WWE's UK Title Tournament is off to a Smashing Start
The first round of WWE's United Kingdom Championship tournament has come to an end, and fans were undoubtedly impressed with the results. Though many of the talents involved were likely not familiar to the WWE faithful, that did not stop the UK's best from tearing the house down.
British wrestling took a tremendous step forward with this tournament.
WWE was wise to move forward with this idea. After conquering the independent wrestling scene through NXT, Vince McMahon's company obviously felt the time was right to take advantage of a whole new area.
Perhaps it's the modern day takeover of pro wrestling's territories.
WWE is the best in the industry when it comes to promotion and spotlighting the world's best talent. The UK represents an assortment of fresh ideas and hungry workers. Many of those workers grew up watching the WWE product, so they've now come full circle.
WWE is reaping the benefits of nearly 30 years' worth of inspiration. A whole new generation of talents is now coming to prominence, not just in the United States, but all over the world. Those talents idolized Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels and The Rock.
Today's New Era is the direct offspring of the Attitude Era.
It could be said that WWE has built developmental companies worldwide with this new generation, and now those companies are ripe for the picking. That is especially true of the United Kingdom, which has a very capable crop of stars to choose from, thanks to promotions like ICW and Progress Wrestling.
One of the early favorites going into the UK title tourney was Trent Seven, who was victorious in the first match. Seven is not the prototypical pro wrestler from a physical standpoint, but that's not been a major requirement when it comes to succeeding in WWE over the past few years.
Seven won his match against H.C. Dyer with the Seven Star Lariat, which is nearly identical to Kazuchika Okada's Rainmaker clothesline. Seven is very entertaining, fun to watch, and he could very well walk away with the gold in the end.
Another standout was Jordan Devlin, who is a protegee of Finn Balor. Devlin went over on a bloody Danny Burch, though Burch got his shoulder up before the referee counted three. WWE will likely use that fact on night two of the tournament, so it's entirely possible that Burch may not be done just yet.
Sam Gradwell brought his no-nonsense approach to his match with Saxon Huxley, and Huxley found himself on the end of a losing effort. Gradwell was intensity personified, and looked good in the match. The same was true of Pete Dunne, who defeated the charismatic Roy Johnson.
Dunne is an undersized scrapper who works with a massive chip on his shoulder. He was one of the more memorable talents on the card, as he definitely seems to fit into today's WWE. Win or lose, Dunne will surely be one to watch.
One of the more unique matches in terms of the talents involved was Scottish wrestler Wolfgang versus Tyson T-Bone. Wolfgang has a very unassuming look, but is very competent in the ring and is also a very likeable character. T-Bone seemed to be very comfortable in his own skin, and was one of the more polished when it came to his routine.
Though he lost in the end, T-Bone is a star and will hopefully be used in WWE beyond the tournament. Wolfgang could become the first WWE UK champion, and he would fit the spot perfectly.
Joseph Conners and James Drake physically looked more like a tag team than opponents, and their match was extremely smooth from start to finish. They had perhaps the best showing of the night because of the effortless nature of their work. It wasn't overly flashy, but it also wasn't plain.
Conners won the well-balanced match, and will move on to round two.
Mark Andrews may have been the favorite to win against Dan Moloney, but Moloney may have changed that notion thanks to his pre-match promo. Moloney delivered a very solid promo, and put everyone else on notice. The victorious Andrews looked great, and the right man won, but Moloney is definitely another man to watch.
The main event of the night featured Tyler Bate versus Tucker. Bate's gimmick is very reminiscent of 205 Live's Jack Gallagher, and Bate went over in the match. Both Bate and Tucker looked great and gave fans a very entertaining bout. It was apparent that they knew the main event spotlight was all theirs, and they definitely took advantage of it.
If night two is as good as night one, then the UK Championship tournament will surely be a success for WWE. Once again, the industry's biggest company has ventured out into new territory, and has come up big. The WWE United Kingdom Championship is off to a great start, and there will surely be more to come.
