NXT United Kingdom Championship

The NXT United Kingdom Championship was a men's professional wrestling championship that was created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It was primarily defended as the top championship of the NXT UK brand division, a sister brand of WWE's developmental territory NXT based in the United Kingdom. It was also occasionally defended at NXT events and had also been defended on independent wrestling shows in the United Kingdom before the COVID-19 pandemic.

NXT United Kingdom Championship
The final NXT United Kingdom Championship belt design with default side plates
(2020–2022)
Details
PromotionWWE
Date established15 December 2016
Date retired4 September 2022
(unified with the NXT Championship)
Other name(s)
  • WWE United Kingdom Championship
    (2016–2020)
  • NXT United Kingdom Championship
    (2020–2022)
Statistics
First champion(s)Tyler Bate
Final champion(s)Tyler Bate
Most reignsTyler Bate
(2 reigns)
Longest reignWalter
(870 days)
Shortest reignTyler Bate
(2nd reign, 59 days)[lower-alpha 1]
Oldest championWalter
(31 years, 228 days)
Youngest championTyler Bate
(19 years, 314 days)
Heaviest championWalter
(297 lb (135 kg))
Lightest championTyler Bate
(175 lb (79 kg))

Established on 15 December 2016 as the WWE United Kingdom Championship, the title was first awarded to Tyler Bate, who won the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament on 15 January 2017. The brand's show of the same name had its first tapings in August 2018, which began airing in October. From its inception up until the debut of NXT UK, the title was primarily defended on the NXT brand and shows produced by UK-based independent wrestling promotions. In January 2020, the title was renamed to reflect its status as the top title of NXT UK. On 4 September 2022 at Worlds Collide, the title was unified into the NXT Championship, officially retiring the title in the process, with Bate, the title's only multi-time holder, recognized as the final champion.

History

In a press conference at The O2 Arena on 15 December 2016, Triple H, the chief operating officer and head of NXT for the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, revealed that there would be a 16-man single-elimination tournament to crown the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Champion for the promotion's new United Kingdom division. The tournament was held over a two-day period, 14 and 15 January 2017, and was streamed exclusively on the WWE Network. Tyler Bate won the inaugural tournament to become the first WWE United Kingdom Champion.[1]

The inaugural, record two-time, and final champion Tyler Bate, shown here winning the first United Kingdom Championship Tournament.
Longest-reigning champion Walter, who held the title for 870 days.

Following the inaugural tournament in 2017, the title began being featured on WWE's developmental brand NXT when Bate debuted during the 28 January 2017, tapings of NXT in San Antonio, Texas, which aired 1 February.[2] During the 1 February tapings at the brand's former home base of Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, the title's very first defense took place, where Bate defeated Trent Seven (aired 15 February).[3] The title was defended for the first time outside of WWE when Bate retained the title against Mark Andrews on a show for the London-based promotion, Progress Wrestling; the show took place in Orlando, Florida, on 31 March as part of WrestleMania Axxess.[4] The first title change, as well as the first defense to air live, took place on 20 May 2017 at TakeOver: Chicago, where Pete Dunne defeated Bate to become champion.[5][6] Although unsuccessful, Johnny Gargano was the first wrestler from outside of the United Kingdom division to challenge for the UK title on the 18 November tapings of NXT (aired on 22 November).[7]

When the championship was unveiled in December 2016, it was announced to be the top championship of a new WWE Network show, produced in the United Kingdom.[8][9] However, it was not until mid-2018 when WWE formally established NXT UK as the brand for their United Kingdom division and sister brand of their American-based NXT.[10][11] The brand's show, also titled NXT UK, had its first tapings in August, which began airing on 17 October.[12] On the premiere episode, Dunne retained the UK Championship against Noam Dar.[13] During the 17 January 2020 tapings of NXT UK, the title was renamed to NXT United Kingdom Championship to reflect its status as the top title of NXT UK.[14]

In August 2022, WWE announced that the NXT UK brand would go on hiatus and would relaunch as NXT Europe at a later time.[15] As such, NXT UK's championship's were unified into their respective NXT championship counterparts. Subsequently, the NXT United Kingdom Championship was retired on 4 September 2022 at Worlds Collide. At the event, Bron Breakker defeated Tyler Bate to unify the NXT United Kingdom Championship into Breakker's NXT Championship, with Bate, the title's only two-time holder, recognized as the final NXT UK Champion. Breakker went forward as the unified NXT Champion.[16]

Inaugural tournament
First Round
14 January 2017[17] 		Quarter-Finals
15 January 2017[1] 		Semi-Finals
15 January 2017[1] 		Final
15 January 2017[1]
        
