Jefferson Lake
WWE Editor @jeffersonlake
WWE crowns first Welsh champions at NXT UK TakeOver event in Cardiff
Last Updated: 02/09/19 8:09am
Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster have become WWE's first Welsh champion by winning the NXT UK tag titles.
The duo won the championships in their home town of Cardiff on Saturday night at the second edition of NXT UK's TakeOver event at a sold-out Motorpoint Arena.
In a superb triple threat match against the champions Zack Gibson & James Drake and the Gallus pair of Wolfgang & Mark Coffey, Andrews scored the winning pinfall on Gibson following a Fall to Pieces.
The Welsh duo went into the crowd to celebrate their historic victory after more than 20 minutes of high-flying action and narrow escapes.
The United Kingdom championship remains in possession of WALTER despite the best efforts of a highly motivated Tyler Bate after a 42-minute match which will surely rank among the best witnessed in 2019.
Bate hit the colossal Austrian with everything he had, which included a superhuman suplex, the airplane spin, the Burning Hammer, another exploder suplex off the off the top rope and the Tyler Driver, all of which nearly allowed him to become the first two-time United Kingdom champion.
But a thunderous clothesline from WALTER finally brought down Bate for the three-count in a struggle that will go down as a match for the ages.
Bate was joined in the ring by his British Strong Style team-mates Pete Dunne and Trent Seven after the match, which could signal his time in the UK division of NXT is about to come to an end.
WWE main roster star Cesaro saw his open challenge answered by Ilja Dragunov, who he beat after a hard-hitting match, while Toni Storm's reign as NXT UK women's champion was brought to an end by Scotland's Kay Lee Ray.
Joe Coffey defeated David Mastiff in a brutal last man standing match - which included several cricket bat shots - and Noam Dar saw off Travis Banks in the evening's opening contest.
