WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament and Follow Up

Loughc

My last post was gushing about Pete Dunne and while I think he was the big breakout star of the tournament I just wanted to take a second to appreciate Bate's selling at the end.

I can't tell you the amount of times a wrestler has a body part worked on but as soon as the match is over they're celebrating throwing their arms up in the air hugging the belt.

Bate did not once lift his injured arm. Even when Finlay tried to lift it he sold pain. It just completed off a great tournament.

Jerichoholic

Remember Nikki Bella got attacked on Smackdown last week, she had her leg injured backstage. Three minutes later she was RUNNING to the ring.

Andersonisgod

Jerichoholic wrote: »

Remember Nikki Bella got attacked on Smackdown last week, she had her leg injured backstage. Three minutes later she was RUNNING to the ring.

Spotted the same thing. Somebody needs to tell her that holding your leg for 3 secondd and then completely disregarding the injury does not constitute selling.

sky88

another thing that last night showed was that you can have a great match in short matches. none of the matches went over 20 i think maybe the main event slightly but even andrews/dunne went 10 minutes.

seandotcomm

wee Rumble spot for Tyler would be unreal...

Jerichoholic

There's not many on the main roster that know what selling is. John Cena wouldn't sell raffle tickets.

Monokne

The thousands of tickets that he sells to WWE shows are, on balance, probably more valuable anyway. Thank his lucky stars.

Monokne

spillit67 wrote: »

The aim of NXT (the Performance Center) is to develop stars for the future. The aim of NXT (the tv show) is to keep subscribers with the Network after they've trawled the back catelogue. Measuring either of these in money is either impossible or pointless really.

Moving them to NXT is not for short term sales for sweaty house shows, it is to get them up to speed with the WWE tv way and selling to a US audience. If the WWE really wanted to always sell out these shows the easy way, they could hire any number of their former roster who, with a tiny bit WWE promotion, could fill these small places.

Is Pete Dunne such a "name" that he is going to fill these places up? No, he's a developmental talent. He might have been previously earmarked to go to NXT and just added to this tournament before he went over, but the point about moving him over this early stands up. You are building a new television show and he is one of the best pieces you have. The Network is a far longer play than selling out to a small crowd in Jacksonville in a couple of months - and I doubt Pete Dunne is moving the needle there anyway.

I don't think for one minute it was suggested in here that this is an effort to supplant the WWE current major league (RAW/Smackdown)/minor league (NXT), just that there is no point in damaging the show early on.

It isn't a coincidence that this thing was launched when World of Sport was. The WWE see a growing market, with a unique fanbase and style, that they can sell on their network in the US. If I had to guess, they will go to Sky Sports in the UK/Ireland for any weekly programme. In that sense it's a double play, try and tap into the growing UK market and add something different to the WWE Network for everyone else.

The idea for a UK show has likely been in the pipeline for a while, but WoS hurried them into arranging this tournament. The turnaround time for this tournament was something else. I'm actually quite surprised the WWE were happy to run ahead with it under their brand with the limited look at the talent out there that they had.

Man talking sense here.

Hopefully Martyos will see that after his lie down.

Itssoeasy

Jerichoholic wrote: »

There's not many on the main roster that know what selling is. John Cena wouldn't sell raffle tickets.

:D wouldn't sell raffle tickets. Oh very good. I like that one.

CastorTroy

I agree the second night far surpassed the first. Dunne came out of it looking just as good as Bate. Imagine being 19 years old and having Triple H and William Regal present you with a WWE belt.
Unfortunately the result was ruined by facebook suggested pages using a picture from the presentation.
Did more in 2 nights than the entire CWC did in the number of weeks it was on, and set up a face and heel for the final. You could hear at the introductions that Dunne had done his job well in getting the fans against him.

So when did Cole and McGuinness get their Blue Peter badges? Wonder if others got them.

CastorTroy

When do you think the winner was decided. Couldn't see them basing the whole thing on a 19 year old from the start. Though I'm sure they did their research beforehand.

I liked how Regal kept staring at Dunne before the match started.

leggo

CastorTroy wrote: »

When do you think the winner was decided. Couldn't see them basing the whole thing on a 19 year old from the start. Though I'm sure they did their research beforehand.

I liked how Regal kept staring at Dunne before the match started.

No idea when it was decided, but I'd imagine it was fluid after night one and Bate's performance against Tucker swung it. They wouldn't have it set in stone from the outset anyway in case someone flopped or got hurt.

B.A._Baracus

CastorTroy wrote: »

When do you think the winner was decided. Couldn't see them basing the whole thing on a 19 year old from the start. Though I'm sure they did their research beforehand.

I liked how Regal kept staring at Dunne before the match started.

A good bet to assume the decision was made during last week. They revealed the change of the roster on Jan 6th (8 days before the tournament)

Omackeral

Finished watching this yesterday. Pete Dunne is absolutely money. That look is so perfect. Punchable head on him. I loved him but I also would love to kick his teeth in. Fantastic heel. I thought he was gonna go the whole way but clever booking from Trips or whoever it was because they made two stars rather than one. Tyler Bate is so likeable. I showed my missus that wave he does and she loved it. Hard to believe I never heard of either of these two guys 2 months ago and then was lucky enough to see them at OTT and then again on the Network. I cared about them both via character development and their in ring Stuff. Loved the whole weekend

The Ayatolla

CastorTroy wrote: »

When did Cole and McGuinness get their Blue Peter badges? Wonder if others got them.

They were both on the show in the week leading up to the event.