WWE NXT UK TakeOver Cardiff: Live results, highlights and grades

WALTER vs. Tyler Bate – United Kingdom Championship

Bit of mat based wrestling to start. Bate stays on the move. Trying to outsmart WALTER; poke the bear if you will. It’s working.

Until WALTER gets him on the mat with a headlock. Bate back to his feet. Mounts a comeback, scoop slams WALTER for a huge pop, even though WALTER no sells by getting right back up, before getting forearmed smashed to the outside.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1167894542273482753

Bate goes for a suicide dive, but gets caught. WALTER chops Bate, then powerbombs him to the apron. WALTER a minute later powerbombs Bate into the ring post, but rather than back first, Bate lands head/neck first into the post. Medical staff check on Bate, but thankfully, he swears he’s okay. Not 100% sure if this is a spot or a real deal, given the horrid and awkward landing.

Back in the ring, WALTER dominates. Slams and rest holds galore until Bate teases a comeback. He lifts WALTER to his shoulders, but gets splatted.

Bate to the outside again. Back in at 8, again. Rest hold by WALTER. Again.

Bate finally makes a comeback.

https://twitter.com/NXTUK/status/1167897319720673281

Bate hits an exploder suplex. Then standing shooting star press for a near fall.

Some time passed and WALTER goes for a Powerbomb, reversed into Airplane Spin. Then, off the top rope, he hits WALTER with a Burning Hammer. Bate too tired to cover immediately. He finally gets to him, but WALTER rolls to the outside. Bate hits two dives on WALTER. Then a Tyler Driver, then a corkscrew senton inside. Both for a near fall.

WALTER locks in his rear naked choke. With WALTER on his back, Bate makes it to his feet. Falls down, forces WALTER to break the hold, but WALTER gets right back into it. They roll to the apron, where WALTER turns it into an overhead suplex on the apron. Then, a Powerbomb inside the ring for a 1-count. Followed by a Big Splash and a clothesline for a win after over 40-minutes.

Winner: WALTER

Grade: D+. Another case of two great athletes attempting a WWE style match, but with worse results than the last one. While KLR vs Storm felt rushed, WALTER vs. Bate just dragged out to the point it felt self-indulgent. Also not a fan of the slam spot getting such a huge pop, then immediately amount to nothing because WALTER got right up. Maybe its nitpicky, but imagine if Andre got right up after Hogan slammed it. It just annoyed me.

I might be in the minority, but this wasn’t clicking for me.

Overall: B-

While I think the last two matches hurt the show and weren’t good (neither was the opener, the rest of the show was pretty good and was filled with some great matches/moments that made up for it.