This was taped 6/18/19 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England.
Cool Johnny Saint video intro for the show.
Nigel did fine, but Mauro was not a great choice for this show. I don’t care if some of these guys worked Japan, hamfisting in Korakuen Hall and GHC Title references without talking up U.K. wrestling history felt really awkward.
Andy Shepherd is awesome at pro wrestling ring announcing, by the way.
0. Amir Jordan vs. Joseph Conners
This match was aired on YouTube. It’s basically a Main Event match in the U.K., solid inoffensive wrestling. Jordan looked a lot better here than at the Download Fest – maybe that’s on him, maybe that’s on Conners. All the flying had a pop and Conners probably got some pats on the back backstage for that completely unremarkable stretch of offense. A solid match. **
1. WWE U.K. Title Tournament – Quarter Final: Jack Gallagher vs. Zack Gibson
Lots of good stuff here, but it felt a little “please like me Triple H please” at points and kind of overstayed its welcome as it kept going – I don’t care that you got zombie This is Awesome chants, those kickouts at the end were unnecessary guys. Regardless, there was a lot of good stuff: I like that Jack reverted back to British Wrestler Jack for this tournament. He brought the classic Jacky Boy matwork and chain wrestling, which matched up well with Gibson’s dipshit nature.
Gibson’s arm work was helped along by Jack taking a couple nasty, nasty bumps into the turnbuckle that were helped along by an awesome “clank” sound that it made. Jack throwing body shots like he was Roddy Piper in 1982, the powerbomb counter of Jack’s running dropkick, and the slingshot somersault countered into a sleeper were all awesome bits too. A fine opener, I just thought they would’ve been served keeping it tighter and not going for some epic that didn’t deliver as an epic. ***
2. WWE U.K. Title Tournament – Quarter Final: Dave Mastiff vs. Joe Coffey
The shoulderblock war at the start was cool, but then they lost steam. Some of the big boy suplexes were cool too, I guess. But not much here. *3/4
3. WWE U.K. Title Tournament – Quarter Final: Flash Morgan Webster vs. Jordan Devlin
Flash Morgan Webster has got a heck of an entrance and look, but then he takes the coat off and starts armdragging and flipping around and shit and it loses me. This guy ain’t no Spyder Nate Webb, that’s for sure. Devlin meanwhile has gotten an obscene amount better since last year – poised, confident, and a total prick. So of course Morgan won with some stupid move that looked like Devlin did it to himself. **
4. WWE U.K. Title Tournament – Quarter Final: Ashton Smith vs. Travis Banks
Both these guys were highlights of the weak first round, so that this match wasn’t anything better than Just OK was disappointing. Both seem like the type of guy who could be on NXT tomorrow – that is to say, polished but maybe a little generic. Banks sure kicks hard. And Smith sure can move. I respect what it takes to do a front flip over the top rope of a wrestling ring to the floor outside, but the one Smith did here complete with Banks catch was the lightest safest damn thing I ever saw. At least they turned up the intensity for the last 30 seconds. **1/4
NXT Women’s Title #1 Contender Triple Threat Match: Toni Storm vs. Killer Kelly vs. Isla Dawn
The POP for Toni! This was like a 5-minute sprint where they went right at it and showed off their stuff. I can’t say anything really clicked but as a showcase and way to get Toni a win it wasn’t bad. Might also be fair to say they were shook by the legit injury to Jinny that made this 4-Way into a Triple Threat. Killer Kelly might not have made much of an impact but she also didn’t seem to give a fuck about that and I kind of liked that more. **1/4
Senior citizen Johnny Saint announcing the creation of a new WWE brand standing alongside suit-wearing short-haired Triple H is a crazy turn of events for professional wrestling. As I came of age as a pro wrestling nerd, it was both Saint’s skinny insane old British man performance on Michinoku Pro’s “These Days” show and Triple H’s “I’m The Fucking Game” shtick that kept me going.
6. WWE U.K. Title Tournament – Semi Final: Flash Morgan Webster vs. Zack Gibson
This had a good energy to it and I just liked a lot of the choices they made. I liked Morgan going right at Gibson before he got caught trying to do his stupid finish and got dropped. I liked Gibson catching Morgan’s second tope and suplexing him on the floor. And I liked Morgan barely beating the countout, only to get tapped out. ***
7. WWE U.K. Title Tournament – Semi Final: Joe Coffey vs. Travis Banks
Not sure this ever peaked but they sure brought it to each other and I want to see more from each, so there’s your success even if they didn’t have a match that ever grabbed me. It helps that if you have a gimmick where you Hit Really Hard (Banks), you go against a big boy who will take it and hit back harder (Coffey). **1/2
8. British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) vs. The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly)
This just had so much good CONTENT, and was fast-paced and hot from ding ding ding: the crowd treating British Strong Style like Dusty in 1985, Bate and O’Reilly tearing it up, Dunne kicking Roddy’s ass early, the triple bip-bop spot, Cole’s weak-ass chops doing nothing to Trent Seven, Seven selling a beating leading to Dunne hot tagging and teeing off on Roddy again, Bate Exploder suplexing O’Reilly’s ass into Roddy AND doing an airplane spin/giant swing, everybody throwing shots at the end, near falls, Dunne moonsault to the floor, and finally Moustache Mountain killing O’Reilly dead for the finish. A blast! ****
9. WWE U.K. Title Tournament – Final: Travis Banks vs. Zack Gibson
A match all about dickhead Gibson targeting an arm, while Banks gets in his shots. Banks’ sold well and his comebacks were fired up but it didn’t click until the very end. Gibson hasn’t done much for me in-ring but he’s a character and to be fair he did have my favorite Flash Morgan Webster match. They did get things bumping for the last few minutes: slapping the hell out of each other, Banks getting to the ropes on Gibson’s arm submission, and Gibson kicking out of everything before he ended Banks. It was a good match, great last few minutes, weak tournament final. ***1/2
Lots of average tourney matches and no performance close to Bate or Dunne or even Andrews like last year to carry it through. Regardless, a fun atmosphere and introduction to a lot of new faces, and a few highlights like the 6-man and the finals. 6/10
