New Catch Republic | |
---|---|
Tag team | |
Members | Pete Dunne Tyler Bate |
Name(s) | New Catch Republic House Strong Style [1] British Strong Style |
Billed heights | Dunne: 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) [2] Seven: 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) [3] Bate: 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) [4] |
Combined billed weight | 172 kg (380 lb) [2] [3] [4] |
Billed from | Great Britain, Moustache Mountain |
Former member(s) | Trent Seven |
Debut | 31 July 2016 [5] |
Years active | 2016–2022 2024–present |
The New Catch Republic are an English professional wrestling tag team consisting of Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate. They are currently signed with WWE and are competing on the SmackDown brand.
The group was originally a stable known as British Strong Style made up of Dunne, Bate and Trent Seven, who last worked for WWE in the NXT UK brand, before his release in August 2022. The group took its name from a style of professional wrestling that is a mixture of Japanese strong style and traditional British catch wrestling. [6] The three were a prominent part of the NXT UK roster, and were central figures of the NXT UK programme when it premiered in October 2018. They were nicknamed "the founding fathers of NXT UK" by WWE, due to their crucial part in the creation and growth of the brand. [7]
Dunne and Seven formed the group in the Progress Wrestling (Progress) promotion in July 2016 as a tag team, before adding Bate, who had been Seven's tag team partner as part of Moustache Mountain since April 2015, in November 2016. The group dominated Progress over the following year with Dunne holding the Progress World Championship and Bate and Seven the Progress Tag Team Championship. Though primarily appearing in Progress, the stable has also worked for several other promotions in the United Kingdom, including Chikara, where they won the 2017 King of Trios tournament.
Through a partnership between Progress and WWE, all three members of British Strong Style also appeared for WWE since 2017, with Bate defeating Dunne in the finals of the first United Kingdom Championship Tournament to become the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Champion. Dunne won the title from Bate later that year. During Dunne's UK Championship reign, Seven and Bate were NXT Tag Team Champions for a short time in June 2018, making all three members champions in WWE for a short period.
On 31 July 2016, the Dunne Brothers (Damian Dunne and Pete Dunne) were set to take on Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) at Progress Wrestling's event in London, England. The match ended with Pete and Seven turning on their partners and walking off together, signaling the start of a new partnership, [5] [8] which they subsequently dubbed "British Strong Style". [9] On 25 September, Dunne and Seven defeated the London Riots (James Davis and Rob Lynch) for the Progress Tag Team Championship. [10] On 27 November, Dunne and Seven took part in a seven-man elimination match for the vacant Progress World Championship. The match came down to Dunne, Seven and Jimmy Havoc. After Havoc managed to eliminate Seven from the match, he was attacked by both Seven and Dunne, which brought out Tyler Bate, seemingly to exact revenge on Seven. Bate, however, turned on Havoc, helping Dunne become the new Progress World Champion and turning British Strong Style into a trio. [11] [12] Bate and Dunne were positioned as the spotlight wrestlers of the group, while Seven became its mouthpiece. [13]
After capturing the Progress World Championship, Dunne attempted to pass his half of the Progress Tag Team Championship to Bate, which led to Progress management stripping British Strong Style of the tag team title. They did however allow Bate and Seven to wrestle for the vacant title, leading to a match on 30 December, where the two defeated the London Riots and LDRS (Marty Scurll and Zack Sabre Jr.) to become the new champions. [14] [15]
In January 2017, all three members of British Strong Style took part in a tournament held by WWE to crown the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Championship. [16] [17] The trio were not acknowledged by WWE, instead Bate and Seven were referred to by the Moustache Mountain name, [18] with Dunne being positioned opposite the two as the main villain of the tournament. [19] The tournament eventually came down to Bate and Dunne in the finals with Bate emerging victorious to become the first WWE United Kingdom Champion. [20] After a four-month reign, Bate lost the title to Dunne at NXT TakeOver: Chicago. [21] While WWE did not recognize British Strong Style as a stable, the WWE United Kingdom Championship was entered into storylines involving the group in Progress. [22] The trio's participation in the tournament was also added to their villainous act in Progress with the members wearing NXT jackets, playing up the fact that they were under WWE contracts and promising they were going to leave Progress with the promotion's two championships. [14] [23]
