Noam Dar held his own against Pete Dunne in what was unquestionably the shining light of NXT UK's maiden effort two weeks ago, and this payoff to Zack Gibson's world class heat-seeking promo last week again positioned the 'Scottish Supernova' as the brand's prime utility player.
Gibson's taken this loathsome schtick everywhere he's worked in the last few years, and he's been an immediate success every time. Week One for the gimmick was a transcendent success - Zack was immediately elevated beyond the rank-and-file thanks to his remarkable knack of making smart marks hate again, and this match was proof of how valuable a trait that can be.
The company took a gamble giving an entire third of the show over to the pair, but this breathless main event earned every second of the spotlight. Zack's persona allows for unique psychology in his matches - he gets so much heat just for being him that he doesn't need to search for it in matches. Dar assumed and reassumed control countless times only for Zack to use a sneaky attack on his injured arm to capture the crowd's disdain all over again.
Their hard-hitting race to the finish - Dar damaged his own knee missing leaping stomp on to Gibson's injured one to leave him prone for the Helter Skelter - felt extremely well-earned.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he 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 on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
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 music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
