Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2018/06/25/wwe-uk-championship-tournament-from-royal-albert-hall-night-1-report/
Welcome to POST Wrestling’s coverage of the first night of the WWE UK Tournament events from Royal Albert Hall.
This show was taped on June 18th and aired on the WWE Network one week later.
The show began with a produced package of Johnny Saint inside an empty Royal Albert Hall reminiscing about the past. He said, “everything evolves” as they transitioned to highlighting today’s talent.
JACK GALLAGHER VS ZACK GIBSON IN THE QUARTER-FINALS
Gallagher defeated Drew Gulak and Gibson defeated Amir Jordan in the opening round of the tournament.
Gibson refused to shake Gallagher’s hand at the start. Gallagher played babyface and was the conductor as the audience sang.
Gibson struck Gallagher with a punch to the kidney and isolated the arm while twisting it.
Gallagher rallied back and hit a vertical suplex. Gibson stopped him on the turnbuckle and hit a lung blower for a two-count.
Gallagher went for a running dropkick into the corner, was caught with a powerbomb. Gallagher applied a triangle off his back had a big comeback, including the Gentleman’s dropkick into the corner landing. Gibson cut him off and sent Gallagher into the post with the injured left shoulder connecting. Gallagher kicked out of a tombstone into the double knees to the chest.
Gallagher came off the top and his shoulder went into the feet of Gibson, who applied Shankly Gates and Gallagher submitted.
WINNER: ZACK GIBSON AT 13:27
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This was a fun opener focusing on the shoulder of Gallagher and getting Gibson’s submission finish across to those unfamiliar with his work. Gibson received a lot of heat throughout the match.
JOE COFFEY VS DAVE MASTIFF IN THE QUARTER-FINALS
They went to the floor and ran into each other repeatedly with Mastiff winning the battle on the floor.
The audience appears to be subdued as compared to the first match. They woke up as Coffey hit a vertical suplex and they applauded. Coffey is favoring his left arm as he hit a belly-to-belly suplex.
Mastiff hit a bridging German suplex for a two-count. Mastiff cut off a discus lariat attempt and missed with a running cannonball into the corner.
Coffey hit a reverse crossbody and hit the All the Best for the Bells discus lariat for the win.
WINNER: JOE COFFEY AT 7:32
The match had some down points when it came to the audience’s interest but came to for all the power spots that they enjoyed. The closing sequence was strong, and Coffey showed good fire for the finish.
Coffey was interviewed in the ring by Cathy Kelly, he came here to win and will face Pete Dunne and win the UK championship by showing no mercy.
FLASH MORGAN WEBSTER VS JORDAN DEVLIN
Webster defeated James Drake and Devlin defeated Tyson T-Bone in the opening round.
After landing an imploding somersault splash to Devlin, Webster was hit with a running Meteora. Webster landed a flying knee into the corner that looked solid. Webster followed with two tope suicidas to the floor and a tope con giro.
Devlin crotched Webster on the top and hit a Spanish Fly for a near fall. He landed a superkick and Webster kicked out again. The audience was cheering on at the series of kick outs. Devlin missed a moonsault from the top and Webster landed the Eton Rifle, which is a tilt-a-whirl into an inverted DDT and pinned Devlin.
WINNER: FLASH MORGAN WEBSTER AT 7:02
Webster was very chaotic with some of his offense and the audience responded well. There were some impressive spots late in the match and big kick outs that generated big reactions.
Webster will face Zack Gibson in the semi-finals.
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TRAVIS BANKS VS ASHTON SMITH IN THE QUARTER-FINALS
McGuinness noted that Banks is the current Progress Wrestling champion.
Banks attacked Smith’s back with a running dropkick. Smith came back with a jumping leg drop off the top that wasn’t timed well and Banks rolled to the floor. Smith hit a tope con giro and nearly lost his footing upon landing.
Banks attacked Smith with forearm strikes, Smith fired back with strikes, Banks ducked and landed an enzuigiri off the turnbuckle and hit the Kiwi Crusher for the victory.
WINNER: TRAVIS BANKS AT 6:23
I thought Banks had a very strong performance while Smith was not smooth. Banks stood out a lot for me in this one and especially when making his comeback. Smith just seemed to be off with his timing and didn’t gel well in this one.
Banks will face Joe Coffey in the semi-finals.
TONI STORM VS KILLER KELLY VS ISLA DAWN IN A #1 CONTENDER’S MATCH
The winner of the match will face Shayna Baszler for the NXT women’s title on the second night.
Charlie Morgan and Nina Samuels were shown in the audience.
The ring announcer introduced this match as a “fatal four-way”, which I would have assumed someone would have caught in post-production and eliminated.
Storm was sent out of the ring early, she returned and nailed Kelly with a release German before taking a suplex from Dawn as all three were down.
Kelly attacked Dawn with a kick from the apron but was knocked off the apron with a boot from Storm.
Storm was alone with Dawn in the ring and hit Storm Zero for the quick win.
WINNER: TONI STORM AT 4:12
This was really short and would have stood out more if they had a singles match instead. Storm was the best choice for the title match the next night.
They cut to Baszler in the audience smiling and looking unimpressed with Storm.
Triple H came out to a monstrous reaction that blew away anything else on the show. He put over all the UK talent that has risen in the past year and brought out Johnny Saint to announce their upcoming plans. Saint entered to his own Titantron video to announce the launch of NXT UK and listed the upcoming taping dates through the end of 2018.
FLASH MORGAN WEBSTER VS ZACK GIBSON IN THE SEMI-FINALS
Webster swarmed him with strikes and a flying knee that sent Gibson to the floor and was a great start. He attempted the Eton Rifle, was blocked and hit with Snake Eyes and Gibson attacked him in the corner. The audience began singing for Webster as Gibson had the advantage.
