BRM Reviews the 7/1/2021 NXT UK (DEVLIN VS. A-KID!)

[Big Red Machine]

ISLA DAWN vs. EMILIA MCKENZIE- 6.5/10
These two have been feuding for a bit, and Millie is 0-2 in singles matches. This was a great match interrupted by one wacky, goofy, piece of crap moment that ruined it for me storyline-wise. What happened was that Isla had Millie down and could have gone for a pin, but instead she kneels down over her head like Undertaker setting up a pin after the Tombstone Piledriver, and puts her hands on the side of Millie’s forehead with her fingers spread out and starts looking at the sky and rolling her eyes back into her head like she was trying to use some sort of supernatural powers to root around in Millie’s brain and pull out an important piece of information. Nigel described this as “channeling her Wiccan faith” and later as “divination,” I don’t know enough about Wicca to know if the first accurate (though I assume it isn’t) and I’m pretty sure Isla was trying to see the future, either.
Millie did not react like there was being magic done to her or like she was under some kind of psychic assault. Instead she just sold and recovered and transitioned into an attempted armbar which was countered and they kept going. Millie won soon thereafter with a running double-knee to the head. If this was supposed to be a big win for Millie, having her get beat and only be able to recover because her opponent decided to do something completely wacky instead go for a pin completely undermines that.
Even weirder, Isla seemed perfectly happy about this.

MARK COFFEY & WOLFANG ARE GOOFS BACKSTAGE DURING AN INTERVIEW- They are managing to be entertained by playing Rock, Paper, Scissors. They are supposed to be grown adults. A match between them was teased to finish of their “friendly rivalry.”

NXT UK HERITAGE CUP TITLE MATCH: Tyler Bate(c) (w/Trent Seven) vs. Jack Starz- 5.5/10
Bates won 2-1 in the fourth round. We’re told that Starz “had the showing of his career,” but if getting pinned twice in about ten minutes in a match that rest periods is “the showing of his career” then Starz’s career is pretty crappy.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- bad
Mark Coffey came out and slapped Bate in the face after giving him a thumbs up. It seemed like he and Wolfgang thought this was a funny gag between friends. Both Bate and Seven were not amused.

SID SCALA INTERRUPTS PRETTY DEADLY’S PHOTSHOOT TO CONDUCT SOME BUSINESS- bad
Scala wants to give Subculture a title shot because Pretty Deadly were mean to them. Pretty Deadly insists that a title shot should be earned, so Scala books Lewis Howley against Mark Andrews in a match where Subculture will earn a title shot if Andrews wins… this singles match.

MEIKO SATOMURA’S CHAMPIONSHIP SPEECH IS INTERRUPTED BY NINA SAMUELS- very good
Nina came out and tried to talk her way into a title shot. She was great in her role as the undercard heel with delusions of grandeur about her level of star-power. She was jumped from behind by Amele, who cut a much better promo in English than she usually does, saying that she was sick and tired of “seeing the same girls every week,” so she wants a title shot. She got right up in Meiko’s face so Meiko forearmed her down… and Amele didn’t go dead or oversell it or start throwing a tantrum like you’d see most heels do. She just accepted it, fully understanding that this forearm was a consequence of her own choice to get in Meiko Satomura’s face. Meiko told her she could have “a match” (it wasn’t specified whether it would be a title match), which is good because I assume management will be angry at Amele for against using violence to take out another contender for the title.

AFTER LAST WEEK’S SHOW, JOE COFFEY INTERRUPTS RAMPAGE BROWN’S INTERVIEW TO SHOW HIM RESPECT- very good

BLAIR DAVENPORT HAS ARRIVED VIDEO- good

AOIFE VALKYRIE vs. MILA SMIDT- 3/10
Smidt is French and is an “Olympic-style” wrestler, so Nigel compared her to Henri Deglane. I hope this referee is good at checking arms for bite-marks. Valkyrie won clean in a match that was a lot more competitive than I was expecting. Jinny came out to watch.

KENNY WILLIAMS PROMO- excellent!
A good exposition on his own philosophy and build for a match against Nathan Frazier.

EARLIER TODAY, EDDIE DENNIS INTERRUPTS A TRENT SEVEN PRESS CONFERENCE- great!
Dennis tried to be a jerk but Seven shut him down. Due to these events, a match has been signed for next week.

A-KID vs. JORDAN DEVLIN- 8.75/10
This was an amazingly athletic match without being a spotfest. They did some good work on some body parts as well, but even with no work on the knee at all, that finish would have worked for me because of how absolutely sickening that angle looked.
Devlin wouldn’t break the hold at the end and instead leaned down into A-Kid’s face to taunt him so A-Kid slapped at him.

An EXCELLENT episode of NXT UK!