NXT UK Takeover: Blackpool

Moustache Mountain vs James Drake & Zack Gibson

Super hot opener that was probably the best match on the show. Some nice early sequences, including Tyler Bate bridging ridiculously out of a double-knucklelock and rolling through, just insane strength. I loved Zack Gibson pulling Drake out as he got fired into the ropes to break the Moustache Mountain momentum, just a lovely bit of heeling that drew monster heat. Moustache Mountain remain in control, until Trent Seven hits a low tope, hurting his shoulder in the process. Drake & Gibson work a nice control, not always focused on the injury, but not neglecting it either. Loved Drake hitting a pescado to land a double team backbreaker on Seven on the floor. A big Drake forearm to the back of Seven’s head seems to open him up, looks nasty. Trent gets the hot tag, and Tyler is tremendous in the roll, just so entertaining. He hits a ludicrous but entertaining  double airplane spin on Drake and Gibson, takes both men out by hitting an exploder on Drake to the floor, landing him on Gibson, then follows up with a shooting star press. Great nearfall as Gibson stops a MM double team with a codebreaker from nowhere on Bate, and a Drake 450 on Seven gets two. They work a neat double Shankley Gate spot which I really loved – Gibson locks Seven’s injured shoulder in the move, and when Bate tries to break it up, Drake downs him and locks HIM in the move, putting both MM members in jeopardy. However, because it’s not Drake’s move and because Tyler’s shoulder wasn’t already injured, Bate is able to power up and drop Drake onto Gibson, saving Seven in the process. Bate is taken out with an insane Doomsday Device tope on the floor, and a Seven dive sees him getting laid out. Back in, with Bate still down, the Ticket To Mayhem gives Drake & Gibson the win. Great stuff.

Finn Balor vs Jordan Devlin

This is to replace a Devlin/Travis Banks match that gets called out due to a knee injury Devlin inflicts on Banks. Strange one this, I think Banks/Devlin would have been a better match (they had a banger at Fight Club: Pro in Sept 17), but as a big marquee match, this has the edge. It’s worked really evenly, which allows Devlin to look good going head-to-head with a former Universal champion, looked very much on Balor’s level. A good chunk of this match is based around Balor going for the Coup de Grace, but Devlin having it scouted and avoiding the move, including dropkicking Balor to the floor in an early big bump. Devlin works Balor’s torso nicely, slamming his back to the apron, hitting a double stomp in the ring and locking in an abdominal stretch. Every time Balor takes control and plays to the crowd, Devlin is ready to cut him off, and even gets a great nearfall with his feet on the ropes. Ultimately, Balor is just too much and the fourth attempt at the Coup de Grace finally hits, giving Finn the win.

Eddie Dennis vs Dave Mastiff

Had big hopes for this going in, and it was really fun. It worked as a showcase for Dennis’s often-overlooked raw strength and for Mastiff’s ever-surprising agility. Early on, Mastiff hits a lovely crossbody at top speed, like a freight train hitting Dennis. Liked Eddie going for a kendo stick under the ring, keeping it hidden from Mastiff until the last moment and striking him. Eddie starts with the impressive power spots, catching another Mastiff crossbody and hitting a swinging slam onto the steps (loved him selling the effort by trembling his knees too). The Severn Bridge looks insanely impressive, especially as there’s a little extra lift he has to do to get Mastiff over his head for the drop. The fact Dennis also hits the Next Stop Driver makes this a really impressive show of power. Mastiff hitting the Finlay Roll on the exposed concrete was a nasty looking bump and his attempt at a split legged moonsault looked neat. In the end, Mastiff avoids a second Severn Bridge, hits a German suplex and hits a cannonball to plant Eddie through a table for the win. Loved this.

Rhea Ripley vs Toni Storm

Ripley is pretty cagey to start this, spends a bit of time leaving the ring, so it’s nice to see Storm take her out with a tope out of frustration. Loved Ripley grabbing Storm’s hair as she tries to get back in the ring, kicking her in the head whilst she’s stuck on the apron. The commentary brings up Storm’s prior back injury, and a lot of Ripley’s offence focuses on this – neat looking body scissors, big delayed suplex and a pair of slams. Ripley does oversell getting pushed into the corner by Storm’s legs from the floor and an in-ring punch sequence looks pretty terrible, but this is decent on the whole. Ripley’s inverse Texas cloverleaf looks great still. Storm gets Storm Zero for the victory.

