WWE United Kingdom Championship
The WWE United Kingdom Championship, later known as the NXT United Kingdom Championship from 2020 to 2022, was a wrestling title owned by WWE and competed for by the men of NXT UK. It was created on 15 December 2016 and a 16-man tournament with British wrestlers happened on 14 and 15 January 2017 to crown the champion. Tyler Bate beat Pete Dunne in the final to become the first champion.
| NXT United Kingdom Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
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 Record holding two-time champion Tyler Bate celebrates winning the Championship for the first time on January 15, 2017. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | WWE | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | 15 December 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date retired | 4 September 2022 (unified with the NXT Championship) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Other name(s) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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It was also sometimes defended at NXT events and on independent wrestling shows in the United Kingdom before the COVID-19 pandemic. On 4 September 2022 at Worlds Collide, the title was made into one into the NXT Championship, retiring the title. Tyler Bate, the only man to hold the title more than once, was the final champion.
The base design of the belt was similar to the WWE Championship belt introduced in 2014, with differences.[1] Instead of a large cut out of the WWE logo, the center plate was designed after the United Kingdom's royal coat of arms, featuring a lion and a horse, with a shield at the center. Above the shield were the crown jewels. When the championship was originally introduced, 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.
Inaugural tournament change
| First Round January 14, 2017[2] | Quarter-Finals January 15, 2017[3] | Semi-Finals January 15, 2017[3] | Final January 15, 2017[3] | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  Tyler Bate
| Pin | |||||||||||||||||
| 16 |  Tucker
| 10:34 | |||||||||||||||||
| Tyler Bate
| Pin | ||||||||||||||||||
 Jordan Devlin
| 6:05 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Danny Burch
| 8:55 | |||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Jordan Devlin
| Pin | |||||||||||||||||
| Tyler Bate
| Pin | ||||||||||||||||||
 Wolfgang
| 5:55 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Trent Seven
| Pin | |||||||||||||||||
| 12 | H.C. Dyer
| 5:25 | |||||||||||||||||
| Trent Seven
| 6:35 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wolfgang
| Pin | ||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Tyson T-Bone
| 6:20 | |||||||||||||||||
| 13 | Wolfgang
| Pin | |||||||||||||||||
| Tyler Bate
| Pin | ||||||||||||||||||
| Pete Dunne
| 15:10 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 6 |  Mark Andrews
| Pin | |||||||||||||||||
| 11 | Dan Moloney
| 5:35 | |||||||||||||||||
| Mark Andrews
| Pin | ||||||||||||||||||
| Joseph Conners
| 8:10 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | James Drake
| 7:12 | |||||||||||||||||
| 14 | Joseph Conners
| Pin | |||||||||||||||||
| Mark Andrews
| 10:33 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Pete Dunne
| Pin | ||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Pete Dunne
| Pin | |||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Roy Johnson
| 7:30 | |||||||||||||||||
| Pete Dunne
| Pin | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sam Gradwell
| 4:50 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Saxon Huxley
| 6:00 | |||||||||||||||||
| 15 | Sam Gradwell
| Pin | |||||||||||||||||
Reigns change
Over the championship's nearly six year history, there were five reigns between four champions. Tyler Bate was the first champion and is also recognized as the final champion. He also had the most reigns at two, he was the youngest champion at 19 (making him the second teenager to win a title in WWE), 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 – 4 September 2022 |
| 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 |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. | |||||
| NXT | ||||||||||
| 1 | Tyler Bate | 15 January 2017 | United Kingdom Championship Tournament | Blackpool, England | 1 | 125 | 125 | Defeated Pete Dunne in the tournament final to become the first WWE United Kingdom Champion. Bate subsequently defended the title on NXT and at independent shows in the United Kingdom. | ||
| 2 | Pete Dunne | 20 May 2017 | TakeOver: Chicago | Rosemont, Illinois, U.S. | 1 | 685 | 685 | The title became the top championship of NXT UK when the show was created in June 2018, but continued to be defended on NXT and at independent shows. | ||
| NXT UK | ||||||||||
| 3 | Walter | 5 April 2019 | TakeOver: New York | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | 1 | 870 | 870 | The title was renamed NXT United Kingdom Championship in January 2020. | [4] | |
| 4 | Ilja Dragunov | 22 August 2021 | TakeOver 36 | Orlando, Florida, U.S. | 1 | 319 | 347 | WWE lists Dragunov's reign's ending on 4 August 2022, when the episode aired on tape delay. | [5] | |
| — | 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. |
[6][7] | |
| 5 | Tyler Bate | 7 July 2022 | NXT UK | London, England | 2 | 59 | 3 | 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. |
[8][9] | |
| — | 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. | ||
Combined reigns change
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
Combined days recognized by WWE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walter | 1 | 870 | |
| 2 | Pete Dunne | 1 | 685 | |
| 3 | Ilja Dragunov | 1 | 319 | 346 |
| 4 | Tyler Bate | 2 | 184 | 128 |
Notes change
- ↑ WWE lists Bate holding the title for 3 days because of tape delay, despite Bate appearing on NXT a couple of weeks before his title win on NXT UK aired.
References change
- ↑ WWE Superstars - WWE.com
- ↑ Soucek, Andrew. "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.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Soucek, Andrew. "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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Defelice, Robert (July 7, 2022). "SPOILER: Title Vacated Due To Injury During NXT UK Tapings On 7/7/22". Fightful. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.