Top 3 of NXT UK (October 24th, 2018)
The second ever episode of NXT UK kicked off with a bang, as Ligero faced off against Mike Hitchman. Ligero is the UK's foremost Luchador, and more commonly known on the UK independent scene as El Ligero, especially during his time with WCPW/Defiant Wrestling.
Ligero clearly got a much better reaction from the local crowd. Hitchman dominated most of the match, with Ligero's main form of offense coming from quick counters and reversals. Unsurprisingly, Ligero picked up the victory after hitting a springboard tornado DDT for the pinfall.
Next up, the second match was the second ever female match on NXT between the Captain of Team Kick, Dakota Kai, going up against Killer Kelly. The crowd was behind the Kiwi kicker and was quite silent when Killer Kelly was controlling the tempo.
However, there were moments when the crowd got behind the Portuguese competitor, specifically when she locked in the dragon sleeper and hit Kai with a Suplex. Kai picked up the victory with a duo of corner kicks to her opponent. Kai stated in her post-match that she was keen to take on any challengers in the race for the NXT UK Women's title.
The most negative response so far that any competitor has received was undoubtedly shown when the winner of the second UK Tournament, Zack Gibson. Gibson hit the ring to a shower of boos, which continued as he cut a promo on the microphone. Gibson's promo eventually called out Dunne's opponent from last week, Noam Dar.
Before a match could break out, Johnny Saint came out and ordered both men to go to his office. The NXT UK GM later tweeted that the two will face each other in the Main Event of next week's episode.
Next up was a match between Ashton Smith and Tucker. This match was styled more as an independent spot show, rather than the standard wrestling storyline match. There were no clear heel/face dynamics that had been evident in most of the other matches seen on the card. Smith won after hitting the Ash Cloud, a ripcord DDT, picking up the pinfall victory.
The main event of the episode saw Wolfgang face former WWE UK and NXT Tag Team Champion Tyler Bate. This match saw a return to the traditional wrestling roles of heel and face. The diminutive Tyler Bate struggling against the bigger Wolfgang was always going to be an easy story to tell. Bate is one of the best sellers, and Wolfgang's ability to throw him around proved well suited to a match between the two.
The fact that this fight also built on their history, after Tyler beat Wolfgang in the semi-final on his way to winning the inaugural WWE UK tournament. Bate would pick up the victory after avoiding a Senton from the top rope and hitting a Tyler Driver 97 for the win.