BRM Reviews the 3/12/2020 NXT UK (disappointing)

[Big Red Machine]

FINN BALOR CALLS OUT WALTER- good segment
Balor calls out WALTER but gets all of Imperium. They attack but he managed to fight them off and escape mostly unharmed.

PIPER NIVEN INTERVIEW FROM EARLIER THIS WEEK- fine
She is asked why got involved in the Toni Storm vs. Kay Lee Ray I Quit match for the women’s title a few weeks ago. She says that she didn’t want her good friend Toni Storm to get crippled, but also knew that Toni would never forgive her if she threw in the towel, so she talked Toni into quitting. She also says that Kay Lee Ray is “evil” and “somebody’s gonna need to do something” about her.

TYLER BATE VIDEO PACKAGE- short, but kind of pointless as this point. We already know who he is and think he’s a big deal.

PRETTY DEADLY vs. DAN MOLONEY & DEREISS GORDON- 3.5/10
This really didn’t need to go seven minutes. If Pretty Deadly are getting pushed, just let them squash the nobodies.

THE AUTHORITY FIGURES CHAT IN A HALLWAY- This was a rare instance of an NXT UK backstage segment where we got no explanation for why there was a camera here. Would it have been that hard to have a match for them to be announcing for next week?
Anyway, Alexander Wolfe walked by and demanded a match against Finn Balor, so that’s tonight’s main event. He left, then Jordan Devlin showed up. He was informed that he would be defending his NXT Cruiserweight Title against Travis Banks in two weeks.

GALLUS BOTHER DAVE MASTIFF, MARK ANDREWS, & “FLASH” MORGAN WEBSTER AT THE UK PERFORMANCE CENTER- yet another segment where there is no reason for a camera to be there. Gallus talked trash just to be jerks. The babyfaces tried to respond, but didn’t really have any good comebacks. They decided that they should have a six-man tag at some point. We would later learn that said point would be next week.

NOAM DAR vs. EL LIGERO- 6.25/10
This was very good for the time it got.

TRAVIS BANKS INTERVIEW- fine
They have a new interviewer, who is much less visually annoying than Radzie. Unfortunately, I didn’t get his name because Dar’s music was too loud. He asked Banks for his thoughts on getting a Cruiserweight Title shot in two weeks. Banks talked up his history with Devlin, then vowed that in two weeks he would become the first ever Kiwi to win a title in NXT. I’m not one of those people who thinks that the babyface has to achieve his/her goal every time they promise they’re going to do something, but I will admit that hearing Banks say that did set off something of an alarm bell in my head.

AMALE vs. DANI LUNA- no rating, fine segment
I was shocked at how good this was because… well… Amale was involved. It was a few minutes of some really solid grappling before Kay Lee Ray ran in and beat them both up. Kay Lee Ray then cut a promo claiming that she runs the women’s division and can beat everyone, etc. Dani Luna attacked her from behind. KLR beat Dani up some more, but at least she looked like someone with some actual heart instead of lying there like a passive waste of space.

AOIFE VALKYRIE VIDEO PACKAGE- decent
This wasn’t bad or anything, but having seen in wXw just being a normal babyface and being so good at it, trying to do all of this mythical stuff with her comes across as a little weird to me.

ALEXANDER WOLFE vs. FINN BALOR- 6/10
This went eight and a half minutes. Is there come rule that all NXT UK main events need to be disappointingly short? Imperium tried to interfere but were ejected. Balor’s ribs got worked over but he came back, hit his moves and won.


This show had some good stuff on it, but the main event really killed it for me. NXT UK needs to either stop focusing on so many wrestlers, or it needs to add another half hour to the show. These short, disappointing main events are bad enough, but then when they waste time on the show with a seven-minute undercard match that should have been a squash, it just makes it so much worse because they actually did have the time to make the main event not disappointing.