[2017-01-15-WWE-UK Championship Tournament] Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne

[bradhindsight]

Talk about it here

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Quite a banger to close out the tournament - Peter gave another VERY strong performance, loved his work over Tyler's taped up shoulder & his work on top was very good in general. Tyler gave a very textbook babyface performance, good fire, his selling was very spotty though, and that is ultimately why I didn't go ****+ for this. ***3/4

[Luchaundead]

The rampage bomb by Tyler Bate with the injured shoulder was essentially the climax of the entire tournament this match was fantastic

[bradhindsight]

I thought this was great in revisiting almost a year later, and after watching their rematch from May. This is much more storyline driven with the shoulder and both guys work very believable offense. Thought Bate's selling was fine and the build to the finish is paced perfectly. ****1/4 leaning up.

[World's Worst Man]

This was a good example of why I hate the WWE style. Uninspiring early match build which then transitions to a bunch of isolated, poorly built near falls. Bate using his injured shoulder to lift Dunn from the triangle choke position was just silliness in a match where the injured shoulder was supposed to be a story point. The transition after the 450, where Dunn just grabbed Bate's hand from a neutral position was probably one of the worst I've ever seen. Neither guy's facials/body language were particularly good either, but I'm pretty sure that was something that they improved in their later match. **3/4

[cactus]

Tyler Bate's shoulder is naff after working through 3 previous matches in the past 24 hours. His injury is going to make it hard for him to hit the Tiger Driver, a move that has won his all his past matches in this tournament. Dunne's mission is to rip of Bate's arm from the rest of his body. Everything is set up perfectly.

 

The crowd are so into this. There's no dueling chants and the look on their faces when Dunne hits the Bitter End is priceless. Everyone is rooting for Bate and seeing the entire building gradually rise to their feet when Bate summons to the strength to escape from the triangle choke is one of those rare moments where you can overlook the lack of selling being shown because what you are seeing is just so damn awesome.

 

A trilling climax to a great tournament that still holds up a year later.

 

★★★★½