WWE’s 9 Best Matches of 2017 So Far

8. Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne – WWE UK Championship Tournament

The United Kingdom Championship Tournament was an opportunity to establish WWE’s newest division of talent. They wanted to expand around the world, taking advantage of the countries where wrestling thrives and acquire wrestlers, which the UK has been a hotbed for, for a while.

16 UK wrestlers were part of the tournament, and when it came down to the final match, Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne went head-to-head. To American audiences, unless you closely followed the British scene, they were unknowns. However, their performance put them on the map as two of the top stars in the country.

Bate and Dunne received 15 minutes to tell their story, including one where the former had to work through a shoulder injury. It looked like it would limit him from hitting Tyler Driver ’97 and secure the championship, but that wasn’t the case.

The psychology played into this being a well-told story by Dunne and Bate, both of whom were two of the youngest competitors of the tournament. This eventually led to Bate conquering the Bruiserweight with his finisher and standing tall as the first-ever WWE UK Champion.