Top 3 Performers of NXT UK (November 14, 2018) Part 1

This episode saw the announcement of the NXT UK Women's tournament
This episode saw the announcement of the NXT UK Women's tournament

Kicking off the first episode filmed in Birmingham, as opposed to the previous episodes which had all bee filmed in Cambridge. This week was kicked off by the NXT UK's women division at the top of the ramp with Triple H and NXT UK Johnny Saint announcing the NXT UK Tournament to crown the first ever NXT UK Women's champion. They also unveiled the belt, which looks similar to WWE UK Men's title.

Back in the ring, Sid Scala faced off against Jordan Devlin after having picked up back to back losses against Dave Mastiff and Eddie Dennis in their NXT UK Debuts. Scala looked good in both his previous defeats, while Jordan Devlin has won his two previous encounters at NXT UK.

While Scala got in some early offence, Devlin took down the tempo of the fight. Scala looked to be in control when Devlin hit him with a dropkick if he came off the top turnbuckle. Devlin would then hit his finisher, Ireland's Call, for the pinfall victory. Following the match, Devlin called out the luchador Ligero after his fight, and it looks like the two will have a match soon.

Kenny Williams came to the ring and was joined by Amir Jordan as his tag team partner. They faced off against the team of Saxon Huxley and Joseph Connors. This match was built to hype the build towards the tag team division.

Huxley and Conners used their size advantage over their smaller opponents. Connors was super impressive at the end of the match, hitting Williams with a Sunset Bomb into the turnbuckle. Then he would hit his finisher, Don't Look Down, for the pinfall victory.

The former WWE UK Title Tyler Bate made his way down to the ring, once again without his friend, mentor and tag team partner Trent Seven. He faced Blackpool's James Drake in singles competition. Drake controlled Bate for the majority of the contest, being the slightly bigger of the two.

Bate would, however, fight back using his speed to his advantage, dodging Drake's corner kick before. Bate would then hit Drake with a Lariat and followed it up with the Tyler Drier '97 for the pinfall victory.

Ashton Smith was next in the ring, set to face Wolfgang in a one on one fight in the main event. Wolfgang didn't come alone and was flanked on his way to the ring by, his fellow Scotsmen, the Coffey Brothers. Wolfgang had the size advantage, but Smith kept fighting throughout.

Just as it looked like Smith was gathering momentum, Wolfgang would counter and knock all the wind out of his sails. Wolfgang would eventually hit a variation on the Perfect-plex, which Nigel McGuinness called a Trapped Leg Suplex for the pinfall victory to round out the episode.

#3 Joseph Connors

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Connors was involved in tag team action with Saxon Huxley this week, after defeating Amir Jordan and having a no contest finish against Kenny Williams. Williams and Jordan would face the team with Connors picking up the win after hitting his finisher "Don't Look Down" on Williams.

Connors was the most impressive of the foursome, explosively coming in after hot tags and hitting a barrage of moves, especially towards the end of the match.

The final sequence of the match involved Connors hitting Williams with a Sunset bomb into the turnbuckle, before getting up, knocking Jordan off the apron with a Clothesline and then finishing the match off on Williams for the victory.

Williams and Connors have a bit of history after Connors suffered a concussion during their singles match in a previous episode of NXT, resulting in the match ending in a no-contest. With NXT looking to build a tag team division, Connors and Huxley look to be built as another pairing potentially thrown into that mix.

#2 Wolfgang

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Wolfgang faced off against Ashton Smith in the main event after he and the Coffey brothers defeated the team of Ashton Smith, Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews in the previous episode. Wolfgang has had a series of good matches on NXT, despite not always coming up on the winning margin.

Wolfgang was flanked to the ring by his new running mates the Coffey Brothers, which suggested that this match wasn't going to be as clean as it was in the end.

Smith tried to use his power game against the bigger Wolfgang to no avail, as he wasn't able to completely take him off his feet or lift him up for large parts of the fight.

While Smith did try to use his speed and agility against the bigger man at points during his offence, it wasn't always successful as Wolfgang turned one of Smith's high-risk manoeuvres into a great Gut Buster.

Wolfgang would hit a Senton and then trap leg suplex on Smith for the victory. He was joined in the ring post-match by the Coffey brothers to celebrate his victory.

#1 Tyler Bate

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Is it any surprise that the former WWE UK Title holder would end up on this list? Facing off, once again, against a bigger opponent in James Drake but still managing to come up with the win once again.

It's no surprise that the WWE has invested a lot in Tyler, making him their inaugural UK Champion as well as a former NXT Tag Team Champion, because he is so skilled in the ring. Having lost the UK Title belt to current champion, Pete Dunne, after their 5-star encounter at NXT Takeover: Chicago over a year ago, Tyler has mainly competed in tag team competition with his mentor Trent Seven.

While Bate allowed the slightly larger Drake to dominate the start of the encounter, allowing for Bate to build towards his comeback, the crowd was behind Bate the entire time, seemingly distracting him with chants of "Big Strong Boy".

Bate was able to finish the match after dodging Drake's attempt to hit his corner dropkick, "Grit Your Teeth", for the second time before hitting a Lariat and then the Tyler Driver 97 for the victory.


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