6/24 NXT UK TV REPORT: Brown vs. Coffey vs. Dragunov, Carter vs. Teoman, more

NXT UK TV REPORT
JUNE 24, 2021
STREAMED ON WWE NETWORK VIA PEACOCK
REPORT BY JOHN GONZALEZ, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Commentary: Andy Shepherd and Nigel McGuinness

Broadcast from BT Sports Arena, London

(1) MARK COFFEY vs. SHA SAMUELS

A recap was shown of Mark Coffey antagonizing Sha Samuels into a match by impersonating him. They locked up, with Coffey getting a push and Samuels answering with a kick. Coffey answered back with a spinning uppercut takedown and cinched in an armbar as the commentators noted Coffey’s previous bog match experience, which included a match against fellow Scot Drew McIntyre.

Samuels hit a clothesline and followed with hard elbows to the shoulders of Coffey. Samuels continued his attack, which included loads of screaming and taunting. He landed a body slam and a corner splash, but Coffey fired back with a boot, punch, and Russian leg sweep. Samuels came back with a block and took top mount, getting Coffey up before working to hit his Butcher’s Hook finisher. Coffey blocked the attempt and powered Samuels up and back down with a side slam.

The competitors traded punches until Coffey hit a clothesline, followed by shoulder blocks, a corner clothesline, and a bulldog from the middle rope for a Two Count. The Commentary Team mentioned how under different circumstances,Coffey would have reached to tag out.

Samuels recovered and shouted his trademark “East!” as he ran towards Coffey, only to get caught in another side slam for another Two Count. Coffey missed a spinning heel kick, which gave Samuels an opening to hit a spinebuster for a Two Count of his own. Samuels took his suspenders down and attempted the Butcher’s Hook once again, but again Coffey reversed and climbed the turnbuckle to help slam Samuels backwards. Coffey landed a spinning heel kick and hit a spinning uppercut to a seated Samuels to earn the victory.

WINNER: Mark Coffey in 6:37.

-Backstage, Emilia McKenzie was interviewed about Meiko Satomura being the new NXT UK Women’s Champion. Before she could go in depth with her answer, the lights flickered and changed color as Isla Dawn creeped in behind her. McKenzie told Dawn they have unfinished business and called her a weirdo before walking off. Dawn did what can best and only be described as a witches laugh. [c]

-At the UK Performance Center, NXT newcomer Mila Smidt was set to be interviewed about her first week at NXT UK until the lights were dimmed and Aoife Valkyrie stormed the ring to train in the dark. Jinny straddled up next to Smidt and said it was pathetic for her to watch someone train, especially someone who watched others from a distance when she had no idea who was watching her. Smidt responded that she’d like to face Valkyrie and thought she could beat her like Meiko Satomura did. Jinny quickly snapped back and said to never look at her, look down to the floor and that she did not care what Smidt did.

-Footage from last week showed the trio of Subculture (Mark Andrews, Flash Morgan Webster, and Dani Luna) going backstage to celebrate their mixed tag team win over Jinny and Joseph Conners. NXT Tag Team Champions Pretty Deadly walked up to them to remind them they’ve previously beaten Andrews and Webster. Andrews told Pretty Deadly to do so without cheating. Pretty Deadly said they’re still the champs. Andrews dared them to put their money where their mouth is as tag champs scoffed and walked away. Luna asked, “You know what you gotta do now, right?” as Andrews and Webster smiled and agreed.

(Gonzalez’ Analysis: A decent opening match that sets up the obvious Mark Coffey and Wolfgang contest. I was more entertained by the backstage segments as a new Superstar was introduced and stories showed progress. Mila Smidt is a French superstar with a background in gymnastics and amateur wrestling. With Piper Niven, who I am currently refusing to refer to by the name she was given on RAW, moving to the main roster, a big void has been created and this can be an exciting time for the UK women’s division.)

(2) LAURA DI MATTEO vs. STEVIE TURNER

Stevie Turner was last seen losing her NXT UK Debut to Aoife Valkyrie. Nigel McGuinness noted that Turner is a technical specialist and a former member of the Tokyo Cyber Squad tag team with the late Hana Kimura as she made her futuristic entrance.

Laura Di Matteo the Italian Superstar and current German Wrestling Federation Women’s Champion, locked up with Turner but got hit with a corner elbow during the referee break. Turner applied a cravat and demonstrated her technical prowess. Turner whipped Di Matteo into the ropes and kicked her in the back of her head. Turner followed with successive forearm strikes while Di Matteo hung on the middle rope. Turner followed with a diving elbow from the apron and rolled Di Matteo back into the ring, attempted a pin, and got a Two Count.