Pete Dunne vs Joe Coffey

This goes over half an hour, and just about manages to fill that time without it falling off a cliff. This starts cagily, worked on the mat, with Dunne throwing in a few nice touches, punching the exposed torso of Coffey in order to distract him and lock on submissions. Both guys play to their strengths, Coffey uses his power advantage by hitting a big pop-up powerslam on the ramp and locking in a big bearhug. Dunne, in contrast, knows he’s quicker than Coffey, thus he evades him via running moonsault in the corner, flips out of a back suplex then hits a big moonsault to the floor. Dunne keeps locking in a range of subs, but Coffey plans him with a sitout powerbomb on the apron. Great nearfall after Coffey hits a discus clothesline for two. Dunne locks in another submission, but Coffey breaks it by climbing to the top rope and throwing Pete off. Great spot. We maybe get a few too many kickouts near the end, drawing things out when it could have happily ended 5 minutes earlier, and the spot where they seemed to tumble from the top rope doesn’t look too good, but they do convincingly make you think Coffey has a chance of winning and also make him look good by surviving so much. The Bitter End only gets two, but Pete locks in one last submission, wrenching the fingers for the submission. Big main event that just about delivered.

WWE Mae Young Classic 2018 - Semi Finals

Toni Storm vs Meiko Satomura

Not a surprise that this match was pretty terrific. Even Satomura’s headlock takeover was a struggle, and their mat exchanges had a real sense that neither wanted to yield. Toni isn’t afraid to lay her stuff in here, with a big boot and nasty kicks, but Meiko is even more brutal, just laying into Storm’s legs with a series of vicious kicks, grounding her. Loved the leg lariat that just sees Satomura flying off the ropes. Like Storm locking Meiko into an STF as soon as she gets an advantage, knowing she needs to wear her down as much as she can. She holds it a long time, and suddenly Satomura is in trouble. Storm really goes for it on this opening, hitting a corner charge and a huge suicide dive, but Satomura plants her with a DDT and hits a flipping kick for two. We get a collection of believable nearfalls from both – Storm Zero from Toni, DVD from Satomura, Scorpion Kick from Satomura – with each feeling like the end. Eventually, Toni reverses another DVD attempt to her second Storm Zero to get the win. Loved this.

Rhea Ripley vs Io Shirai

Huge coming out party for Ripley here, she looked like she belonged with Io, didn’t look outclassed at all. Ripley over-powers Shirai early, rag-dolling her about and hitting some really big shots. Loved her punches to the ribs and kicks. Ripley locking on a stomach claw thrilled me, and she hit a tremendous delayed suplex. Loved the flurry of nasty forearms Io hit to break a body-scissors, needed to look convincing to wear down the larger Ripley. Io hits a sudden rana on a rope running exchange, followed by a suicide dive and a big missile dropkick, that Ripley sells big but also believably. She manages to stumble into place for the dropkick without it looking massively contrived. Rhea hits a great superplex, shows incredible balance on the top rope, but Io escapes a pumphandle and hits the corner knees and the moonsault to win. Really great stuff.

WWE Mae Young Classic 2018 Quarter Finals

Meiko Satomura vs Lacey Lane

This was the match it needed to be. Lane is vastly under-powered against Meiko, but is able to use her speed and obvious agility to avoid some big shots early on. Unfortunately, she then refuses a handshake and gets kicked to fuck for her disrespect. Lane misses a kick pretty badly, looked like she was never going to hit Meiko with it, but she does look good evading a flurry of offence and hitting a neat crossbody for two. Ultimately though, Satomura is too good, she kicks the crap out of Lane and gets the pin.

