WWE NXT UK Review - December 19, 2018 (Part 1)

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jordan Devlin def. "Wild Boar" Mike Hitchman

Devlin has quickly become one of my favorite performers on the NXT UK brand. He's coming into his own as a heel and is extremely fluid in the ring. This was clearly designed to serve as a showcase for Devlin, so not only did it put him over effectively, it was also a fun little opener. Since Devlin has already contended for the WWE United Kingdom Championship (and lost), I'm interested to see what's next for him.

Fabian Aichner def. Eddie Ryan

Aichner is still doing that gimmick where he shakes his opponent hand to start out before getting dirty down the stretch. He's such a blast to watch in the ring and this was another enjoyable outing from him. This was mostly a straightforward squash to get Aichner back on track following his recent loss to Flash Morgan Webster. I look forward to him becoming a bigger star on the brand in due time.

Moustache Mountain def. Saxon Huxley and Tyson T-Bone

With the NXT UK Tag Team Championship on their way, there's no doubt in my mind that Moustache Mountain should be the inaugural champions. The crowd absolutely adores them, their chemistry is off the charts, and their matches never cease to entertain me. I'm not sure if Huxley and T-Bone will be a permanent pairing from here on out or not, but they worked well together here as well. It was a really nice tag team affair.

NXT UK Women's Champion Rhea Ripley def. Isla Dawn

I've noted before how little Dawn has impressed me up to this point, so in what should come as no surprise, I was completely bored any time she was on offense in this match. She wasn't terrible, mind you, but Ripley was the saving grace of this thing for me and it turned in a real solid championship clash down the stretch. With Ripley defeating Dawn decisively, hopefully this means she can now move on to more worthy competition.

Overall Show

All things considered, this was a fairly average edition of NXT UK. I liked that the ladies took center stage in the main event, but the bout was by no means an instant classic and had the expected result. The rest of the episode featured a slew of well-wrestled matchups, and while not many feuds were furthered, several stars were spotlighted and there was a decent amount of build for next week.