| 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.
The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) began globally expanding in the late 1980s, holding its first European event in France in 1987 before holding events in Italy and then in Britain, where the first show was on 10 October 1989 at the London Arena, in front of a crowd of 15,000, and broadcast exclusively on Sky One. [1] [2] The main event in this match featured Hulk Hogan (with Miss Elizabeth) defeating Randy Savage (with Queen Sherri). From 1989 to 2001, WWE was promoted under concert promoters, brothers Harvey and Martin Goldsmith, for UK and European shows.[ citation needed ]
The WWF's first tour of events in Europe was held in the United Kingdom and Ireland, called UK Rampage, between April and May 1991. The first Rampage was held in London on 24 April and was televised by BSkyB to British and Irish viewers. [3] [4] Four more events were held in the country later in 1991 as part of the WWF European Rampage Tour, including the supercard event Battle Royal at the Albert Hall, in London. [5] [6] Nine events were held in the country as part of the European Rampage Again Tour in 1992, including one televised event at Sheffield Arena (see UK Rampage (1992)). [7] The final televised Rampage event in the country was again at Sheffield Arena on 11 April 1993 as part of the WWF European Spring Tour. [8] Over the years, the WWF continued hosting various untelevised house shows in Britain, including Mayhem in Manchester in 1998. [9]
SummerSlam 1992 was the first WWE pay-per-view taped in and broadcast from the UK on August 29 (aired August 31). [10] In 1997 the company held its first UK-exclusive pay-per-view, WWF One Night Only, [11] followed by WWF Capital Carnage in 1998 [12] [13] and No Mercy in 1999. [14] From 1999 to 2002 they ran a fall pay-per-view from the UK known as WWE Rebellion. [15] [16] [17] [18] In addition from 2000 to 2003 they ran a spring pay-per-view from the UK known as WWE Insurrextion. [19] [20] [21] [22] Insurrextion in 2003 at the Telewest Arena in Newcastle marked the last of WWE's UK exclusive pay-per-views. [23] [24] In 2004, the WWE taped its first show of the flagship Raw program in the UK for a global audience. [25]
| 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 | ||
| |||||
WWE started to broadcast their weekly arena shows Raw and SmackDown! from the UK in 2004. Due to the time change, all broadcasts were recorded and aired on tape delay. Beginning in 2005 WWE would record twice per year in the United Kingdom, once in the spring and once in the fall. From 2006 to 2009, WWE's recording schedule in the United Kingdom included episodes of ECW . [26] 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. [27]
On December 16, 2015, the WWE held their first NXT event in the UK, NXT TakeOver: London. [28] In January 2017, they returned for the first United Kingdom Championship Tournament, [29] [30] with the second tournament in June 2018. [31] [32] In May 2017 they also hosted a United Kingdom Championship Special from the UK. [33]
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. [34] In August 2018 Rhea Ripley became the first NXT UK Women's Champion. [35] In January 2019, James Drake and Zack Gibson became the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions. [36]
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. [37] [38] However, it was not until mid-2018 when WWE formally established NXT UK as the brand for their United Kingdom division. [39] [40] The brand's show, also titled NXT UK , had its first tapings in July, which began airing on October 17. [41] On January 12, 2019, the first live special episode of NXT UK aired, called NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool. [36] [42]
WWE programming were originally broadcast (then as WWF) in Britain on the Sky network of premium 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. [43] [44] 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. [45] [46]
In June 2019, BT Sport (known as TNT Sports since 2023) announced that they had gained the broadcasting rights for WWE in the UK; their deal began in January 2020. [47] The broadcasting deal with TNT Sports expired at the end of 2024, [48] after which Raw and SmackDown broadcast live on Netflix in the country. [49]
WWE's online streaming service, WWE Network, launched on 19 January 2015 in the United Kingdom. [50] [51] The service closed in the country in January 2025 as part of the global WWE-Netflix deal. [52]
| Programming | Day | Network/Platform |
|---|---|---|
| WWE Premium Live Events | Dates vary (Live) | Netflix |
| WWE Raw | Mondays (Live) | |
| WWE NXT | Tuesdays (Live) | |
| WWE SmackDown | Fridays (Live) | |
| WWE Evolve | Wednesdays | YouTube |
| WWE Main Event | Saturdays | |
| Saturday Night's Main Event | Saturdays Quarterly (Live) |
 | This section may contain information not important or relevant to the article's subject.(August 2025) |
The second WWE Performance Center branch opened on 11 January 2019 in Enfield, London. [53] [54]
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.