NXT UK 42

May 8, 2019 – Glasgow, Scotland

The show starts with Sid Scala speaking on behalf of Johnny Saint. There will be a little tournament to decide the number one contender to the winner of the WALTER vs. Pete Dunne title match that’s happening in two weeks. Four semifinal matches will lead to a fatal four way final match in four weeks.

Trent Seven & Tyler Bate def. Primate & Wild Boar
This was like watching a comedian work on a potentially hilarious bit very soon after they’ve conceived of the premise: there was a lot here that was great in theory, and while not bad in execution could certainly use some polishing. I’m into the Hunt as a midcard tag team, and Mustache Mountain broke out some cute stuff that will probably work better against a higher-tier team. **¾

In the back, Amir Jordan is hurt. There’s no word on what happened or what this means for the main event tonight.

Joe Coffey def. Flash Morgan Webster {Semifinal Match}
Coffey was over as a babyface in his hometown here. It was pretty surreal, and a bigger reaction in general for both guys than they usually get. I think this would have been more effective if they’d taken the role-reversed crowd into consideration at all in the way they wrestled the match. Without that, it was a reasonably solid match with the novelty of an interesting crowd reaction. Gallus tries to cut a heel promo after the match but the crowd is still behind them. Wolfgang also freaks out and threatens Dave Mastiff. **¾

Nina Samuels def. Kasey Owens
Samuels is fine, I suppose, but I don’t find her much more impressive now than I did back in October when she last went after Toni Storm. Her squash here indicates she’ll be an interim challenger for Storm before Kay Lee Ray gets her shot, but I’m not sure I understand why they’re waiting at all. After the match, Samuels rips Storm’s controvercial life choices and family relations. N/A

Dave Mastiff replies to Wolfgang’s threats. They’ll fight next week in one of the semifinal matches. He walks off and Kay Lee Ray takes over in front of the press, saying that while Samuels picked her spot tonight, she’s going to be picking her own very soon. In other news, Ligero will take on Jordan Devlin in another semifinal match next week.

James Drake & Zack Gibson def. Kenny Williams & Noam Dar {NXT UK Tag Team Championship Match}
Williams announced that Dar, who has had his issues with Gibson in the past, will be replacing his injured partner.  Williams also accused the champs of causing the injury. We learned a couple things here. For one, we learned that Williams & Dar are probably a more fun team than Williams & Jordan, but Jordan needs the spot in the team more than Dar does. We also learned that all of these guys can tell a hell of a story. No matter how hard the challengers fought, there was too much going against them here. The champions proved that they weren’t above retaining the belt and losing by count out, so the challengers had to not only fight, but keep the champions from bailing on the whole endeavor. This was also Dar’s first match back after a leg injury, so it wasn’t the hardest thing in the world for the champs to eliminate him from the equation. In the end, Williams was on his own just like the champs wanted him in the first place, and they capitalized on that. The action didn’t quite measure up to the story told, but it did all come together nicely enough to be a heck of a main event. ***¾