WWE (formerly World Wrestling Federation and World Wrestling Entertainment), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Stamford, Connecticut in the United States, owned by Endeavor. It has been promoting events in the United Kingdom (UK) since 1989.
History The 3 July 1976 edition of World of Sport included - in place of its usual coverage of British wrestling - the wrestler versus boxer match between Andre the Giant and Chuck Wepner at the WWWF's Showdown at Shea event from a few weeks earlier (as a warm-up for a screening of the Mohammed Ali versus Antonio Inoki boxing match from Tokyo).ITV Wrestling - 1976 johnlisterwriting.com Highlights of the Chief Jay Strongbow and Billy White Wolf versus The Executioners (#1 and #2) Tag Team Two-out-of-three-falls match for the WWWF World Tag Team Championship from the same Shea Stadium show were also screened as an unadvertised extra.
In 1987 the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) received a share of ITV's Saturday afternoon wrestling coverage after the expiry of Joint Promotions' exclusive contract with the network at the end of 1986. This was originally conceived as a rotation between the WWF, Joint and UK opposition promotion All Star Wrestling. In the event only six WWF "American wrestling specials" (three per annum) were aired between the start of the arrangement and the cancellation of ITV wrestling in December 1988.ITV Wrestling - 1987 johnlisterwriting.comITV Wrestling - 1988 johnlisterwriting.com During 1988-1989 editions of WWF Wrestling Challenge (billed as Superstars of Wrestling) were broadcast in the Thames, Central and Tyne Tees ITV regions in various graveyard slots.ITV Wrestling - Post-1988 - America johnlisterwriting.com
The WWF began globally expanding in the late 1980s, holding its first European event in France in 1987 before holding events in Italy and then in Britain, where the first show was on 10 October 1989 at the London Arena, in front of a crowd of 15,000, and broadcast exclusively on Sky One. The main event in this match featured Hulk Hogan (with Miss Elizabeth) defeating Randy Savage (with Queen Sherri). From 1989 to 2001, WWE was promoted under concert promoters, brothers Harvey and Martin Goldsmith, for UK and European shows.
The WWF's first tour of events in the United Kingdom and Ireland, called UK Rampage, was held between April and May 1991. The first Rampage was held in London on 24 April and was televised by BSkyB to British and Irish viewers. Four more events were held in the country later in 1991 as part of the WWF European Rampage Tour, including the supercard event Battle Royal at the Albert Hall, in London. Nine events were held in the country as part of the European Rampage Again Tour in 1992, including one televised event at Sheffield Arena (see UK Rampage (1992)). The final televised Rampage event in the country was again at Sheffield Arena on 11 April 1993 as part of the WWF European Spring Tour. Over the years, the WWF continued hosting various untelevised house shows in Britain, including Mayhem in Manchester in 1998.
SummerSlam 1992 was the first WWE pay-per-view taped in and broadcast from the UK on August 29 (aired August 31). In 1997 the company held its first UK-exclusive pay-per-view, WWF One Night Only, followed by WWF Capital Carnage in 1998 and No Mercy in 1999. From 1999 to 2002 they ran a fall pay-per-view from the UK known as WWE Rebellion. In addition from 2000 to 2003 they ran a spring pay-per-view from the UK known as WWE Insurrextion. Insurrextion in 2003 at the Telewest Arena in Newcastle marked the last of WWE's UK exclusive pay-per-views. In 2004, the WWE taped its first show of the flagship Raw program in the UK for a global audience.
