WWE NXT UK Review - April 29, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Teoman def. Rohan Raja

This marked Raja's NXT UK debut. I believe he was also a member of Desi Hit Squad for a time in IMPACT Wrestling. He had an impressive outing here and I liked that he scored a decent amount of offense before eating defeat. Teoman is relatively new as well, so it would have been too early for him to lose. Teoman apparently broke Raja's arm while applying his finisher (which was made obvious by the snapping noise), giving him an extra edge in the process.

Sid Scala Announced a No. 1 Contender's Fatal 5-Way Match for Kay Lee Ray's NXT UK Women's Championship

Scala brought out Ray, who played up the several successful title defenses she's had over the last two years. That led to Scala's announcement that there will be a Fatal 5-Way (though I forgot when) to determine Ray's next challenger. It will feature Jinny, Isla Dawn, Dani Luna, Xia Brookside and Emilia McKenzie. My guess is that McKenzie will win because she's the one woman of the bunch that hasn't lost to Ray yet.

Sha Samuels def. Levi Muir

Samuels has been a pleasant surprise since coming to NXT UK. He's been entertaining both on the mic and in the ring and has stood out as a result. Coming off his recent tag team loss to Moustache Mountain, this was a nice rebound win for him. This lasted a little longer than it needed to as Samuels should have won quicker than he did, but at least it served its purpose in getting Samuels back on track.

Meiko Satomura def. Aoife Valkyrie

Satomura has proven to be an excellent addition to the NXT UK women's division thus far while Valkyrie has been undefeated for well over a year now, so I was looking forward to this. Sure enough, it did not disappoint. The only thing that disappointed me was the fact it wasn't the main event. They took each other to their limits, pulled everything out of their arsenals and had what was a terrific match. This was easily the best bout Valkyrie has had in NXT UK to date and I'd argue she gained something in defeat. More of this, please.

Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) def. Symbiosis (Eddie Dennis, Primate and Tyson T-Bone)

Most Gallus matches bore me personally, so I appreciated that this started with a faster pace than most of their matches. That helped make it more interesting and Symbiosis looked good in their first match as a trio. Joe Coffey previously beat Eddie Dennis one-on-one, so I'm honestly surprised that Symbiosis lost here. I guess Joe needs more of a credibility boost before he faces Rampage Brown in a rematch one of these days. It was teased recently, so I'm sure we'll be getting it soon.

Overall Show

NXT UK usually does a great job of featuring the right match in the main event slot, but I don't think there can be any doubt that Satomura vs. Valkyrie was the clear show-stealer on this episode over Gallus vs. Symbisosis. All in all, it was an enjoyable episode. In addition to the two aforementioned matches, we got setup for next week as always, showcase wins for Samuels and Teoman, and the announcement that an NXT UK Women's Championship number one contender's Fatal 5-Way will be held on an upcoming episode.