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What's the story?
NXT UK is one of WWE's branded offshoots that doesn't get much credit or attention on a regular basis.
The superstars of the brand are afforded with the freedom to work for independent promotions in the United Kingdom and while that may sound like a profitable gig for the talents, it's not always smooth-sailing from a creative standpoint.
NXT UK Champion Walter recently took on David Starr at OTT Wrestlerama 3 and one particular incident from the match didn't go down well with WWE officials.
David Starr stomped on Walter's NXT UK title during the match, which, as reported on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Newsletter, was not approved by the higher-ups in the WWE.
In case you didn't know...
Austrian Heavyweight Walter won the NXT UK title from Pete Dunne at Takeover: New York on April 5th. Prior to winning the title from Dunne, Walter held the Dublin-based promotion Over The Top Wrestling's (OTT) World Championship title for 210 days before losing it to Jordan Devlin.
Despite losing the OTT title, Walter continued to wrestle for the promotion and was faced David Starr in the main event of OTT WrestleRama 3 on June 23rd.
Starr and Walter are quite familiar with each other as the duo have wrestled countless matches in recent past. Their latest match at WrestleRama is considered to be the best in the series of bouts. However, while the fans loved the contest, WWE officials were certainly not pleased.
The heart of the matter
Dave Meltzer noted on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the spot in which Starr stomped on the WWE NXT UK title did not the get the green signal from the WWE management.
Walter and Starr took the decision to include the spot without WWE's consultation as the wrestlers knew that doing it live would shock the people and get the match over in a big way.
The WWE higher-ups weren't aware of the spot either and were naturally left unhappy, with Meltzer stating that WWE's reaction was 'not positive'. Additionally, many wrestlers too found the spot disrespectful.
What's next?
WWE would want to set some ground rules for NXT UK performers competing for other promotions in order to avoid such situations. It would be interesting to see if NXT UK Champion Walter faces any repercussions going forward as he is contractually bound to WWE, unlike Starr.
What do you guys think? Were Walter and Starr wrong to include the title-stomp in the match? Should WWE exert more control on its wrestlers performing outside?
Let us know your views in the comments section below.
