3 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE NXT UK (26 March)

1. Red Fury

All things considered, Ilja Dragunov vs. Sam Gradwell was a very traditional No Disqualifications Match by WWE standards. This didn’t stop it from ruling, though.

The story here is that Gradwell had pushed Dragunov too far in their recent encounter. ‘The Thunderstorm’ refrained from properly chopping the wXw standout, as he knew this would send him into a frenzy stemming from his storied history vs. WALTER. Little details like this make a match that extra bit better.

In terms of the spots in the match, well, there weren’t any major ones really, aside from a nasty-looking Death Valley Driver onto the steel ring steps from Gradwell. The ending of the bout couldn’t have been better, as Ilja, having fully snapped, dropped Gradwell on a pile of chairs, and then knocked him silly with forearm after forearm that forced the referee stoppage.

Ilja’s always at his best in these sorts of matches, as we saw at the start of 2020 vs. Alexander Wolfe. That he’s produced a worthwhile and meaningful match with Sam Gradwell, someone not many NXT UK fans really care about, proves every point about how great he is.

Perhaps Rampage Brown won’t be the one to end the reign of WALTER. It needs to be saved for Ilja Dragunov.