| WWE in the United Kingdom | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Created by | Vince McMahon |
| Promotions | WWE |
| Brands | Raw SmackDown NXT NXT UK |
WWE (formerly World Wrestling Federation and World Wrestling Entertainment), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Stamford, Connecticut in the United States, owned by Endeavor. It has been promoting events in the United Kingdom (UK) since 1989. From 1989 to 2001, WWE was promoted under concert promoter's, brothers Harvey and Martin Goldsmith, for UK and European shows.
Over the years, World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment has run several broadcast events based in the UK. In 1989, the WWF held their First WWF UK event, which aired exclusively in the UK. [1] From 1991 to 1993 similar UK exclusive broadcasts known as UK Rampage. [2] [3] [4] In 1991 the WWF filmed the supercard event Battle Royal at the Albert Hall, in London. [5]
SummerSlam 1992 was the first WWE pay-per-view broadcast from the UK on August 29 (aired August 31). [6] In 1997 they returned to the UK with WWF One Night Only. [7] In 1998 the WWF returned to the UK for WWF Mayhem in Manchester and WWF Capital Carnage, which aired exclusively in the UK. [8] The following year they returned with No Mercy. [9] From 1999 to 2002 they ran a fall pay-per-view from the UK known as WWE Rebellion. [10] [11] [12] [13] In addition from 2000 to 2003 they ran a spring pay-per-view from the UK known as WWE Insurrextion. [14] [15] [16] [17]
| Mayhem in Manchester | |
|---|---|
| Promotion | World Wrestling Federation |
| Date | April 4, 1998 |
| City | Manchester, England |
| Venue | NYNEX Arena |
| Attendance | 20,000 |
Mayhem in Manchester was a professional wrestling event exclusively for United Kingdom (UK), produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) that took place on 4 April 1998 at the Nynex Arena in Manchester, England. The event was released later in an edited form on VHS in North America and in the UK. With the exception of the "Old School" editions of WWE Raw on November 15, 2010, March 4, 2013, and January 6, 2014, along with the Raw 25 Years on January 25, 2018, and the Throwback SmackDown edition on May 7, 2021, this was the last ever WWF event to feature the WWF New Generation logo with the posts, ring skirt, floor mats and steps as light blue with the ropes colored red, white and blue.
The event was originally scheduled to be a UK exclusive pay-per-view, as a follow-up to the success of One Night Only. As the event drew closer, the WWF cancelled plans to broadcast the event, due to a profit sharing disagreement with the venue. In addition Davey Boy Smith and Shawn Michaels, who the WWF has planned to center the event around, were no longer with the company by the time of the event. The event would later be released on video rather than broadcasting live.
The card consisted of eight matches, that resulted from scripted storylines and had results predetermined by the WWF.
The main event heading into the event was between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H for the WWF Championship. After Austin defeated Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania to win the WWF Championship, Michaels retired from professional wrestling due to back injury (He returned to wrestling in 2002), and then Austin continued his feud with D-Generation X members. It was announced that Austin would face Triple H for the WWF Championship at Mayhem in Manchester.
Another main event heading into the event was between The Undertaker and Kane. After The Undertaker defeated his brother Kane at WrestleMania XIV, it was announced that the two would face each other again at Mayhem in Manchester.
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentators | Michael Cole |
| Kevin Kelly | |
| Ring announcer | Tony Chimel |
| Referees | Gerald Brisco |
| Mark Yeaton | |
| Mike Chioda |
During the opening match of the event Jeff Jarrett defeated Brakkus via submission, when Brakkus tapped out to the figure-4 leglock.
The second match saw The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas) defeat The Disciples of Apocalypse (Skull and 8-Ball) in a strap match. Henry picked up the pinfall victory after hitting the Slop Drop on Skull.
Prior to the next match, Marc Mero sent Sable to the back, due to a series of issues leading up to the event. Mero however lost the match following Bradshaw hitting him with the lariat.
The following match saw Ken Shamrock and Owen Hart defeated The Nation of Domination (The Rock and D'Lo Brown), after brown tapped out to Shamrock's ankle lock.
The next match was between Cactus Jack and The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust. During the match, as Jack when to suplex Goldust, Luna Vachon tripped Jack. Following this, Goldust covered Jack and picked up the pinfall victory. Following the match, Sable came out to attack Vachon. Continuing with the issues from earlier in the night, Mero followed Sable out and pulled her off of Vachon. As Goldust and Vachon used this opportunity to escape, Sable turned around and attacked Mero, then left with Mero still on the ground in the ring.
The following match saw WWF Tag Team Champions, The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn), defend their titles against LOD 2000 (Road Warrior Animal and Hawk). As LOD attempted to hit the Doomsday Device on Dogg, Chyna entered the ring and hit Animal with a low blow. The referee awarded the victory to LOD via disqualification, allowing The New Age Outlaws to retain the titles.
In the first main event, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H held the WWF Championship and WWF European Championship respectively, however only Austin's title was on the line during the match. At the end of the match, Chyna attempted to interfere, however Austin hit her with the Stunner, followed by hitting Triple H with a Stunner as well, to pick up the pinfall victory. In some areas this turned out to be the final match.
