NXT UK Worth Watching: Brian Kendrick IS Brian Kendrick

Brian Kendrick vs. Travis Banks NXT UK 1/17 (Aired 1/23/20) (Ep. #76)

ER: This was one of the earliest NXT UK matches I checked out, not long after it aired. Before this I had sought out a handful of the Ohno appearances and one of Oney Lorcan's UK matches, but once Brian Kendrick worked a few UK dates the brand was officially on my radar. I don't think I'm making up history here, but the Kendrick UK matches were probably the straw that broke me down into starting all of NXT UK from the beginning in the first place. Once I saw the excellent matches Ohno and Kendrick were having with all the NXT UK guys, I got more interested in seeing how they worked with each other, and 76 episodes and three TakeOvers later here we are. Kendrick's WWE return was incredible. He worked like an absolute ace, and he and Ohno reminded me more of Finlay than anyone else on the roster in all of the best ways: ring positioning, creativity, working with a moment, logical attacks, crafting a match around a unique opponent. Every Kendrick match had a few things that expose what other wrestlers *aren't* doing, and Kendrick makes those things obvious. 

Here Kendrick worked over Banks' hand to attempt to distract him enough to hit bigger offense. We get 10 minutes of Kendrick slamming that hand into the ring steps, into the barricade, stomping on it, bending it around the ropes, kneeling on it, using it as an entry point to bigger things. He's not constantly working the hand over that 10 minuets, he just goes back to it enough that we're always thinking about it; and if we're thinking about it, then Banks is definitely thinking about it. Banks' hurt hand informed a lot of what he did and he was always mindful of it, all through the finish. Kendrick dominated once he took out that hand, so Banks offense came in bursts: a fast tope that crashed his whole body over Kendrick, big missile dropkick, and a couple Kiwi Crushers that looked like they dumped Kendrick on the back of his neck (one for a close nearfall, the other to win). 

I love the way Kendrick bumps, and thought his bumps made Banks look strong. They aren't always clean bumps, but once you see a guy who doesn't fill his matches with fast flat back bumps you realize how silly they are. Kendrick falls the way a move's momentum takes him, sometimes tumbling wildly to the floor while reaching out for ropes or ring skirt to stop him, sometimes falling on his side, always looking like the right bump for the move he just took. Kendrick's faceplant bumps are some of the greatest I've seen, whipping his face fast into the mat and holding it like he just loosened two teeth. Oh, and then during the home stretch Kendrick also showed he has the best yakuza kicks in wrestling. What a killer. The Captains Hooks has been my favorite sub in wrestling since Kendrick debuted it, and he had some nasty set-ups for it in this match, including a sick crossface with a great headlock takeover, and I liked how it kept coming back. Banks' win feels even worse in retrospect, for a variety of reasons. Brian Kendrick and Kassius Ohno were the guys who made me go and check out all of the NXT UK, but now I'm just bummed realizing that these matches were basically the last matches I would get to see from these two wrestling gods. 

This match was deservedly placed on our 2020 MOTY List in 2020, but this review is updated to reflect its place within my current NXT UK project.