NXT UK recap for June 12, 2019: A Wolf in Wolfe’s Clothing

Your recap of everything worth recapping from the June 12, 2019 edition of NXT UK.

With the NXT UK power balance in a state of flux, British Strong Style clashed with Imperium to determine which three-man team would set the standard for the future of the brand. “Technical difficulties” robbed us of a chance to see them brawl two weeks ago. Would their ultimate in-ring meeting live up to the hype of their rumble that occurred off-screen but was apparently the number-one most insane thing to ever happen in a wrestling ring?

That massive main event, plus the in-ring NXT UK debut of Jazzy Gabert, Joseph Conners trying to out-crazy Ilja Dragunov and more. Not a second more to waste, here’s your recap of the June 12, 2019 edition of NXT UK: A Wolf in Wolfe’s Clothing.

Ad Imperium

Battle lines? Oh, they’re drawn. Tensions? You better believe they’ve boiled over. There’s nothing left for British Strong Style and Imperium to do but step into the ring and beat on each other until one unit stands tall. So they do that.

From the opening bell, it’s a fight. There’s hardly a moment to breathe. Dunne quickly gets after Aichner and knocks him down in the corner, only for Aichner to explode out of there and level The Bruiserweight with a clothesline. When Tyler Bate thinks he has a moment to twirl his moustache, Marcel Barthel chops him in the throat. With two hands! Trent Seven chops up chests like his very existence is at stake, ducking and absorbing hits from WALTER’s gargantuan hands in equal measure.

This is the kind of match Imperium wanted and they seem to revel in it. While maintaining wrist control after ramming into him, WALTER literally invites Trent Seven to hit him. He obliges, but it really only serves to fire up Imperium even more who continue to prolong the “Seven gets abused in the ring before making the hot tag” portion of the match. They drive knees into him, hit him in the head, try to turn his limbs to dust while mouthing off in German and hit a painful looking spine buster-penalty kick combo for a near-fall.

Eventually, resilient as he always seems to be, Seven makes his tag, bringing in Pete Dunne just as WALTER gets tagged in on the other side. Dunne comes in extremely hot, delivering a whole lot of kicks into the man who stole their championship rematch.

No matter what, British Strong Style never seem to gain an upper hand for too long. As he’s building momentum, Dunne is thrown towards the corner and goes to do his signature step-up backflip move over WALTER. Only WALTER has that move perfectly scouted at this point and doesn’t bite. When Dunne lands, it’s into the loving arms of a WALTER sleeper hold.

Bate then comes in and starts wreaking havoc, including an Exploder Suplex of Barthel onto Aichner. Bate’s eyes might get a little too big even for his muscles however, when he tries to lift up WALTER to Airplane Spin him. This struggle gives Aichner enough time to rush in and hit a brainbuster followed by a double team Backstabber-Double Stomp with Barthel for a two-count. Still, British Strong Style hang in there and nearly have the match won before a pin attempt following a Bitter End and a Spiral Tap is broken up at the last second.

And then a mysterious hooded figure emerges from the back. The referee goes to investigate like, “Hey, no hoods allowed, get outta here!” before being inadvertently bumped off the ring apron by Seven. As you might expect, shenanigans ensue.

Hooded man waltzes into the ring, to confused looks on the faces of both Bate and Barthel. He reveals himself to be Alexander Wolfe of all people, to continued looks of, “Huh, what,” from both competitors. But then Wolfe hits a sit-out powerbomb on Bate, clearing things up for all parties involved. He’s a wolf in Wolfe’s clothing. The woozy ref is rolled back into the ring and counts the three.

WALTER, Aichner and Barthel do their group pose in the ring, leaving an Alexander Wolfe-sized space that the former NXT Tag Team Champion slides right into. Kudos to Wolfe for going from being the least valued member of SAnitY to — at the time of this match’s taping at least — the only former SAnitY member with a real direction in WWE. WALTER out here changing careers. (Granted, Nikki Cross has since become “normal” and started hanging out with Alexa Bliss, but we hesitate to label anything happening on the main roster as having a “direction” these days).

Anywho, Imperium steal another one. Even when they’re not in control, they’re completely in control. Their name means absolute power, and are they ever wielding it.