NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff: Fallout, takeaways, what’s next

Your recap of all the exciting action that’s fit to recap from NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff.

On August 31, NXT UK descended on Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales for the biggest show in the brand’s short history. Despite that status, NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff was flying a bit under the radar heading into the weekend. NXT UK is, generally speaking, on the fifth rung of notoriety when it comes to WWE programming. Plus, being booked the same day as AEW’s All Out — not to mention NJPW’s Royal Quest — certainly didn’t help their case.

Despite that, however, NXT UK delivered a great show befitting the TakeOver name. Was Tyler Bate a big and strong enough boy to suplex WALTER’s title reign into the Bristol Channel? Could Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster win gold in front of their hometown crowd? Would Toni Storm give Kay Lee Ray a receipt for her venomous words? And what shenanigans did Cesaro get up to?

No sense wasting any more time; let’s find out the answers to those questions and more by hi-fiving and stage-diving into NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff.

Das Bate

Umm, wow. When Tyler Bate versus WALTER for the WWE United Kingdom Championship was announced for TakeOver: Cardiff, we expected it would probably be great. Take one great wrestler, put them together with another great wrestler, you get a great match. Great, great, great. It’s basic math.

What you don’t always expect though, is that you get not just a wrestling match, but a 40-plus minute emotional war epic that has you picking dust out of your teeth because your jaw was on the floor so long. What you don’t always expect, is Tyler Bate versus WALTER for the WWE United Kingdom Championship.

Is this overselling things? Maybe. But 99 percent of talking about wrestling is engaging in hyperbole. (Also, my apartment is impeccably clean and devoid of any dust). The point is, this match is some degree of enjoyable and if you haven’t already, you should go watch it before continuing to read this or do anything else with your day.

WALTER is as compelling a big man and big-match performer as we’ve got right now in wrestling. He’s such a dominant, final level boss that every move he does and every move he takes feel like a huge deal.

Bate, too, is seriously something special. The athleticism, the raw strength, the emotion, every aspect equally makes him a joy to watch. He could easily be one of the biggest stars in WWE, and he’s only 22.

After twice beating down WALTER while looking dressed for a breezy summer day, Bate finds himself in much more trouble here. Though Bate is able to dodge multiple fastball chops from WALTER, body slam the champ and send him to the outside with a hurricanrana, it’s not long before the shoe is on the other foot. It’s also not soon before that other foot is bending Bate over the top rope and choking him.

On a subsequent suicide dive attempt, Bate is caught mid-air by WALTER, furiously chopped, and powerbombed onto the apron. And if you think that’s troubling, he then gets powerbombed essentially head-first into the ring post.

That’s really the main thrust of this match: Bate performs a series of escalating feats of strength, agility, or emotional catharsis only for WALTER to get back up and start grinding Bate into a fine powder with brutality, before Bate rallies and we rinse and repeat. It’s thrilling.

There’s wayyy too much action here for one section of an event recap to do this match justice. BUT, seeing Bate unload his entire arsenal and then some — complete with a Pete Dunne finger snap and a Trent Seven Burning Hammer — was awesome. The inevitable airplane spin with WALTER on his shoulders totally delivered.

His bridge out of WALTER’s reversal of the Tyler Driver to then hit the Tyler Driver was mind-blowing. Kicking out at one from a powerbomb, amazing. Even the ending where WALTER lariats the life out of Bate and the entire Cardiff crowd was tragic but wonderful.

Nigel McGuiness was legitimately losing his mind while watching this. You should go do the same.