BRM Reviews the 2/6/2019 NXT UK (hard to sit through)

[Big Red Machine]

MARK ANDREWS vs. EL LIGERO- 7/10
A GREAT babyface opener.

LORCAN & BURCH BACKSTAGE- they’re confident they can win the NXT UK Tag Team Titles when they get their shot in a few weeks.

PETE DUNNE IS INTERVIEWED ABOUT WALTER COMNIG TO NXT UK- good
Pete Dunne fears no one.

CANDY FLOSS vs. XIA BROOKSIDE- 4.25/10
Another nice, clean, babyface match that was very good for the time it got. Xia picked up her first win on NXT UK.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- great!
Xia went over to check on Candy Floss after the match and offer her a handshake which Candy Floss accepted… and then Rhea Ripley came out and assaulted both of them. Toni Storm came out to make the save and seemed to have the upper hand but Ripley managed to pull Xia in the way and Toni accidentally hit Xia. Toni was shocked by this and Rhea took advantage of her distraction to lay her out.

JORDAN DEVLIN SELFIE PROMO- He’s got a match again Noam Dar in Phoenix soon. I’m really not sure what the timeline is here.

“WILD BOAR” MIKE HITCHMAN vs. JOSEPH CONNERS- 5.75/10
Conners got his character over by shouting at Boar during the match and insisting that his spot would not be taken. This match was GREAT for the time it got, but I feel like I’ve seen it a million times even though I know it’s the first time I’ve ever seen these two wrestle, in WWE or elsewhere. Way too much of this promotion feels like large, gruff, angry, bearded British men grunting at each other.

RADZIE INTERVIEWS JINNY- a good promo to get over her character and start building her towards a title chase.
Also, Jinny is wrestling Mia Yim next week. Since when is Mia Yim an NXT UK competitor?

ASHTON SMITH vs. JOE COFFEY- 4/10
This was one-sided match that went on for WAY too long. Coffey repeating the assertion that “THIS IS MY KINGDOM!” over and over again did not make it feel any faster, either. CageMatch.net claims that it was only 6:16 but that seems impossible to me. You haven’t done anything with Ashton Smith yet so there is absolutely no reason he can’t just be a jobber here.

WALTER vs. MARK COFFEY- 4.75/10
This was good for the time it got, but…
WALTER is big and tough. We get it. I think this match did more damage to Coffey than it helped WALTER. It was just a little too one-sided for Coffey not to look like a chump. Also, Nigel tried out several terrible, Mauro-esque nicknames for WALTER. The worst of them was “The Austrian Anomaly.” What’s wrong with calling him “die Ring General” or “WALTER?”

This was not a good episode of NXT UK. Most of the matches were pretty great for the time they got, but five matches in the 4-9 minute range is NOT a good formula for a one-hour show. Everything somehow managed to feel exceedingly short but also exceedingly long, and none of the matches really stood out in a good way other than the opener (which got the most time by several minutes). It was like watching an entire show full for preliminary matches.