NXT UK recap for June 5, 2019: A Very Fatal Four-Way

Your recap of all the action worth recapping from the June 5, 2019 edition of NXT UK.

The time for qualifying now over, NXT UK finally ran its much-hyped fatal four-way to determine the new No. 1 contender to the WWE United Kingdom Championship. Joe Coffey, Jordan Devlin, Dave Mastiff and Travis Banks went to war. Who came out on top and earned a future date with WALTER?

That question answered, plus Kay Lee Ray continuing her snub-inspired dominance, the ever-petulant NXT UK tag champs and more. Let’s not take up any more time and jump headfirst into the June 5, 2019 episode of NXT UK: A Very Fatal Four-Way.

Kiwi Crushin’ It

As the old saying goes, the arc of constantly getting your ass kicked is long, but it bends towards justice. In an NXT UK career thus far marred by adversaries taking advantage and getting the best of him, Travis Banks finally picked his spot and got one over on everyone else. We’ll get there though, because there’s an entire fun match to get through first!

For four guys who are competing for an opportunity to get chopped into mutton by WALTER, they all seem very eager to claim the No. 1 contender mantle. Banks tackles a chatty Jordan Devlin right out of the gate, and the action rarely lets up from there. While those two roll to the outside, Joe Coffey and Dave Mastiff — the match’s resident burly hosses — decide right away to determine who is the truest strongman. So they run into each other a bunch of times.

On their third collision, both reel backwards and fall to the outside. Banks and Devlin try to take them out with dives and are cast aside. Nothing stops these trains. Nothing except slapping their bellies together after simultaneously attempting crossbodies, at last laying each other out. Truly, the match’s only downtime is at this exact moment, mere minutes in, with all four competitors already wiped out.

Continuing on the strongman front, Mastiff delivers a pair of German Suplexes to each of his opponents, only to then get powerslammed — all 23 stone of him, thanks momentum —and outdone by Coffey.

Coffey is not only able to lift up every single stone of Mastiff, but subsequently gets Banks caught in an inverted Big Swing of sorts — his face towards the mat instead of up towards the ceiling — while simultaneously carrying and spinning Devlin on his shoulders. He intensely shrugs Devlin off his shoulders and faceplants Banks for a two-count, only to then spin Devlin around even more and Butterfly Suplex him for another two.

At this point, the Glasgow crowd is going nuts for their hometown lad and sensing this, Devlin tries to beg off. Devlin is at his best when acting a coward though, and is able to send a charging Coffey into the post. It’s the Irish Ace’s moment to shine, as he plants Banks with a Uranage and hits a standing moonsault for two, before dropkicking Mastiff off the apron so his his face bounces off the hardest part of the ring on the way down. Feeling pretty satisfied with himself, Devlin strikes the Gallus arms-crossed pose in the center of the ring, until a look of “Oh, crap” washes over his face, as a crazed and enraged Coffey rises from behind him like a Xenomorph out of the water.

Speaking of movie analogies, you ever see Tarantino’s Death Proof? Because this next part is like the end of that, as Devlin gets ping-ponged back and forth between Coffey and Mastiff punches before Banks comes in with a superkick akin to a Rosario Dawson boot heel to the face.

With Devlin out of the picture, Coffey goes after Banks, who sends him face-first into the turnbuckle. Banks goes to double stomp him, but is caught in mid-air and German Suplexed by Mastiff. Coffey then is able to blast Banks into a corner only to get dropkicked into the same corner by Mastiff, who then hits Into the Void on both of them. It’s already the headline photo for this post, but just going to drop it down here again because it’s too good.

Their faces! Anyway, Mastiff covers Banks for an assured victory, only Devlin wasn’t as out of the picture as previously thought. He moonsaults off the top turnbuckle, majestically floating on the wind, and breaks up the pin. Soon, Mastiff hits Devlin with a big move and has him covered, only for Banks to return the favor with a less graceful, yet just as effective double stomp from the top. Devlin continues to get beat up though, getting clobbered with a left-handed version of Coffey’s All the Best for the Bells lariat, and flattened by a Mastiff senton.

Coffey lariats Mastiff over the ropes and the momentum carries both of them to the floor. Devlin staggers to his feet wondering what’s happened or what to do next. Did he forget it was a four-way match? Was he that arrogant that he didn’t even consider Banks to be a viable threat?

In any event, Banks sneaks on by, jumps off the turnbuckle to kick Devlin in the jaw and then hits the Kiwi Crusher to become the No. 1 contender to the WWE United Kingdom Champion. Like the first paragraph said, he picked his spot and got one over on everyone. Turns out this was one of those card games where the Ace was low, especially when one of four.