NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool is scheduled for this Saturday afternoon, and now that the go-home episode of NXT UK has aired, we have a firm grasp of which superstars will be participating in the pay-per-view and which men and women are being left out in the cold.
As always, cards are subject to change and there could be any number of alterations to this lineup with surprise appearances, impromptu matches and so on, so nothing is truly set in stone. However, as far as the event is currently being advertised, the following NXT UK talent is not being promoted as part of the program.
It’s your call to judge whether these missing stars are being left off the card for justifiable reasons or not, so let’s take a look at the superstars missing from NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool.
From the NXT UK Men’s Division
— Amir Jordan / Kenny Williams: Out of a bunch of matches over the course of NXT UK, these two haven’t been able to get much traction. They just keep losing, even though they just recently scored a victory over Josh Ahmed and Dan Moloney in an attempt to offset all those L’s. As far as tag teams go, they simply weren’t in the mix for the titles due to the lack of wins.
— Ashton Smith: Ashton Smith has been all over the place. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses, sometimes he’s just attacked by Gallus before his match. For the most part, though, he’s lost, and he wasn’t in the most recent set of tapings.
— Danny Burch: Technically, I don’t think Danny Burch is officially part of the NXT UK brand, as he wrestles more often in the regular NXT alongside Oney Lorcan. However, there’s crossover and he’s wrestled for NXT UK before, he’s from the area, and he could easily be used again whenever WWE wants to put him out there.
— Fabian Aichner / Marcel Barthel: The European Union, as they’re now being referred to, made a bit of a transition to more of an NXT side of things recently, rather than NXT UK, despite being used in both capacities. Crossover! I guess WWE is trying to figure out what to do with them, especially since Aichner is even in Evolve as their champion, too.
— Flash Morgan Webster / Mark Andrews: These two were in the hunt for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship, but came up short to Grizzled Young Veterans. That explains their absence from this card, but they weren’t far off from appearing and could find their way into challenging for the belts at the next special.
— Mark Coffey and Wolfgang: The two other members of Gallus are probably actually going to be at this show, but in a ringside capacity alongside Joe Coffey. It just seems like WWE wouldn’t bother with a stable and not have them accompany Coffey to the ring and possibly interfere. I’m still surprised they aren’t in the tag title hunt anymore, but maybe that was done by design to maximize the talent being utilized and not just keep it to these two trios.
— Joseph Conners / Saxon Huxley: Conners has been a part of the NXT UK brand from the start, but he suffered an injury during the July tapings which set him back a bit. He managed to wrestle multiple times at each taping since then, though, scoring some wins alongside Saxon Huxley, who he then turned on after a loss and defeated in singles competition before getting two more wins and one more loss. Huxley has the reverse, with one win and two losses since that loss to Conners.
— Ligero: At all tapings except the first, Ligero has both won and lost a match, but in July, he won twice to help balance out his record slightly more in a positive sense. They must like him, but not want to strap a rocket to him just yet. Remember, this brand is in its infancy. Not everyone can be at the top from the start.
— Mike Hitchman: The “Wild Board” has only won one out of his five matches, which was recently against Josh Morrell. That isn’t a great record and certainly wouldn’t be something worth putting on the card over other talent.
— Noam Dar: More of a 205 Live competitor, Noam Dar has made a few sporadic appearances in association with NXT UK. He shouldn’t be considered a go-to for an event like this when the other people are manning things on a weekly basis, but he’s at least worth mentioning as someone who could have potentially been in the mix.
— Sam Gradwell: Gradwell suffered two losses in the July tapings, went down with an injury, and hasn’t been on NXT UK since then. Ouch…
— Tyson T-Bone: One solo win and one win alongside Saxon Huxley, versus four losses is what Tyson T-Bone has going for him right now. He’s lower on the card, for sure.
From the NXT UK Women’s Division
— Charlie Morgan: Morgan was most recently seen taking on Toni Storm on the December 19th episode. She hasn’t largely factored into plans, being one of the lesser booked women in NXT UK. I actually don’t think she’s won a match, yet.
— Dakota Kai: The leader of Team Kick suffered an injury to her leg in a match at an NXT live event on December 7th. As far as I’m aware, there hasn’t been any sound clarification on what that injury is or how long she’ll be out, but regardless of the severity, she wasn’t booked for this card anyway, so she isn’t missing out on a match that was planned, which is some solace, at least.
— Isla Dawn: The main push for Isla Dawn came with her attempt to dethrone Rhea Ripley on the October 14th tapings, which she failed to accomplish. Since then, she’s beaten Xia Brookside in one match, but that’s it. She seems to be poised to start a feud with Jinny now. Speaking of which…
— Jinny: Jinny started off with a bang, but lost momentum after losing to Toni Storm in the tournament to crown the NXT UK women’s champion. It seems they pretty much just use her once during tapings, where she gets a win, but it isn’t the most substantial thing. It must be hard to get a foothold when the champion is a heel and there isn’t much room to play around with other feuds. I have no doubts we’ll see Jinny against Isla Dawn on the next episode next Wednesday.
— Killer Kelly: According to my notes, Killer Kelly has only won two dark matches and nothing else in NXT UK. Therefore, there’s no reason why she would be on this card with that kind of record.
— Millie McKenzie: Strangely, McKenzie wasn’t used at all during the last two tapings. Not even in a dark match. She did appear twice before that on the August tapings and once in a dark match in July, and even won one of those three matches, but strangely, nothing since then. Scheduling? A lack of focus and need for her? Who knows…
— Nina Samuels: Nina was only present for a dark match in the more recent set of tapings, but was used a handful of times during the previous recordings, including a loss to Dakota Kai in the tournament quarterfinals. It’s a small pool of talent that don’t have much time to play around with and Samuels just isn’t the focal point right now, it seems.
— Xia Brookside: She’s young, but WWE definitely must see something in Xia Brookside, as she’s been used at every set of tapings since the first NXT UK round in July and was in the Mae Young Classic. She lost in the tournament quaterfinals and elsewhere, but she’s picked up a few wins, too.
Do you think these men and women or any others not on this list should have been booked on the card in some fashion? How would you have utilized them if given the opportunity? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
