NXT UK recap, September 11: South Wales Squashculture

The shiniest squash

Shax! Remember Shax? Shax is bax! And her tiny hat too. Sadly for Shax, she’s up against the double whammy of hometown favorite and returning from injury, Tegan Nox. Triple whammy actually, as this is Nox’s NXT UK debut.

Over 300 days after a brutal knee injury in the Mae Young Classic, Nox has returned to the ring. Simply excited to be competing again, she offers a sportsmanlike handshake to start the match. Instead of returning the gesture, Shax slaps her in the face. Big mistake, huge. Doesn’t she realize she’s facing a hometown favorite returning from injury making her NXT UK debut?

In retaliation, Nox kicks Shax in the head, hits a fallaway slam, and then nails a Shining Wizard — a very shiny one — to win the match in like 30 seconds.

Nox doesn’t get much time to celebrate however, because new NXT UK Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray comes out to air some grievances. Kay Lee Ray is mad that she ascended to the top of the brand’s women’s division, yet the only thing people wanted to talk about coming out of TakeOver was Tegan Nox briefly sitting in the front row. Ray warns Nox to quit standing in her spotlight, as seemingly the only thing she enjoys less than having her name left off a list is being overshadowed.

The champ starts to walk away, but Nox is unafraid. After almost a year on the shelf, she has to make up for lost time. She issues an “anytime, anywhere” challenge to Ray, if the champ is looking for a fight. Time will tell whether or not they will in fact end up fighting anytime or anywhere, but it’s hard to imagine they won’t. The new champion needs some new challengers and a hometown favorite returning from injury that just made her NXT UK debut is standing right there.