Tiffany’s Takes: NXT UK (5/29/2019)

WALTER’s new stable, Imperium, faces off against the most popular UK stable of British Strong Style!

After the shocking end of Dunne/WALTER II, what does the landscape of NXT UK look like?

Imperium vs British Strong Style: Boy, this storyline sounds familiar, a German/Italian team vs Brits. Where have I seen this before? Oh, yeah, it was World War II! That was eye-roll inducing to say the least. That said, these are six guys that could make this storyline work and it not be a total mess, so I’m not throwing my hands up just yet, but I’m not getting my hopes up.

Carlos Romo and A-Kid vs Gallus: I’m not sure why Gallus had a problem with Carlos Romo, but boy they took a pound of flesh out him. Seriously, I really loved this match because Gallus has been needing some dominant victories because they’ve kind of gotten lost after Joe failed to beat Dunne and got beat by WALTER. I’m not sure Joe is going to win that Fatal Four Way, my money’s still on Devlin, but at least the whole is getting back on track.

Xia Brookside and Isla Dawn: I’m actually intrigued by this pairing. It looks like NXT UK is building up a Women’s Tag Team division to compete for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, which is great. Plus, I’ve been missing Isla Dawn since her feud with Jinny got cut short. I’m not sure she and Brookside have a prayer against Jazzy Gabert, but it should be a fun match.

Joseph Conners: Should someone tell Conners that Dragunov already debuted and absolutely DESTROYED his opponent? Because it sounds like Conners missed that match or he wouldn’t be trying to pick a fight. HOWEVER, I’m intrigued by the potential of this match, even though it sounds like a brutal match.

Fatal Four Way: I’m really excited about this match coming next week! My money is on Jordan Devlin getting the title match he got robbed of against WALTER, but a case could made for just about every guy in the match based on skills and storytelling.

Kassius Ohno vs Jack Gallagher: Wow. What a match! I’ll be the first admit that Kassius Ohno doesn’t really impress me, but that was an amazingly good match. The one thing I don’t get is why give Ohno a cheap win? Is Gallagher not staying in NXT UK like we thought or are they going to have a long-term feud and Gallagher’s going to be splitting his time between NXT UK and 205 Live? Again, it was a great match, I’m just confused on where it goes from here.

Piper Niven vs Rhea Ripley: Can we hurry up and get this match, please? I love the build, but they really need to do this before everyone loses interest.

Toni Storm vs Nina Samuels: I said last week that Samuels kicked a hornets’ nest by trashing Toni Storms’ family? Well, I wasn’t wrong, but Storm got stung a few times too. Seriously, that was a fabulous match from both women. I haven’t really been sold on Samuels as a top tier talent, but she definitely made a case for herself as a top heel.

I’m still not quite sure what to make of Toni. I like her and think it’s a great talent, but I’m just not over-awed by her. It’s hard for me to buy her as an imperiled babyface and sometimes she doesn’t seem to know what’s going on, but she’s good to watch.

Overall Thoughts: That was a really good show. A lot of story building got done and we got some great matches.

I’m not sold on Imperium vs British Strong Style. It’s just too hokey. The talents involved are good but the storyline is just silly.

I’m super excited about the Fatal Four Way. It’s always fun to see a match where you can see any one of the guys winning and getting that title shot.

I’m also glad to see moves being made in the Women’s division, but it’s also pretty clear that Toni needs a new opponent, unless they’re going to have her continue to feud with Nina Samuels.

That’s it for Tiffany’s On Time NXT UK Takes! Stay tuned for NXT!