When The Bitter End Arrives

WALTER (c) VS Pete Dunne - NXT UK Championship 5/22/2019

JJZ: As soon as I saw Pete Dunne was in our last match I thought about his NXT title matches with Walter. So I said fuck it and typed this in the YouTube search. I loved their first title match but I remembered liking this one even more. One of the better hand spots chopping the post because I didn't see it coming. Also loved how it was brought back later in the match and not for Dunne to take control at that moment. Really interesting hand work, that drop kick to the hand popped me. Walter players the monster role better than anyone going. The fear he has built with just a single chop is masterful. On rewatch I think their first title match was better but this is still great. Do you know if they had a third?

CJD: I feel like they had to have another rematch since but I don't know of one. Immediate rematches after a dominant babyface title run are so hard to pull off well. You almost always either make the new Champ look too weak or taint the legacy of the previous Champ's reign. This match avoids both pratfalls although the finish flirts with the former. Still the match itself is so damn good the finish is just fine in the grand scheme of things. I'd agree the Takeover match is classic and this is just short but I give them both a ton of credit mixing things up and delivering such a difficult type of match. This was a great, great TV main event, and portrayed perfectly in a great stretch of NXT UK programming. WALTER walked the line perfectly of making it look like he needed to survive Dunne to retain, but doing so in a way that still made him look dominant. I was happy to rewatch this one and I'd recommend anyone else who's seen it previously to make time to do the same. It has so many fun twists and turns.