BRM Reviews the 1/30/2019 NXT UK

[Big Red Machine]

DAVE MASTIFF vs. PRIMATE- 4.5/10
This was a very fun hoss-fight while it lasted.

XIA BROOKSIDE VIDEO PACKAGE- she returns to action next week.

JAMES DRAKE & ZACK GIBSON PROMO- meh
Okay… can someone explain this shoe thing to us non-Brits?
Gibson droned on for what felt like an eternity. Assistant GM Sid Scala showed up and announced that they would be defending the tag titles against Burch & Lorcan “very soon” on NXT UK TV, and told Drake & Gibson to not let them down in this NXT vs. NXT UK battle.

Mark Andrews vs. El Ligero has been booked for next week.

WALTER vs. JACK STARZ- squash
WALTER basically went WALTER on him.

STUFF HAPPENS BACKSTAGE WITH WALTER- One of the many large angry bearded men in this company yelled at him and was held back by referees. Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner congratulated WALTER on his victory and Barthel offered himself and Aichner to WALTER if he ever needed backup. WALTER walked away without saying anything. Aichner was angry about this and went to chase after him but Barthel held him back. Throughout this entire thing, WALTER remained absolutely silent. This did an EXCELLENT job of not just setting things up for the future, but also of establishing WALTER’s character. As Nigel put it, WALTER is “the one man who is and island.”

JINNY vs. KASEY OWENS- 0.75/10
This was basically a squash that went on for WAY too long. It was five minutes of mostly one-sided action. That’s twice as long as the WALTER squash went.

RHEA RIPLEY DEMANDS HER REMATCH AGAINST TONI STORM- good
Speaking of “Storm” Rhea made this demand by storming into Johnny Saint’s office. I LOVE the way Saint sat there and took Rhea’s venting and never backed down from her, but didn’t raise his voice and came off as patient and understand. Eventually we were told that Rhea would be getting her rematch in three weeks.
A mandatory rematch, you say? I thought those were passé and we weren’t doing them anymore, Hunter. Isn’t that what you said on Raw a few weeks ago when you and your wife and your in-laws showed up and promised us that everything would change for the better?

The bearded man yelling at WALTER before was Mark Coffey. He will face WALTER in next week’s main event.

FABIAN AICHNER & MARCEL BARTHEL vs. MOUSTACHE MOUNTAIN- 7.75/10
A GREAT match. The announcers pushed it as a bounce-back win for Moustache Mountain after losing to Drake & Gibson in the first round of the tag title tournament.


A good episode of NXT UK. This show is much more enjoyable when you only have to watch one episode a week.

[NWK2000]

DAVE MASTIFF vs. PRIMATE- 4.5/10
This was a very fun hoss-fight while it lasted.

So glad Primate is signed. Dude was one of the highlights of WCPW and he's going to be a star in NXT some day too

WALTER vs. JACK STARZ- squash
WALTER basically went WALTER on him.

Dude. As I said somewhere else here, I was intentionally avoiding WALTER matches until his NXT debut so I could get hype after the squash and then decide if I liked him. I was sitting down to breakfast as I watched this, and the chop almost made me puke it was so violent and gnarly

A mandatory rematch, you say? I thought those were passé and we weren’t doing them anymore, Hunter. Isn’t that what you said on Raw a few weeks ago when you and your wife and your in-laws showed up and promised us that everything would change for the better?

It seems like Johnny Saint would be the kind of boss who would be all about that kind of procedure and order. Plus, are you going to tell Rhea Ripley, one of the scariest women in wrestling "no"?

[Big Red Machine]

A mandatory rematch, you say? I thought those were passé and we weren’t doing them anymore, Hunter. Isn’t that what you said on Raw a few weeks ago when you and your wife and your in-laws showed up and promised us that everything would change for the better?

It seems like Johnny Saint would be the kind of boss who would be all about that kind of procedure and order. Plus, are you going to tell Rhea Ripley, one of the scariest women in wrestling "no"?

The point is that it exposes the BS of the only supposed "change" they've made on the main roster after promising us so much change.

Also, Johnny Saint is a former wrestler and a man of great personal integrity and dignity. He is not intimidated by anyone.

[NWK2000]

A mandatory rematch, you say? I thought those were passé and we weren’t doing them anymore, Hunter. Isn’t that what you said on Raw a few weeks ago when you and your wife and your in-laws showed up and promised us that everything would change for the better?

{ quote} It seems like Johnny Saint would be the kind of boss who would be all about that kind of procedure and order. Plus, are you going to tell Rhea Ripley, one of the scariest women in wrestling "no"?

The point is that it exposes the BS of the only supposed "change" they've made on the main roster after promising us so much change.

I like the variety of booking styles across brands though. Just because Triple H thinks rematch clauses are old school and passe, doesn't mean Johnny Saint would. Plus, Rhea vs Toni was an incredible match, and in other combat sports, incredible matches usually get return bouts.

{quote] Also, Johnny Saint is a former wrestler and a man of great personal integrity and dignity. He is not intimidated by anyone.

Being intimidated by Rhea would be similar to being intimidated by a grizzly bear. Common sense.

[Big Red Machine]

It seems like Johnny Saint would be the kind of boss who would be all about that kind of procedure and order. Plus, are you going to tell Rhea Ripley, one of the scariest women in wrestling "no"?

The point is that it exposes the BS of the only supposed "change" they've made on the main roster after promising us so much change.

I like the variety of booking styles across brands though. Just because Triple H thinks rematch clauses are old school and passe, doesn't mean Johnny Saint would. Plus, Rhea vs Toni was an incredible match, and in other combat sports, incredible matches usually get return bouts.

The problem, though, is that the McMahons (including Hunter in subsequent segments with Seth) specifically framed the idea of an automatic rematch as being diametrically opposed to the concept that all opportunities must be earned. If Hunter is the boss and he is not enforcing this rule and letting his GM give someone an opportunity he/she hasn't earned then he is doing the very thing that we are supposed to believe allowed Corbin to kill Raw's ratings and which McMahons pledged not to do anymore just six weeks ago.

If they were going to do this segment, at least have Rhea obliterate a jobber or two in record time first so that she has something to hang her hat on.

In other combat sports incredible matches do usually get return bouts, but when such bouts are for titles it is because either the loser of the previous bout has picked up some victories in between or the justification is the same as that used for the mandatory rematch in pro wrestling.

Different booking styles across the brands can certainly be beneficial, but when the kayfabe boss gets on TV and says that "X is very bad, therefore we're not doing X anymore," you can't have one of the brands still do X.

Also, Johnny Saint is a former wrestler and a man of great personal integrity and dignity. He is not intimidated by anyone.

Being intimidated by Rhea would be similar to being intimidated by a grizzly bear. Common sense.

Not for a grizzled, old British wrestler it isn't.

[XIV]

There is no way to explain “shoes off, if you hate Gibson” really... but it is used as a football (soccer) chant over here from a few teams and was adapted from the old Islamic insult of showing somebody the sole of your shoe if you hated them or wanted to show them disrespect.

[XIV]

Also... Johnny Saint not backing down or even flinching from Rhea Ripley is the first time I've even lightly warmed to him since he was announced as GM. TBH I've thought him kind of stale offering the show absolutely nothing, but maybe he's growing into the role.