The WWE United Kingdom Championship was introduced with a bang back in January, when a universally-acclaimed two-night tournament crowned Tyler Bate the inaugural champion. Almost immediately after that tournament, there were reports that up to three extremely popular independent U.K. promotions might be heading to WWE Network.
While any outside promotions coming to the Network have yet to materialize, WWE’s own U.K. division has been in flux throughout the year. The majority of the U.K. matches and title defenses have come on NXT weekly television or on TakeOver specials. Many of the top wrestlers in the division — who have been signed to unprecedented deals, possibly specifically to have kept the performers away from the ITV reboot of World of Sport that now appears to be dead in the water — have reported to the Performance Center in Florida, so they can be called upon as needed.
In May, WWE held two nights of U.K. division Live Events in England, and shortly thereafter put a special on the Network for fans to enjoy. But every step of the way, the plan was to attempt to secure a deal for a weekly television show, which would allow the company to both produce and air the show in England.
As of October, that was still the plan, as the U.K. show was actively being pitched to stations and companies across the Atlantic. In a new interview with The Independent, Triple H — who oversees pretty much everything outside the main roster and created the division — explained that the situation is still a work in progress, and things will take more time.
“Pete [Dunne] and all of those U.K. guys are very talented. Putting together a product of a television show and live events in the U.K. and doing what we do takes time. I would love for this to have happened quicker and sooner but we are where we are. We’re still in that process but we’re using those guys here and there and they are still doing their other bookings as well as working with us.
“As we move forward, I’m hoping something more definitive for them will be coming soon and we’ll certainly be letting everyone know. They are all very talent kids and a bunch of them are at the Performance Center now, training and constantly working with us as we try to improve them so that, when the opportunity comes, we are ready to go.”
So while it seems there’s nothing impending on the immediate horizon, it’s pretty clear that WWE isn’t abandoning the division and is still trying to get the pieces in place. Not that we’d complain if they wanted to bring ICW or PROGRESS to WWE Network in the meantime …