On 23 April, British Strong Style faced off against the Ringkampf stable of Axel Dieter Jr., Timothy Thatcher and Walter from the German Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) promotion in a six-man tag team match, where both of their Progress titles were on the line. The match ended with Seven pinning Walter for the win, meaning that British Strong Style continued both of their title reigns. [24] [25] The following month, British Strong Style found themselves new rivals in the #CCK stable of Chris Brookes, Kid Lykos and Travis Banks, who debuted by interrupting their attack on Matt Riddle. This led to a match on 25 June, where Bate and Seven lost the Progress Tag Team Championship to Brookes and Lykos. [26] [27] On 9 July, British Strong Style and #CCK faced off in a six-man tag team match, where Brookes and Lykos agreed to put the Progress Tag Team Championship on the line with the added stipulation that if British Strong Style did not win the match, they could never again challenge for the title. British Strong Style ended up cheating their way to a victory, making Bate and Seven the new Progress Tag Team Champions. [28] [29]
On 10 September, British Strong Style lost both of their Progress titles to members of #CCK with Bate and Seven losing the Tag Team Championship to Brookes and Lykos in a ladder match, while Dunne lost the World Championship to Travis Banks, ending the group's ten-month domination over Progress. [30] [31] Following the loss of their titles, British Strong Style turned face with Dunne apologising for some of his actions as champion. [32] At Chapter 76, Seven defeated Doug Williams to win the Progress Atlas Championship. At Chapter 82, a rematch of the WWE United Kingdom Championship match from NXT TakeOver: Chicago between Dunne and Bate was the main event. Dunne defeated Bate in what ring announcer and co-owner Jim Smallman said was the duos farewell match, implying both seemingly were going full-time with NXT UK and WWE.
On 1 September 2017, British Strong Style, billed as "House Strong Style", entered the 2017 King of Trios tournament, hosted by the American Chikara promotion in Wolverhampton. After defeating House Whitewolf (A-Kid, Adam Chase and Zayas) in their first round match, [33] House Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield, Mark Angelosetti and Simon Grimm) in the quarterfinals, [34] and House Rot (Frightmare, Hallowicked and Kobald) via forfeit in the semifinals, House Strong Style advanced to the finals of the tournament, where, on 3 September, they defeated House Sendai Girls (Cassandra Miyagi, Dash Chisako and Meiko Satomura) to become the 2017 King of Trios. [1] [35]
After Roderick Strong turned on Pete Dunne at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, Dunne teased a return of the stable in WWE on Instagram days later. [36] In April during WrestleMania Axxess weekend, Bate and Seven lost an NXT Tag Team Championship match to Strong and Kyle O'Reilly. After the match, they were attacked by The Undisputed Era until Dunne made the save, thus reuniting for the first time in WWE. It was later announced that Dunne, Bate and Seven would take on The Undisputed Era on the first night of the second annual United Kingdom Championship Tournament in June 2018. [37]
British Strong Style won their match against The Undisputed Era on 18 June. The following night, Bate and Seven defeated O'Reilly and Strong to win the NXT Tag Team Championship for the first time, whilst Dunne retained his WWE United Kingdom Championship against tournament winner Zack Gibson, meaning that all members of British Strong Style were now champions in WWE. However, Bate and Seven lost the titles back to O'Reilly and Strong two days later. At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4, Bate and Seven failed to regain their titles against The Undisputed Era while Dunne retained his title against Gibson once again. The group disbanded in late July 2022 after Seven was released from his WWE contract. [38]
Bate was promoted to the SmackDown brand and reunited with Dunne, as Butch in The Brawling Brutes, at SmackDown: New Year's Revolution on 5 January 2024 and defeated Pretty Deadly in a tag team match. [39] Dunne returned to his original name two weeks later. [40] On the 16 February episode of SmackDown, the duo of Bate and Dunne was renamed to New Catch Republic. [41]
Kyle Emmanuel Greenwood is a Canadian professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where he performs under the ring name Kyle O'Reilly, where he is currently out due to injury. He is also known for working in Ring of Honor (ROH) from 2009 to 2017, and WWE from 2017 to 2021, using the same ring name in both companies. He is a record three-time NXT Tag Team Champion, and was a founding member of The Undisputed Era.
Mark Andrews is a Welsh professional wrestler and musician who is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is a former Impact World Tag Team Champion. He and stablemate Flash Morgan Webster also wrestle for the England based Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro), where they are in their first reign as Undisputed British Tag Team Champions.
The Viking Raiders are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of Erik and Ivar, and are managed by Valhalla. The team is currently performing in WWE on the Raw brand.
Tom Büdgen is a Dutch professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs as leader of the House of Black stable under the ring name Malakai Black and is a former one-time AEW World Trios Champion. He is also known for his work in WWE, where he performed as Aleister Black from 2017 to 2021.
