WWE NXT UK Review - June 17, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Wolfgang def. Sam Gradwell

I never thought I'd say this based on how little I cared about him when he first returned to the ring, but Gradwell (and his promos, specifically) has become one of my favorite parts of the NXT UK shows. His trash talk beforehand was excellent as always and what followed was a hard-hitting affair between him and Wolfgang. I was pulling for a Gradwell win because I think he could have easily absorbed the loss, but it looks like they're trying to build him up instead and tell a story of one-upsmanship between him and his partner Mark Coffey.

Kenny Williams def. Danny Jones

I still can't get used to the new look of Williams. I know he's a heel now and that's the role that suits him best, but his old look would have matched his new attitude better in my opinion. This was another solid showcase for him as he continues to rack up victories. Williams was on offense throughout as he should have been and scored the decisive win. I could certainly see him getting a shot at the NXT UK Heritage Cup Championship in the not-too-distant future.

Noam Dar Hosted Supernova Sessions with Jordan Devlin

I was curious what Devlin had in store for this segment as his match a week or two ago against Saxon Huxley didn't give us much of an idea of what was next for him. He and Dar discussed Devlin's recent loss of the NXT Cruiserweight Championship and it sounded like there's unfinished business there, but I have no clue when he'll be back in the United States. Rather, he mentioned that he's back in NXT UK full-time, but where does he go from here having already faced and beaten most of the roster? I thought Dar and Devlin played off each other well here, but once again, there was no indication of what lies ahead for him.

Nathan Frazer def. Rohan Raja

Raja faced Teoman in his NXT UK debut two months ago and had his arm (kayfabe) broken at the end of it. The commentators noted he was well ahead of schedule here in terms of his recovery, which is why he was back here. Frazer is just so fun to watch and thus this was an enjoyable outing. The win keeps Frazer's momentum going, and better yet, we now know Teoman will likely be his next rival seeing as how his signature eye popped up on the big screen afterward.

Subculture (Flash Morgan Webster and Dani Luna) def. Joseph Conners and Jinny

If anyone can make a Joseph Conners match not boring, it's Jinny. The pairing has grown on me and this was one of the better matches I've seen from Conners in a while. The two teams worked well together and it was a quality main event on the whole. The heels cheated at one point and then the babyfaces did the same since turnabout is fair play, so I sense that the feud isn't over yet. For what it's worth, Pretty Deadly sat in on commentary, so it looks like they're scouting all of their competition and not focusing on just one team.

Overall Show

In addition to everything else, we got a sit-down between Ilja Dragunov, Joe Coffey and Rampage Brown in the back as they'll be fighting in a three-way next week, which I imagine will also give us a better idea of who will be next in line to contend for the NXT United Kingdom Championship. I'm really looking forward to that. We're also getting Teoman vs. Oliver Carter next week. This was a slight step back from the last few weeks of newsworthy shows, but it was decent on the whole between the entertaining action and the effective storyline progression.

SEE MORE: NXT UK Reviews