NXT UK recap for June 19, 2019: You wouldn’t Download a Festival

We’ve got a new No. 1 contender to the NXT UK Women’s Championship. Here is your recap of everything worth recapping from the June 19 edition of NXT UK.

With its future seemingly wide open, NXT UK comes to us this week — and presumably the next few — from the scenic Download Festival in Derby, UK. The first step major forward into that future for the brand: finding a new No. 1 contender to the NXT UK Women’s Championship.

Seeing NXT UK talent performing under a tent in broad daylight might trigger frantic flashbacks to the WrestleMania Axxess shows, where things happened, yet nothing really happened for multiple weeks. Judging from this episode and some of the matches slated to occur in the coming weeks however, it seems like these shows should progress with a normal amount of forward momentum.

Sure, you can faintly hear bands playing in the background at times, but as long as nothing happens that makes it seem too drastic a departure, these should feel like regular episodes of the show. Anyway, time to kick back and enjoy a nice NXT UK with our good friends Vic Joseph and …

https://twitter.com/NXTUK/status/1141421490648182785

Aiden English!?!? DOWNLOAAAAAAAD *shakes fist*

Kay Lee Ray: Forgotten and loving it!

Thought we were overdoing the “wow literally everyone forgot about Kay Lee Ray, even us” talk about the Scottish wrestler’s recent rise up the card? Well, we’ve surely got nothing on World Wrestling Entertainment. That’s quite literally the booking of this match.

Aiden English says — and we quote — “Everyone forgot about Kay Lee Ray, much like me.” In a “WWE.com exclusive” interview, Ray says “That’s the last time anyone forgets about me.” Toni Storm forgot about her, the entire Battle Royal forgot about her and now she’s No. 1 contender. We’re just working with what we’re given!

The match itself is pretty fun, if slightly predictable. A lot of “everyone in the pool” kind of action, but it makes sense as literally everyone in the division is in the pool.

It’s pretty clear who the major players are going to be when Xia Brookside makes her entrance, followed by Jinny and Jazzy Gabert, before the episode cuts to commercial break, returning for Kay Lee Ray’s entrance while the likes of Killer Kelly, Isla Dawn, Nina Samuels and trainees from NXT UK’s recent all-female tryouts — Candy Floss, Kanji and Rhio — are already in the ring. Piper Niven and Rhea Ripley then make their entrances and the match is underway, half of the participants already coded as cannon fodder.

The ultimates of that designation are of course the trainees, two of whom are eliminated by Jazzy Gabert in short order. Candy Floss has been on NXT UK TV before, we know her, so she gets to hang in there a little while longer.

Unfortunately, hanging in there means taking a Dominator from Gabert. The Alpha Female goes to toss Floss, but Jinny steps in to steal the glory — much like her pinfall from last week — ordering Gabert to let her score the elimination. Predictable in a sense, but still fun stuff that fleshes out the Jinny-Jazzy relationship.

A welcome surprise from this match is Xia Brookside getting to make the most of her underdog spirit without getting brutalized too badly. After sending Kay Lee Ray to the outside — and this is key — through the middle rope, Brookside starts getting ganged up on by (who else?) Jinny and Jazzy.

Jinny only picks on those she thinks she can easily deal with, but she severely underestimates Brookside here. Rather than getting ragdolled and eliminated, Brookside — with an assist from the helpful, dominant Piper Niven — is actually able to eliminate Gabert. Niven drops Gabert onto the apron and Brookside seizes the opportunity to dropkick Gabert’s legs sending her gently to the floor, eliminated all the same.

Oh no! Jinny has to actually try now? Yes, and she immediately gets ganged up on by Brookside, Niven and Isla Dawn, who kick her ass around in a circle. She gets dumped over the ropes but is able to hang on and eventually be scooped up like a child, saved from elimination by Gabert. It’s a short-lived victory though, as Jinny gets eliminated by Brookside shortly thereafter.

Eventually, we finally get our much-anticipated Niven-Ripley action. Dawn has been tossed, Brookside is hanging upside down in the corner for what feels like a very long time, and Nina Samuels is also there. Actually, Samuels has been beaten down by Niven, but is still clawing at her like “No, pay attention to me.” Very on-brand for Samuels, even in her state of struggle.

Unfortunately for Samuels, Niven only has eyes for Ripley, and she gets thrown out of the ring. Niven and Ripley start trading shots back-and-forth until Niven wallops Ripley with a headbutt that staggers her into the corner where she is then hit with a cannonball. For some reason, Niven commits the cardinal sin of Battle Royals — climbing the turnbuckle — and Ripley is able to push her over the ropes. Struggling, Niven manages to also pull Ripley over to the apron with her.

Finally free of her upside-down predicament, Brookside makes one last underdog push, unleashing another lethal-in-the-context-of-the-match dropkick to Ripley. She falls off the apron, but pulls Niven down with her as she goes, ensuring both of them are eliminated at the same time.

Brookside cannot believe she’s won and she’s right to, because she hasn’t. The defeated look of realization washes over her face as she learns that just like every single person that has ever existed on planet Earth, she forgot about Ray. Kay Lee Ray slides back into the ring, clotheslines the spent Brookside and then dumps her over the top rope to win the Battle Royal and become the new No. 1 contender. Surely, now no one will ever forget Ray ever again.

Not to keep harping on it, but it still feels lame that the men got several weeks of build-up to their No. 1 contender match, while the women get a single Battle Royal — not even a one-fall match — with one week of hype. Then it’s bandied about like “Oh wow, the FIRST women’s Battle Royal in NXT UK history,” like these kind of matches aren’t a dime a dozen.

On the other hand, the women’s No. 1 contender does get to challenge whenever they want, while Travis Banks is being forced to use his well-earned title shot at Download Festival, so at least there’s that.