BRM Reviews the 5/6/2021 NXT UK

[Big Red Machine]

ILJA DRAGUNOV vs. DAVE MASTIFF- no rating, bad segment
Ilja won by stoppage after the referee decided that Mastiff was bleeding and had some sort of “facial injury.” Maybe this would have worked with someone who didn’t have a big bushy beard and wild brown hair to hide most of the blood.

XIA BROOKSIDE VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO- meh

SID SCALA TALKS TO KENNY WILLIAMS ABOUT THE MAIN EVENT- I don’t see what the point of this was, and the fac that it was shot in the old TNA secret spy-cam style just made it weird.

STEVIE TURNER VIDEO PACKAGE- bad
Lots of platitudes. You’re “four-dimensional,” are you? So are the rest of us. Most people don’t need to tell their fellow humans that their not frozen in time.

ILJA DRAGUNOV INTERVIEW- meh
I didn’t totally understand what he said. The gist of it was that by trying to help him, Mastiff just made things worse.

EARLIER THIS WEEK, RAMPAGE BROWN INTERRUPTS MARK COFFEY & WOLFGANG F*CKING AROUND AT THE PC- fine
He wants a rematch with Joe Coffey. Wolfgang said he would wrestle Rampage. Rampage was fine with this.

ISLA DAWN VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO- okay
The angle is now pretty clearly that she sold her soul for assistance from some demon. I don’t like this sort of thing entering into NXT UK, and considering that she hasn’t been able to beat anyone with an actual name since doing this, it seems like she got a pretty bad deal.

SUPERNOVA SESSIONS WITH SPECIAL GUEST NATHAN FRAZIER- bad
Dar made fun of the idea that he changed his name. He had a good explanation, which was that Ben Carter was a fake name he used so that 1) his parents and then 2) his college soccer coach wouldn’t find out that he was wrestling. Now that he has a WWE contract, he doesn’t need to hide who he is. This was very good. Unfortunately, it was the only good thing about his segment, which was everything I hate about Noam Dar followed by everything I don’t like (outside of the ring) about Sha Samuels. The f*cking canned studio audience was also very annoying. Samuels said that Frazier wasn’t a real British wrestler. Whatever. They agreed to have a Nathan Frazier vs. Noam Dar Heritage Cup Rules match.

JINNY VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO- awesome!

SID SCALA TALKS TO AMIR JORDAN ABOUT THE MAIN EVENT- same as above

SUBCULTURE VIDEO PACKAGE- great babyface stuff

TYLER BATE VS. A-KID VIDEO PACKAGE- great!

DANI LUNA VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO- very good

TRENT SEVEN vs. SAXON HUXLEY- 5.75/10
Sam Gradwell took over the TitanTron to cut a promo on Seven. Why not just have him come out with a microphone? Why introduce the plot-hole of the production truck playing along with someone who is trying ruin a match?
Seven overcame the distraction and won cleanly.

AMELE HAS ATTACKED XIA BROOKSIDE BACKSTAGE- fine
Amale is apparently upset that she wasn’t selected for the #1 contendership gauntlet match next week, so she attacked Xia. We are now unsure if Xia will be able to compete next week.
Speaking of next week, the proposed Frazier vs. Dar match has been made official.

NO DISQUALIFICATIONS LOSER LEAVES TOWN MATCH: Kenny Williams vs. Amir Jordan- 7.25/10
Jordan’s injured shoulder got worked over. They used the necessary weapons and brought the hate. Jordan’s senton bomb that mostly missed was the only physical miscue in this match, but the finish was quite the mental one, in my opinion. Williams threw a chair at Jordan who was on the top rope. Jordan caught it and threw it back and it hit Williams… knocking him into the ropes, causing Jordan to lose his balance and fall on his crotch, setting up Williams’ finish. This made Jordan look kind of stupid, but I guess that’s not really an issue because he just lost a Loser Leaves Town match. This whole thing served as a fine way to elevate Kenny Williams.

POST-MATCH STUFF- good
They stayed on a tearful Jordan for quite a while.

Did Millie McKenzie not get a video package/promo, or did I just miss it?


This was a decent episode of NXT UK. Other than the main event, the hype for next week’s gauntlet #1 contendership match was the best part of the show by far, and even that varied wildly based on who was being featured.