WWE Rumor Mill: WWE prohibiting UK talents from wrestling anywhere else
What’s the story?
It appears that WWE is becoming strict on their UK talent working for different promotions as several members on the NXT UK roster have been given contracts with a higher pay rate, but it also prevents them from working for any other promotions in the UK.
In case you didn't know...
Back on January 14, 2017, the first-ever United Kingdom championship tournament began. Tyler Bate was ultimately crowned the inaugural UK champion and a new style of professional wrestling graced the huge company under the wing of Triple H.
After over a year of only hearing rumors about what’s next to come for the supposed UK division, the second tournament took place on June 18 and 19 this past summer. Zack Gibson defeated Travis Banks to advance to the finals; however, he would come up short in his match against reigning champion Pete Dunne.
The much-anticipated NXT UK brand officially aired on Wednesday October 17, 2018 on the WWE Network and the company has announced the brand’s first Takeover show which will take place on January 12th at the Empress Ballroom.
The UK division had a shaky start thus the company allowed the UK talent to wrestle on local-level independent events such as PROGRESS, ICW, and wXw (Germany). However, promotions with significant online presence or distribution were prohibited.
The heart of the matter
That all appears to be changing however, as according to wrestletalk.com, following the weekend’s tapings in Liverpool, several UK stars have been offered new contracts. There’s no word on who exactly the talents are at the moment.
The source claims that the wrestler’s salary saw an increase, but the contract came with a new wrinkle – those NXT talents couldn’t work anywhere except for partner groups.
There’s no word on whether this is accurate; however, disappointing attendance for recent tapings is cited as a possible reason that the company is looking to lock some of the talents to their roster.
With independent shows being cheap in the UK, the mindset is that company officials believe that fans are unlikely to pay more to see the same talent at NXT UK.
What’s next?
As previously mentioned, this is all a rumor at the moment. However, the NXT UK brand is gearing up for Takeover: Blackpool.
Several matches have already been announced with Pete Dunne and Rhea Ripley scheduled to defend their championships at the special event. New NXT UK champions are expected to be crowned as well.