Jump to content

WWE launches new U.K. series - NXT UK


wordsfromlee

Recommended Posts

  • Paid Members

After working solidly since the turn of the year I've finally managed to catch up through old episodes and then sit down to watch Takeover Blackpool. 

On Blackpool in general - what you've essentially got here is a shining example of a perfect template for a wrestling show. It had the bloody lot. Excellent tag team match, massive surprises like Balor and Walter's appearances, a plunderous brawl, great women's action, superb technical and aerial exchanges throughout and a big fight feel for your main event and packed with some memorable moments. Absolutely superb from top to bottom that I enjoyed immensely.

Pacing was absolutely spot on as well; After a red-hot tag opener, Balor's arrival and subsequent match with Devlin kept the crowd in raptures. The Dennis/Mastiff brawl came at the perfect time off the back end of that and because their style is obviously completely different it could have gone one of two ways, but they kept doing lots of great things to keep the crowd interested. Weirdly I probably enjoyed this match the most, mainly because I wasn't expecting to. Women's match was great and Storm's celebrations made it feel like you'd witnessed something massive happen. And the main event started slow and built up to another superb conclusion. Lovely stuff. 

They've done a brilliant job in terms of establishing who the top characters are and the respective rivalries - the next phase of growth for the brand should be a little more creative freedom for the performers, particularly the promo work. There's nothing wrong with it at the moment and it always does the jobs in terms of clearly defining characters. Now the key is for the performers to get more comfortable with their promos and have some fun with them. 

Really excited to see where they go with it from here - definitely a successful experiment on WWE's part.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only drawbacks I had with Blackpool was that they did the spot were both wrestlers are punching eachother (The Frye/Takayama spot if you will) in 3 consecutive matches. Dennis/Mastiff started with it, and Rhea/Tony and Dunne/Coffey did it partway through.

The main event went about 10minutes too long and they seemed to mess up the ending. The Tag opener was an absolute blinder though

In the subsequent episodes, I’ve come to dislike Walter’s entrance. Not the music, that’s amazing and I remember it being on Ice Warriors from the backend of the 90s, but the way he stands on the ramp for The start is a bit cack.

Isla Dawn has a shite entrance aswell. I always think to the Breaking Ground Series were William Regal is giving advice to trainees about how important your entrance is because people decide within a few seconds whether they’ll take to you or not. I just can’t believe that what Dawn does for hers was as good as she could come up with. Contrast that with Eric Bugenhagen from this past weeks NXT, and he’s made the right impression already

Edited by WyattSheepMask
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've more or less given up on the show as it's too dry to justify being in my weekly routine, but here's how I'd group the roster up (as of Wikipedia, which didn't include Charlie Morgan and Millie McKenzie for some reason - does anyone know what happened with them? Charlie is especially good but they didn't do anything memorable with her)

 

Great:
Fabian Aichner
Jinny
Mark Andrews
Pete Dunne
Tyler Bate
Walter
Zack Gibson

Good:
Dave Mastiff
Joe Coffey
Jordan Devlin
Killer Kelly
Rhea Ripley
Wolfgang
Xia Brookside

Middling/good with crap presentation:
Flash Morgan Webster (tagging with Mandews redeems him)
James Drake
Kenny Williams
Mark Coffey
Nina Samuels
Toni Storm (needs to stop saying things are Her Dream like it's X-Factor. its also The Dream of that mental bloke who threw poo at the performance center)
Travis Banks (put here because I enjoyed the Devlin match, but he really needs to stop fucking REVVING)

Pretty much just crap:
Amir Jordan
Ashton Smith (you could see the joy etched on his face when the crowd started going "woop!" after he did it. He thought he was over. Nobody "woop"s anymore.)
Eddie Dennis (fun match with Mastiff at the Takeover, but his look/gear sucks and his facial expressions are genuinely some of the worst I've seen. His pose for match graphics looks like a parody of a wrestler)
Isla Dawn (has an aesthetic, not a character)
Joseph Conners
Ligero (El Generico's faux-Mexican gimmick aged poorly and he was 10 times the wrestler. they had him saying he started wearing the mask when he started wrestling because he had anxiety, in a nervous quiet Leeds accent. Not A Star.)
Mike Hitchman
Sam Gradwell
Saxon Huxley (ha ha he looks like jesus mate aaaaaaaaaaahahahaaaa)
Tyson T-Bone (cool gimmick in theory, but his terrible impression of Brad Pitt's terrible impression of an Irish traveller from Snatch is appalling)

Edited by sj5522
Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, sj5522 said:

I've more or less given up on the show as it's too dry to justify being in my weekly routine, but here's how I'd group the roster up (as of Wikipedia, which didn't include Charlie Morgan and Millie McKenzie for some reason - does anyone know what happened with them? Charlie is especially good but they didn't do anything memorable with her)

Charlie Morgan is under an extended try out deal which means she’s under contract with them but is still allowed to get bookings elsewhere - she’s just not allowed to sign for anyone with a TV deal, same goes for Nina Samuels.

Millie McKenzie has been working for Sendai Girls In Japan recently, she’s the JR champion there.

Also Xia Brookside is going to Japan to Work for Stardom for a month in March.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right, I knew Millie had been in Japan but I didn't know if that meant she was done or not. That news that came out about exclusive contracts (that I think just applied to Dunne, Bate and Toni Storm, the people they're really big on) threw me off a little

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
On 2/16/2019 at 9:54 AM, sj5522 said:

Ligero (El Generico's faux-Mexican gimmick aged poorly and he was 10 times the wrestler. they had him saying he started wearing the mask when he started wrestling because he had anxiety, in a nervous quiet Leeds accent. Not A Star.)
 

Bollocks to that. El Generico holds up spectacularly well, especially his 2007 - 2013 PWG run.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Word is that Millie sacked them off, at the suggestion of Chris Brookes (amongst others) - basically, she's only 18, and getting a ton of opportunities in Japan, so figured she should take the experience while she can and WWE will still always be there when she's ready. 

The "extended try-out" deals were in place before NXT UK had TV - they're not really a thing any more, as far as I'm aware. Pretty sure Charlie has left as well - she wasn't at the opening of the UK Performance Centre, and apparently was removed from the opening credits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...