Triple H made a monumental announcement yesterday when he unveiled the brand new WWE United Kingdom Championship. The first ever United Kingdom Champion will be crowned in a tournament in January 2017, with 16 top British and Irish wrestlers set to be a part of the historic 2-day competition, which will be hosted by Ring of Honor legend Nigel McGuinness.
The event will be taped on January 14th and 15th 2017 at the Blackpool’s Empress Ballroom, and many popular names from the Brtish wrestling circuit, that include Peter Dunne, Wolfgang, Trent Seven and Tyler Bate would be vying to become the first ever WWE UK Champion.
The announcement surely came as a pleasant surprise to the fans and there is a big reason behind WWE’s ambitious step. According to Inquisitr, WWE is looking to counter the return of World of Sport (WOS) wrestling to UK TV, with a strong product to show for.
World of Sport has cracked a deal with ITV – one of the biggest networks in the UK – while WWE currently airs on Sky Sports. WWE is apprehensive about the fact that WOS could take away a major chunk of their viewership. TNA too deployed a similar strategy when they failed to upstage the WWE in the United States.
WOS wrestling’s deal with ITV could spell doom for WWE’s fortunes of expanding their base in the UK, as ITV’s minimal fee and accessible nature make it a popular choice. They have also got Jim Ross on board to call the show apart from many well-known wrestlers from the UK.
WWE’s move to make inroads into the British market – which has always been huge, yet hasn’t given the most favorable viewership dividends – is clearly to kill all competition. ITV, though, are already prepared for it.
According to Wrestling Observer, the contracts of wrestlers signed by the ITC state that they can’t appear on any other major TV network, but can wrestle for other promotions and companies. This ITV’s indirect message to their wrestlers to reject an offer from WWE and Sky Sports.
ITV have also been on the heels of signing some of the biggest names in the British and Irish independent wrestling circuit, killing WWE’s prospects of poaching the most sought-after wrestling talents.
But you can’t deny that WWE is eons ahead of World of Sports Wrestling in terms of their reach and the scope of growth in a talent’s career. Thus, it comes down to the wrestler to make a decision, and considering WWE’s relentless approach, a relaxed contract, and more opportunities in the long run, many would lap up on the chance to sign up with the biggest wrestling enterprise in the world.
The upcoming tournament would no doubt give WWE a major boost in terms of ratings and subscriptions for the WWE Network, but they have stiff competition in the form of WOS wrestling.
Here are the sixteen competitors announced for the tournament, the tickets of which are available on livenation.co.uk.
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