WWE NXT UK Review - December 17, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

NXT UK Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray def. Isla Dawn (Non-Title)

Dawn is coming off a win over Xia Brookside, so it made sense for her to get a crack at the champion here (albeit in non-title action). She has never interested me as a character, so I honestly had no problem with this being as short as it was. Ray won decisively as she should have and basically claimed afterward that she'll be champion forever. I mean, she's already held the title for over a year now, so that might be feasible, especially since it's not like anyone else in NXT UK's women's division is on fire at the moment, anyway.

Jack Starz and Levi Muir def. Saxon Huxley in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match

Huxley's recent push (if you can even call it that) since the relaunch of NXT has been weird, to say the least. He took WALTER to the limit in his first match back and lost. He went on to beat Jack Starz and then lose to Rampage Brown. I assumed this would be an easy win for him, but he shockingly lost to the two enhancement wrestlers. Yes, the odds were stacked against him and he attacked them both afterward, but that's still pretty bad when you consider Starz hadn't won a single match in NXT UK prior to this. Don't get me wrong, Huxley puts me to sleep so I didn't hate him losing, but I have no idea why so much television time is being invested in him when there's nothing about him worth getting excited about.

NXT UK Champion WALTER Confronted NXT UK Heritage Cup Champion A-Kid

A-Kid has been on a hot streak these past few months and now he's setting his sights at the top title. WALTER emerged to accept the challenge and now it's official: they'll be doing battle for the NXT UK Championship at the beginning of 2021 (I don't think a concrete date was given). Their exchange was short, sweet, and exactly what it needed to be. I wouldn't put the belt on A-Kid at this point as it feels too soon, but he should give WALTER a hell of a fight, nonetheless. It's about time WALTER resurfaced after not being seen since his title defense against Ilja Dragunov in October.

Rampage Brown def. Josh Morrell

The more I see of Brown in action, the more impressed I am. Morrell scored more offense than I thought he would, but other than that, this was a basic squash match designed to showcase Brown. He's definitely a star in the making and I'm glad NXT UK is taking their time with him. He'll need to settle into a feud at some point and it looks like Dave Mastiff will be his first rival based on their interaction afterward backstage. That should be terrific when it eventually happens.

NXT UK Tag Team Champions Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) def. The Hunt

I still have no idea whether Gallus are supposed to be babyfaces or heels, but I do know The Hunt have been booked very well since turning heel two months ago and aligning with Eddie Dennis. It's an excellent pairing that has made The Hunt more relevant than they've ever been on this brand. Their matches have been more interesting and that was once again the case here. This was a top-notch main event and I liked that Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster cost The Hunt the win because that keeps their rivalry alive and protected The Hunt in defeat. Pretty Deadly being next in line for a shot at the tag titles is questionable though when they've done much to earn it.

Overall Show

My three favorite things on this show actually weren't anything I wrote about above but rather the Ben Carter video package (who was confirmed as arriving soon) and the two brief sit-down interviews conducted with Ilja Dragunov and Trent Seven. Both men are coming off big losses and I'm very interested to see what's next for them based on how they reacted. The rest of the episode was more enjoyable on the whole than usual with the tag titles being defended in a rock solid main event, the stage being set for WALTER vs. A-Kid next month, and Rampage Brown continuing to build momentum. Ray vs. Dawn was decent at best and the Handicap match was whatever, but it was still a fairly newsworthy episode and one of the better ones in recent memory.