WWE UK Championship Tournament Night 1

The show begins with a Summerslam '92 showcase and a shot of HBK winning the European title. HHH clips hyping up the UK tourney are shown and then HHH comes out with his giant beard and asks ARE YOU READY. Top heel on Raw...yeah... The UK Title looks gorgeous and the building looks incredible. Cole introduces Nigel as a UK legend and we get brackets!

Trent Seven and his giant beard are shown and we get some PROGRESS clips of him, and he says that working with WWE is a no-brainer. HC Dyer says that striking people feels good and the arena setup is nice. It's very Impact-like, but with far better lighting. Cole talks about Trent being the PROGRESS Wrestling Tag Team Champion. Dyer comes out and they engage.

A collar and elbow leads to a mustache mountain chant and a chop. They go to the floor with chops, and I like the gold ringposts. Cole gets off a VINTAGE TRENT SEVEN bit. Running corner overhand chop by Trent! Dyer hits a nice high-angle spinebuster for 2. Dyer hits a right hook for 2. A sidewinder blue thunder bomb hits for 2 for Dyer. Seven star lariat hits to give Seven the wins. Fun, short match. Jordan Devlin and Danny Burch are hyped up. Burch is stiff while Devlin was trained by Balor.

 Burch uses Johnny Saint-esque antics and counterwrestling to start. Burch catches him off a leapfrog and drops him to his face for 2. A long chinlock for Devlin leads to some excitement with a snap lariat for 2. Devlin lands some nice forearms and elbows from the mount - so he'll be easy to make in FPR. Burch fires up and is a surprisingly fired-up babyface in this. Burch hits a pair of lariats for 2. Burch hits a nasty headbutt and locks on a crossface! Devlin gets the ropes and hits a kick after a double stomp. This all gets fucked up a bit as the ref counts 3, but he kinda kicks out, but he's split open too. They shake hands and Devlin superkicks him. Excellent - pure dick move. He gets a ton of boos after the match and Charly asks him generic questions and he says he'll win.

Saxon Huxley will face Sam Gradwell. Saxon is a bearded hippie-type, while Gradwell says that his upbringing was tough and that the only thing he shares with the roster is that they share a ring. He says he's a dark horse and that's fine - everyone will know his name after it. A LET'S GO JESUS/JESUS SUCKS chant breaks out - well, that's new. Huxley's beard is something else though. Gradwell gets 1 off a dropkick. Huxley pounds away while the fans sing "Hey Won't You Be My Girl!" Gradwell wins with a diving headbutt. This was...a match.

Dave Taylor is shown and he's hyped up while Pete Dunne is talked up as someone very much like him. He has an amazing look, and Roy Johnson brags about his powerlifting background. Johnson has only been wrestling for two years and Nigel says that his powerlifting career ended due to his knees, so it could factor in here. Nigel says that if he was in the tourney, he would avoid him.

Nigel says that the color of Dunne's tights are an homage to Daniel Bryan, leading to Nigel bringing up their ROH work. Dunne works on the fingers a bit before Johnson "gets wavy" and dances a bit. Dunne slips under the ropes and pulls him out before stepping on his hand on the steps. Surfboard finger snapper is on and gets 2. Bull Hammer gets 2 for Dunne. Snap German leads to the X Plex for 2. Bitter End - the pumphandle flatliner hits. Good-ish match, but nothing amazing.

Wolfgang is a big, bearded dude with tats - looks badass. We get some ICW footage showing him doing some high-flying. Tyson T-Bone's name is horrible, but his style is stiff and thus great. He's THE KING OF THE GYPSIES and a damned awesome fighter. The PROGRESS owners are shown and RoboCharley interviews Tyson. Wolfgang has a Hogan tat and the only DVD he watched was HBK vs. Shamrock. T-Bone starts with a sick headbutt, but Wolfgang gets a floatover stinger splash. Tyson hits a knee to the jaw for 2. They go back and forth with punches before Wolfgang hits a Wasteland and a moonsault for 2. T-Bone goes for a countout win, but brings him in. Wolfgang avoids a superplex and hits a swanton to win.

We see Joseph Conners and his missing ear while James Drake cuts a relaxed promo. Nigel says that Drake's youthful start led to him being stretched before he had enough and makes sure his enemies have no mercy. Conners gets a series of forearms and a running knee for 2. Mushroom stomp by Conners gets 2. A sick elbow into a backbreaker leads to a hoisting flatliner called Don't Look Down for the win. Fine match, but nothing too amazing.

Mark Andrews says that he's here to win and Dan Moloney cuts an intimidating promo about all the thing he's seen. Mark talks to Charly about stage-diving and high-fiving his way to a win. Mark Andrews gets a huge pop and is over huge with kids. Mark hits some flips and a sloppy dropkick - he comes off like he'd benefit from some WWE finishing school ala RVD. Maloney eats a moonsault, but gets 2 off a cradle. Suplex into a stunner hits for Mandrews before the SSP wins it.

Tyler Bate comes out to face Tucker Knight. Tucker gets a series of nice trips before a stalemate. Tyler hits a slam and a Finlay roll for 2. Giant kick from Tucker gets 2. A long British wrestling chant breaks out before Tucker hits a big corner forearm. A slingshot complete shot gets 2. RANA OFF THE STEPS!  Tucker gets a springboard crossbody, but Tyler turns it into an airplane spin. HE SQUATS AND slams him. SUPER DUPER KICK TO TUCKER SENDS HIM TO THE FLOOR! He sends him in and gets 2. A swanton meets knees before a forearm exchange and a wheel kick hits for Bate. Tyler Driver 97 wins it! This was quite good. The quarter-final guys come out and Dune takes out Gradwell - nice, a personal angle to build things up for the future.