Io Shirai vs Deonna Purrazzo

I thought this was fine, but there’s bits that also didn’t work for me. Shirai lands on her feet from a flying headscissors, as per the first round Brookside match, but it looked less impressive her as Purrazzo barely grazed her with the move. Shirai is quick as can be though, and she ploughs through Purrazzo with a suicide dive, and I loved her rolling through a takedown right into a double stomp. Part of the problem with the match is with the layout – twice Shirai gets locked in Purrazzo’s Fujiwara armbar, and twice Shirai is able to reverse it to a crossface. Escaping Purrazzo’s signature move once was fine, but twice seems a bit of overkill especially as Shirai has to use the injured arm to hold onto the crossface. It doesn’t feel like a match Purrazzo is going to win, and it comes to pass as Shirai hits another overshot moonsault for the win. I really like both, but this was underwhelming.

Tegan Nox vs Rhea Ripley

If that was underwhelming, this was heart-wrenching. As someone who has seen Nox live countless times, from playing T-Bone’s sister in a long-forgotten angle in HOPE to having one of the best intergender matches I’ve ever seen with Chris Brookes in Fight Club Pro last year, I was more invested in her performance this year than anyone elses, especially with her injury keeping her out last year. So for her tournament to end in this fashion was horrible. Bless her for trying to continue after injuring her leg on the suicide dive, and huge kudos to Ripley for maintaining character, not getting lost and carrying on as everything they would have had planned changed. This was a hard watch.

Toni Storm vs Mia Yim

I had high hopes for this, and it ended up being another match that didn’t live up to my expectations. The opening stages just felt like a bunch of strikes from both women, with nothing really linking it all together. I do think Storm had a good performance as things went along though. Kicking Yim in the injured hand looked neat, and she laid in a nasty headbutt. The leg-trapped German suplex she hit looked choice, and I liked that she again went to the bad hand in the finish, as it caused Yim enough pain that she could slip behind and hit a German suplex, followed by a Tiger Driver for the victory. These were all good moments, and the match itself wasn’t bad, it just didn’t feel as important as I’d maybe expected.

Mae Young Classic 2018 - Round 2 #1

Toni Storm vs Hiroyo Matsumoto

So this episode kicks off with a cracker of a match. Loved the opening, evenly worked matwork being paid off by Matsumoto heeling it up by booting Storm in the stomach from a handshake. From there, Matsumoto controls Storm, breaking her down with a lovely missile dropkick and focusing on the back. Toni gets a lovely snap German suplex and a corner charge, but after both ladies build up momentum by running the ropes, it’s Matsumoto who takes advantage with a massive clothesline. Hiroyo hits the Vader Bomb kneedrop and shows great strength by muscling Storm up for the Rock Drop, but Toni makes the ropes. Matsumoto hits a pair of vicious clotheslines, but showboats too much, allowing Toni to reverse a third into a bridging cradle for three. Storm ate a lot of punishment here, so it made sense that her win would have to come from a reversal, and Matsumoto’s hubris came back to haunt her.

Rhea Ripley vs Kacy Catanzaro

There were bits of this I really dug, mainly the bits where Ripley’s raw power let her muscle Catanzaro around, but I’m still unconvinced by Kacy’s offence. I liked Rhea having enough awareness not to fully sell a glancing flying headscissors, stumbling but not going over. Kacy getting a small package when Ripley was too nonchalant going for a suplex made sense, looked like she really caught Ripley unaware. Ripley hits a neat low dropkick to Catanzaro’s face as she sits up and a great delayed vertical suplex, walking her around the ring. Rhea whips Catanzaro off the mat, through her legs, to lock in a neat cloverleaf variation. Kacy gets a small run off offence, fun tilt-a-whirl DDT and a nice twisting plancha, but her botching a springboard dropkick and just repeating the spot is a bit iffy. Ripley plants her with a sitout powerbomb for the win.

Taynara Conti vs Lacey Lane

I’m totally becoming a believer in Conti, thought she was excellent here. She’s believably cruel in her actions, loved her getting Lane off the ropes by a pair of nasty kicks to the hands. Lane has some flash, but Conti provided the meat of this match, with a big judo throw and a slam from the corner both looking great. Conti goes for the judo throw sideslam that won her the last match, but Lane reverses to a crucifix bomb for the win. This was brief, but fun.