England Tyler Bate Pin
Northern Ireland Tucker 10:34
England Tyler Bate Pin
Republic of Ireland Jordan Devlin 6:05
England Danny Burch 8:55
Republic of Ireland Jordan Devlin Pin
England Tyler Bate Pin
Scotland Wolfgang 5:55
England Trent Seven Pin
England H.C. Dyer 5:25
England Trent Seven 6:35
Scotland Wolfgang Pin
England Tyson T-Bone 6:20
Scotland Wolfgang Pin
England Tyler Bate Pin
England Pete Dunne 15:10
Wales Mark Andrews Pin
England Dan Moloney 5:35
Wales Mark Andrews Pin
England Joseph Conners 8:10
England James Drake 7:12
England Joseph Conners Pin
Wales Mark Andrews 10:33
England Pete Dunne Pin
England Pete Dunne Pin
England Roy Johnson 7:30
England Pete Dunne Pin
England Sam Gradwell 4:50
England Saxon Huxley 6:00
England Sam Gradwell Pin

Vacant title tournament (2022)
Quarter-Finals
7 July 2022 		Semi-Finals
7 July 2022 		Final
7 July 2022
         
Oliver Carter Pin
Charlie Dempsey
Oliver Carter
Trent Seven Pin
Wolfgang
Trent Seven Pin
Trent Seven
Tyler Bate Pin
Tyler Bate Pin
Kenny Williams 13:21
Tyler Bate Pin
Joe Coffey
Joe Coffey Pin
Mark Andrews 7:42

Championship belt design
The championship's center plate was inspired by the United Kingdom's royal coat of arms

The base design of the belt was similar to the WWE Championship belt (introduced in 2014), with notable differences.[18] Instead of a large cut out of the WWE logo, the center plate was modeled after the United Kingdom's royal coat of arms, featuring a lion and a horse (instead of the traditional unicorn) on either side of the arms, with a shield at the center; atop the shield were the crown jewels. The banner atop the arms read "United Kingdom" while the banner below read "Champion". Gold divider bars separated the center plate from the belt's two side plates. In what became a prominent feature of WWE's championship belts, the side plates featured removable center sections that could be replaced with the reigning champion's logo; the default side plates featured the WWE logo on a red globe. The plates were on a black leather strap. When the championship was originally introduced as the WWE United Kingdom Championship, the shield at the center of the main plate featured the WWE logo, but that was changed to the NXT UK logo on 17 January 2020 when the title was renamed to NXT United Kingdom Championship.[14]

Reigns

Over the championship's nearly six year history, there were five reigns between four champions. Tyler Bate was the inaugural champion and is also recognized as the final champion. He also had the most reigns at two, he was the youngest champion at 19, and his second reign was the shortest reign at 59 days (3 days as recognized by WWE due to tape delay, despite Bate appearing as champion on NXT a couple of weeks before his title win on NXT UK). Walter had the longest reign, which lasted 870 days, and he was also the oldest champion when he won the title at 31.

Name Years
WWE United Kingdom Championship 15 December 2016 – 17 January 2020
NXT United Kingdom Championship 17 January 2020[14] – 4 September 2022
Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
Days recog. Number of days held recognized by the promotion
† Championship change is unrecognized by the promotion
<1 Reign lasted less than a day
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign DaysDays recog.
WWE: NXT
1 Tyler Bate 15 January 2017 United Kingdom Championship Tournament Blackpool, England 1 125125 Defeated Pete Dunne in the tournament final to become the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Champion. Bate subsequently defended the title on the NXT brand and at independent shows in the United Kingdom. [1]
2 Pete Dunne 20 May 2017 TakeOver: Chicago Rosemont, Illinois, U.S. 1 685685 The title became the top championship of NXT UK when the brand was established in June 2018, but continued to occasionally be defended on NXT and at independent shows. [5]
WWE: NXT UK
3 Walter 5 April 2019 TakeOver: New York Brooklyn, New York, U.S. 1 870870 The title was renamed NXT United Kingdom Championship in January 2020. [19]
4 Ilja Dragunov 22 August 2021 TakeOver 36 Orlando, Florida, U.S. 1 319347 WWE recognizes Dragunov's reign as ending on 4 August 2022, when the episode aired on tape delay. [20]
— Vacated 7 July 2022 NXT UK London, England — —— Ilja Dragunov relinquished the title after suffering an injury.
Aired on tape delay on 4 August 2022.		 [21][22]
5 Tyler Bate 7 July 2022 NXT UK London, England 2 5959 Defeated Trent Seven in the final of a tournament to win the vacant championship.
WWE recognizes Bate's reign as beginning on 1 September 2022, when the episode aired on tape delay, despite the fact that Bate started appearing as champion on 16 August at NXT Heatwave.		 [23][24]
— Unified 4 September 2022 Worlds Collide Orlando, Florida, U.S. — —— Bron Breakker defeated Tyler Bate to unify the NXT United Kingdom Championship into the NXT Championship. The NXT United Kingdom Championship was retired with Bate recognized as the final Champion. Breakker went forward as the unified NXT Champion. [16]

Combined reigns
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns		 Combined
days		 Combined days
recognized by WWE
1 Walter1870
2 Pete Dunne1685
3 Ilja Dragunov1319346
4 Tyler Bate2184128

Notes
  1. WWE officially recognizes that Tyler Bate held the title for 3 days due to tape delay, despite Bate appearing on NXT a couple of weeks before his title win on NXT UK aired.

