NXT UK was a

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

of the American

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

that was introduced in June 2018. Brands are divisions of WWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis. Wrestlers assigned to NXT UK primarily appeared on the brand's weekly television program, ''

NXT UK ''NXT UK'' is a professional wrestling television programme that was produced exclusively in the United Kingdom by the American promotion WWE. It aired on BT Sport and 5Action (previously known as Paramount Network). In the United States, the s ...

''. The brand served as a sub-brand of WWE's

developmental territory In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

NXT NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * ''WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spin- ...

, with NXT UK wrestlers also occasionally appearing on its show, ''

''. Unlike WWE's other brands, NXT UK was produced exclusively in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and was specifically centered on wrestlers from the country. The brand went on hiatus following the Worlds Collide event on 4 September 2022; in 2023, it will be relaunched as NXT Europe, expanding the brand to include all

pan-European Pan-European can refer to: * Pan-European identity * Pan-European corridors ** Pan-European Corridor X ** Pan-European Corridor Xa * Pan European Game Information * Pan-European Institute * Pan-European nationalism * Pan-European Oil Pipeline ...

countries.

History

In a press conference at

The O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the s ...

on 15 December 2016, Paul "Triple H" Levesque, an executive of the American

promotion

, revealed that there would be a 16-man tournament to crown the inaugural

WWE United Kingdom Champion 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 WW ...

. The tournament was held over a two-day period, 14 and 15 January 2017, and aired exclusively on the company's online streaming service, the

WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American entertainment company WWE. It primarily distributes original professional wrestling events, films, television and ...

. The championship was intended as the top championship of a new WWE Network show, produced in the United Kingdom (at the time, the show and its premiere date had yet to be revealed).

Tyler Bate Tyler Bate (born 7 March 1997) is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand. In 2017, he became the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Champion (later renamed NXT United Kingdom Championship), ...

won the inaugural tournament to become the first WWE United Kingdom Champion. On 19 May 2017, WWE held a follow-up to the United Kingdom Championship tournament, titled United Kingdom Championship Special. On 7 April 2018, a second United Kingdom Championship Tournament event was scheduled for 18 and 19 June at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

. On 7 June,

Johnny Saint John Miller (born 29 June 1941) is an English professional wrestling authority figure and retired professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he served as the on-screen general manager of the now defunct NXT UK under his career- ...

was appointed General Manager of WWE's United Kingdom brand. On 18 June 2018, it was announced that WWE's United Kingdom brand would begin filming a new show titled ''

'' in July 2018, and that championships for the brand's

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

and

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

divisions would be introduced. The brand was in turn officially established as NXT UK. On 17 October 2018, the inaugural episode of ''NXT UK'' aired on the WWE Network at 8 p.m. UK time/3 p.m. Eastern Time. On 31 December 2019, WWE announced that ''NXT UK'' would begin airing on

BT Sport BT Sport is a group of broadcasting of sports events, pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, Warner Bros. Dis ...

in the United Kingdom. On 21 January 2020, it was announced that ''NXT UK'' would also air on Paramount Network UK on a six-day delay after its WWE Network and BT Sport broadcasts. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

that began in March 2020, production of NXT UK events were paused. On 10 September 2020, WWE announced the relaunch of NXT UK following its hiatus due to the pandemic. A secondary men's championship was also unveiled. On 19 August 2021, it was announced that WWE would be a sponsor of

Enfield Town F.C. Enfield Town Football Club is a football club based in Enfield, Greater London, England. Established in 2001 as a fan-led breakaway from Enfield, the club are currently members of the and play at the Queen Elizabeth II Stadium. The club b ...

—a seventh-tier football club in the same borough as its UK-based

WWE Performance Center The WWE Performance Center is the official professional wrestling school system of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE. The promotion currently operates two Performance Center locations, which serve as training facilities for WWE wre ...

facility—in the 2021–22 season, with their kits carrying the NXT UK logo. On 18 August 2022, WWE announced that NXT UK would take a "brief hiatus" and be rebranded as NXT Europe upon its return in 2023, expanding the brand to include wrestlers from all

countries. The final NXT UK event was Worlds Collide on 4 September 2022.

Shawn Michaels Michael Shawn Hickenbottom (born July 22, 1965), better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative. Widely regarded as one of ...

, who oversees talent development, said the company would work with the staff and talent to launch NXT Europe "bigger and better".

Championships

Overview

NXT UK had four championships exclusive to the brand. There were three for men and one for women. There were also two other championships that were shared with the brand. The top men's championship of NXT UK was the NXT United Kingdom Championship. Established as the WWE United Kingdom Championship in December 2016, the inaugural champion was Tyler Bate, who won the original United Kingdom Championship tournament. In January 2020, the title was renamed to reflect its status as the top title of NXT UK. The title was retired on 4 September 2022 at Worlds Collide when it was unified into the

NXT Championship The NXT Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE. It is defended as the top championship of the NXT brand division, the promotion's developmental territory. In ...

. Bate, the championship's only two-time holder, is recognized as the final champion. The top championship for female wrestlers was the

NXT UK Women's Championship The NXT UK Women's Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship that was created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It was defended on the NXT UK brand division, a sister brand of WWE's developmental territory NXT ba ...