Meiko Satomura vs Mercedes Martinez

This match had the potential to be excellent, and it massively achieved it and then some. Both women are portrayed pretty evenly, as two veterans and two of the top seeds in the tournament. Satomura sets the bar early, with a nice kick combo polished off with a big legsweep. Martinez slaps Satomura, before laying into her with a series of big strikes and a flurry of elbows to the head. At one point Satomura gets fired up and looks to be mounting a comeback, only for Martinez to crotch her on the top ropes and nail a swinging neckbreaker. Loved how Satomura’s comeback was worked, as she caught Mercedes unaware with an armbar, giving her the opening to then lay into her with some kicks. A pair of nasty looking DDTs followed, but Martinez blocks a Pele kick to nail a Fisherman Buster. This only gets a two count, and Martinez tries to lock in a surfboard. However, Satomura breaks it, and kicks Martinez as she tries to get up. The Scorpion Kick finishes it moments later. Really great hard-hitting stuff, with Satomura being just a little too quick and focused for Martinez.

WWE Mae Young Classic 2018 Episode #1

Tegan Nox vs Zatara

Great to see Nox back in action. She looked noticeably happy to be here, and puts in a decent first round performance. Zatara also looked decent, liked her early running knee and she does some nasty looking offence to Nox’s bad knee. Loved the spot where she put Tegan in a leglock on the mat, and Nox tried for the ropes, gave Zatara a few strikes to the face, then went for the ropes again, realising she needed to soften Zatara up first. Nox sells the knee well, and hits a nice looking crossbody. Because Nox was going through, they let Zatara get a bit of shine with a running knee in the corner, before Tegan ducks a kick from behind and nails the Shining Wizard for the win. Solid opener.

Rhea Ripley vs MJ Jenkins

It almost felt surprising to hear that Ripley is only 5ft 8, as she carries herself much bigger. She beasts Jenkins throughout a lot of this, hitting a big dropkick to send Jenkins to the floor on an attempted springboard and really smothering her with an abdominal stretch. Loved her adding elbows into the ribs too. Jenkins seems to have a lot of charisma and hits a nice back elbow, but a roundhouse kick is caught for a huge powerbomb by Ripley for the win.

Lacey Lane vs Vanessa Kraven

Kraven towers over Lane, and this is worked as a fun David vs Goliath sprint, with Lane hitting these nifty looking kicks to stagger Kraven. Lane is smart at keeping her distance from Kraven, and though there’s one early botch on a springboard armdrag, it doesn’t hurt the match too much. Kraven is hyped as being very agile on commentary, but aside from a nice cannonball in the corner, she looks a little clumsy in spots. She also throws some missed punches way over Lane’s head. Kraven misses a second cannonball and Lane gets a crucifix bomb for the win.

Meiko Satomura vs Killer Kelly

As predicted, Satomura looks great in this, and Kelly manages to keep up with her and looks excellent in the process. Satomura is so great offensively that it makes Kelly look super tough to eat some of the kicks that get dished out, and Kelly isn’t shy about laying in some of her own. The opening matwork looks really snug – when Satomura has Kelly in a headlock, Kelly tries to break free with a headscissors, only for Meiko to fight it off. This means that, when Kelly DOES get the headscissors moments later, it makes it look earned. Satomura gets a lovely 2^nd rope armdrag chained into a half crab that is just SO fluid a move. Loved Kelly blocking Satomura as she goes up top, and locking in an awesome Dragon Sleeper into a tree of woe. A Fisherman’s Suplex on Satomura gets a close two in a really convincing nearfall, before Meiko escapes a German suplex and hits a Pele, then nails a Death Valley Driver for the win. Just terrific stuff.

WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 6

Toni Storm vs Lacey Evans

Much better performance by both women than in the first round. Evans in particular looks more comfortable, possibly due to being in the ring with a more experienced opponent, and this ended up being a better showcase for her than the match she won. Liked her avoiding a third butt thrust by rolling Storm into a roll up, and she hit some nice legsweeps from the apron including a sort-of 619 around the post. Storm also looks more comfortable, and she look so fluid quickly reversing a boot in the corner into a backcracker. Evans tries a backflip into a pin, but eats knees and the Strong Zero gets the win for Storm.