References
  1. Soucek, Andrew (15 January 2017). "SOUCEK'S WWE UK CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT REPORT 1/15: Ongoing coverage of night two of UK Championship tournament". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  2. "NXT TakeOver pre-show TV taping & dark match results". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. January 28, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  3. "2/1 NXT TV Review: NXT Takeover fallout, Roode reacts to victory, ceremony for departing Corey Graves, Moon vs. Alijah, Bate vs. Lorcan, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. February 1, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  4. Zimmerman, Zack (March 31, 2017). "3/31 Progress Wrestling in Orlando results: Tyler Bate vs. Mark Andrews for the WWE UK Championship, Pete Dunne vs. Mark Haskins for the Progress Championship, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jimmy Havoc". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 1, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  5. Zimmerman, Zack (May 20, 2017). "5/20 Zim's NXT Takeover: Chicago live review – Bobby Roode vs. Hideo Itami for the NXT Title, Authors of Pain vs. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa in a ladder match for the NXT Tag Titles, Asuka vs. Nikki Cross vs. Ruby Riot for the NXT Women's Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  6. Howell, Nolan (February 15, 2017). "NXT: Bate retains UK title against Moustache Mountain partner Seven". Slam! Sports. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  7. James, Justin (November 22, 2017). "11/22 NXT TV Report: Pete Dunne vs. Johnny Gargano in main event, Ruby Riot vs. Sonya Deville in likely their final NXT match". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  8. Currier, Joseph (December 15, 2016). "WWE to crown first United Kingdom Champion in January". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
  9. Keller, Wade (December 15, 2016). "WWE announces new UK-based brand, holding tournament to crown UK Champion, Nigel McGuinness on announce team". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
  10. WWE.com Staff (June 7, 2018). "Johnny Saint named GM of WWE's United Kingdom brand". WWE. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  11. Currier, Joseph (June 7, 2018). "WWE announces Johnny Saint as UK brand general manager". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
  12. Reuter, Sean (October 11, 2018). "NXT UK joins WWE Network's already packed Wednesday line-up". Cageside Seats. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  13. Gleed, Haydn (October 17, 2018). "Gleed's NXT UK TV Review: Premiere edition with Pete Dunne vs Noam Dar for the WWE UK Championship, Mark Andrews vs Joe Coffey, Dave Mastiff vs Sid Scala, and Toni Storm vs Nina Samuels". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  14. Satin, Ryan (January 17, 2020). "New NXT UK Championship Unveiled At TV Taping". Pro Wrestling Sheet. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  15. Defelice, Robert (August 18, 2022). "WWE Announces The Impending Launch Of 'NXT Europe' Final NXT UK Event To Be 'Worlds Collide' On 9/4". Fightful. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  16. Wells, Kelly (September 4, 2022). "9/4 NXT Worlds Collide results: Wells's report on Breakker vs. Bate, Rose vs. Davenport vs. Satamura, Hayes vs. Ricochet, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  17. Soucek, Andrew (14 January 2017). "SOUCEK'S WWE UK CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT REPORT 1/14: Ongoing coverage of night one of UK Championship tournament". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
  18. WWE Superstars - WWE.com
  19. Powell, Jason (April 5, 2019). "4/5 Powell's NXT Takeover: New York live review – Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole in a best of three falls match for the vacant NXT Championship, Pete Dunne vs. Walter for the WWE UK Championship, Velveteen Dream vs. Matt Riddle for the NXT North American Title, NXT Women's Title four-way, NXT Tag Title match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 7, 2019. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  20. Moore, John (August 22, 2021). "NXT Takeover 36 results: Moore's live review of Karrion Kross vs. Samoa Joe for the NXT Championship, Raquel Gonzalez vs. Dakota Kai for the NXT Women's Title, Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly in a best of three falls match, Walter vs. Ilja Dragunov for the NXT UK Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on August 23, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
  21. Defelice, Robert (July 7, 2022). "SPOILER: Title Vacated Due To Injury During NXT UK Tapings On 7/7/22". Fightful. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  22. Russell, Skyler (August 4, 2022). "Ilja Dragunov Relinquishes NXT UK Title Due To Injury, Tournament To Crown New Champion Announced". Fightful. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  23. Russell, Skyler (July 7, 2022). "Spoiler: New NXT UK Champion Crowned During 7/7 Tapings". Fightful. Archived from the original on July 8, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  24. Lambert, Jeremy (September 1, 2022). "Tyler Bate Wins NXT UK Title On 9/1 NXT UK After Carrying The Title On TV Since 8/16 NXT 2.0". Fightful. Archived from the original on September 1, 2022. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
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