WWE NXT UK Review - July 1, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Emilia McKenzie def. Isla Dawn

I've said this before, but I couldn't care less about Dawn's vampire/gothic gimmick. I can't possibly crap on the stuff with Alexa Bliss on Raw yet praise what Dawn is doing. It's all goofy nonsense to me. Dawn attempting to possess (?) McKenzie here was actually what cost her the contest. The match was fine but will only be remembered for that dumb finish. If nothing else, at least McKenzie was able to pick up a win.

NXT UK Heritage Cup Champion Tyler Bate def. Jack Starz

Poor Starz. After years and years of being NXT UK's resident jobber, he finally started to pick up some wins thanks to the guidance of Piper Niven, who has since left him for Eva Marie on Raw. He's flying solo again, but I loved how he didn't feel like he deserved this championship shot. Bate gave it to him because he felt that he did. The end result was never in doubt, but they had a fun little match in the time they were given. Most of the matches featuring the Heritage Cup rules tend to follow the same formula, but the effort is almost always there and I appreciate them trying something different. With Mark Coffey taking a cheap shot at Bate afterward, it looks like he'll be getting the next shot at the strap.

Nina Samuels and Amale Interrupted NXT UK Women's Champion Meiko Satomura

This marked Satomura's first appearance on the show since winning the NXT UK Women's Championship last month. She spoke briefly about how happy she was to be champ before being interrupted by Samuels. I assume that will be a one-off as opposed to a full-fledged feud considering Samuels has done nothing to earn herself an opportunity at the title. Granted, Amale hasn't done much more, either, but she's much more interesting as a character right now and I like the aggressive edge she's developed recently. This was a solid segment that served to set up a few possible matchups.

Aoife Valkyrie def. Mila Smidt

Valkyrie has got to be the one to ultimately take the title from Satomura given that Satomura handed her her first singles loss in NXT UK, unless it's the debuting Blair Davenport. Either way, she's in rebuilding mode at the moment, so this was a pretty standard squash as it should have been. I don't believe I've seen Smidt in action before, though this was too short for me to get a good grasp of what she's capable of.

Jordan Devlin def. A-Kid

These two previously met in December 2019. A-Kid is coming off his loss of the Heritage Cup title to Bate and Devlin is still trying to find his footing again after losing the NXT Cruiserweight Championship, so the outcome didn't feel too predictable. Both guy are great and thus it was hardly a surprise that this was a highly enjoyable main event. They worked a really nice pace and with a strong sense of urgency. I loved how brutal Devlin came across with that finish, nearly obliterating his knee until he tapped out.

Overall Show

My biggest takeaway from this episode was just how strong the women's division in NXT UK is at the moment, and that's with the recent departure of Piper Niven (along with Toni Storm last year and Rhea Ripley the year before that). In addition to the three segments with the women on this show, we also found out that Bea Priestley is officially coming to NXT UK as Blair Davenport. Personally, I was never impressed with her work in AEW, but there's no denying that's a big get for the brand. At any rate, this was a quality show on the whole for the focus on the women and then the two men's matches, which were both well-wrestled.

SEE MORE: NXT UK Reviews