The shows limped out of the blocks this week with a tedious extended squash for Trent Seven over UK Championship Tournament also-ran Saxon Huxley.
Beyond highlighting how rudderless the Moustache Mountain man is on a (relatively) grand stage is without his meal ticket Tyler Bate, the battle was the first of many cases of the chasm in NXT UK between the haves and have-nots.
Jobber matches are a necessity in building a brand, but the company have shown a frustrating lack of creativity in building up the losers before they get gubbed by the (very obvious) winners. Huxley was, at least, aesthetically different from some of the bald baddies pretending to be gritty thugs, but he was still only positioned as a big lad that likes a scrap.
Longterm, this simply won't do. Seven (and others on the show) aren't the super-workers good enough to make stars in short bursts, but WWE's current management of the shows doesn't appear keen to share the load.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
