Yesterday, WWE hosted the first day of their historic UK Championship tournament. We saw the entirety of the first round, with Wolfgang, Trent Seven, Pete Dunne, Sam Gradwell, Jordan Devlin, Tyler Bate, Joseph Conners, and Mark Andrews all picking up victories. Day Two of the tournament will feature the quarterfinals, semifinals, and the final match to crown the first-ever WWE United Kingdom Champion. Of course, this tournament is only the beginning, and will lead to a weekly UK wrestling show on the WWE Network.
Pete Dunne vs. Sam Gradwell – Quarterfinals
Last night, all the victorious competitors were on the stage as the night closed out, when Pete Dunne attacked Sam Gradwell. Dunne sucker punched the Blackpool native, and finished the assault with a suplex on the entrance ramp. Dunne certainly made a name for himself last night, and he has the advantage in this match being the fresher man. Gradwell needs to be careful about his anger, because if it gets the best of him, Dunne could capitalize on a simple mistake.
The assault from last night clearly played in Pete Dunne’s favor, as he was able just to target the lower back throughout the entire match. Sam Gradwell barely beats the referee’s 10 count, then Dunne scoop slams him into the turnbuckle to essentially steal the win. Winner: Pete Dunne | Eliminated: Sam Gradwell
Mark Andrews vs. Joseph Conners – Quarterfinals
Mark Andrews is by far the smallest guy in the tournament, but that didn’t matter yesterday. Andrews used his agility and aerial ability to take out Dan Moloney in impressive fashion (including countering a suplex into a stunner). Joseph Conners has the size advantage over Andrews by about 40 pounds, and he showed how brutal and smash mouth he can be when he took out James Drake last night. He is also missing half an ear, so you know he’s tough. The winner of this match takes on Pete Dunne in the semifinals.
Mark Andrews counters a suplex attempt by Conners into the Stundog Millionaire (that stunner counter mentioned earlier apparently has a name), and hits another beautiful Shooting Star Press to advance to the semifinals. Winner: Mark Andrews | Eliminated: Joseph Conners
Wolfgang vs. Trent Seven – Quarterfinals
Wolfgang is a surprisingly agile big man, doing springboard moonsaults and Swanton Bombs in his first round match, while Trent Seven won his match by just hitting a brutal lariat. Seven is probably the second biggest man in the tournament, but Wolfgang still has a 40 pound weight advantage.
Trent Seven was the favorite going into the tournament, but Wolfgang hits a Swanton Bomb to Seven’s spine to get the upset victory and to stay in the tournament. Winner: Wolfgang | Eliminated: Trent Seven
Jordan Devlin vs. Tyler Bate – Quarterfinals
To round out the Quarterfinals, we have 19 year-old Tyler Bate, who put on the best performance of the night in the first round against Tucker. Bate faces Jordan Devlin, a protege of Finn Balor who picked up a not-so-clean victory over Danny Burch last night. Whoever wins here will take on Wolfgang not too long from now.
Devlin hits Bate with the same enzuigiri that cut Danny Burch open, but Bate doesn’t suffer the same fate. Bate fakes Devlin out with a left jab, then hits the Tyler Driver 97 on his way to his meeting with Wolfgang. Winner: Tyler Bate | Eliminated: Jordan Devlin
Pete Dunne vs. Mark Andrews – Semifinals
This match features the flashiest competitor in the tournament (Mark Andrews) taking on the man who Nigel McGuiness considers to be “unstoppable” (Pete Dunne). Dunne didn’t have to exert much energy in the Quarterfinals, defeating an injured Sam Gradwell, while Mark Andrews had to pull out everything in his arsenal against Joseph Conners. Like Brian Kendrick and Daniel Bryan, both of these men had their first match together.
Dunne and Andrews put on the best match of the tournament so far, and it was the closest match so far as well. After Dunne hits a German suplex into the turnbuckle, he hits the Bitter End to put Andrews away, and pencil his name into the finals. Winner: Pete Dunne | Eliminated: Mark Andrews
Tyler Bate vs. Wolfgang – Semifinals
If there are two people who can outdo Andrews and Dunne, here they are. Tyler Bate has been captivating the Blackpool audience with his incredible strength, and Wolfgang has been shocking everybody with his agility. Either Tyler Bate or Wolfgang will face Pete Dunne in the first-ever United Kingdom Championship match, making a great deal of history.
Whether it is because of his potentially broken nose, or the fact that he underestimated Tyler Bate, Wolfgang just takes too much time to pull off each of his moves. Bate takes advantage of this, and hits an astounding Tyler Driver 97 on Wolfgang to get one step closer to becoming champion. Winner: Tyler Bate | Eliminated: Pete Dunne
While Tyler Bate is celebrating in the center of the ring, Pete Dunne rushes the ring and attacks Tyler Bate. Since this worked for him with Sam Gradwell, he does the same with Tyler Bate. Understandably, William Regal is furious and brings Dunne to the back.
Neville vs. Tommy End
To give the UK fans a special treat, the self-professed King of the Cruiserweights competes in a non-tournament match. Neville takes on Tommy End, who was recently signed to has been competing in the UK wrestling scene since 2002, and he has just recently signed with NXT.
Tommy End gives a great first showing on WWE television, but Neville picks up the win after the Red Arrow. Winner: Neville
Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate – United Kingdom Championship
Because of the attack by Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate has a disadvantage heading into this one. That adds even more drama to the fact that Bate was trained by Dunne, so in theory, Dunne should be ahead of Bate at every step.
As expected, Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate put on an incredible match. Tyler Bate pulled through his shoulder injury, took Pete Dunne to the limit, and put on the performance of his lifetime to become the first-ever WWE United Kingdom Champion, at just 19 years old. Winner, and FIRST-EVER United Kingdom Champion: Tyler Bate
