WWE NXT UK Review - March 12, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Imperium Confronted Finn Balor

This couldn't have been timed better with Balor's passport promo airing on Wednesday's NXT. It made NXT UK feel more must-see as a result, especially since Balor is so hot right now. This segment was kept short and sweet with Balor basically challenging WALTER before getting chased off by Imperium. I'm interested to see if that match will take place at TakeOver: Tampa or at TakeOver: Dublin, or both.

Pretty Deadly def. Dan Moloney and Dereiss Gordon

Pretty Deadly has been utilized as an enhancement team for so long that it's going to be tough to take them seriously now that they're signed. Their gimmick makes them stand out I guess, but the issue is that they look like a pair of jobbers. This was a perfectly fine showcase for them albeit a bit long. If this is building to them getting an NXT UK Tag Team Championship shot, then I'm not interested.

Noam Dar def. Ligero

Ligero is a skilled competitor and all, but I haven't been able to get invested in him whatsoever. Maybe it's because he loses so frequently, but nothing about his character intrigues me in the slightest. I find Dar far more compelling as he's a terrific heel and can go in the ring. This was a decent match little while it lasted but could have been more given the level of talent involved. I don't know if Ligero is damaged goods yet, but he's quickly approaching that point.

Dani Luna vs. Amale Ended in a No Contest

I thought this was a weird match when I realized who it would be featuring, but it made sense once Kay Lee Ray got involved and caused it to be thrown out two minutes in. Luna was officially signed by NXT UK not too long ago, so I wouldn't be surprised to see her face Ray one of these weeks as a tune-up for Ray. I assume Ray vs. Piper Niven will be the next feud over the NXT UK Women's Championship based off Niven's backstage promo earlier in the evening.

Finn Balor def. Alexander Wolfe

I would have waited until at least next week for Balor to have his in-ring debut for NXT UK so it would have meant more. Unfortunately, this underwhelmed, anyway. Both of these guys are great, but the crowd didn't care for whatever reason and the performances felt phoned in. Balor went over as he should have, of course, but this didn't blow me away the way I expected it to. Hopefully Balor's inevitable clash with WALTER is a lot better than this.

Overall Show

Although this was the first show to take place at the most recent set of tapings, the crowd wasn't nearly as lively as I expected them to be. That may have been because this was a pretty abysmal episode on the whole. Balor being in the opening segment and main event was cool, but everything else was just kind of there and didn't have any sense of urgency to it. NXT UK is lucky that they got these tapings out of the way last week before the coronavirus got worse because who knows if they still would have been able to hold them had they been this weekend or later.