Pay-per-view events DateNameBrandVenueCityMain event29 August 1992SummerSlam (1992)Wembley StadiumLondon, England20 September 1997One Night OnlyNEC ArenaBirmingham, England6 December 1998Capital CarnageLondon ArenaLondon, England16 May 1999No MercyManchester Evening News ArenaManchester, England2 October 1999National Indoor Arena6 May 2000Insurrextion (2000)Earls CourtLondon, England2 December 20005 May 2001Insurrextion (2001)Earls Court Exhibition CentreLondon, England3 November 20014 May 2002Insurrextion (2002)RawWembley ArenaLondon, England26 October 2002SmackDown!7 June 2003Insurrextion (2003)RawTelewest ArenaNewcastle, England3 September 2022Clash at the Castle (2022)Raw & SmackDownPrincipality StadiumCardiff, Wales1 July 2023Money in the Bank (2023)Raw & SmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, EnglandJune 15, 2024Clash at the Castle (2024)Raw & SmackDownOVO HydroGlasgow, Scotland
Weekly television shows WWE started to broadcast their weekly arena shows Raw and SmackDown! from the UK in 2004. Due to the time change, all broadcasts were recorded and aired on tape delay. Beginning in 2005 WWE would record twice per year in the United Kingdom, once in the spring and once in the fall. From 2006 to 2009, WWE's recording schedule in the United Kingdom included episodes of ECW. all recordings have occurred in England, with the exception of November 2016 which took place at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.
Raw, SmackDown and ECW DateNameBrandVenueCity11 October 2004RawRawManchester Evening News Arena12 October 2004SmackDown!SmackDown!Manchester Evening News Arena25 April 2005RawRawNEC Arena26 April 2005SmackDown!SmackDown!NEC Arena21 November 2005RawRawHallam FM ArenaSheffield, England22 November 2005SmackDown!SmackDown!Hallam FM ArenaSheffield, England24 April 2006RawRawWembley ArenaLondon, England25 April 2006SmackDown!SmackDown!Wembley ArenaLondon, England13 November 2006RawRawManchester Evening News Arena14 November 2006ECWECWManchester Evening News Arena14 November 2006SmackDown!SmackDown!Manchester Evening News Arena23 April 2007RawRawEarls Court London, England24 April 2007ECWECWEarls CourtLondon, England24 April 2007SmackDown!SmackDown!Earls Court London, England15 October 2007RawRawNational Indoor Arena16 October 2007ECWECWNational Indoor Arena16 October 2007SmackDown!SmackDown!National Indoor Arena14 April 2008RawRawThe O2 ArenaLondon, England15 April 2008ECWECWThe O2 ArenaLondon, England15 April 2008SmackDownSmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England10 November 2008RawRawManchester Evening News Arena11 November 2008ECWECWManchester Evening News Arena11 November 2008SmackDownSmackDownManchester Evening News Arena11 November 2008SmackDownSmackDownManchester Evening News Arena20 April 2009RawRawThe O2 ArenaLondon, England21 April 2009ECWECWThe O2 ArenaLondon, England21 April 2009SmackDownSmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England9 November 2009RawRawSheffield ArenaSheffield, England10 November 2009ECWECWSheffield ArenaSheffield, England10 November 2009SmackDownSmackDownSheffield ArenaSheffield, England12 April 2010RawRawThe O2 ArenaLondon, England13 April 2010SmackDownSmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England8 November 2010RawRawManchester Evening News Arena9 November 2010SmackDownSmackDownManchester Evening News Arena18 April 2011RawRawThe O2 ArenaLondon, England19 April 2011SmackDownSmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England7 November 2011RawEcho ArenaLiverpool, England8 November 2011SmackDownEcho ArenaLiverpool, England16 April 2012RawThe O2 ArenaLondon, England17 April 2012SmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England5 November 2012RawBirmingham LG Arena6 November 2012SmackDownBirmingham LG Arena22 April 2013RawThe O2 ArenaLondon, England23 April 2013SmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England11 November 2013RawPhones 4 U Arena12 November 2013SmackDownPhones 4 U Arena19 May 2014RawThe O2 ArenaLondon, England20 May 2014SmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England10 November 2014RawEcho ArenaLiverpool, England11 November 2014SmackDownEcho ArenaLiverpool, England13 April 2015RawThe O2 ArenaLondon, England14 April 