Wrestling Forum banner

So, what was the point of the UK Championship Tournament?

2K views 27 replies 27 participants last post by  americanoutlaw 
#1 ·
I mean, yeah! We had a winner and now what? What are they going to do next? Another tournament next year? Is the champion gonna be appearing on TV anytime soon? [Insert as many questions as you want]

Honestly, I did skip the whole thing. It did feel like a waste-of-time. "But what about the in-ring and the performers, etc..." Meh! They all look boring without anyone standing out, anyway.

So, what's next? Nothing?
 
#3 ·
Re: So, What Was The Point of the UK Championship Tournament?

To be fair a few of the guys have appeared on NXT TV over the last few months (Dune, Bate, Seven & Mandrews) and they will be touring with the guys when they do a UK tour post Mania.

The initial plan for this whole thing was to create a new brand/show in the UK and i would imagine that's still the end goal, they are probably just working through the logistics of it all and still waiting for guys to finish up their contracts/booked dates.
 
#4 ·
Re: So, What Was The Point of the UK Championship Tournament?

Pete Dunne stands out to me.

I enjoyed the tournament, skipped some of the matches tho, but it was pretty good overall. Some good wrestlers there, I see them getting called up in the future (could be soon).

They also had 2 great maint even matches on NXT.
 
#5 ·
Re: So, What Was The Point of the UK Championship Tournament?

Pete Dunne stands out to me.

I enjoyed the tournament, skipped some of the matches tho, but it was pretty good overall. Some good wrestlers there, I see them getting called up in the future (could be soon).

They also had 2 great maint even matches on NXT.
I wasn't planing on watching it but I did and was pleasantly surprised. Wouldn't mind seeing more of Dunne. He was the standout by far.
 
#10 ·
Re: So, What Was The Point of the UK Championship Tournament?

To try and capitalise on the hard work of the UK independent scene who were able to draw great crowds with no television. To snap up as many guys as possible and put them in low-paying deals to prevent them from going anywhere else. And because World of Sport was announced. Which has apparently recently been greenlit to actually be a series.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Re: So, What Was The Point of the UK Championship Tournament?

It's so fucking stupid, you're creating titles for the shake of creating titles. The original purpose of a title was to draw people into the shows. The more heat a face or heel has the more likely you're going to draw, adding a title into the feud makes people more invested. Now they're handing titles to vanilla stars who have no substance nor do they have the ability to draw. The WWE title scene is giant mess, everyone is getting a title these days just for participating.

What they should have done was drop the UK title and make a Asian title and give it to a Chinese star and then maybe have a Indian win it, like bring back Khali let him get it and then give it to like Nakamura and then someone else. I don't understand why WWE is trying to establish themselves in UK when they already watch the WWE. WWE should be building into China and get them invested into wrestling. Hollywood is trying it's best to enter China and now China is booming with Cinema constructions.

EDIT: WWE definitely created the tournament out of the reaction of World of Sport. The WoS had a enormous presence in UK before it's demise. It use to draw huge number of viewers, millions use to tune in. The UK is WWE's second biggest market after the US. To allow the WoS to rise out of no where and have another english speaking promotion rise is danger for them. WWE only got hot in the UK because WoS couldn't compete with it's character oriented roster.
 
#15 ·
The tournament got a lot of press in the UK.

The title has since been defended on NXT, wig Bate himself making two NXT appearances. Trent Seven, Pete Dunne and Mark Andrews have all appeared on NXT too, and Wolfgang has made a dark match appearance and been teased for a future debut.

Bate had the belt at an ICW show in UK only last week, which created a buzz. The crowds love it.

Bate has, I think, three title defences scheduled for Wrestlemania, along with matches for other UK competitors. ICW's world title is also being defended there, I believe, and PROGRESS will be represented too. First time UK promotions have put on matches at Access.

They've announced two dates in May, which Meltzer has reported as being tapings for a new TV show. Those dates are already sold out (and like the tournament, I'll be there).

Not sure what else people want them to do? Or are we just looking for reasons to be critical of WWE, as per usual?
 
#16 ·
Lol at anyone who thinks this company even thinks further than week-to-week. They saw World of Sport, felt threatened, so threw a tournament together with a WWE 2K17-designed belt and put it on the Network as an exclusive.

There was zero plan beyond running a short tournament. That's it. To think otherwise is seriously delusional.
 
#18 ·
They saw World of Sport thats why. Given now Anthem own a stake in ITV's WOS brand. Expect more of it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CrystalFissure
#22 ·
The point was to try to regain some momentum in the UK, as WWE was caught off guard by WOS returning.

You can tell all those plans WWE had for the UK were bullshit. They had nothing in place after the tournament. It's just an attempt to tie down good UK talent. Which they were only marginally successful at as ITV still got most of the big names for WOS.

As you see since the UK guys have been pretty much doing their non-TV indies, and working NXT here and there. They'll be brought out again for Mania, but that's about it.

HHH new idea is perhaps to great a UK brand NXT, with a UK Performance center.

WWE will find it difficult to do the same time in Mexico and Japan. If anything their biggest shot is China.
 
#23 ·
If you listened to the conference call it sounded like HHH and Vince hadd different visions, similar yet different. HHH described a UK based tourney and eventually a show. Vince outright said he had a vision of a more European show over simply UK in his conference call where he also said eh wanted 205 to be its own separate licensing and touring entity like how NXT developed. HHH was thinking UK, Japan, and Mexico ... Vince is thinking Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

As of right now thy have been featured on NXT. They are being featured at Axxess as Axxess is billed as Progress, ICW, 205, WWEUK, and NXT. ICW and PRogress have deals in place framework wise for the network but have to fix their music rights issues. They also have a new back to back taping date set as well as inclusion on the tour.

Did they rush the launch? Yes. Do they have no plans for it? I would not say that at all. They simply jumped the gun early to beat WOS as everyone knew the Women were scheduled to be the feature in Jan, not them.
 
#25 ·
PWinsider have just reported that World Of Sport Wrestling is announcing a weekly TV show tomorrow, and having a press conference Monday, with tapings set for the end of May.

We're about to see a war take place in the UK guys, and I can't bloody wait. Not sure how Jeff Jarrett has suddenly become one of the biggest players in the wrestling game again, but hopefully he can fix where they went wrong in the New Years Eve special - I genuinely won't be able to handle those piped in audience reactions on a weekly basis.

I was hoping Joe Coffey would move over to WWE's show though, which is a shame.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top