The WWE United Kingdom Tournament 2018 - A Brand on the Rise
In January 2017 launched their new UK brand with the first ever United Kingdom Championship Tournament as part of their Global Localization Strategy which was revealed earlier this year. Between the 2017 tournament in the 2018 version of the event not a lot of note happened. The first ever UK Champion Tyler Bate dropped the title to Pete Dunne who held the title ever since and defended it multiple time on NXT hosted shows.
WWE signed Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, Wolfgang, Danny Burch (who has been moved to NXT in a Tag Team with Oney Lorcan), Mark Andrews among with others around that time. All where excluded from this year's tournament but some of them where featured on the event's special featured contests like Wolfgang going for Adam Cole's North American Title.
The 2018 Contestants:
- Joe Coffey (Scotland, former 2-time ICW Champion)
- Zack Gibson (England, former 5-Star Real Champion)
- Jack Gallagher (England, member of the WWE 205live roster)
- Amir Jordan (England)
- Kenny Williams (Scotland)
- Ligero (England, former WCPW Internet Champion)
- Dave Mastiff (England)
- Jospeh Conners (England, has competed in last year's tournament, former WCPW World Champion)
- Travis Banks (Australia, former Defiant Internet Champion)
- Flash Morgen Webster (Wales)
- Jordan Devlin (Ireland, has competed in last year's tournament, student of Finn Balor)
- Tucker (Northern Ireland, has competed in last year's tournament)
- Drew Gulak (USA, member of the WWE 205live roster)
- Ashton Smith (England)
- James Drake (England)
- Tyson T-Bone (England, has competed in last year's tournament)
The 2018 Tournament:
The show is completley taped and some of you might now the winner, who will get a championship opportunity at Pete Dunne in the future.
But the final two nights of the tournament have not aired yet so you will not get any spoilers here.
During NXT Tapings (May 10th) and Downlaod Festival (June 8th and 9th) the first round was held and later aired on WWE's social media outlets.
Results:
Zack Gibson def. Amir Jordan
Jack Gallagher def. Drew Gulak
Flash Morgan Webster def. James Drake
Jordan Devlin def. Tyson T-Bone
Joe Coffey def. Tucker
Dave Mastiff def. Kenny Williams
Travis Banks def. Ligero
Ashton Smith def. Joseph Conners
The Future:
WWE made several announcements during the build to the shows.
- There will an NXT UK stand-alone brand, tapings have already been announced
- UK legend Johnny Saint will be the general manager
- in addition to UK Champion there will be a Womens and Tag Team Title for the UK
- Noam Dar will make the move from 205live to NXT UK
- Killer Kelly, Toni Storm and Jinny are possible women of the NXT UK roster as they are booked for the two final shows
WWE has done everything to make the NXT UK Show a success. Who do you think is going to win the tournament (no spoilers)? Will you watch the NXT UK show? Let me know @Walu2go
