NXT UK Worth Watching: Tyson T-Bone vs. Joe Coffey! Devlin vs. Mastiff!

Jordan Devlin vs. Dave Mastiff NXT UK 10/5 (Aired 10/31/19) (Ep. #66)

ER: It's pretty surprising we got this far into NXT UK without a Devlin/Mastiff match, as it feels like one of the bigger singles matches they could run. Not that they need to run every single marquee match within the first year, but the roster is only so big and these two have been two of the best presences on the brand. My brain just assumed it was a match that had happened a lot but these two really don't cross paths much inside or outside of NXT UK. It just feels like a match I've seen several times before on this very program and it clearly has not ever been seen by my eyes. Devlin bumps around for Mastiff (expected) every time he tries to get in close. He gets his leg caught and gets flipped onto his stomach, takes a big high backdrop,  and I loved how Devlin finally slowed the big man by torturing his arm. Devlin wasn't so much going after the arm as he was humiliating Mastiff, standing on Mastiff's face and chest each time before snapping the arm back to the mat like Harley Race. Devlin getting both boots on Mastiff's face while controlling the arm, then scraping them across as he hits the mat with the arm is some awesome stuff. Mastiff had a great Gotch lift to finally break the armbar and also tossed Devlin to the floor in a big bump, and splatted him with a Finlay roll on the floor. Devlin was strong at setting up every piece of Mastiff's offense, from foolishly going for the Devil Inside on a man twice his size (with a great finish callback to that), to hitting a great moonsault and getting greedy catching knees on a second to set up the cannonball. And what made a lot of the size difference stuff work was that Devlin hits as hard or harder than Mastiff, so even though Mastiff could easily flatten him, Devlin was always able to knock him back with an elbow, but we never had to pretend this was 50-50. The suplex finisher off the top looked nasty, loved the visual of Devlin yanking Mastiff off the top by the arm into his Saito suplex, great finish to a smart match.  

Tyson T-Bone vs. Joe Coffey NXT UK 10/5 (Aired 11/7/19) (Ep. #67)

ER: I don't have a ton of NXT UK dream matches, but this was one of the matches I really wanted to see. Tyson T-Bone is the NXT UK undercarder who most deserves to be in the main event scene. He's the most underutilized guy on the brand, and this is his first 5 minute bombfest in a year. He had a great one in 2018 against Dave Mastiff, and this is our great 2019 T-Bone match. T-Bone is probably the best bomb thrower in NXT UK, but it's a style that is one they seem to actively avoid, at least to the point where a match like this stands out as incredibly unique. It's a 5 minute match comprised of mostly bombs, without one hint of stand and trade. Coffey and T-Bone both hauled off, with some shots whiffing and others hitting clean and others hitting dirty. T-Bone has more precise fists and that's the story of the match, as T-Bone has the ability to land cleaner strikes and can punch through Coffey's fists to repeatedly outlast him standing, so Coffey's only chance is to get in close for throws. T-Bone is really damaging up close, with great overhand rights and body shots, with headbutts, hard kneelifts, and quick movement. Coffey gets a belly to belly and a backbreaker, and smartly goes after T-Bone's arm. If you can't block the fists at least try to take away the fist delivery system. I mean, Tyson T-Bone is still going to punch you, but maybe they won't have as much mustard on them? Coffey hits his low pounce and a hard damn lariat to win, and there's really no reason this same match couldn't be happening on a TakeOver. 

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