[2021-11-18-WWE-NXT UK] Noam Dar vs A-Kid

[corwo]

This is a façade of a match, a contest for people who claim to enjoy technical wrestling but don’t want the nuance or thought that goes into making those bouts enjoyable.

There’s a tentative start with some mediocre at best grappling. Dar loosely targets the arm, but it doesn’t amount to much, as would be a running theme throughout the match. Dar sets A-Kid on the top rope and charges at him but gets sent flying over the ropes to end the second round. A terrible kick-evading exchange occurs with many strikes that don’t come close to connecting. Dar locks on the Nova Roller to snag the first fall. A-Kid eats crap on a suicide dive when Sha Samuels pushes Dar out of the way but he’s able to beat the ten-count. A-Kid hits a springboard moonsault/DDT combo for the second fall.

At this point, they start doing a lot of stuff that has no bearing on the early mat work. The submission attempts in-between moves are floaty, and there’s a long sequence where they let each other grab holds for the sake of creating artificial drama. All of it takes a backseat to the moves, though. The submissions feel hollow because none of them are sold or carry any weight. They merely exist in a vacuous pit, a pit where dreams go to die. After a series of moves that sees jumping superkicks, some ugly back elbows from Dar, and frankly pointless distractions from Sha Samuels, the match ends on a wet fart of a finish. A-Kid traps Dar in a final submission with both tied at 1-1, but the bell sounds for a draw.

A deeply frustrating match, one that in typical WWE fashion takes a popular thing from yesteryear, dumbs it down and distills it until it’s unrecognizable.