NXT UK 89

March 26, 2020 – Coventry, West Midlands

Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel def. Oliver Carter & Ashton Smith
Smith & Carter have new groovy entrance music. They’re starting to gel a bit more as a team now, so that’s nice. Another thing that’s nice is that they established that Imperium has lost in an upset in Coventry before, so moments where an upset almost occurred here felt believable. However, though the newer tag team was spirited, Imperium picked up the win at 8:33 with the European Bomb. **¾ 

Gallus brags about their dominance while gambling during the day at a pub. Then, Tyler Bate and Trent Seven talk about the number one contender battle royal coming up. Alexander Wolfe says he’s going to win too. Then, Carter & Smith are being interviewed when they’re interrupted by Pretty Deadly and Carter just hates that. Smith wants Carter to focus on that battle royal too. 

Aoife Valkyrie def. Nina Samuels
Valkyrie looked more impressive than she has to date, though I wish they’d let her stop doing that stupid pose. At least Samuels teased her for it. I actually liked this little ditty. Valkyrie won at 4:46 with the diving axe kick, now called the Peripeteia. **¼ 

Piper Niven says she saved Dani Luna last week because Luna hasn’t realized how devious Kay Lee Ray can be. She’s not letting what happened to Toni Storm happen to Luna. Next week it will be Luna & Niven against KLR and Jinny. Then, Flash Morgan Webster says that Mark Webster’s injuries are still healing, so he’s going to win the battle royal for his Welsh brother. 

Noam Dar def. A-Kid
This was fun, as expected, as both guys were game for a nice little sprint. I don’t get why they’re making A-Kid lose in six-minute matches so frequently. He’s clearly got the goods to do more. Dar won in 6:38 with the Nova Roller. Dar promises to win the battle royal next week. **¾ 

Dave Mastiff, Kassius Ohno, and Ilja Dragunov all vow to win the battle royal. 

Jordan Devlin def. Travis Banks {NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match}
They built a hell of a match here. It kicked into a higher gear a few times, and each time felt like just the right time. I liked this more than their falls count anywhere match from last year even. It didn’t have any meandering and just kept getting faster and more intense as it went. Devlin won in 14:57 with a rope-assisted roll up, just to be a jerk. ***¾