WWE NXT UK Review - August 7, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Noam Dar def. AShton Smith

Dar is such a fun heel and his matches are always a treat. I'm glad he's more of a mainstay on NXT UK now than 205 Live because at least he's doing something (and could be on the verge of competing at TakeOver: Cardiff). Smith is essentially a stepping stone in NXT UK, so although the outcome to this contest was never in doubt, it was a nice little opener with the right guy going over.

Gallus and Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster Confronted NXT UK Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans

I really thought we'd see The Grizzled Young Veterans face Moustache Mountain again at TakeOver: Cardiff before Tyler Bate stepped up to challenge WALTER for the WWE United Kingdom Championship instead, so a multi-team match at the event makes sense. Gallus has been building momentum for a while now, but Andrews and Morgan entering the tag title scene came out of nowhere. I'm all for it, but like The Grizzled Young Veterans said, they need to earn it first.

Jinny and Jazzy Gabert def. Xia Brookside and Piper Niven

This was a pretty good tag team match that featured enjoyable action. It's a shame to see Brookside continue to lose, but at least she scored some offense before eating defeat, not to mention that it's more important to keep Jinny and Gabert dominant. Meanwhile, I thought Niven wrapped up her rivalry with Rhea Ripley weeks ago when she beat her, but apparently not. Maybe they're headed for a rematch at TakeOver?

"Bomber" Dave Mastiff vs. Joe Coffey Ended in a Double Count-Out

Mastiff and Coffey work a very similar style, so I wasn't surprised that they were able to produce a strong main event for the time they were given. I appreciated that there wasn't any interference from Gallus and that Mastiff and Coffey were left to do their thing and beat the holy hell out of each other. The non-finish seemingly sets up the need for a rematch at TakeOver, possibly in a No Disqualification match (a la Mastiff vs. Eddie Dennis in Blackpool).

Overall Show

It finally feels like NXT UK is building toward TakeOver: Cardiff after sleeping on it for so long. Most of the matches for the card are either set in stone or will be officially added within the next week or two. None of the matches on this show stood out in a major way, but all of them were well wrestled. I also really liked the video package for Toni Storm vs. Kay Lee Ray at TakeOver and Kassius Ohno vs. Ilja Dragunov being announced for next week.