3 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE NXT UK Prelude (8 April)

2. Doing British Rounds Right

Opening NXT UK Prelude with Tyler Bate and Noam Dar’s Heritage Cup Rules Match was a superb booking choice. It was a solid encounter backed up only by the fact it wasn’t fought as a standard wrestling match broken into a British rounds system; it was fought as a true British rounds contest.

This was as technical as technical gets in wrestling terms. Tyler was executing all manner of technical wrestling holds and innovative escapes, going so far as to use a Johnny Saint-style rollup to gain the first fall. Noam, meanwhile, relied on a stiff striking ability to wear down the inaugural NXT UK Champion, focusing primarily on Bate’s leg in preparation for the Champage Superkneebar.

Tyler Bate would cement himself as the next contender for A-Kid’s Heritage Cup Championship, pinning ‘The Scottish Supernova’ following a Tyler Driver ’97 in the final round. It’s always tricky trying to book a British rounds match when you’re using the stipulation on a semi-frequent basis as you don’t want each one to be too similar. Bate and Dar did a strong job here in raising the bar to that next level.