The main event of the evening saw The Undertaker defeat Kane via pinfall, following a Tombstone.
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeff Jarrett defeated Brakkus | Singles match | 7:38 | ||
| 2 | The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas) defeated The Disciples of Apocalypse (Skull and 8-Ball) | Tag team strap match | 13:45 | ||
| 3 | Bradshaw defeated Marc Mero (with Sable | Singles match | 10:17 | ||
| 4 | Ken Shamrock and Owen Hart defeated The Nation of Domination (The Rock and D'Lo Brown) by submission | Tag team match | 7:43 | ||
| 5 | The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust defeated Cactus Jack | Singles match | 13:23 | ||
| 6 | LOD 2000 (Road Warrior Animal and Hawk) with Sunny defeated The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) (c) by disqualification | Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship | 12:51 | ||
| 7 | Stone Cold Steve Austin (c) defeated Triple H | Singles match for the WWF Championship | 29:13 | ||
| 8 | The Undertaker defeated Kane | Singles match | 21:32 | ||
| |||||
Insurrextion in 2003 at the Telewest Arena in Newcastle, England marked the last of WWE's UK exclusive pay-per-views. [18] [19] However, WWE started to broadcast Raw and SmackDown! from the UK in 2004. Due to the time change, all broadcasts were recorded and aired on tape delay. The first Raw broadcast from the United Kingdom was October 11, 2004, with a SmackDown! recording the following day. Beginning in 2005 WWE would record twice per year in the United Kingdom, once in the spring and once in the fall. In November 2008, WWE recorded two episodes of SmackDown. As of May 2019 [update] all recordings have occurred in England, with the exception of November 2016 which took place at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. [20]
From 2006 to 2009, WWE's recording schedule in the United Kingdom included episodes of ECW . [21]
On December 16, 2015, the WWE held their first NXT event in the UK, NXT TakeOver: London. [22] In January 2017, they returned for the first United Kingdom Championship Tournament, [23] [24] with the second tournament in June 2018. [25] [26] In May 2017 they also hosted a United Kingdom Championship Special from the UK. [27]
In a press conference at The O2 Arena on December 15, 2016, Triple H revealed that there would be a 16-man tournament to crown the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Champion. The tournament was held over a two-day period, January 14 and 15, 2017, and aired exclusively on the WWE Network. Tyler Bate won the inaugural tournament to become the first WWE United Kingdom Champion. [28] In August 2018 Rhea Ripley became the first NXT UK Women's Champion. [29] In January 2019, James Drake and Zack Gibson became the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions. [30]
When the championship was unveiled in December 2016, it was announced to be the top championship of a new WWE Network show, produced in the United Kingdom. [31] [32] However, it was not until mid-2018 when WWE formally established NXT UK as the brand for their United Kingdom division. [33] [34] The brand's show, also titled NXT UK , had its first tapings in July, which began airing on October 17. [35] On January 12, 2019, the first live special episode of NXT UK aired, called NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool. [30] [36]
WWE was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom on the Sky series of television channels beginning in the 1980s, with a small selection of shows (including Sunday Night Heat and four pay-per-views a year) briefly being broadcast on Channel 4 in 2000 and 2001. [37] [38] In 2014, WWE renewed a 5 year deal with Sky to carry programmes through the end of 2019, which included Main Event being added to the schedule. [39] [40]
In June 2019, TNT Sports (then known at the time as BT Sport) announced that they had gained the broadcasting rights for WWE in the UK; their deal began in January 2020. [41] In April 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that BT Sport would be rebranded to TNT Sports starting from 18 July 2023.
WWE's online streaming service, WWE Network, launched on 19 January 2015 in the United Kingdom. [42] [43] The United Kingdom version of the WWE Network is set to close in January 2025 as all content including Raw, SmackDown, NXT and Premium Live Events will be moving to over to Netflix in January 2025. As a result the broadcasting deal with TNT Sports will also expire at the end of 2024. [44]
| Name | Day | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| Raw | Tuesdays | TNT Sports 1 HD |
| SmackDown | Saturdays | TNT Sports 1 HD |
| Pay-per-views | Mondays | TNT Sports Box Office HD |
Since February 2020, WWE has been shown on tape delay on Channel 5. [45] 1 hour highlight versions of Raw and SmackDown are shown every Sunday at 10:00am and 11:00am respectively. [46] On My5, every episode of Total Divas and Miz and Mrs are available to watch. [47] [48]
| Name | Day | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| Raw Highlights | Sundays | 5Action |
| SmackDown Highlights | Sundays | 5Action |
| Miz and Mrs | Online Exclusive | My5 |
| Total Divas | Online Exclusive | My5 |
The second WWE Performance Center branch opened on 11 January 2019 in Enfield, London. [49] [50]
WWE No Mercy, also known as NXT No Mercy since 2023, is a professional wrestling event produced by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The first No Mercy was held on May 16, 1999, in Manchester, England, and was the only No Mercy event produced in the United Kingdom. A second No Mercy was then held in October that year in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Beginning with this second event, No Mercy became the annual October pay-per-view (PPV) until 2008. The event was then discontinued and replaced by Hell in a Cell in 2009. After eight years, No Mercy was reinstated in October 2016. However, No Mercy was again discontinued after the September 2017 event, as WWE reduced the amount of yearly PPVs held after they had ended the production of brand-exclusive PPVs following WrestleMania 34 in 2018. In 2023, WWE again revived the event, this time for its developmental brand, NXT, in September.
