[2021-03-04-WWE-NXT UK ] Kay Lee Ray (c) vs Meiko Satomura

[Timbo Slice]

Kay Lee Ray defends the WWE NXT UK Women's Title

A match and a result too cute by half, to the point where you wonder what Meiko is doing there in the first place when it's all over. The WWE viewpoint is that they didn't just want Meiko to become another Asuka, an unbeatable Japanese Ace that can't possibly be on the same level as anyone else on the brand. The problem is that is EXACTLY who Meiko is, who she was billed as, and who she was promoted as when she came in, to the point where her moniker is literally "The Best In The World" in her ring introductions.

And in 20 minutes, all of it basically vanishes?

Ray still isn't great with transitions, and there are plenty of Meiko matches at this point where she has been asked to put over a young ace in the fledgling joshi promotions all over Japan, but at least in those situations, Meiko is given an opportunity to go a bit back and forth before finally putting over the ace to make it seemed earned. That's the template for this match, something Meiko can do in her sleep, but usually it's reserved for the final meeting in a short feud. The presentation is supposed to be Ray overcoming just an overwhelming force, but the match layout was extremely even-keeled, even by the 50/50 standards WWE has lived by for the better part of a decade, and that makes the end result, where Ray pins Meiko clean, even more confounding, unless the end result is that the main roster women have convinced the higher ups to not let Meiko flounder on the UK brand, and get a quick run out of her with the Horsewomen and Asuka matches while she's still relatively fresh.

Considering how WWE has treated the UK brand so far, there seems to be this pretty substantial struggle to determine if the top folks on the brand have the ability to crossover into WWE's mainstream, and with both Drew and Becky's success outside of that, someone like Ray seems like a good fit given her limited exposure already, but the hierarchy as it stands leads to weird ways certain wrestlers are booked, and if that leads to someone like Meiko getting lost in the shuffle, it's hard to see much value in her presence on the brand.

 

[Edwin]

I thought this was very good. I've seen one of their previous matches from a smaller indy show in Europe and thought that was underwhelming so I didn't expect this to deliver and I was wrong. KLR is built as the longest reigning NXT UK women's champion and Meiko is built as the final boss (despite this being only her second match in the brand) built off her past in Japan, so the 50/50 work in it makes sense to a degree. Loved the drama built around the STF and Koji Clutch (despite obviously not being the finish, you can still buy into it, so kudos to the commentators). The lack of edited in crowd noises also allows for the thuds on some of the strikes to be heard. KLR going for broke with the swanton and the desperation almost costing her was a neat touch near the end. The finishing sequence was good as it didn't feel excessive. Kind of baffling to see Meiko get a title match this soon and lose it already. Anyway, I feel this would have been a notch above had it occurred in front of a live crowd as you know they would have been going bonkers for this.