. Unveiled in June 2018,

Rhea Ripley Demi Bennett (born 11 October 1996) is an Australian professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Rhea Ripley and is a member of The Judgment Day. She was also the inaugural N ...

won a tournament final to become the inaugural champion. The title was retired on 4 September 2022 at Worlds Collide when it was unified into the

NXT Women's Championship The NXT Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended on the NXT brand division, the promotion's developmental territory. Introduced on April 5, 2013, t ...

Meiko Satomura Meiko Satomura (里村明衣子, Satomura Meiko, born November 11, 1979) is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is currently signed to the American promotion WWE performing on the NXT brand and the Japanese promotion Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestlin ...

is recognized as the final champion. The

NXT UK Tag Team Championship The NXT UK Tag Team Championship was a men's professional wrestling tag team championship that was created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It was defended on the NXT UK brand division, a sister brand of WWE's developmental territory ...

was the tag team championship for men. Unveiled in June 2018, the team of James Drake and

Zack Gibson Jack Rea (born 8 August 1990) is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Rip Fowler. He is also known for his work as Zack Gibson on the UK independent circuit. H ...

won a tournament final to become the inaugural champions. The title was retired on 4 September 2022 at Worlds Collide when it was unified into the

NXT Tag Team Championship The NXT Tag Team Championship is a men's professional wrestling tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended on the NXT brand division, the promotion's developmental territory. Introduced on January 23 ...

. The team of

Brooks Jensen Benjamin Buchanan (born August 21, 2001) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Brooks Jensen. In WWE, he is a one-time NXT UK Tag Team Champion with Josh Brigg ...

and

Josh Briggs Joshua Bruns (born March 5, 1993) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Josh Briggs. He is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand. In WWE, he is a one-time NXT UK Tag Team Champion with Brooks ...

are recognized as the final champions. In September 2020, the

NXT UK Heritage Cup The NXT UK Heritage Cup is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It was defended on the NXT UK brand division, a sister brand of WWE's developmental territory NXT based in the United Kingdom, bu ...

was unveiled as a secondary championship for men and with a special stipulation in which matches are only contested under British Rounds Rules. The first champion was

A-Kid Carlos Ruiz (born May 9, 1997) is a Spanish professional wrestler known under his ringname A-Kid. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on NXT as Axiom. He has also performed in NXT UK, where he was the inaugural NXT UK Heritage Cup Ch ...

, who won a tournament final to become the inaugural champion. Unlike NXT UK's other championships, which were retired at Worlds Collide on 4 September 2022, the Heritage Cup was not unified or defended at the event and there has been no announcement regarding its future, but WWE's website still lists it as active. In addition to the above four championships, there were two other championships that were also available to NXT UK wrestlers but not exclusive to the brand. These were the

NXT Cruiserweight Championship The NXT Cruiserweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship that was created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. Before its retirement, it was defended across the NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live brand divisions, which were d ...

and the

WWE 24/7 Championship The WWE 24/7 Championship was a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It was a tertiary championship open to anyone—regardless of gender or WWE employment status—and carried the special rule ...

. The NXT Cruiserweight Championship was for wrestlers billed as 205 lbs and under, regarded as cruiserweights. It was originally established for Raw in September 2016 as the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. After 205 Live became its own brand in 2018, the title became exclusive to 205 Live and it then came under the NXT brand with a rename in 2019 when 205 Live merged under NXT. The title's contendership was extended to NXT UK in January 2020 when NXT UK's

Jordan Devlin Jordan Devlin (born 15 March 1990) is an Irish professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name JD McDonagh. He previously performed in NXT UK, where was a one-time and the longest re ...

won the championship. The title was then retired in January 2022 when it was unified into the NXT North American Championship, with

Carmelo Hayes Christian Brigham (born August 1, 1994) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT (WWE brand), NXT WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Carmelo Hayes. Hayes is a former one-time NX ...

recognized as the final champion. Introduced in May 2019, the WWE 24/7 Championship was a specialized championship in which it could be defended anytime, anywhere, as long as a WWE referee was present, allowing it to be defended on any brand. Despite this, the title was never won by an NXT UK wrestler or appeared on any NXT UK event. The championship remained active until November 2022. After Nikki Cross won the title on the November 7 episode of ''

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

'', she discarded the belt in a trash can backstage and two days later, it was listed as inactive on WWE.com.

Previous championships

Other championships used by NXT UK

Television show

The WWE Network broadcast NXT UK's eponymous television programme in the United Kingdom and internationally. The inaugural tapings of ''NXT UK'' occurred on 28 and 29 July 2018, at the

Cambridge Corn Exchange Cambridge Corn Exchange is a concert venue located in Cambridge, England with a capacity up to 1,681 people. Construction The site, on the corner of Wheeler Street and Corn Exchange Street, was earmarked for a new Corn Exchange in 1868 to repl ...

, and began airing on 17 October 2018. Since March 2021, ''NXT UK'' was broadcast on

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

in the United States, due to the American version of the WWE Network merging under Peacock.

WWE Network events

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom WWE brands

British professional wrestling promotions 2016 establishments in the United Kingdom WWE international Defunct brands