Mia Yim vs Shayna Baszler

Good match, but one where I never thought the result was in question. Baszler hits some nice early kicks to down Yim, but Mia sends her outside and follows with a great looking dive. Loved how Baszler had this look of disdain at Yim’s strikes before taking control again. Later in the match, Yim tries another strike combo, which looks more successful until Shayna just belts her with a knee to the face. Baszler is really smooth at countering into an ankle lock, first from out of a Yim pinfall then later as a counter to a German suplex. It also helps to convey the idea that she can hook a submission from nowhere, which she proves by getting her knees up on a Yim 450 and swiftly locking on the choke for the win.

Rhea Ripley vs Dakota Kai

Another fun match here, and another where the loser is elevated in defeat. Loved the early spot where Ripley lands on her feet on getting sent to the floor, scoops Kai onto her shoulders and drops her face first on the apron. Ripley has some nice kicks, including a big dropkick to the stomach. Even better is that moments later Kai tries a bridging cradle, but can’t commit to it due to selling her stomach. Kai also has her own share of nasty looking offence, with a facewash in the corner standing out. The end sees Ripley making a mistake by putting Kai on the top rope for a superplex, only to get knocked down and hit with a top rope stomp for the win. Both women came out of this looking great.

Candice LeRae vs Nicole Savoy

Probably the weakest match of the show. At least this time the “Queen of Suplexes” got to hit some, and they looked pretty good. Loved the rolling butterfly suplex chained into an armbar, and she plants LeRae with a back suplex. Savoy looks pretty impressive throughout, really liked her diving clothesline in the corner. LeRae looks less impressive, though she does sell pretty well, but her offensive run is pretty forgettable and never seems truly convincing against the bigger, stronger Savoy. LeRae gets the win with a 2^nd rope neckbreaker.

WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 2

Mercedes Martinez vs Xia Li

Li has a massive disadvantage in terms of experience, as this is played up as her first ever match. In contrast, Martinez is the veteran, and obviously someone the WWE trust to work with their green talent. With that said, Li looked terrific here. She’s got a unique look that makes her stand out, but her offence was really on point here. Loved her range of kicks and her movement to slide into a crucifix behind Martinez. Her running punch to a kneeling Martinez was really great before she gets caught in a lovely looking spinebuster. Mercedes gets the win by locking in a surfboard into a Dragon sleeper. Bit of a Li showcase, but an effective one, with Martinez moving on to get more chances to shine later.

Marti Belle vs Rachel Evers

Considering how good Li looked in her match, the fact that these two put on such a stinker is more telling. On the positive side, Belle does some nice character work as a condescending heel, but the rest…terrible. There’s an early tell as Evers barely gets over on a suplex. Evers and Belle exchange some woeful looking punches, though Evers does hit a nice looking senton. An Evers spinebuster looks sloppy, and she then takes an odd looking bump from a Belle Stroke. They just don’t look to be on the same page, so it’s a relief when Evers gets the win with a roll up. The worst match of the tournament so far.

Rhea Ripley vs Miranda Salinas

Another match with some impressive rookie performances. Ripley in particular had some great looking dropkicks, a lovely running boot in the corner and a diving dropkick into the corner. Salinas does some nice work in getting over as a heel despite being substantially shorter and her heel control was perfectly fine. Ripley gets the win with a full nelson slam, and both girls looked promising here.

Mia Yim vs Sarah Logan

You can really tell the fact that these two are more advanced than a lot of the competitors, as this is a really good match. They cut a much faster pace, working fluid looking sequences. Loved the sudden dropkick Logan hits to a kneeling Yim, and Yim fires back with some stiff kicks. They also exchange some nasty blows on the mat. A German suplex to Logan looks a little off as Logan has to roll into place to have her shoulders down after initially landing out of the pin. Logan misses a leaping kneedrop and Yim hits Eat Defeat for the victory. Really good stuff.