it a frog splash from the apron to the floor, so this had that if nothing else (it had nothing else). Conners is a slightly more talented and British version of Lucky Cannon and I hate it. *¾

Gallus is getting hyped up backstage. Next week, Wolfgang is taking on Pete Dunne. They want to end the Bruiserweight and take out WALTER while they’re at it. Elsewhere, Jinny rips Radzi’s appearance and says she’s tired of Toni Time. She wants to take on the winner of the Women’s Title match in Phoenix. She’ll take on Mia Yim next week.

Joe Coffey def. Ashton Smith
Coffey won in 6:16 with All the Best. God, I hate these finisher names Total squash here, which is a type of match I don’t review. Remember when Smith was in main events on this show? We haven’t seen him in two months, and this probably isn’t going to bode well for us seeing him again anytime soon. I’m glad they’re making Coffey look strong again, though I wish they’d done it in half the time. N/A

WALTER def. Mark Coffey
WALTER won in 6:29 with a powerbomb. I think WALTER gave up too much earlier on based on the monster push they’re giving him. However, the whole shebang, from the big man absorbing Coffey’s strikes to intimidate him, to the beating he gave the lesser Coffey brother for the rest of the match, added up to a good time. **¾