Tiffany’s Takes: WWE NXT UK (6/26/19)

It’s D-Day for Travis Banks! Can the Kiwi Buzzsaw take down WALTER and become WWE United Kingdom Champion on NXT UK?

Tiffany Takes is back with a look at WWE NXT UK, from the Download Festival!

NXT UK Championship: Show of hands, how many people knew from the start that Travis Banks was going to lose this match? Everyone? Yeah, me too, BUT, I will give the Kiwi Buzzsaw his due, that was a hell of a match and he lasted longer than I thought he would. I’m still not totally sold on WALTER or Imperium, but he did a pretty good job here and sold Banks’ offense really well, so I might learn to respect him.

NXT UK Women’s Division: I was really thrilled that Xia Brookside and Killer Kelly were going to get a chance to finish the match that was so rudely interrupted by Jinny and Jazzy. I’ve said before that Brookside has the makings of a STAR and I was right. This was a great match and I love seeing more storylines for the women outside the Women’s Championship!

I find it odd that the challenger gets to pick when they have their title shot. Maybe that’s how it’s always been done and I just missed it, but I don’t recall that being the norm. I liked Toni’s promo, but the fact that she always seems slightly confused by what’s going on just gets on my nerves. I am excited about her vs KLR, so that’s something to look forward to in a few weeks.

NIVENS VS RIPLEY IS HAPPENING!!!!! I’m so excited to see this match! They’ve been building it for months, even with Ripley out for injury and we’re finally going to get it!!

NXT UK Tag Team Championship: I really enjoy GYV, heels or not, they’re so fun to heckle, even if I still don’t get just WHY the fans torment Gibson with their shoes. I have the feeling that their rematch with Mustache Mountain will be dragged out to wait until TakeOver: Cardiff because it’s not the match you want to just throw onto NXT UK one night. Also, Gibson trying to be posh is hilarious.

I’m going to be honest, I keep forgetting that Black Boar and Dave Mastiff are different people. What? They look similar! ANYWAY, I’m super intrigued by Mastiff teaming with the Hunt to face Gallus, but I’m also worried that the similar ring styles is going to make for very rough viewing. Still, I like that they’re giving all these guys SOMETHING to do while GYV and Mustache Mountain work out their issues.

Mark Andrews vs Joseph Connors: Welcome back, Mark Andrews! I really enjoyed this match against Joseph Connors, who seems to be getting a serious push as a mid-level heel, which is good because he’s starting to grow on me. I wish NXT UK had a mid-card title because these two would be a perfect feud to start it off with.

Ligero vs Noam Dar: This was an odd match up, but it was still really good. Dar seems to be much more at home in the heel role than he was as a babyface, which is okay. I’m not sure why he was up against Ligero, but the match was fabulous. The thing I didn’t like was Kenny Williams’ involvement. I get that he and Dar are going to be feuding, but the way he did it doesn’t seem very babyface like. Hopefully, we’ll get something next week.

Overall Comments: That was a pretty good NXT UK. It did feel like a sort of ‘future building’ episode. Even though we had several matches, all of them were about building other feuds for one of the participants or advertising future matches. That said, it was really good. Travis Banks made a good argument for why he should be in the title conversation.

I can’t wait to finally see Niven vs Ripley! Xia Brookeside’s star is rising and I’m super happy for her! GYV continue to be hilarious as heels. NXT UK needs a mid card title just so Mark Andrews and Joseph Conners can fight over it.

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