NXT UK 77

January 2, 2020 – Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire

The show starts with NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint and Sid Scala announcing Mustache Mountains matches for Takeover. Tyler Bate takes on Jordan Devlin and Trent Seven fights Eddie Dennis. I could have sworn these were already announced. 

Dave Mastiff def. Kona Reeves
Mastiff is working topless now. I used to think Reeves and Joseph Connors suffered from the same bad heel habits, but Reeves is actually a way better promo than Conners. Now that he’s in NXT UK maybe they can dump Connors once and for all. Mastiff gave up a decent amount of offense here, but in the end he put Reeves down in 3:17 with Into the Void. I’d have expected Mastiff to dominate more. *¾ 

Toni Storm comes out for a chat. After Kay Lee Ray beat her, she was mentally broken so she had to go away. She invites Piper Niven to come out to apologize for how she’s been treating her. But she also wants Niven to bow out of the Takeover match so Storm can get her revenge on KLR. But she’ll give her the first shot at the title after she wins it. Niven, looking comfy as hell, says no. Storm pulls on Niven, so Niven hits a headbutt. Then they brawl. KLR comes out to laugh. 

Kassius Ohno def. Ligero
This is a rematch from WrestleMania weekend, nine months earlier. This was a lot better than that match. That one had a dead crowd and a mundane story. This had Ligero running circles around Ohno, trying to keep the big man from seeing his plan take shape. Ligero was also ready for Ohno’s attempt to obscure his vision with his mask, and turned that into a roll up. In the end, Ohno had to play it straight, but eventually gutted it out to win with the Ohno Clutch at 6:53. After the match, Ohno says he lost to Bate because he tried to fight with him, not British-wrestle him. He British-wrestled Ligero, so he won. The work matched the story, which I quite enjoy. ***

A-Kid cuts a backstage promo in Spanish. Conners interrupts to say he’s Takeover-worthy and berate Kid. Look for that to be on the pre-show (and air on NXT UK TV in two weeks). In the back, Mastiff takes exception to Ohno’s “Best British Wrestler Alive” claim. That match will probably also happen in two weeks. 

Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter def. Dorian Mak & Riddick Moss
Mak was out there just ripping off Dominik Dijakovic’s shtick. Tom Philips calling him out for it is dope. This was structured exactly the same as the Outliers’ match against the Hunt; the big guys dominated for a while, but then showed they didn’t know how to tag-team-wrestle and lost because of their arrogance. Smith looked good here, bursting out of the corner with a ton of energy after his hot tag. Smith caught Moss with a roll up at 5:52 while Mak was goofing around. I dunno, this was fine I guess. I really don’t care for Mak. **

They show a really cool hype video for the ladder match at Takeover. Ahem, there’s a week and a half before that show; why is nothing announced for the go-home episode of TV?

Ilja Dragunov def. Alexander Wolfe {No Disqualification Match}
This match wins for most creative use of a kendo stick in my memory. Once the chairs got involved things got a little less interesting, as especially the Van Terminator spot was too contrived. Things picked back up after that, with Wolfe brutalizing Dragunov, but the student remaining resilient and coming back for more. Overall, I liked their first match better. It flowed more smoothly and had more defined roles. I appreciate how different this was from that, but the action was a bit choppy and Wolfe didn’t get to shine as much (though his mastery at swinging around a kendo stick was neat). That said, it was clearly about making Dragunov look good, and the broken-handed comeback to win the match was fun. Dragunov got the win with the Torpedo Moskau at 14:51. Imperium runs in and beats up Dragunov after the match. Joe Coffey lays out WALTER and then runs off. ***½