2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Ohno vs. Scala British Rounds!

25. Kassius Ohno vs. Sid Scala NXT UK 9/1 (Aired 9/18/19) 

ER: I loved this entire angle. It was a simple old school angle that nailed all the notes it should have and finished just as it should have. Ohno was supposed to face Jack Gallagher, Gallagher was pulled at the last minute, Ohno demands an opponent anyway. Sid Scala, who hadn't been an active wrestler in NXT UK for a year, filled in as the only option and got beaten handily while still wearing his dress clothes. It easily could have ended there and they could have had someone else step up and challenge Ohno in defense of Scala, but Scala himself stood up and demanded a British Rounds match against Ohno. Now, this was the 60th episode of NXT UK, and it's pretty amazing that the idea of a match under classic World of Sport rules hadn't even been mentioned until Ohno showed up calling himself the best British wrestler on the planet. It was only a two week build, and it didn't need to be more than that. They had Regal, Saint, and McGuiness do promos talking about the importance and difficulties in British Rounds rules, people tried to talk Scala out of taking the match, but Scala insisted. Simple build, simple payoff, excellent execution. 

Ohno really makes this match by coming in with the exact right attitude, but Scala deserves a lot of credit for wrestling the right match. This was an awesome Ohno show, but Scala did everything he needed to do to make this concept work. At no point was he ever treated like Ohno's equal, and at no point did Ohno ever sell a piece of offense inappropriately. They were great at creating nearfalls for Scala when he was able to leverage Ohno's size into a crucifix or backslide or flash pin, enough to get the crowd keen for some kind of upset, but Ohno was smart about not getting into a position where he had to sell anything silly. The size difference was extreme, more than against any other of Ohno's NXT UK opponents, and I love how Ohno kept leaning jaw first into everything Scala threw. Ohno had the right mix of cockiness and killer instinct, wanting Scala to know that his elbows weren't going to move him, that his dropkicks could be brushed off, and that Scala was always one moment away from getting wasted by a rolling elbow. 

We've seen a ton of guys try to appropriate Johnny Saint offense over the past 20 years, but Scala using Saint feints and submission escapes here makes much more sense than almost any other appropriation of Saint moves we've seen. Most of those instances felt like "I saw a Johnny Saint match for the first time and now I want to do those moves" and then we got a stupid lady in the lake spot on every indy show for a decade. Here the Saint aping made total sense and fit perfectly into the match, never used for the sole purpose of "I recognize that spot!" Scala used Saint's tactics as a strategy to beat Ohno, used Saint as his mentor, and it actively added to the match. Scala's gains were always temporary, as Ohno was quick to snap in a cravat or toss him with a few snapmares, dropping elbows and knees (that all paid off in a fun finishing stretch). I loved Ohno taking Scala dropkicks full to the face before getting the first fall with the elbow. 

But I love how the match never got stupid after that first fall. Ohno didn't change his strategy, knowing he didn't NEED to win another fall, could easily just play defense and win out. But Scala also didn't start doing stupid things, and they avoided the temptation to have Scala tie things up off something that never would have otherwise pinned Ohno. Scala gets a great run in the 6th and final round, rolling out of the way of elbows and kneedrops and getting his knees up on a senton (and again, Ohno sells ALL of this exactly the way it should be sold, no overdone dramatics, not acting like Scala's tiny knees would have done anything other than temporarily slow him), and Scala ends up getting what would have been a match tying backslide right as time expired. There was no realistic way to give Scala a win here, and luckily they recognized that him merely lasting 6 rounds was him winning his war. 

PAS: Ohno had to be thrilled to be able to run a "true heir to Johnny Saint" angle on something that was technically WWE TV. What a weird thing NXT UK was and I am assuming still is. I liked how Ohno got frustrated by getting outslicked by Scala in the early rounds and just went with violent hard shots to get an advantage. Ohno was brutal in this, twisting Scala's neck, headbutting him in the back of the neck, and just wasting him with huge single shots. Scala's moments of advantage worked really well, and Ohno gave him those moments without ever making Scala his equal. Working on top is a real skill and Ohno is great at it. I liked the tease at the end of the match, and this was a really satisfying time limit finish. Great match.

