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WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne & Trent Seven & Tyler Bate vs. The Undisputed Era, WWE NXT North American Champion Adam Cole & WWE NXT Tag Team Champions Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong.
This was all sorts of excellent. Strong and Dunne went back and forth with some great wrestling. Kyle and Cole hit the ring but Trent and Tyler even up the odds. They all do Bate’s stereo strikes for a big pop. The Era go to the floor to regroup.
When it settles down in the ring, Adam Cole and the rest of the Era tag in and out working over Trent Seven for a long time, in and out of the ring. Dunne finally tags in and changes the momentum. Bate tags in and does his airplane spin. It’s all action. Everyone is hitting big spots. Bate and Seven work over O’Reilly and finally score the pin.
Way too much to do a big play by play on, but this was far and away the best thing on the show. It played out like a legitimate dream match with great psychology out of an All Japan Pro Wrestling six man tag meshed with big highspots. Loved the hell out of this.
Shawn Michaels comes out. He looks so, well, weird, with short hair. He gets serenaded with his theme song. He puts over the UK and the tournament final.
WWE UK CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT FINAL: Travis Banks vs. Zack Gibson
Banks has his shoulder taped up.
They locked up and Gibson tried to bully him but got shoved down. They locked up and ended up in the corner, where Banks used his good rm to batter him in the corner. Gibson went to the floor to try and reboot himself. Banks fired but that was a mistake as Gibson gained control and worked over Banks, battering him into the guard rail.
Banks saw Gibson coming back and fired up with a series of kicks to the chest on the floor. Gibson snatched him and smashed his bad arm across the guard rail, then whipped him into the ring steps. The referee checked on Banks to insure he could continue. Back in the ring, Gibson stomped the bad arm in the corner. Gibson ripped the tape off the shoulder and mounted Banks, beating him with punches for a two count.
Gibson worked over Banks for a long time. Banks fired back and they just beat the hell out of each other. Banks nailed Gibson hard. He landed in the corner, facing into the buckles. Banks nailed a big hesitation dropkick in the corner. Gibson went to the floor, where Banks nailed a big dive to the outside. Banks nailed a knee strike for a two count.
Gibson came back with the Ticket to Ride for a two count. They battled to the floor, where Gibson leapt off the barricade into a roundhouse kick. They are nearly counted out but return to the ring. They battled back and forth with forearms. Gibson struck hard with a big slap across the face. They slapped the hell out of each other.
Banks got the better of the exchange and nailed several hard kicks to the chest. Gibson finally grabbed the leg but Banks escaped and began curb stomping his chest. Gibson finally snapped him down with a divorce court on the injured arm. Gibson went for the submission but Banks tried to fight it off. Banks missed a kick off the ropes and was trapped in the Shankly Gates submission. Banks bit his fingers to keep himself from tapping and pulled himself to the ropes to break the move.
They went to the outside. Banks nailed a double stomp on Gibson and tossed him to the floor. Banks nailed his Slice of Heaven kick. Gibson kicked out and put his feet on the ropes to attempt a pinfall. The referee caiught it and admonished him. It was crazy to hear the British crowd get pissed about it. Banks nailed a running lariat and nailed an inverted Michinoku Driver for a close two count.
Again, both men were down and trying to recover as the audience rallied them. Gibson rolled to the outside for a breather. Banks went for a dive but didn't get a lot of momentum coming out of the ring. Gibson drilled him and scored a two count. Banks was trapped again in the Shankly Gates submission and moved to the center of the ring and finally, had to tap out.
Your winner, Zack Gibson!
Really good story told.
After the match, Gibson offered his hand to Banks, but when Banks went to take it, Gibson blew him off.
Triple H met Banks in the aisle with Johnny Saint and Shawn Michaels and they congratulated him on a good attempt. Banks went to the back as the officials entered the ring, where Gibson was in the ring. They posed with him and raised Gibson's arm.
Gibson took the ring mic. He's getting booed out of the building. He said he was Liverpool's....and Pete Dunne's music began. WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne made his way to ringside. He entered the ring and they went face to face, previewing what will go down on tomorrow's broadcast.
Overall, a really strong show with a lot of great physical storytelling, but this felt like a pilot TV taping (minus the usual WWE monolouges in the ring) with shorter matches in many cases vs. last year's tournament, which came off like just a great pro wrestling show.
Scheduled for tomorrow's WWE UK Championship Night Two, which will air at 3 PM EST on the WWE Network:
*WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne vs. Zack Gibson.
*WWE NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler vs. Toni Storm.
*WWE NXT North American Champion Adam Cole vs. Wolfgang.
*WWE NXT Tag Team Champions Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs. Tyler Bate & Trent Seven.
*EC3 & The Velveteen Dream vs. WWE NXT Champion Aleister Black & Ricochet.
*Morgan Webster vs. Zack Gibson vs. Mark Andrews to determine the top contender to the WWE UK Championship.
*A WWE star returns from injury.
*Charlie Morgan vs. Killer Kelly
Elite subscribers, I'll have an audio talking about Night One tomorrow morning.
Stay tuned for Raw coverage commencing at 8 PM Eastern!
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