NXT UK 119

October 22, 2020 – Newham, London

Eddie Dennis def. Oliver Carter
There was a moment here where Dennis looked uncharacteristically scared, and I really liked that Nigel McGuinness spelled out that this was a feint on commentary. This was the best Carter has looked since debuting on the brand. I was surprised that Dennis’s monster aura is gone (and so his entrance music should probably change), but I never bought him as a monster and dug him much more here. It was good to see he doesn’t need the street fight bells and whistles to have a good match. He hit a Razor’s Edge for the win at 6:27. After the match, Dennis seems to suggest that it was Mark Andrews who attacked Flash Morgan Webster. We never found out who attacked Andrews months ago, can we get to the bottom of that first? I’d settle for at the same time. Dennis will mediate between them next week. Later, they agree to confront him, so at least they’re showing up on their own terms. ***

Joe Coffey is coming back soon, and Jordan Devlin is back next week. I’m a little annoyed that all these #SpeakingOut accused guys are back before Tyler Bate. 

Nina Samuels def. Amale
This wasn’t good. I’m not sure why they’re still trying with Samuels. She was never over with crowds and she isn’t great in the ring. She beat Amale at 5:39. On commentary, McGuinness called it an incredible match. That feels like a real punch in the tit to incredible matches. After the match, Samuels says she wants to fight Piper Niven. *½ 

Trent Seven def. Kenny Williams {Opening Round Heritage Cup Rules Match}
Seven appears to have dropped some weight in the off season. The first round has a good pace, but there are no falls. Things pick up a bit in the second round, but still no falls. Feeling threatened, Seven slowed things way down in the third round. He hits the Seven Star Lariat to win the first fall at 2:57 of the round. Williams tied things up with a roll up at 38 seconds of the fourth round. There were some good near falls for Williams in the fifth round, but Seven rolls through a Frankensteiner and pins Williams at 2:23 of the round. That third round felt long, but this was a good Williams-fights-from-behind-only-to-be-thwarted match. ***¼ 

The main event is a contract signing between Ilja Dragunov and WALTER. The match is next week and was first announced like 6 months ago, so it seems ridiculous that this wouldn’t already be signed. They don’t make much of a deal of Dragunov having pinned WALTER last week, which seems insane to me. WALTER chops Dragunov a bunch, but Dragunov fights him off before he can be powerbombed through the table. WALTER powerbombs him on the apron instead and chops the crap out of him. This was a good stiff brawl, but I’ll be fine if we never get another contract signing backdrop for a segment again.