WWE NXT UK Review - September 18, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Travis Banks def. Tyson T-Bone

Banks hasn't had the greatest luck since the start of NXT UK about a year ago. He failed to win the second annual WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament, he lost his feud with Jordan Devlin, he was unsuccessful in capturing the U.K. title against WALTER, and he was beaten by Noam Dar at TakeOver: Cardiff. Sure, he bounced back here with a good win over Bone, but I'm not sure it was enough to get him back on track. Maybe a heel turn would be the best thing for him.

Rhea Ripley def. Debbie Keitel

If you told me Keitel was Aksana with a new name, I probably would have believed you. In all seriousness, this was total destruction with Ripley making short work of Keitel. Afterward, Ripley teased going back after the NXT UK Women's Championship before being interrupted by Jinny and Jazzy Gabert. I thought all three of those ladies were heels, but perhaps NXT UK is experimenting with Ripley as a badass babyface like we saw from her recently in NXT.

Joseph Conners def. Kenny Williams

Both of these guys are stuck in midcard purgatory at the moment, so it was difficult to care about this contest. It wasn't anything special from an in-ring standpoint, and despite Williams' best efforts to make this passable, Conners' offensive run dragged it down and bored me to tears. I imagine Conners is being built up to be beaten by someone, perhaps Oliver Carter if they meet in an eventual rematch.

Kassius Ohno def. NXT UK Assistant General Manager Sid Scala in a British Rounds Match

Even though I was aware of the rules going in, I honestly had no idea what to expect from this, especially since Scala isn't a regular wrestler anymore. However, the Cardiff crowd (who were oddly quiet on this show) came alive whenever he came close to winning and Ohno played the bully heel role exceptionally well. The stipulation isn't for everyone because there were definitely dull points, but on the whole, I thought they made the most of it, told a terrific story and produced an entertaining main event. Ohno finally building momentum after being positioned as a stepping stone in NXT for years has been cool to see as well.

Overall Show

I was slightly underwhelmed by last week's episode but thought it was a rare case of NXT UK delivering a filler episode. Unfortunately, this show felt like it was much of the same. The main event was at least something different and enjoyable but likely won't mean much in the grand scheme of things. Everything else was decent but largely inconsequential. Hopefully things pick back up next week when Carter will be back in action and Trent Seven and Noam Dar go one-on-one before Kay Lee Ray and Tegan Nox clash in two weeks.