WWE NXT UK Review - August 18, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Joe Coffey def. Mark Andrews in an NXT United Kingdom Championship Tournament Quarterfinal Match

Now that we know who ultimately wins the vacant title thanks to the spoiler on Tuesday's Heatwave edition of NXT, the outcomes of these tournament matches are meaningless. That said, I'll enjoy the matchups for what they are, especially with NXT UK officially being declared dead today. I thought it was cool that Andy Shepard mentioned on commentary that this was the first match to ever air on the NXT UK show four years ago. They had a good match and Coffey winning made sense given the story they've been telling with them. It's amazing Andrews didn't have more success in NXT given how talented he is.

Amale def. Nina Samuels

Both of these ladies were among those released today, making this match even more pointless than the opener. I never cared much for Samuels, but it was clear that she was well liked given how much screen time she's gotten both on the show and on WWE's social media channels. Amale had potential and hopefully she'll be brought back when NXT Europe launches. This was a decent match, but I don't think it should have taken Amale as long as it did to defeat Samuels.

Andre Chase and Bodhi Hayward def. Eddie Dennis and Saxton

Nothing screams NXT UK quite like... Chase U? Yeah, the writing was on the wall for the brand when the NXT 2.0 newcomers started being incorporated into the show. Dennis and Huxley were a random team. They worked fine as partners, but it's only fitting they lost considering they've both been released. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the match, but the crowd was certainly into Chase U.

Tyler Bate def. Kenny Williams in an NXT United Kingdom Championship Tournament Quarterfinal Match

As previously noted, Tyler Bate showed up at the end of NXT Heatwave with the title in tow, spoiling the end result of this tourney in the process. Personally, I was spoiled several weeks back, but I still have no idea why the hell they would do that. As a match, however, this enjoyable stuff and a solid swan song for Williams. Even though we know Bate is winning the belt, I'm looking forward to watching his next two tournament matches against Coffey and presumably Trent Seven.

Overall Show

In case you've been off the internet all day, you probably heard the news that NXT UK will be no more after Worlds Collide in two weeks. It will rebranded as NXT Europe starting in 2023, but NXT UK is going to be scrapped with a majority of the roster being released today. It's a shame, but I assume some if not most of them will be back when NXT Europe launches. As a show, NXT UK has been abysmal for quite a while and something had to change, though I didn't think it would result in so many people being let go. NXT UK was a genuinely great show back in 2019 but suffered from the pandemic and eventually a lack of effort. We're essentially in a lame duck period where nothing matters because a lot of these people have been cut and we already know who wins the NXT United Kingdom Championship, but fingers crossed they can go out with a bang by delivering some strong wrestling for these final few episodes.

SEE MORE: NXT UK Reviews