WWE NXT UK Review - January 30, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

"Bomber" Dave Mastiff def. "Primate" Jay Melrose

This was our first look at Melrose. Although he was likely only brought in to put over Mastiff, he scored more offense than I thought he would and had a solid showing. This probably should have been more one-sided in favor of Mastiff than it was, but at least he went over decisively in the end. I'm looking forward to seeing who his next feud will be with coming off his big victory against Eddie Dennis at TakeOver: Blackpool.

Sid Scala Interrupted NXT UK Tag Team Champions Zack Gibson and James Drake

Gibson and Drake have quickly become quite the tandem and have shown great chemistry as partners up to this point. Gibson did all the talking here as they addressed their NXT UK Tag Team Championship win from TakeOver and put the rest of the tag team division on notice. Scala soon surfaced and announced that they will be doing battle with Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch when the brand travels to Phoenix for Royal Rumble weekend and tape matches during Axxess. Nigel McGuinness seemed genuinely excited by the announcement on commentary and I share his enthusiasm for that bout.

WALTER def. Jack Starz

Starz just might have been the perfect person for WALTER to face in his in-ring debut for NXT UK, if only for his complete white complexion. If you've never seen WALTER wrestle before, you're in for a treat, because the guy is a total beast. His chops alone make him an intimidating force, if you couldn't tell from Starz' chest going from white to red in a matter of minutes. WALTER came across like such a star here, absolutely annihilating Starz and the crowd singing his entrance theme the entire time. That eventual match between him and Pete Dunne is going to be incredible.

Jinny def. Kasey Owens

I'm a fan of Jinny and how she carries herself. She just has the presence of a star. It helps that she's a pretty good wrestler and I enjoy her matches more than Isla Dawn's. This was a fairly standard squash, and although there wasn't anything exciting about it, at least Jinny was allowed to maintain momentum coming off her victory over Dawn a few weeks ago. I assume she'll be next in line to challenge for the NXT UK Women's Championship.

Moustache Mountain def. Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel

I mentioned earlier how well Gibson and Drake have gelled together in such a short span of time, and the same can be said for Aichner and Marthel as well. They're such a blast together and it was a treat to see them up against an equally excellent team in Moustache Mountain. They told a solid story early on with the heels on offense before picking up the pace in the second half. Moustache Mountain are looking to earn another opportunity at the NXT UK Tag Team Championship, so this win will only help their cause.

Overall Show

Of course, WALTER wrestling his first match for NXT UK made this a semi-newsworthy show, but the rest of the episode was entertaining as well. Both squash matches were short and sweet and succeeded in what they set out to do. Meanwhile, multiple matches were announced for upcoming editions of NXT UK, the main event delivered, and WALTER's debut is worth going out of your way to see (especially if you aren't overly familiar with his work).