WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov – NXT UK, October 29
Throughout its run, the biggest star made by NXT UK is almost undoubtedly WALTER. The Austrian hoss has held the NXT title for about 2 years at the time of writing, having been utterly dominant in his last 24 months with the belt – quashing talents such as Pete Dunn, Tyler Bate, and Trent Severn.
In this hard-hitting encounter, the lack of fans surprisingly aided this bout with the echoey nothingness make the fight feel more ruthless and eerie. The lack of atmosphere drove the bout, as the mammoth Austrian constantly shut down the spirited Dragunov. Kicking out of all of WALTER’s offense, including powerbombs and a top rope splash, it was raw and absolutely ferocious.
Dramatic without being corny or wacky, Dragunov – the unlikely underdog – gave WALTER all he could, pulling out all stops in an attempt to win the title belt. A gritty and almost snuff-like combination of the stiff European style and Japan’s strong-style eventually came to a termination when Dragunov was choked out. Just barbarically brutal. Hopefully, this can propel the unique NXT UK product to more eyes in the future.