Who knows what’s going on with WWE’s oft-promised United Kingdom show. After a lot of talk about it between WrestleMania and TakeOver: Chicago, it’s slid off the radar entirely amidst talk of Network budget cuts.
It is becoming a bit more clear what the strategy is for the title which was first awarded to Tyler Bate during January’s UK Championship Tournament event and won by Pete Dunne at the May NXT show in Second City. Fresh off a successful defense at Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) in London last weekend (July 29), it was recently announced Dunne will put the belt on the line Saturday, Aug. 12 during Progress’ show in New York City.
What’s more, he’ll be defending against Raw and 205 Live Superstar Jack Gallagher. And WWE is promoting the show on social media and with a front page story on their website.
Something something 2017 something something.
While the crossover is cool - and as you can see in Gentleman Jack’s promo for the match above, there is history of the competitors fighting for a WWE prize within the promotion, so this fits nicely into the narrative which is one of the cool things about Progress - it’s also a pretty clear sign Triple H’s UK plans are on hold. That leaves the championship, and guys like Dunne, Bate, Trent Seven and others, as a weird nomadic wrestling tribe.
It’s a situation worth watching.
And Gallagher vs. Dunne is definitely worth watching. So get your (General Admission; Reserved is sold out) tickets here, or keep an eye on their streaming service for the show.