Gibson blocked another Eton Rifle, so Webster hit a stuff forearm and connected with a tope suicida. On the second attempt, he was caught by Gibson and hit Helter Skelter on the aisle. Gibson applied Shankly Gates inside the ring and Webster tapped.
WINNER: ZACK GIBSON AT 4:19
This was a fast-paced match, but it featured a lot of back-and-forth with Webster really standing out in this one. I enjoyed the match a lot and Gibson played the oversized heel very well as the size disparity added a lot. The strong start at the beginning instantly had the audience believing Webster could pull off the upset.
Aleister Black and Ricochet were shown in the audience.
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TRAVIS BANKS VS JOE COFFEY IN THE SEMI-FINALS
Coffey came out selling his ribs from the previous match and limped to the ring.
Coffey attacked with wild strikes in the corner and Banks sold one as though he was out on his feet, it was a nice touch.
Coffey hit a butterfly suplex and later a half-crab was applied, which Banks broke by getting to the rope. Coffey applied a straightjacket with the arms of Banks and hit a flying knee to the back.
Coffey landed an Avalanche splash in the corner and hit a bridging German for a two-count. Both sold the effects of the match in opposite corners and staggered to their feet. Banks fired up with a running dropkick and got a near fall.
Banks cannot lift Coffey as he sold his back. Banks landed a pair of bicycle kicks and rolled up Coffey for the pin.
WINNER: TRAVIS BANKS AT 9:22
This was a well-worked match, and both sold the effects down the stretch with the idea that both were beaten up and one mistake would cost them the match. Both worked hard, and the audience appreciated the match.
After announcing Banks as the winner, Coffey attacked Banks from behind and tossed him shoulder first into the ring post and hit All the Best for the Bells. Because of the clean nature of the tournament, the one angle on the show meant so much more and caught the audience off guard, much like how Pete Dunne was used on the first U.K. tournament shows in 2017.
ADAM COLE, RODERICK STRONG & KYLE O’REILLY VS PETE DUNNE, TYLER BATE & TRENT SEVEN
British Strong Styles received a massive reaction during their introduction. The audience was buzzing at the entrances and felt like the main event.
Bate held Strong from behind as he tagged in Dunne to attack Strong stemming from Strong’s turn on Dunne. The audience was going wild for everything. British Strong Style cleared the ring to a thunderous response.
The Undisputed Era got the advantage on Seven. Strong dropped him back first onto the barricade and they kept Seven in their corner while making frequent tags. Seven hit a suplex onto O’Reilly and made the big hot tag to Dunne.
Dunne dropped Cole on top of Strong with an X-Plex. Bate entered and suplexed O’Reilly into Strong, who was seated in the corner. Bate then did a Giant Swing onto Strong while holding Cole on his shoulders for an airplane spin and was phenomenal.
O’Reilly applied a guillotine to Dunne and couldn’t see Dunne tag out.
Trent Seven hit the Seven Stars Lariat to Strong, he was distracted by Cole on the floor and led to TUE attacking Seven 3-on-1. Dunne saved Seven and took out Cole and Strong on the floor with a moonsault from the second turnbuckle.
Bate came in and clotheslined O’Reilly into a Dragon suplex by Seven as Bate pinned O’Reilly.
WINNERS: BRITISH STRONG STYLE AT 12:19
This was excellent, it blew away everything else on the show and that’s not a knock on the rest of the show but this was hands down the match to check out if you missed this show involving six of the best performers in the WWE.
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Shawn Michaels came out prior to the main event tournament final. One of the best moments on the show was the audience singing his theme song after it stopped playing. He said he was never scared of following anything throughout his career, but he is scared of following that six-man tag. He mentioned wrestling in the opening match in 1991 at the WWF’s card at Royal Albert Hall. He shut down the “one more match” chant quick and plugged NXT UK.
TRAVIS BANKS VS ZACK GIBSON IN THE FINALS
Gibson refused to shake hands with Banks.
Banks has his left arm taped up so Gibson has his target to set up Shankly Gates.
Gibson attacked the arm on the floor with a hammerlock applied as he ran Banks into the steps.
It was over seven minutes into the match before Banks fought back and hit a tope suicida. Banks is only using the good arm for his offensive maneuvers. Banks was thrown towards the barricade, he leaped on top and came back with a Slice of Heaven roundhouse kick on the floor.
They exchanged slaps inside the ring, Banks grabbed Gibson by the wrists and stomped down on the chest. Gibson returns to the shoulder attack and goes for Skankly Gates, but Banks rolls out. Banks missed a Slice of Heaven out of the corner and Gibson applied Shankly Gates, but Banks reached the rope.
Banks landed a double foot stomp from the apron to the floor and hit Slice of Heaven in the ring for a near fall.
Banks hit the Kiwi Crusher and Gibson kicked out. Gibson stopped a tope suicida and hit Helter Skelter in the ring for a near fall of his own.
Gibson locked on Shankly Gates in the middle of the ring, he was pulled away from the ropes and finally Banks tapped.
WINNER: ZACK GIBSON AT 17:00
The final two matches were the high points of a show that was very enjoyable from beginning to end.
Gibson will challenge Pete Dunne for the UK championship on the second night.
Gibson got over strong as the major heel of the tournament, but I was really impressed with Travis Banks on this show.
Gibson teased shaking hands with Banks but again refused.
Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Johnny Saint entered the ring to congratulate Gibson. Gibson went to cut a promo when Pete Dunne interrupted and had a face-off with Gibson.
Please leave us your feedback in the comments section with your match of the show and best performer in the tournament.