BRM Reviews the 11/25/2021 NXT UK (bad)

[Big Red Machine]

MARK ANDREWS vs. JORDAN DEVLIN- 7.25/10
Before the match we were shown “Flash” Morgan Webster running up to Andrews and telling him that Dani Luna has apparently gone missing. He says that Andrews should go out and have his match while Webster tries to find Dani.
Devlin worked over the midsection. I’m not saying this wasn’t great, but I will say that I thought it got a little too spotty towards the end.

Sid Scala announced that Moustache Mountain would get their tag title shot in two weeks.

GALLUS PROMO- good
They responded to last week’s show-closing attack on them by Teoman, Rohan Raja, and Charlie Dempsey-

EARLIER THIS WEEK, SAM GRADWELL YELLED AT NOAM DAR AND SHA SAMUELS FOR PARTYING TOO LOUDLY- bad
Yeah… at this point, everyone here has turned into a total cartoon.

SID SCALA IS INTERRUPTED BY SAM GRADWELL… AND THEN SHA SAMUELS AND NOAM DAR JUST HAPPEN TO BE AROUND- bad
Gradwell demands to know why his match against Noam Dar tonight isn’t for the Heritage Cup Title. Johnny Saint showed up to say that the match will be whatever Sid wants, so Sid says it will be a title match. I’m not really sure what Gradwell has done to earn one.


ALEAH JAMES vs. ISLA DAWN- 4.5/10
Isla brought her magic box to ringside with her. Isla gets the win, bringing James’ winning streak to an end.
After the match Isla opened the box, took out a scrunchie and gave it to Aleah. I guess that’s whaty she took from Aleah last week. This is all weird.

EARLIER THIS WEEK, XIA BROOKSIDE CAME INTO SID SCALA’S OFFICE TO WHINE- atrocious
Her gimmick is now that she is a whiny fifteen-year-old girl. It doesn’t help that she looks like she’s fifteen, either. She whined until Sid gave in and gave her a title shot next week. She whined and said that wasn’t enough time to prepare, so Sid yelled “NEXT WEEK OR NOT AT ALL!” and she said “fine!” and walked off. This gimmick is death. The sort of thing you just can’t recover from.

MOUSTACHE MOUNTAIN VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO- good
They insist that they “can’t” lose their title shot next week and said “everything changes.” I’m guessing they’re either going heel or breaking up.

PRETTY DEADLY VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO- fine

ANGEL HAYZE vs. DANI LUNA- no rating, good segment
The match never took place because Dani never showed up. Apparently Jinny took her out. We know this because Jinny came us and told us this. She said that Luna would be out “for a very long time.” She also announced that her business relationship with Joseph Conners was over. This was very abrupt. I looked on the internet (benefits of watching things a month late, I guess) and found that Luna was having ACL surgery and that Conners had “left WWE.” I’m shocked that they didn’t have Davenport be the one to injure Luna, as it would not only fit her M.O. perfectly, but she also had a confrontation with Luna just two weeks ago.

Jinny announced that she would be taking this match instead to start building up a winning streak, and apparently this is okay with management because the bell rang for…

JINNY vs. ANGEL HAYZE- meh squash
Jinny destroyed the jobber, but it dragged on a lot longer than it needed to.

THE NINA SAMUELS SHOW- bad
Nina tries to interview Meiko Satomura. Meiko wordlessly tells her to go away. Emilia McKenzie does so with words, but politely. Nina gets flustered and leaves. Nina felt like a total chump here, rather than the narcissistic heel she had been in the previous segments.

ILJA DRAGUNOV VS. RAMPAGE BROWN VIDE PACKAGE- awesome!

KENNY WILLIAMS ANNOYS “FLASH” MORGAN WEBSTER AND MARK ANDREWS OUTSIDE OF THE TRAINER’S ROOM- great
Williams was an excellent heel. My only issue here is that they were right outside of the medical area and there was no mention of Dani Luna, whose fate was just presumably revealed to Subculture at the same time it was revealed to us in Jinny’s promo.

NXT UK HERITAGE CUP TITLE MATCH: Noam Dar(c) (w/Sha Samuels) vs. Sam Gradwell- 5.25/10
Apparently the Heritage Cup has a list of previous champions on it, and Dar has covered them with tape.
Gradwell kneed Dar in the face with his knee brace in the first round and got a pin. Dar seemed to still be out of it at the beginning of the second round, but he was playing possum to get a small package, which Gradwell kicked out of. A little over a minute later, Dar hit the Nova Roller to score a pin, completely negating the interesting spot they had been in with the champion down so early.
Dar then went to work on Gradwell’s knee, including taking off his knee brace. Gradwell made a comeback, but Samuels got involved for a second time, stopping Gradwell from hitting his finisher. Dar won by submission on the knee soon thereafter.
Gradwell was supposed to be the babyface here, but the crowd was completely behind Dar, even after seeing Samuels interfere.


A bad episode of NXT UK, despite a great opener and an awesome video package.