2020 Ongoing MOTY List: WALTER vs. SAXON

36. Saxon Huxley vs. WALTER NXT UK 9/24

ER: I've slowed down on the project, but it still amazes me how far I've made it into my NXT UK Guide. Before starting this pointless endeavor, I never would have thought of writing a sentence like "This was the best Saxon Huxley match I've ever seen", but this was the best Saxon Huxley match we've seen (so far?). Huxley, Jinny, and Tyson T-Bone are the three NXT UK workers who I think could have really good matches but are rarely put in a position to have really good matches. They're the best, most underutilized wrestlers in the fed, and this felt like the first time in ages that any of them had been used for something cool. They've made mistakes in the past comparing Huxley to Bruiser Brody, but his whole thing works a lot better if you just think of him as the drummer from the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Here he's a madman who starts stiffing WALTER before WALTER even has a chance to start in, actually makes it work for far longer than you'd think, before WALTER takes over and punishes him far longer and with way more pettiness than you'd normally see in a show opening Non-Title Match.

 

I didn't know the match would evolve into what it did, but I really started paying attention when Huxley started throwing elbowdrops that were essentially him jumping onto WALTER as hard as he could, like Dennis Rodman's elbows to The Giant, where Rodman was just jumping onto top of him full weight. He was really good at flustering WALTER, sticking and moving with his running kicks, eating a shot if it meant he could land a couple, and when they fought to the floor I thought it was cool that he opted to break the count when it was possible he could have won by count out. He would live to regret that decision, as it pretty much leads directly to his murder. He misses one of those running kicks over the barricade, and it's all over for him. WALTER goes into kill mode and it's the best, slamming Huxley as hard as possible on the floor and kicking him wickedly across the back, which was already welting as he's tossed back first lengthwise across the barricade and then powerbombed off the hardest edge of the apron. WALTER just lined him up with the full edge of the apron and powerbomb him off the peak. 

The match is over for Huxley after that apron powerbomb, but I loved how the match itself wasn't actually over. Huxley made it back in on the 8 count, and we got to see that WALTER was totally fine winning the match in the way that Huxley had foolishly guilted into not wanting, perfectly content to take the count out that Huxley that beneath him. The rest of this match is WALTER having a loud empty arena fireworks match, teeing off on a too weak opponent and making loud echoing sound with every string. Huge chops thrown as hard as possible, Huxley trying to respond by cupping WALTER's ears on slaps, but no match for a big man hitting him as hard as possible. WALTER's top rope butterfly suplex sends Huxley past the middle of the ring, and before taking the win WALTER is doing mean shit like just slapping Huxley on the back as hard as he can and falling on him. It's great. This was WALTER's return to TV after tapings resumed during the pandemic, and he played this like a true Diva taking advantage of some perfect bathroom acoustics. 

2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

COMPLETE GUIDE TO NXT UK