What's the endgame of the WWE UK division?
 

I really enjoy most of the guys in the division, especially Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne...but as I see the show up seemingly randomly between 205 and NXT, putting on great match after great match, and I wonder where this is all supposed to be going? At first, I thought it was just going to be another weekly network exclusive show, but I guess not. The roster isn't big enough to sustain that anyway.

What's supposed to be happening here?

I figured it was just a way to appeal to the UK market where the indy wrestling scene is supposed to be pretty hot right now. I don't know if they really planned it out past that or have an "endgame" per se.

I think they were still planning on eventually doing a UK show and were pitching to networks, last I heard (like 1-2 months ago)

Like UK networks?

Yeah. ITV was one of the networks interested especially with their own World of Sport show having trouble getting made.

The roster itself is only small because there is no tv show so its easier and cheaper for WWE to just keep the few guys they want to use on NXT for the time being.

Ah word. This all makes sense. :y:

They just want these guys locked away sonthey cant compete with them. If they find a way to monetize it than thats extra

Interesting take.

I know you have a unique perspective. Do you see any real stars in the UK group?

That’s pretty much the “Dirt Sheet” perspective they reported months ago. ITV were trying to get a World or Sport reboot going (they did a New Years special) which was moving towards some sort of joint venture with Jarrett/Global Force/Impact. WWE thought “we want a piece of that/don’t want them moving in on the UK market (TNA used to do pretty well here on an non-major Network)”

Its the same thing they did with new japan. They gobbled up some of its best talent trying to slow them down...didnt work

Wrestling wants to get hot there sonthese guys would do well domestically...stars outside of that island might be astretch

Biased as their are all local lads but think Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate and Trent Severn are awesome.

I see more star potential in Dunne, get him on to the NXT roster as a protege of William Regal who does his dirty work for him.

Bate is only 20 , has charisma and from what I've seen has great in-ring work too. Only problem I see for him if he was to be on the main roster is his size.

Severn and Bate could do their Moustache Mountain tag team. They'd make decent merch sales over in the UK for sure.

Getting on ITV or one of the other free to air channels in the UK would be a great move for the WWE. They must lose a lot of potential viewers due to mainly being on Sky Sports, particularly kids.

When I was a kid, WWE was on Sky, meaning I stopped watching for a while because my Dad decided to get rid of Sky. That is still going to be the case for many potential fans. Hell, if it wasn't for the occassional football match and the fact my wife wastes money on the bloody movie channels I don't know if I would continue to pay for Sky these days.

ITV pulled in a million viewers just for a special of WOS, many times what the WWE gets on any individual weeks. Each lost potential viewer these days is also a potential lost Network subscriber, as well as lost revenue from ticket and merch sales.

If WWE did get a show, there is a wealth of talent here to create a pretty decent roster. I know they had a few of them at their recent try outs so pretty certain WWE are well aware of this as well.

Did hope there was a chance of a second UK tournament (or at least some kind of follow on) but guessing we might have heard about this by now.

They'd love to get a show on ITV, but it doesn't sound like ITV is that interested, because it hasn't happened.

There are more channels than ITV.

I would expect their discussions would include ITV2, which seems like a more natural fit to met.

Would also fit E4 quite well.

They'd get their best ratings on ITV1, but in the same way WOS did a sizable number would be older people who don't really venture further than the traditional five channels on their list.

ITV2 or E4 would really fit their target audience well.

Oh, I'm sure there are other channels, but there were mumblings about one of the ITVs a few months ago, and nothing has been announced yet.

ITV made the mistake of bringing in Jeff Jarrett to run the new season of World of Sport, which he managed to carny into non-existence and put the company off the idea of bringing back wrestling before they even did the first taping.

Trent, Tyler and Peter are all brilliant though. They are pretty much the only WWE content I will seek out other than Fashion Police segments.

ITV would be fantastic for the number of viewers, but they might not be the type of viewers who translate into proper fans (such as network subscriptions, live events etc).

In terms of audience percentages in the UK, I found this (%):

BBC1: 23.5
BBC2: 6.1
ITV/ITV HD: 15.8
Channel 4: 4.6
5: 3.9
Sky 1: 0.9
Sky Sports Arena (WWE's CHANNEL): 0.1
E4: 1.1
ITV2: 1.6

Source: http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/w...ewing-summary/

This shows just how big the reach could be between the channels WWE currently reaches and if they could get on free to air.

It's kind of nice that the UK has kind of kept television simple.

I think what ITV wanted to do was go back to the Saturday afternoon slot when they used to show WCW in the early 90s.
I don't know if a WWE UK show would get a prime time slot , ITV 2 could be a good shout. As long as they don't get John Fashanu to present it.

If they were to do a show , I would within a few weeks get the belt off Dunne, call him up to NXT along with Moustache Mountain and bring in some more talent on to the show.

Just watching NXT from last Wednesday , even at a house show in San Antonio Dunne gets a great reception . Guy should be on the main roster ASAP.

Pete Dunne looks smaller than Tyler Bate.

Dunne is billed as being 30 pounds heavier and 8 cm taller.

8cm doesn't look much different

Bate is pretty short.

I saw Dunne up close at some local shows last year and he looked like a pretty big guy. Was amazed when I first watched the UK tournament and saw him stood next to Regal and just looked tiny. Made me realise just how big the roster is in WWE.

Who cares about UK rasslin? Please merge this into the NXT thread

Please frame that in a way that justifies it as for the good of the forum

Really guys?

Dunne/Bate from Takeover Chicago is probably the WWE match of the year.

It's 3 inches. It's not a massive difference, but it is a height difference.

My point is it doesn't look like anything on TV, which is where I see these guys.

Maybe not, unless they do a stand-off, etc. It might also be how they stand and all that.

Didn't realise they'd released a video backstage of them teasing a British Strong Style reunion. Seriously think that's the way forward with Regal behind them, go all Peaky Blinders.

British Strong Style as a faction on WWE TV would be fine stuff with me.

It would help bring Seven and Bate into Dunne's popularity and then when the time is right you have Dunne turn on them, get a bigger push and the other two carry on in the tag division with Moustache Mountain.
Dunne can then come out and cut a promo, talking about how he's bigger than the UK, he's gonna take one continent at a time and bring back the European title.
Then give up the UK title , leading to a new tournament where they can then lead into a Network exclusive show if they don't get the TV rights.

Maybe BSS can combat The Undisputed Era (ugh) on NXT?

I like what all of you are saying.

Would of been the perfect team to be in the War Games match.

Are any of the BSS guys big enough to be on par with The Shield?