Barry Young is a Scottish professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand, under the ring name Wolfgang. He is a member of Gallus and is a former NXT Tag Team champion with stable mate Mark Coffey, as well as being a former tag team champion in now defunct NXT UK brand alongside Mark Coffey.
Peter Thomas England is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Pete Dunne and is one-half of the New Catch Republic with Tyler Bate. He is a one-time WWE United Kingdom Champion and one-time NXT Tag Team Champion alongside Matt Riddle, with whom he also won the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
Benjamin Maurice Webb, better known by the ring name Trent Seven, is an English professional wrestler, wrestling promoter, and actor currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed on their NXT UK brand and was a former NXT UK Tag Team Champion.
Tyler Bate is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the SmackDown brand.
NXT TakeOver: New Orleans was the 19th NXT TakeOver professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event aired exclusively on the WWE Network and took place on April 7, 2018, at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana as part of the WrestleMania 34 weekend festivities.
Travis Bligh, better known by his ring name Travis Banks, is a New Zealand professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE on their NXT UK brand. He is also known for competing in promotions such as Fight Club Pro, What Culture Pro Wrestling, Attack! Pro Wrestling, Revolution Pro Wrestling, and most notably Progress Wrestling, where he is a former World Champion. He works in Mexican promotions such as International Wrestling Revolution Group, Kaoz Lucha Libre, The Crash Lucha Libre and Wrestling League Society. As of 2023 he is the fourth champion of the Morelia, Michoacan wrestling promotion SCW.
Marcel Barthel is a German professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Ludwig Kaiser. He is a member of Imperium.
The Undisputed Era was a professional wrestling stable from WWE's NXT brand. It formed on August 19, 2017, at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III shortly after Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O'Reilly signed with WWE, although Fish and O'Reilly had already been a tag team since 2012 under the name reDRagon. After, Fish suffered an injury in March 2018, April 7 at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans marked a turning point for the Undisputed Era: during the event, Cole became the inaugural NXT North American Champion, he and O'Reilly won the 2018 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, and Roderick Strong joined the stable at the end of a lengthy feud against it; both Cole and Strong were subsequently recognized as co-Tag Team Champions under the Freebird Rule. O'Reilly later had two more additional reigns as NXT Tag Team Champion, one with Strong and one with Fish, while Cole became NXT Champion at NXT TakeOver: XXV, becoming NXT's second Triple Crown winner. On September 18, Strong won the NXT North American Championship, making the Undisputed Era the first stable to simultaneously hold all the male titles on NXT. All four stayed champions until January 22, 2020, when Strong lost his title to Keith Lee.
Walter Hahn is an Austrian professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Gunther. He is the leader of the Imperium faction and is the current Intercontinental Champion in his first reign; his reign of 620+ days has set the title's record for both the longest singular reign and the most cumulative days as champion.
Jack Rea is an English professional wrestler currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), under the ring name Zack Gibson. He is Best known for his time in WWE NXT where he performed under the ring name Rip Fowler. He formed the tag team Grizzled Young Veterans with James Drake in 2017, becoming the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions and three-time Progress Tag Team Champions.
Moustache Mountain was a British professional wrestling tag team consisting of Trent Seven and Tyler Bate, Bate is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the SmackDown brand and Seven worked for WWE until his release in August 2022. They are one-time NXT UK Tag Team Champions and NXT Tag Team Champions. Created in 2015, they previously worked for other promotions, most notably Chikara and Progress Wrestling. They are also known as part of the three-men stable British Strong Style together with Pete Dunne, also in WWE.
Gavin Watkins is a Welsh professional wrestler who is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he performs under the ring name Flash Morgan Webster and is a former Impact World Tag Team Champions with Mark Andrews in their first reign. He and Andrews also wrestle for the England based Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro), where they are in their first reign as Undisputed British Tag Team Champions.
Ilya Rukober is a Russian-German professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Ilja Dragunov and is the current NXT Champion in his first reign. He is a former one-time NXT United Kingdom Champion.
David Minton is an English professional wrestler. He is most known for his time in WWE, where he performed on its NXT UK brand under the ring name "Bomber" Dave Mastiff.
Grizzled Young Veterans, also known as Grizzled Young Vets are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of James Drake and Zack Gibson, currently signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). They are best known for their tenure with WWE, where they are the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions. They also performed as The Dyad on the NXT brand. They are three-time Progress Tag Team Champions.
Imperium are a European villainous professional wrestling stable consisting of leader Gunther of Austria, Ludwig Kaiser of Germany, and Giovanni Vinci of Italy. They are all currently signed to WWE, where they perform on the Raw brand.