WWE NXT UK Review - August 26, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Aoife Valkyrie def. Jinny in a No Disqualification Match

Joseph Conners was locked in a cage for this one, though the cage was by the entranceway and not hanging high above the ring. Any time WWE or NXT has used a cage in the past, the person has always found a way to interfere anyway, so I'm glad that didn't happen here. Rather, we were treated to an absolute war between these two. Seriously, Valkyrie was beating the hell out of Jinny with a lot of those chair shots, and you could hear them even better with no one in the building. This was a brutal bout. Valkyrie avenges her loss, gives Jinny her comeuppance, and hopefully moves on to the NXT UK Women's Championship picture.

Kenny Williams def. Oliver Carter in an NXT UK Heritage Cup Championship No. 1 Contender’s Tournament Quarterfinal Match

Carter has largely been positioned as an enhancement talent since arriving in NXT UK two years ago, so I don't think the outcome of this contest was in doubt for anyone. That said, Carter is a competent wrestler and had a perfectly fine match with Williams here that thankfully didn't last as long as most other Heritage Cup matches. With this win, Williams advances to the next round to face Noam Dar.

Rampage Brown def. Joe Coffey in a Knockout or Submission Only Match

I love that Brown and Coffey have been feuding on and off this entire year. They have history from before NXT UK and have ripped it up any time they've shared the ring. This was no exception and the stipulation that they could only win by knockout or submission was a nice touch. Sometimes the lack of pinfalls can hurt a match (see: Last Man Standing), but that wasn't an issue here I didn't think. I can see some people not digging it as much, specifically the length, but I thoroughly enjoyed this hard-hitting affair.

Overall Show

This was a lengthy episode but only had three matches. That's because the opening and closing matches ate up a ton of time and justifiably so because they were feud-enders. Valkyrie vs. Jinny and Brown vs. Coffey were both extremely physical and I was entertained by both. Even Carter vs. Williams was well-wrestled, didn't overstay its welcome, and had the right result. We also got to hear a bit from the brand-new NXT United Kingdom Champion Ilja Dragunov. Hopefully it isn't long before we get to see him in person on the program to kick off his first feud as champ.

SEE MORE: NXT UK Reviews