WWE NXT UK: April 7, 2022: Dragunov edges Strong in incredible NXT UK Title bout

Primate def. Wild Boar

In a bitter battle between former tag team partners, Wild Boar and Primate pulverized one another as Boar continued his crusade to get a match against Eddie Dennis, who unceremoniously booted him from Symbiosis last year.

With only Primate blocking his path toward a match against Dennis, Boar began throwing haymakers at the toll of the bell during a wild match-opening slugfest with his former friend.

Perhaps sensing that his ally was in danger, T-Bone hopped onto the ring apron, distracting the official and allowing Dennis to wrap a chain around his fist and crack Boar with a vicious right hand to give Primate the win.

After the match, Symbiosis held Boar in place while Dennis repeatedly hit him with the chain until Mark Andrews hit the scene, landed several steel chair strikes on Symbiosis and chased them from the ring.

Charlie Dempsey def. Wolfgang

Die Familie are slowly tightening their grip on NXT UK, and their recent dominance continued when Charlie Dempsey defeated Wolfgang for a second time.

After Wolfgang shook the ring by taking down his foe with a vicious suplex, the eye of Teoman appeared on the TitanTron and distracted The Last King of Scotland.

Wolfgang refocused and knocked Rohan Raja from the ring apron with a right hand, but when he turned back to face his opponent, the undefeated Dempsey leveled him with a bridging double underhook suplex for the win.

NXT UK Champion Ilja Dragunov def. Roderick Strong

Roderick Strong wasted no time making an impact upon debuting in NXT UK, defeating Wolfgang in his highly physical debut clash before immediately challenging NXT UK Champion Ilja Dragunov to a title fight.

Strong made his desperation apparent in the early goings when he feigned a clean rope break before trying to blast the titleholder with a right hand, only for Dragunov to duck. An early mat-grappling clinic soon gave way to a vicious exchange of chops and fists as well as a ringside brawl that saw The Messiah of the Backbreaker take the upper hand by chucking his opponent into the steel steps.

Dragunov fought through the pain to take down the challenger with a jaw-dropping sequence of suplexes, but Strong rolled out of the ring and once again used the steel steps to his advantage, slamming the titleholder back-first on top of them.

After absorbing several menacing forearm strikes to the face, Dragunov caught Strong with two enzuigiris, received one final knee to the face from Strong and clobbered him with a driving headbutt for the hard-earned title retention.