Written by Michael J. Vacchiano
The black-and-gold brand from across the pond presented its second ever Takeover event NXT UK: Cardiff. The superstars from NXT UK prepared to do battle at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales. All the brand’s championships are on the line, including the short-lived yet prestigious WWE United Kingdom title in the main event. The monstrous champion WALTER, who ended the epic 685-day reign of the “Bruiserweight” Pete Dunne at April’s Takeover: New York in an awesome contest, defends against against inaugural titleholder, the mustachioed marvel Tyler Bate. Whether it’s this side of the Atlantic or the other, NXT always delivers when it comes to these Takeover events, and yours truly is pumped for some European-flavored action from WWE. Let’s get to it…
Noam Dar vs. Travis Banks
The cocky Scottish Supernova from 205Live tries to play some mind games with his opponent, but the Kiwi Buzzsaw is not fooled in the least. Some really nice catch-as-catch-can wrestling to start between the two lightweights, until Mr. Banks takes control with a hard soccer kick from the apron as Dar is on the outside. Dar has to fight dirty to get the upper hand and does so with a nasty full-body throw into the ropes.
The Israeli-born Scotsman works over Banks’ shoulder while arrogantly toying with him. The New Zealand native rebounds with an impressive tope suicida threw the middle and bottom ropes, plus a few double stomps from high up. The two men trade some stiff uppercuts and forearms until Travis gets caught in a grapevine ankle lock by Dar. Banks gets to the ropes, and surprises Dar with a bicycle kick before running up the turnbuckle for an aerial maneuver. Noam says “No way” as he trips him up mid-run, and connects with his Nova Roller standing shining wizard for the victory. A nice little opening contest between these two guys.
Winner: Noam Dar
Cesaro has traveled to NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff looking for competition, and is backstage to issue an open challenge to anyone on the NXT UK roster. The Swiss Cyborg is confronted by the Russian madman Ilja Dragunov, who then goes to the ring to accept in his own crazy Cossack way. Mouthpiece in for Cesaro and time for an impromptu match…
Cesaro vs. Ilja Dragunov
Hard chops are exchanged early on, but Cesaro’s size and power advantage help him come out on top. Some painfully hard boots and elbows to Dragunov only rile him up more, as the Russian starts to go wild and mount some offense. In a freakish show of strength, Cesaro stops Ilja with a midair catch and dumps him from the ring into the outside barricade. Nasty landing.
Cesaro keeps it slow and methodically wears down Dragunov with holds and submissions. The wild-eyed Russian starts to get a second wind and lays into his opponent with repeated Kobashi-style chops and a stalling side suplex to show off his own strength. He follows up with an outside dive and a coast-to-coast dropkick, but still could not get the pin. The veteran Cesaro counters and traps Dragunov with the big swing, completing an amazing thirty-something rotations before letting go. Incredible.
However, the fortitude/insanity of the raging Russian would not let him stay down. A press slam gutbuster and roaring uppercut combo from the Swiss Cyborg still couldn’t get the job done. Ilja retaliated and landed a running death valley driver into the corner but couldn’t score the upset. The final exchange saw a charging Dragunov get caught by Cesaro with a pop-up uppercut followed by the Neutralizer for the 1-2-3. Appearing ready to attack post-match, Cesaro instead shook the Russian’s hand and embraced him in a nice show of respect. Dragunov definitely put himself on notice tonight with a good match and endorsement from one of WWE’s best in-ring performers.
Winner: Cesaro
Triple Threat Match for the NXT UK Tag Team Championships: Grizzled Young Veterans — Zack Gibson & James Drake (c) vs. South Wales Subculture — Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster vs. Gallus — Mark Coffey & Wolfgang
Gibson and Drake, known as the “Grizzled Young Veterans”, have been champs since winning the inaugural titles at Takeover: Blackpool in January. Impressive as they’ve been, they faced quite the challenge tonight against the Welsh rockers Andrews and Webster, as well as “Gallus” members Coffey and Wolfgang. These six men brought the action fast and heavy throughout the entire contest to the point where it was hard to keep up.
