NXT UK Tag Team Champions Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen def. Mark Andrews & Wild Boar
NXT UK kicked off with a bang, featuring a title fight between a couple of tag teams that have recently silenced the doubters: Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen shocked the world by outlasting three other teams to capture the vacant NXT UK Tag Team Championship, while Mark Andrews and Wild Boar also raised some eyebrows by defeating Primate and T-Bone.
Briggs and Jensen rag-dolled their smaller opponents in the early goings, particularly when Briggs launched Andrews into the waiting arms of Jensen, who caught his foe in midair and powerslammed him into the canvas. When they went to the well later in the bout, however, an apparently prepared Andrews caught Jensen with Stundog Millionaire on the way down to the mat before making a much-needed tag to Boar, who unleashed a series of menacing strikes on the champions.
Andrews nearly won the match with a Stundog Millionaire to Briggs, but Briggs dodged Fall to Pieces and tagged in Jensen. Seconds later, Briggs and Jensen clobbered Andrews with their devastating high-low maneuver for their first title retention.
Blair Davenport def. Amale
To the surprise of many, the passionate Amale kept her cool while confronting recent antagonizer Blair Davenport in the backstage area last week, but The French Hope made certain to bring the fire to their singles clash.
Amale completely overwhelmed Davenport at the opening bell with rapid-fire arm drags, some right hands to the midsection, a savage back elbow to the jaw and a pump kick for an early two-count. Davenport also showed her vicious side when the fight spilled to ringside, evading a kick, grabbing Amale by the hair and throwing her back-first onto the ringside floor.
When Davenport appeared to reaggravate her previously injured left leg, The French Hope nearly scored the win with a picture-perfect bulldog, but Davenport regrouped and notched the three-count with an unforgiving boot to the face followed by a falcon arrow.
NXT UK Champion Ilja Dragunov def. Wolfgang
Two weeks after Mark Coffey captured the NXT UK Heritage Cup by edging Noam Dar in an edge-of-your-seat thriller, Wolfgang attempted to dethrone dominant NXT UK Champion Ilja Dragunov and bring more gold to Gallus.
The former NXT UK Tag Team Champion received a rough welcoming from Dragunov, who shook the ring with an early side headlock takedown, though the titleholder appeared to injure his back just a few minutes later. The issue plagued Dragunov throughout the bout and often left him writhing in agony on the canvas.
Wolfgang came within an eyelash of winning the championship when he chucked Dragunov into the air and blasted him with a knee to the back on the way down for a long two-count.
Dragunov, who is closing in on a full year as NXT UK Champion, retained his championship for the seventh time after stinging the hard-charging challenger with a knee to the face, planting him back-first with a slam and landing Torpedo.
After the bell, Dragunov helped Wolfgang back to his feet, and Wolfgang pointed to the NXT UK Title and seemingly offered the champion some words of encouragement before shaking his hand.