What could be next for the WWE United Kingdom Championship?
In the Winter of 2016, the WWE expanded its empire into the United Kingdom. Over the course of a weekend in January the WWE would crown their first ever United Kingdom Champion. Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne wrestled in a classic to crown the first champion. The reasoning for the tournament and new championship was to spearhead an expansion into Europe.
The plan was to kick off the new European division of the WWE with the tournament then begin filming a new series. The WWE contracted talent and had filmed a few episodes with a release date unannounced. Luckily for the talent, they have been able to continue working for other promotions such as Progress and ICW. As time has gone by no news about when the UK show would make its debut on the WWE Network. In a recent turn of events, the WWE has begun to cut costs and trim a lot of fat from their budget due to lacking profits.
In a swift drop of the guillotine, the WWE has cut much of their exclusive content. Shows such as Talking Smack, Ride Along and Unfiltered, though being popular with fans, weren’t exempt either. So with the tournament concluded and the production costs of a live event show looming, it looks like the United Kingdom show may see the cut as well. This puts talent into a weird limbo of sorts. A few of the wrestlers have made appearances in NXT but sporadically. Bate and Dunne would revisit their finals match and exceed their previous work. Unfortunately, it seems there are far more questions than answers.
In an interesting turn of events, Pete Dunne was slated to defend the UK Championship against fellow WWE wrestler Jack Gallagher at a Progress Wrestling event. Sadly for fans and the wrestlers alike, the match wasn’t to be as Dunne suffered a slight injury and it had to be scrapped, per Pro Wrestling Sheet. This was to be the first UK Championship match on U.S. soil since Dunne won at Takeover. NXT may be the winner in the budget cut, as the brand stands as the possible new home for the talent.
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It’s great that the wrestlers will get an opportunity to ply their trade on the biggest stage possible. But the other side of that coin is that now they won’t be able to be the trailblazers and anchors for the UK home base. The WWE has a great opportunity with the United Kingdom Championship to expand their reach to new regions. Yes, the WWE has been big in Europe for decades, but this was the first true opportunity to have a home base across the pond. The future of the United Kingdom Championship is in a limbo with no solution seems in sight.