During Monday’s WWE card at Royal Albert Hall, Paul Levesque entered the ring alongside Johnny Saint and formally announced the launch of the WWE’s own NXT UK brand.
“NXT UK” will feature divisions for the men, women, and tag teams with tapings beginning July in Cambridge on July 28th and 29th.
The WWE has added they will be adding championships for the women and tag divisions, in addition to the UK title that was created in January 2017 and is held by Pete Dunne.
They have also added dates for August 25th and 26th in Birmingham, October 13th and 14th in Plymouth, and November 24th and 25th in Liverpool at the Liverpool Olympia.
This is obviously huge news for the company to further solidify their expansion into the European wrestling scene. This opens up a lot of possibilities for the future of the NXT concept itself. I wonder if this will be kept completely separate from the American NXT or if they will come together and do joint NXT TakeOver events (as the main roster does). I know some may worry about oversaturation of NXT or WWE, but if it’s good (which I think it has the chance of being), it’ll be a welcome addition to the WWE Network.
Another thought: Does this, along with the Fox deal for SmackDown, spell the demise of the 205 Live brand? This NXT UK brand obviously is going to be given more attention than 205 Live. My personal opinion is either kill the brand or move them to Full Sail to be taped along with NXT (US).
All of those taping dates announced in advance is a great sign. Great to hear they’re finally solidifying what the UK territory is, with all of the talent they have signed since last year no longer sitting on their thumbs, in regards to WWE plans (they’ve still kept themselves busy in their own independent promotions).