WWE: NXT UK Review - January 14th, 2021

WWE: NXT UK 

January 14th, 2021

Commentary - Nigel McGuinness & Andy Shepard

Tonight, WALTER and A-Kid face off for the NXT UK Championship. WALTER is easily the best champion under the WWE banner right now as his reign and this titles entirety has been protected super well with only 3 reigns taking place over the past 3 years or so. A-Kid is the newcomer getting his first title shot, and having seen him in big matches before I know he will deliver and I am very excited. 

1) Joe Coffey vs. Ed Harvey 

Okay so Ed Harvey is well known to British wrestling fans, under the name Sha Samuels. It’s his NXT UK debut here and he gets the jobber introduction with no entrance. Mid-match, he freaks out and yells that he is Sha Samuels not Ed Harvey. Cool moment, but now I don’t know what he’s actually gonna go by? He gives Coffey a great run for his money and this turns into quite the hard hitting sprint to open the show. Coffey fires back and gets the victory and proclaims “GALLUS BOYS ON TOP” 

Match rating - **1/2 

Sid Scala is in his office and apparently has announcement soon regarding the tag team division in NXT UK. Johnny Saint rings him when all of a sudden Pretty Deadly walks up. They want a tag title shot so Scala announces a four way elimination #1 contender’s match for 2 weeks from now, they will be involved along with Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews, The Hunt, and Oliver Carter & Ashton Smith.

2) Tyler Bate vs. Sam Gradwell

This match was set up last week with Gradwell mocking Tyler Bate’s inspirational comeback video. I’ve never seen Gradwell, but he did good in his role here. Bate is awesome at fighting from underneath so this was pretty fun. In the end, Bate overcomes and gets the win. 

Match rating - **1/4 

Next week, Jinny gets the NXT UK Women’s Title opportunity that she earned last week. She comes to the ring with a lot to say which brings out the champion Kay Lee Ray. LETS GO. KLR says Jinny will be no different than anyone else she’s beaten in the past. Jinny says KLR has beaten a lot of women, but she’s never been in the ring with a queen. Kay Lee Ray tries to coax her into a physical altercation, but Jinny doesn’t oblige and tells her to enjoy her last week as champion. Kay Lee Ray poses with the title as Jinny leaves. This did a good job of putting some story and excitement behind the title match next week. Both women have it on the mic and I’m pretty stoked for the match next week.

3) WALTER (c) vs. A-Kid - NXT UK Championship Match 

As I said in my intro, I fully believe WALTER might be the best champion in all of WWE right now. He’s really brought himself full circle into THE champion of a brand and his style has been honed into a perfect representation of exactly what he portrays himself as - The Ring General. He’s intimidating, serious, no non sense and just beats the hell out of people. He does the same to A-Kid here. Just brutal chops, insane throws and kicks. A-Kid fights hard from under. He tries to target WALTER’s knee, but always gets cut off despite one flurry that saw him get WALTER to the mat and start delivering some stuff Daniel Bryan esque kicks to the back. Still, WALTER rose back to his feet and continued his assault which ends with a lariat dropping A-Kid on his neck. And that’s it. Good lord. Great match. WALTER retains. 

Match rating - ***3/4