WWE NXT UK Recap for May 8, 2019: Grizzled Young Champions

Back again in the actual UK, here is your recap of this week’s edition of NXT UK.

At last, we are thousands of miles away from the infinite vortex outside of time that was WrestleMania Axxess. Settled in back on the other side of the pond, NXT UK aired the first of a series of shows from Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland.

Back in front of a true crowd — no malice intended towards the fans that attended Axxess — the atmosphere once again feels right. And with a huge fatal four-way on the horizon, in which the winner becomes No. 1 contender to the WWE United Kingdom Championship, NXT UK can at last continue the momentum it had built leading into TakeOver: New York. But first, a long overdue match for the NXT UK Tag Team Championships. Let’s jump into it, shall we?

The benefits of having multiple friends

This week’s main event was supposed to have seen Grizzled Young Veterans finally give Kenny Williams and Amir Jordan the title shot they have earned. Unfortunately, that didn’t get to happen, as Jordan was apparently injured by mystery attackers and deemed unable to compete. Wow, what kind of cowards too afraid to actually defend their titles would do such a thing?

Coincidentally, two cowards too afraid to actually defend their titles come out to the ring in James Drake and Zack Gibson. The “if you hate Gibson, shoes off” chants start before their entrance music even finishes. Gibson claims to be crushed, just positively devastated over the fate that has befallen Jordan. But, with him unable to wrestle, it looks like it’s time for the crowd to put their shoes back on and head on home. Show’s over.

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Williams, however, was not going to give up that easily. Not as a Glaswegian with the opportunity to perform in Glasgow, and not after he and Jordan worked so hard for this moment. Fortunately, and unlike either Gibson or Drake, Williams actually has other friends who respect him and who can be relied on in times of need.

As if having one Scottish wrestler in Glasgow wasn’t enough of a hometown advantage, out comes a guy with “Scottish” in his nickname. Yes, it’s “The Scottish Supernova” Noam Dar, whose knee injury from a few weeks ago seems to have not been as catastrophic as feared. The two Scots hit the ring and start going off on the champs before the referee can even ring the bell.

Of course, Dar’s injured knee is the target of Gibson and Drake. Their delusions of self-grandeur aside, they are the tag team champions in NXT UK for a reason. The work they do to divide-and-conquer their opponents works wonders and directly pays off in the end.

We can’t get there, though, without hyping Williams, who gets to shine so much in this match. Dar gets battered and is thwarted on multiple tag-in attempts. That, however, just increases the degree to which the eventual tag to Williams is white-hot. Williams’ first move is to springboard directly onto Drake and start pummeling him on the ground. He jumps through the ropes to kick Gibson and then hits a tornado DDT on Drake for two. This prompts Gibson to pull Drake out the ring in self-preservation, perhaps to get themselves counted out again. But Williams doesn’t even give them a chance to contemplate that, as he springboards off the middle turnbuckle and then basically trust falls onto the two of them on the outside.

Eventually there’s a double tag, and it’s Dar and Gibson in the ring together. Dar almost immediately kicks out Gibson’s leg from under him, and locks in a kneebar. He’s able to squirm over to tag in Drake, but then he gets locked in the kneebar. He’s screaming in agony and Gibson rushes in to help, but ends up getting himself caught in an ankle lock. Then they’re both screaming in agony. Couldn’t have happened to nicer guys.

Unfortunately for good people everywhere, Gibson eventually twists out of the ankle lock and is able to kick Williams into Dar, breaking up the submission. Then the work on Dar’s knee continues as Drake locks him in a single-leg crab. Enduring far too much abuse, Dar is forced to tap out. Except Williams dives into the ring and stops his hand from physically tapping, before kicking Drake in the head to break the hold. He’s come too far to let it end like this.

Towards the end, Dar returns the favor by pushing Williams out of the way of a Gibson attack, allowing Williams to hit his wheelbarrow facebuster for an extremely near-fall. Dar comes back in for a double team, but gets ambushed by Drake, who slams his bad knee into the post, taking him out for good. Now it’s two-on-one and the tag team prowess of Grizzled Young Veterans finally pays off. Williams goes for another wheelbarrow facebuster on Gibson, but Gibson is able to get out of it and then hold Williams hostage in the corner as Drake hits a huge dropkick. Then it’s Gibson’s Helter Skelter followed by Drake’s 450 splash for the win.

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Tough to see it end this way, without Jordan even getting to participate. Hopefully this isn’t the end for him and Williams as a team, and they’ll get another shot down the road. They still have earned it.