WWE NXT UK Review - March 18, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Nathan Frazer def. Ashton Smith

Nathan Frazer is the new name for Ben Carter, who explained that Nathan Frazer is his real name and that Ben Carter was the name he used just so his parents didn't know he was training to be a wrestler growing up. Is it because NXT already has Kayden Carter and WWE doesn't like when two people have the same surname? Personally, I don't mind the change and I'm glad he's gradually building momentum with a string of wins. Smith took more offense than he should have, but this was well-wrestled otherwise.

Meiko Satomura def. Dani Luna

This marked Satomura's first match since losing to Kay Lee Ray a few weeks ago. I'm curious if she's done in the title picture or if she'll rack up a few more wins like this one in order to earn another opportunity to fight for the NXT UK Women's Championship. Luna has been impressive in the past and scored plenty of offense before eating the loss. A straightforward squash for Satomura would have been nice, but at least Luna gained something in defeat.

Rampage Brown Challenged NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER

We've been wondering for a while who would be next to challenge WALTER for the NXT United Kingdom Championship and we finally found out here. We also found out that NXT UK will be holding a "Prelude" episode on the Thursday before WrestleMania weekend in three weeks and that's where WALTER vs. Brown will be taking place. It's not quite a TakeOver special, but it should be a special show. I'm not a betting man, but if I was, I'd put good money on Brown winning. If it isn't him taking the title from WALTER, then who? He's been built up great and should be the one to dethrone him

NXT Cruiserweight Champion Jordan Devlin def. Trent Seven​

Am I missing something or was this not hyped in advance? It's been built up for weeks if not months, so to give it away without any prior hype is highly questionable. The timing wasn't the greatest because Devlin showed up on NXT this week and his TakeOver: Stand & Deliver match with Santos Escobar was finally set in stone, so there was little doubt Devlin was losing here. Despite that, this was an excellent match with strong showings from both men. They went a while, captured that big fight feel, and produced some suspenseful nearfalls down the stretch. Devlin thrives in these high-pressure situations and he pulled out another outstanding outing here. I'd rather see him as the sole Cruiserweight Champion than Escobar, who could be at the heavyweight level tomorrow and wouldn't feel out of place.

Overall Show

The announcement that we have NXT UK Prelude coming up soon gives the brand some much-needed direction. Don't get me wrong, we've had some stellar main events since the relaunch, but it'd be nice if some of them actually happened on an important stage such as a TakeOver, though I know it's difficult to do those without a crowd in attendance. Nonetheless, this was an above-average edition of NXT UK. Devlin vs. Seven is well worth seeking out, WALTER's next opponent was established, Satomura got back on track with a win, and Frazer scored another momentum-building victory. Plus, there was hype for next week's episode. Kudos to NXT UK for doing a better job lately for putting on shows that are more consistently entertaining and efficient.