WWE NXT UK Review - January 6, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter def. Symbiosis in an NXT UK Tag Team Championship Tournament Semifinal Match

A mini tournament will be held over the next few weeks to determine the next challengers to Moustache Mountain's NXT UK Tag Team Championship. Smith and Carter have largely been utilized as an enhancement team since joining forces two years ago, but it's not like anything of importance has been done with Symbiosis lately, so the babyfaces picking up the surprise win didn't really bother me. Plus, they're a talented duo

Xia Brookside def. Myla Grace

Brookside is coming into her own as a heel more and more with each match she has. She could be making it more obvious she's a heel by switching up the same entrance she's been doing for years, but she's still improving in the role. The story of the match was that Grace gave Brookside more fight than Brookside was expecting and it was fine while it lasted. Brookside has lost a lot more than she's won lately, so this was a necessary victory for her.

NXT UK Women's Champion Meiko Satomura def. Blair Davenport

I'd argue this is the biggest match that can be done in NXT UK's women's division at the moment, so I liked how it headlined the first episode of 2022. Davenport has been built up really well since arriving on the brand and thus the outcome was genuinely unpredictable. It was a very good main event, but it felt like they never reached that next level. That was probably by design if they're headed for a rematch, which Davenport's post-match attack seemed to indicate will be the case.

Overall Show

In addition to the three matches, we also got a great video package for Ilja Dragunov focusing on his upcoming title defense against Jordan Devlin and an announcement that next week will be WALTER's "last stand" in NXT UK as he takes on Nathan Frazer and prepares for a future in the United States. The assumption is that it will be with NXT 2.0, but it's also possible he winds up on the main roster. As for this episode, it was solid. I appreciated the focus on the women and the wrestling in the opening and closing matches was enjoyable. This month will mark two years since NXT UK's last TakeOver special and I hope we can get one again soon, but who knows with Triple H not around right now and everything else going on in NXT 2.0.

SEE MORE: NXT UK Reviews