The 2018 United Kingdom Championship Tournament was a two-day professional wrestling streaming event and tournament promoted by the American promotion WWE, held for wrestlers from the developmental brands, NXT UK and NXT—the first event to officially promote NXT UK. The event was filmed on June 18 and 19, 2018, and aired on tape delay on June 25 and 26, exclusively on the WWE Network at 8:00 p.m. British Summer Time (3:00 p.m. Eastern Time). It was held at the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington, London, England.
Day one of the event featured the second United Kingdom Championship Tournament, which was won by Zack Gibson. Day two (promoted as NXT U.K. Championship) saw Zack Gibson unsuccessfully challenge WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne. NXT's North American, Women's, and Tag Team championships were also defended on day two. NXT UK's Women's and Tag Team championships were introduced during the event.
Background Production On January 14 and 15, 2017, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE held its first United Kingdom Championship Tournament event. The tournament crowned the inaugural holder of the WWE United Kingdom Championship, which was won by Tyler Bate. A follow-up to the event called the United Kingdom Championship Special aired on May 19 that year. On April 7, 2018, a second United Kingdom Championship Tournament event was scheduled for June 18 and 19 at the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington, London, England and to air on June 25 and 26, exclusively on the WWE Network at 8:00 p.m. British Summer Time (3:00 p.m. Eastern Time). In addition to featuring wrestlers from WWE's new NXT UK brand, the tournament also featured wrestlers from the American-based NXT.
On May 25, 2018, Shawn Michaels and Triple H were scheduled to make appearances at the event. On June 7, Johnny Saint was announced as the General Manager of WWE's United Kingdom-based brand, officially named NXT UK. A United Kingdom Championship Tournament: Bracketology special aired on the WWE Network later that day, with appearances from all 16 tournament competitors.
Storylines The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers. Storylines were produced on the NXT television program.
On April 28, 2018, it was announced that British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Trent Seven, and Tyler Bate) would face The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, and Roderick Strong) in a six-man tag team match on the June 18 event.
On May 14, WWE revealed details about the second United Kingdom Championship tournament, scheduling the first round matches for the 2018 Download Festival from June 8–10 and succeeding rounds for the United Kingdom Championship Tournament event on June 18. The winner of the tournament will receive a United Kingdom Championship match with Pete Dunne on the following day. On May 16, the first 8 competitors of the 16-man tournament were officially announced on WWE.com. The first 8 revealed were Zack Gibson, Joe Coffey, Gentleman Jack Gallagher, Dave Mastiff, Kenny Williams, Ligero, Joseph Conners, and Amir Jordan. On May 18, the remaining 8 competitors were announced.
On May 23, it was announced that Aleister Black and Ricochet would face EC3 and Velveteen Dream in a tag team match on the June 19 event.
On May 25, a fatal four-way match between Isla Dawn, Jinny, Killer Kelly and Toni Storm was announced for the June 18 event. The winner of the match will receive a NXT Women's Championship match with Shayna Baszler on the following day.
On June 18, it was announced that Adam Cole would defend his NXT North American Championship against Wolfgang the following day.
On June 18, it was announced that The Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong) would defend their NXT Tag Team Championship against Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate and Trent Seven) the following day.
Participants WrestlerHometownWeight (lb)Travis Banks Auckland, New Zealand190 Glasgow, Scotland240Joseph Conners Nottingham, England190Jordan Devlin Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland 180 Blackpool, England181Gentleman Jack Gallagher Manchester, England167Zack Gibson Liverpool, England220Drew Gulak Philadelphia, Pennsylvania193Amir Jordan Dewsbury, England185Ligero Leeds, England160Dave Mastiff The Black Country, England322 Manchester, England193Tyson T-Bone Malvern, England245Tucker Belfast, Northern Ireland191Flash Morgan Webster Brynmawr, Wales160 Glasgow, Scotland180
Tournament bracket
Results United Kingdom Championship Tournament (June 18)
NXT U.K. Championship (June 19)
Broadcast team Ring nameReal nameNotes Ring announcer Backstage interviewer Lead commentator Color commentator
Aftermath On June 18 at day one of the event, it was revealed that WWE's United Kingdom brand would be debuting its first television program, called NXT UK. The inaugural tapings of NXT UK occurred on July 28 and 29 at the Cambridge Corn Exchange.
See also
Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom
References
External links