Andrews and Webster had the hometown crowd advantage and showcased some innovative and aerial tandem offense from the get-go. The more experienced champs stopped them with their own teamwork, until the Scotsmen Coffey and Wolfy used their power advantage in full. Well-rested on the outside for the first few minutes, Gallus made their mark with a slingshot on Drake into a Samoan drop. Their attempt to do the same later on to Webster resulted in a Welsh Destroyer counter. Amazing, but that was only the beginning of the incredible tag team maneuvers in this one.
The Grizzled Young Veterans unleashed a twisting brainbuster and 450 splash combo, as well as a suicide dive Doomsday Device clothesline on the outside! Andrews and Webster got the crowd even more pumped with a running knee strike into a reverse rana, plus their own one-two punch of Mandrews’ Stundog Millionaire jawbreaker and a Flash swanton bomb! But the brutish Scottish duo of Coffey and Wolfgang would keep up with smashmouth power offense, with Wolfy launching his own partner as a weapon to the outside onto their opponents. Unreal.
In the closing moments, Webster hit a beautiful 630 that would make Ricochet proud, but the pin was broken up by Gibson. The champs then hit their Ticket to Mayhem wheelbarrow lungblower on Flash to try to retain their titles. Drake took out Gallus on the outside with another nice tope suicida, but unfortunately left his partner hanging. Andrews came out of nowhere with a Fall to Pieces shooting star press on Gibson, allowing Webster to roll over and make the pin himself. Three seconds later, and the young rockers from Wales became the brand new champions! High fives and stage dives aplenty as they celebrated their victory with the hometown crowd. Match of the night so far.
Winners and new champions: Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster
Last Man Standing Match: Joe Coffey vs. Dave Mastiff
This was a straight up slugfest between the imposing Coffey and the massive Mastiff, who immediately set the tone by Irish whipping his foe into the turnbuckle so hard it broke off! The Bomber then delightfully used the steel buckle as a weapon, smiling like Stanley Hudson on Pretzel Day. With the ring in shambles, the two went to ringside where they found some more unusual weapons to use on each other, including a pool cue and a cricket bat. Casey Jones would be proud.
Joking aside, the brutality kicked into high gear as both men took turns putting each other through tables propped against the barricade; Coffey by way of charging tackle, and Mastiff with a rolling cannonball senton. They made their way through the crowd, where both men armed with steel chairs charged at each other, joust-style, in a nasty collision. Both men were able to answer the ref’s count, and soon duked it out all the way to the broadcast area.
The Bomber hit a hard rolling firemans carry on the announce table, but Coffey escaped to a nearby platform. Trading shots from 12 feet up, both men fell off through some equipment tables and debris below. While making their way to their feet, the cunning Coffey kicked out the rolling travel case that Mastiff was using to support himself at the count of nine. Through sheer chicanery, the Scotsman remained the last man standing.
Winner: Joe Coffey
NXT UK Women’s Championship: Toni Storm (c) vs. Kay Lee Ray
The sly Scotswoman Ray immediately used her experience to play some mind games with the champ by refusing to engage right away. Storm soon got aggressive by diving onto her opponent who was outside taking her time. Not long after, though, the rockin’ Aussie lost the upper hand by way of Ray’s heelish tactics, who began preying on Storm’s emotions.
Some disrespectful slaps by the challenger soon led to Toni firing up and fighting back. The titleholder also countered Ray’s Gory Bomb attempt into an impressive sunset flip, but couldn’t get the pin. Both women even kicked out of each other’s finishers; the Gory Bomb and the Storm Zero double underhook powerbomb.