2015SmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England9 November 2015Raw10 November 2015SmackDown18 April 2016RawThe O2 ArenaLondon, England19 April 2016SmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England7 November 2016RawRawSSE HydroGlasgow, Scotland8 November 2016SmackDownSmackDownSSE HydroGlasgow, Scotland8 May 2017RawRawThe O2 ArenaLondon, England9 May 2017SmackDownSmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England6 November 2017RawRaw7 November 2017SmackDownSmackDown14 May 2018RawRawThe O2 ArenaLondon, England15 May 2018SmackDownSmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England5 November 2018RawRawManchester ArenaManchester, England6 November 2018SmackDownSmackDownManchester ArenaManchester, England13 May 2019RawRawThe O2 ArenaLondon, England14 May 2019SmackDownSmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England8 November 2019RawRawManchester ArenaManchester, England8 November 2019SmackDownSmackDownManchester ArenaManchester, England30 June 2023SmackDownSmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England14 June 2024SmackDownSmackDownOVO HydroGlasgow, Scotland24 March 2025RawRawOVO HydroGlasgow, Scotland28 March 2025SmackDownSmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England31 March 2025RawRawThe O2 ArenaLondon, England25 August 2025RawRawBP Pulse LiveBirmingham, England16 January 2026SmackDownSmackDownOVO Arena WembleyLondon, England19 January 2026RawRawSSE ArenaBelfast, Northern Ireland22 June 2026RawRawThe O2 ArenaLondon, England23 June 2026SmackDownSmackDownThe O2 ArenaLondon, England
NXT/NXT UK On December 16, 2015, the WWE held their first NXT event in the UK, NXT TakeOver: London. In January 2017, they returned for the first United Kingdom Championship Tournament, with the second tournament in June 2018. In May 2017 they also hosted a United Kingdom Championship Special from the UK.
In a press conference at The O2 Arena on December 15, 2016, Triple H revealed that there would be a 16-man tournament to crown the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Champion. The tournament was held over a two-day period, January 14 and 15, 2017, and aired exclusively on the WWE Network. Tyler Bate won the inaugural tournament to become the first WWE United Kingdom Champion. In August 2018 Rhea Ripley became the first NXT UK Women's Champion. In January 2019, James Drake and Zack Gibson became the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions.
When the championship was unveiled in December 2016, it was announced to be the top championship of a new WWE Network show, produced in the United Kingdom. However, it was not until mid-2018 when WWE formally established NXT UK as the brand for their United Kingdom division. The brand's show, also titled NXT UK, had its first tapings in July, which began airing on October 17. On January 12, 2019, the first live special episode of NXT UK aired, called NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool. DateNameBrandVenueCityMain event16 December 2015NXT TakeOver: LondonNXTSSE Arena, WembleyWembley, London, EnglandFinn Bálor vs. Samoa Joe for the NXT Championship14 January 2017United Kingdom Championship TournamentNXT UKEmpress BallroomBlackpool, Lancashire, EnglandTyler Bate vs. Tucker15 January 2017Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne for the WWE United Kingdom Championship7 May 2017United Kingdom Championship SpecialNXT UKEpic StudiosNorwich, Norfolk, EnglandTyler Bate vs. Mark Andrews for the WWE United Kingdom Championship18 June 2018United Kingdom Championship TournamentNXTRoyal Albert HallKensington, London, EnglandZack Gibson vs. Travis Banks19 June 2018NXT U.K. ChampionshipNXT UKRoyal Albert HallKensington, London, EnglandPete Dunne vs. Zack Gibson for the WWE United Kingdom Championship12 January 2019NXT UK TakeOver: BlackpoolNXT UKEmpress BallroomBlackpool, Lancashire, EnglandPete Dunne vs. Joe Coffey for the WWE United Kingdom Championship31 August 2019NXT UK TakeOver: CardiffNXT UKMotorpoint Arena Cardiff Cardiff, WalesWalter vs. Tyler Bate for the WWE United Kingdom Championship12 January 2020NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool IINXT UKEmpress BallroomBlackpool, Lancashire, EnglandWalter vs. Joe Coffey for the WWE United Kingdom Championship
Domestic broadcast