WWE NXT UK Review - December 19, 2018 (Part 2)

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Toni Storm def. Charlie Morgan

Storm has been off the show since seemingly suffering an injury during her NXT UK Women's Championship match against Rhea Ripley last month, so it was good to have her back here. She didn't miss a beat whatsoever. This was essentially a showcase for her, so while it wasn't terribly thrilling, it served a purpose and succeeded in getting Storm back on track.

Zack Gibson and James Drake def. Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster

It looks like Andrews and Webster, along with Gibson and Drake, are going to be entering the tag team ranks with the NXT UK Tag Team Championship set to be instituted soon. I'm all for that because of how well they work together and with their opponents. This was a prime example of that, as this was a terrific tag team match with strong showings from all involved. Fabian Aichner interfering to cost Andrews and Webster the victory (after they had done something similar to him a few weeks ago) was a nice touch, too.

Nina Samuels def. Killer KElly

Kelly impressed me as soon as I saw her compete in the Mae Young Classic against Meiko Satomura and it's clear the crowd are fans of her as well. That said, I'm stunned more isn't being done with her right now. This was a perfectly passable match with a surprising result. Samuels has been the designated enhancement talent on NXT UK up to this point, so her beating Kelly clean isn't a great sign for Kelly's future. Needless to say, she should have won here as Kelly is a far more interesting performer than Samuels.

Joe Coffey def. Travis Banks

The bad blood between Banks and Gallus has been brewing for weeks and it culminated in an excellent main event here. Banks was beloved by the audience while Coffey played his heel role to perfection by coming off as aggressive, intense and relentless. As a result, their dynamic was fantastic and the storytelling was spot-on. Despite Banks' best efforts, he wasn't able to clinch the victory here. Gallus remains an unstoppable force in NXT UK. By the way, I loved that there was no interference here.

Overall Show

Banks vs. Coffey had been built up over the course of a few weeks and it paid off wonderfully with the above-average main event. The tag team match was also highly entertaining and gave viewers a sneak peek of the excitement the upcoming NXT UK Tag Team Championship picture is going to have in store. Meanwhile, the two women's matches on this show were fine for what they were, yet weren't particularly memorable. Nevertheless, this was a solid show.