Ray soon got caught on the top rope by the champ, and was launched off with an impressive German suplex. Storm went to finish her but the veteran Ray suckered her in with a second Gory Bomb across the top rope. A third time connecting with her finisher allowed the Scottish siren to make the cover and claim the title! A surprise finish, for sure, but I had hoped this match would have gone longer than the 10 minutes it was. Maybe next time?
Winner and new champion: Kay Lee Ray
WWE United Kingdom Championship: WALTER (c) vs. Tyler Bate
Giving up nearly a hundred pounds and ten inches of height to the champion, the diminutive dynamo Bate mainly used a stick-and-move and hit-and-run approach early on. WALTER soon slowed things down with his size, grappling skills and some rest holds. Tyler rebounded with quick shots and dropkicks, and showcased his power with an impressive bodyslam on the Austrian. It was short-lived, however, as WALTER decimated the challenger on the outside with powerbombs onto the apron and into the ringpost. Absolutely brutal.
The next several minutes featured the Ring General wearing down Bate with a mix of clubbing shots, chops, elbows, and boots. The crowd cheered on the popular “Big Strong Boy” from Dudley, England, which only seemed to draw the ire of the stoic WALTER even further. The man from Vienna tortured Tyler with various submission holds, but there was no quit in the challenger. Bate soon got an opening with an exploder suplex on the big man off the apron to the outside.
Some more suplexes and a standing shooting star press was the beginning of Bate’s rally back. WALTER soon responded with a massive running dropkick, but Tyler then hit an awesome sunset bomb counter. Bate also caught the champion with an exploder off the top to almost gain the victory and title. It then turned to fisticuffs with WALTER delivering blistering openhand chops, and Tyler landing his patented Bop n’ Bang punch combo. The innate strength of the Big Strong Boy was displayed with a fireman carry airplane spin on the massive Austrian. Bate soon hit his trademark Tyler Driver ’97 for a 2.9 count! He followed with a top rope twisting corkscrew senton that could rival A.J. Styles’ Spiral Tap, but the champ kicked out.
WALTER then trapped his opponent in a sleeperhold with scissors, but Bate carried him to the apron. It was mayhem from there as WALTER hit a sick-looking sleeper suplex on the edge of the ring. The champion continued the onslaught with a top rope splash, another sleeper suplex, and a huge powerbomb, but the all-heart Tyler would miraculously not stay down! The Viennese juggernaut became incensed and soon unloaded another series of chops before nailing Bate with a charging lariat that finally put the unofficial “Dudley Boy” down for good.
After the match, the physically spent WALTER made his way to the stage to be greeted by his fellow Imperium stablemates. Alexander Wolfe, Fabian Aichner, and Marcel Barthel joined their leader in saluting and mocking the crowd. Soon after, Pete Dunne and Trent Seven came to the ring to help up and embrace Bate, their fellow British Strong Style member. The young challenger became emotional as his friends and the crowd commended him on an excellent showing.
Winner and still champion: WALTER
While it may always be in the shadow of its stateside branch, NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff reminded us all that WWE’s European wrestling contingent is alive and well. All of these guys (and gals) put on a great show, and any one of them can mix it up with Orlando’s black-and-gold roster. I admit I was a bit disappointed in how brief the Women’s title match was, but perhaps there’ll be a rematch soon. Toni Storm has the skills, looks and charisma to be a star and could easily succeed on either Raw or Smackdown Live if eventually given the chance.
The match of NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff is a dead heat between the triple threat tag title and the main event. The former had a little bit of everything with great tandem offense between all three duos. High-flying, power, technicality, and plenty of innovative maneuvers. As for the WWE UK Championship, it seems to gain even more prestige with a monster heel titleholder on a dominant run who will constantly be chased. If you get the chance, go watch this match and prepare to be amazed and impressed with Tyler Bate. I dare you not to be a fan of this young man by the time the final bell rings, and yours truly hopes he gets showcased more on the other brands. NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff is worth checking out for these two matches alone. That, I can assure you, is in the realm of a Vinny Mac guaran-damn-tee.
Rating: 8 out of 10
