[2018-06-26-WWE-NXT UK Championship Tournament: Day Two] Pete Dunne vs Zack Gibson

[nivvad]

Finally, Zack Gibson puts on his best performance to date. Not that I ever thought Gibson was a bad wrestler, but he never has been able (or even wanted to) show off his actual wrestling skills. He was great in picking apart Dunne’s arm though. Dunne on the other hand was also very good here in selling his arm and his exciting offense. His face persona is a little weird to get behind, but he still knows how to build up the drama when needed. I don’t know how much longer he will hold the UK title, but it seems he’s just getting started as champ, ****1/2.

[SmartMark15]

I'm going to disagree in that I really enjoy Dunne's face persona. He's the gritty ass kicker who knows how to put people down and will tough things out no matter what.

Aside from that, I agree on everything. This match was amazing with Dunne selling his arm wonderfully and consistently all throughout. His transitions were exciting and impactful and they built a lot of drama around some wonderful hot spots such as the great suplex onto the floor, the Helter Skleter off the ropes, and the two submission spots. Great title match.

****1/2

[ShittyLittleBoots]

There's one super shitty Codebreaker no sell pop up lariat sequence, but other than that, this was very solid. Peter's a rockin' babyface & Gibson's arm targeting was very enjoyable throughout. The drama with Shankly Gates was done super well, and the hold sure was built in terrific fashion leading up to this match. Also Nigel on commentary w/ an absolutely fantastic performance. ***1/4

[Maciej]

On 7/2/2018 at 6:59 AM, ShittyLittleBoots said:

There's one super shitty Codebreaker no sell pop up lariat sequence

That was especially frustrating because it directly followed something I really liked because it was so unusual for pro wrestling: they squared up and instead of just exchanging blows, Dunne actually gained the advantage by getting a good punch in.