Tyler Bate has been having a hell of a whirlwind 2017 so far. He became the first-ever WWE United Kingdom Champion in January, got to be part of Royal Rumble weekend (kind of), and popped up on NXT this past week to defend his title against his majestically-coiffed Mustache Mountain compatriot.
So you would think the guy hand-picked to lead WWE into the British marketplace would at least have gotten a handshake with Vince McMahon by now, right? Well, you’re wrong. When Bate stopped by the Buzzards Wrestling Podcast, he was asked about his impressions on WWE’s head honcho, but the tiny little thick-legged champ didn’t have any answers for them. He hasn’t actually met the guy yet.
“I walked passed him briefly when I was at the Royal Rumble show but hopefully someday soon, I’ll get to sit down and have a chat with him and get to talk to him properly, because everybody who gets into professional wrestling dreams of meeting Vince McMahon. I’ve had the conversation in my head thousands of times, when I’m lying in bed, thinking ‘What am I going to say when I meet Vince McMahon?’ Because he’s the man in wrestling, he owns wrestling.”
Obviously, this isn’t that surprising. McMahon wasn’t around for the initial U.K. Championship press announcement or the two-day tournament, and Bate was only around during Rumble weekend for a shot of himself in the crowd at TakeOver (which Matt Riddle delightfully videobombed). So not super shocking, but still entertaining. He holds a championship in Vince’s company!
Ah well, the two will meet soon enough. I’m not sure what Bate will eventually say to him when they have that conversation, but I deeply hope that he gives Vince tips on how to grow a fine adult’s mustache.