2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Ohno! Scala! Grizzled Young Vets!

Kassius Ohno vs. Sid Scala NXT UK 8/31 (Aired 9/4/19)

ER: This was part of a cool storyline, where Ohno was calling himself the greatest British style wrestler and was supposed to have a showdown with Jack Gallagher for that self-proclaimed title. Gallagher wasn't cleared to compete, Ohno demanded someone step up and take Gallagher's place, and out came Sid Scala in his dress clothes. Scala was on a handful of the very first NXT UK episodes and has been used exclusively as Johnny Saint's right hand man backstage ever since. This is his first NXT UK match in one year, and as Ohno is an excellent match for literally any wrestler, I like him going up against a "non-wrestler". Scala is perhaps the smallest male wrestler on the UK roster, and Ohno was amusing laughing off Scala's early attempts to get one over. Scala goes for a cravat and Ohno merely lifts him up and tosses him off. Uh oh. Scala has a bunch of great feints, a couple cool tricks around the ropes that keep Ohno off balance, and his ducking and dodging peaks with a really well done sunset flip nearfall. Ohno is really good at being a dickhead who will bail to the floor when things momentarily don't go his way, and then always knows how to make his way back into a match with something unprofessional. Here he hooked Scala's leg from the floor, hopped up to the apron, and stomped the ankle over the bottom rope. 

Scala did a great job of limping around on that ankle, throwing nice back elbows and appropriately sold shots to Ohno's jaw, while Ohno battered him with chops and strikes and stepped a few times on that ankle. Scala manages to tangle Ohno around the ringpost and ropes and then flings himself over the ringpost when a rad pescado, great body-as-weapon work. But Ohno finishes things quick back in the ring with one of my favorite reversals, using his size to block a Scala tornado DDT and crash him down with a wicked kneebreaker, then a hip dislocating outside dragon screw. The disgusting KO elbow to the back of the head is academic. Ohno is the master at working with any wrestler of any size and any ability, and here's another feather for him as "Sid Scala's best match". Scala more than held his own and knew exactly what role he was playing. Ohno matches just do not miss. 

James Drake/Zack Gibson vs. Mark Andrews/Flash Morgan Webster NXT UK 9/1 (Aired 9/11/19) (Ep. #59)

ER: This was a nice, quick paced tag, and I think the best actual Grizzled Young Vets performances AS A TEAM on NXT UK. For a pair of guys I like, who I think are a good team, I don't think they've really been a part of any truly memorable tag matches this entire NXT UK run. My favorite matches of theirs have all been singles matches (Gibson vs. Dar, Drake vs. Ligero, Drake vs. Bate) and while they've had many enjoyable tags on the brand, this was the one where they felt most like a killer team. The match is a little off the rails and they lose complete sight of who is the legal man and really abuse the blind tag, and it had a couple egregious kickout that would have worked better as a save, but I liked the chemistry a lot and that's what kept the floor high. Gibson and Drake are really good at basing for Webster and Andrews, good at setting up their double teams, and the babyface champs are good at taking punishment. GYV hit this nasty spike shoulderbreaker on Andrews that lead to a couple good moments of Gibson tearing at Andrews' arm until Webster came in with fun saves (like a great swanton while Gibson had his Shankly Gates arm submission locked in). 

Webster had a cool tope suicida and got nuked on a doomsday device, the whole match felt like we were constantly seeing new pairings. The timing on the finish was really strong too, with Drake accidentally hitting Gibson with a superkick under the chin (in a way that wasn't really telegraphed) and Andrews nailing the shooting star press. This was like an NXT UK grab bag of a match, giving you a condensed 12 minutes of some of the better things the promotion has to offer. It had some good flying, some stiff work from the heels, strong double teams, while also not being next level great. I'm still waiting for the absolute banger GYV match and assume it will come, but I will take tags like this all day. This all feels like a very boring, generic review of this match, and I think that's honestly because this is the good match I expected from these two teams. It didn't disappoint, and it also didn't exceed expectations. But it hit the mark in satisfying ways, while presumably honoring the WTC first responders. 

COMPLETE GUIDE TO NXT UK

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