Turner followed with a pump kick for another near fall. McGuinness commented that Turner seemed to incorporate her experience wrestling in Tokyo. Turner locked in a straightjacket. Di Matteo was able to escape and landed a dropkick, but missed a corner splash. Turner grabbed a handful of hair, kicked Di Matteo in the back and drove a forearm into her chest and down to the mat. Di Matteo struggled out of the corner. Turner attacked and hit a rope-assisted flatliner for the win.

WINNER: Stevie Turner in 4:14.

-Mark Coffey and Wolfgang walked together saying anything the other did, they could do better. They hyped up fellow Gallus member Joe Coffey for his Triple Threat Match with Rampage Brown and Ilja Dragunov.

-Nathan Frazer was shown training with a coach as Kenny Williams approached to taunt him. He encouraged Frazer to stack up wins instead of training.

-A vignette was shown with an NXT UK Briefcase. A hooded female figure approached and opened the briefcase, which held an NXT UK Confidential paper. The figure flipped the page and signed the name “Blair”, the camera panned out to show the name Blair Davenport, implying she is the latest Superstar to join the NXT UK Brand.

-A Jack Starz vignette was shown, with Tyler Bate naming Starz’ work ethic as the reason he chose him to defend the Heritage Cup against. Starz talked about feeling as if he were not worthy of the opportunity, but recalled his journey to NXT UK and said he had more tryouts than anybody in WWE history. He finished by saying he had a vision and a dream and he was damn well going to live it.

(3) OLIVER CARTER vs. TEOMAN

A picture in picture promo was shown for Oliver Carter, who said his Tag Team partner Ashton Smith had family matters to attend to and would not be by his side. He said that for every strike he hit Teoman with, he would hit another one for Carter.

Teoman utilized wrist locks and takedowns to assert early control. Teoman taunted and slapped Carter across the face. Carter fired up and punched Teoman before he took him to the corner for an aggressive choke. Teoman went to the outside and attempted to catch a chasing Carter in the apron, but Carter had it scouted and instead landed an over the top rope cross body onto the floor.

Carter attempted to follow up with a boot while Teoman was against the steel steps, but Teoman ducked and slammed Carter’s arm into the steps. Back inside the ring, Teoman began to work Carter’s arm. Carter continued to fight back with chops and punches, but Teoman hit back with a kick to Carter’s bad arm. Teoman attempted a crossface submission, but Carter rolled out. Teoman used Carter’s momentum and sunk in a Fujiwara armbar until Carter was able to reach the ropes.

Teoman continued to kick Carter’s arm until Carter came back with a springboard moonsault and a clothesline. Teoman caught Carter’s arm once again and attempted the crossface, but Carter fought out and hit a superkick for a Two Count. Carter missed a kick, but was able to recover quickly enough to hit a back kick, followed by an axe kick for another near fall. Teoman retreated to the top turnbuckle, but Carter gave chase. He attempted and missed (or botched) a frankensteiner. Teoman capitalized on the mistake and hit a top rope DDT for a Two Count. Teoman caught Carter’s arm as he kicked out and finally locked in the crossface, forcing Carter to tap.

WINNER: Teoman in 7:04

-After the match, Teoman attacked Carter once again and reapplied the crossface. Rohan Raja ran in to make the save, with Teoman getting in his face and daring Raja to slap him. As Teoman teased walking off, he pointed to his eye, immediately signaling Raja to attack Carter and planting him with a flatliner. Teoman and Raja walked out together, signifying their newfound alliance. [c]

(Gonzalez’ Analysis: A good showcase for Stevie Turner in her return. She seemed to work as the heel in the match, so it will be fun to see where she stacks up among the evolving women’s division. With that said, the buzz is that the soon-to-debut Blair Davenport will be Bea Priestly. One would have to assume she will get a fast track to a title match given her own career and history. Speaking of history, I would have loved to see more of Jack Starz’ history. He plays the underdog so well that I would’ve loved to see more about his journey to NXT UK and hear more of what his peers had to say about him. Teoman continues to impress with his dark persona and aggressive ring style. Having him play the role of a leader who has seemingly recruited Rohan Raja would also seemingly shoot him towards the front of the pack of future contenders.)

-A-Kid gave a promo about every champion facing defeat inevitably. He said that he intended to teach Jordan Devlin to respect defeat.

