NXT UK Recap for June 26, 2019: Kiwi Crushed

Out-acted

Noam Dar takes on Ligero in a match where Dar further reinforces he’s a cheeky little rascal and Ligero reinforces that he likes horns. Okay, so Ligero’s attire: it’s already a mystery how he breathes in that mask since it seems to be flush up against his nose with a mouth opening that mostly covers his mouth.

The most ungenerous interpretation of Ligero’s mask is that it looks like an S&M mask with plastic horns. And now he’s added the horned S&M-looking harness thing? It’s certainly a fashion choice. Anyway, that’s two cents on Ligero’s attire — that has no bearing on his in-ring performance, which is consistently very good — from someone who thinks tucking in their t-shirt for a night on the town is “bold.”

So yeah, Noam Dar and Ligero wrestle each other and have a pretty entertaining time of it. Dar messes with Ligero’s horns a bunch — the head ones — and at one point uses his space jacket to pretend like he’s a matador waving his cape. What a disrespectful scamp, that Noam Dar! It doesn’t do much towards giving Dar a mental edge or anything though, as him and Ligero are mostly neck-and-neck.

At one point fairly early on, Kenny Williams comes down to ringside with a chair to sit and watch. We didn’t cover this last week and should have in retrospect, but Dar condescendingly offered to take Williams under his wing after Williams lost to Kassius Ohno. Genuine as he may or may not have be taking the “offer,” it’s the reason Williams is out there.

Unable to put Ligero away through honorable means such as wrestling better than him in a wrestling match, Dar tries to resort to some illegal tactics. Being our generation’s finest actor, Dar leaps from the top rope, misses Ligero and grabs at his bad knee, like he’s horrifically re-injured it. When the ref’s back is turned however, Dar shows he’s clearly fine and starts begging Williams to give him the chair to hit Ligero with. Ever the chap — a friend, not the kind of thing Ligero might start wearing — Williams gets up and hands the chair to Dar. Only, he doesn’t let go. The tricker has become the tricked!

Caught up in a wave of emotion — frustration, confusion, remembering that he’s supposed to be pretending to be hurt — Dar gets rolled up by Ligero for a three-count. It’s one thing to mock your friend for losing a wrestling match, but actively causing him to lose a wrestling match? Williams just upped the ante. Begun this feud has. Expect Dar to attack Williams from the crowd during a future match, while dressed up as an old sailor.