Championship unification is the act of combining two or more separate professional wrestling championships into a single title.
WWE Rebellion was an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event that was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), an American professional wrestling promotion. Established in 1999, the events were held and broadcast exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first three events were held when the promotion was still called the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Rebellion was also shown on the Viewers Choice service in Canada, but was never televised in the United States. Rebellion had its own theme song titled "Rebellion".
WWE Insurrextion was an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event that was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), an American professional wrestling promotion. Established in 2000, the events were held and broadcast exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first three events were held when the promotion was still called the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) with the 2002 event being the promotion's very last PPV held under the WWF name. Insurrextion also aired on Viewers Choice pay-per-view in Canada, while the 2002 and 2003 editions also aired in the United States on tape delay as part of the WWE Fanatic Series, a pay-per-view "best of" program.
The brand extension, also referred to as the brand split, is the separation of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE's roster of wrestlers into distinct divisions, or "brands". The promotion's wrestlers are assigned to a brand via the annual WWE Draft and exclusively perform on that brand's weekly television show, with some exceptions. Throughout its history, WWE has utilized the brand extension twice. The first brand split occurred from 2002 to 2011, while the ongoing second began in 2016.
The 2003 Insurrextion was the fourth annual and final Insurrextion professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the American promotion, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw brand division. The event took place on June 7, 2003, at the Newcastle Arena in Newcastle, England, and was broadcast exclusively in the United Kingdom. It was the only Insurrextion produced under the WWE name, as the promotion was renamed from World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to WWE just two days after the previous year's event.
The 2002 Insurrextion was the third annual Insurrextion professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the American promotion, World Wrestling Federation. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw brand division, which made it the promotion's first-ever Raw-exclusive PPV. The event took place on 4 May 2002, at the Wembley Arena in London, England and was broadcast exclusively in the United Kingdom.
The 2000 Insurrextion was the inaugural Insurrextion professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the American promotion, World Wrestling Federation. It took place on May 6, 2000, at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London, England. The event was broadcast exclusively in the United Kingdom.
The 2001 Insurrextion was the second annual Insurrextion professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the American promotion, World Wrestling Federation. It took place on May 5, 2001, at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London, England and was broadcast exclusively in the United Kingdom. It was the final Insurrextion produced before the promotion introduced the brand extension in March 2002.
Tom Büdgen is a Dutch professional wrestler and martial artist. 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.
Sarah Rowe is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where she performs under the ring name Valhalla as the manager of The Viking Raiders. She is currently inactive due to maternity leave. From 2017 to 2019, she was a member of the stable The Riott Squad with Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott and performed under the name Sarah Logan. Bridges is also known for her tenure on the independent circuit, performing under the name Crazy Mary Dobson.
Peter Thomas England is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Pete Dunne and is one-half of the New Catch Republic with Tyler Bate. He is a 1-time WWE United Kingdom Champion and 1-time NXT Tag Team Champion alongside Matt Riddle, with whom he also won the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
Tyler Bate is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the Raw brand, where he is one half of the New Catch Republic with Pete Dunne. He is currently out of action due to a torn tricep.
Jordan Devlin is an Irish professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name JD McDonagh. He is a member of The Judgment Day stable, and is one-half of the World Tag Team Champions with fellow stablemate and mentor Finn Bálor in their first reign as a team and McDonagh's first reign individually.
Steffanie Newell is a Welsh professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Tegan Nox. Newell previously wrestled on the British independent circuit under the ring name Nixon Newell, most notably for promotions such as Attack! Pro Wrestling, Progress Wrestling, WhatCulture Pro Wrestling, and Fight Club: Pro.
Fabian Aichner is an Italian professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Giovanni Vinci.
New Catch Republic is an English professional wrestling tag team consisting of Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate. They are currently signed with WWE and appear on the Raw brand.
Kimberly Benson is a Scottish professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Piper Niven. Niven is a former one-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion.
WWE, an American professional wrestling promotion based in Stamford, Connecticut in the United States owned by TKO previously the McMahon family, has been promoting events in Canada since its founding in 1980.
The company hasn't held a PPV of any kind in the UK since Insurrextion at Newcastle's former Telewest Arena in July 2003.
It's the first time that WWE has ever been recorded in Scotland and acknowledges the recent wave of popularity that the sport has enjoyed.
Content will also be made available on Channel 5's streaming service My5, including reality shows Total Divas and Miz & Mrs.
Both shows will also be available online via Channel 5's online streaming service My5, as well as full seasons of WWE network shows Total Divas and Miz & Mrs.