(4) RAMPAGE BROWN vs. JOE COFFEY vs. ILJA DRAGUNOV – Triple Threat Match

The competitors faced off, with Brown and Coffey concentrating on each other until Dragunov forced himself into the action. Coffey hit Brown with a big back body drop, followed by a lifting uppercut. Coffey attempted to run the ropes, but Dragunov cut him off with a flying kick. Brown caught Dragunov in a power slam as the action intensified.

Dragunov managed to gain a measure of control by hitting sharp elbows on Brown. Brown caught a jumping Dragunov and tossed him to Coffey, who also caught Dragunov and executed a German suplex. Brown hit Coffey immediately after with a dropkick. Coffey recovered to trap Brown in a double leg Boston Crab. Dragunov recovered and reentered the ring. He hit stiff forearms to Coffey, who continued to hold the Boston Crab. Dragunov succeeded in breaking the hold with a kick and went to work with chops to the back of Coffey’s neck. Brown got back into the action, eating a double chop from Coffey and Dragunov before muscling both men up with a double suplex.

Coffey got back up and sent Brown to the outside. Dragunov took advantage and hit Coffey with hip toss, hard chop, and Gotch lift German suplex for the first near fall of the match. Dragunov teased going to the top, but sold pain in his midsection. He went to the opposite side of the ring, climbed, and came off for a cross body, but was caught by Coffey. Dragunov escaped using chops, with Brown reentering the fray and hitting Coffey with a Samoan drop. Dragunov followed by landing a Senton on Coffey, which Brown ducked. Brown charged at Dragunov, who dodged using a Matrix move. Dragunov tried to attack, but got caught by Brown, who lifted him up into a Powerbomb and dropped him on a prone Coffey.

Brown and Dragunov faced off, with Brown asserting his power advantage but Dragunov refusing to back down. Brown attempted to take Dragunov out of the ring, but Dragunov reversed with a Tiger Feint and a clothesline. Dragunov hulked up with both men down and rose to hit a top rope dropkick onto Brown, sending him to the corner. Coffey fired out of nowhere to hit his Glasgow Sendoff charge onto Dragunov and into a seated Brown. Dragunov and Brown took the fight to the outside, allowing Coffey to fly in with a crossbody onto both opponents. Coffey got Dragunov back into the ring and hit a top rope kick to Dragunov for a Two Count. Dragunov responded with an enziguri to Coffey while Brown remained outside.Coffey and Dragunov got into a slugfest, with Coffey hitting a clothesline and Dragunov hitting a pump kick. Coffey followed with a discus clothesline, but was then tackled by Brown, sending him out of the ring. Outside the ring, Brown caught a kick from Coffey and hit him with a powerslam to the floor.

Brown then looked to take advantage of a gassed Dragunov, however Dragunov fired up and hit Brown with a German suplex. He did not release his grip and, despite Brown landing two punches to the head, hit another German suplex. Coffey reentered and grabbed Dragunov around the waist to attempt a double German suplex. Brown used the ropes for leverage and escaped Dragunov’s grip. He slipped behind Coffey and hoisted both Coffey and Dragunov into a double German suplex. Brown missed a corner kick, which allowed Coffey to lift him into the electric chair and drop him. All three men were down as the match came down to the wire.

Brown hit Coffey with his Doctor Bomb Powerbomb and went for the pin, but Dragunov broke it up. He attempted to hit the Doctor Bomb on Dragunov, but Dragunov escaped and ran to the corner. Dragunov climbed to the middle rope and hit a charging Brown with a flying Torpedo Moscow to earn the hard fought victory.

WINNER: Ilja Dragunov in 16:19

-After the match, Walter came into the ring with his NXT UK Championship. He held it out to Dragunov and motioned for him to get up, seemingly in a show of respect. Walter dropped Dragunov with a hard slap to the side of the head. He sunk in a Rear Naked Choke and put an exhausted Dragunov to sleep. Walter put his foot on the fallen Dragunov and raised his Championship to close the show.

FINAL THOUGHTS: A great, though predictable main event, as Dragunov only recently inserted himself into the Brown and Coffey’s. There was never a doubt that Dragunov would someday challenge Walter for the championship again after their instant classic. I can only hope that the championship rematch takes place in front of a live crowd. Overall, this was a much better show than the last few weeks as we saw the first real signs of progressive storytelling and the introduction of new players. If this is the ramp up to NXT UK TV in anticipation of being in front of live crowds soon, they must firmly establish who and where their stars are, as again, the in-ring action is never the question or the problem in NXT UK.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S NXT UK REPORT: 6/17 NXT UK TV REPORT: Nathan Frazer vs. Rohan Raja, Subculture vs. Jinny & Joseph Conners, more