Last week on NXT, former NXT UK Champion Pete Dunne returned to the black and gold brand, turning heel on Kyle O’Reilly and aligning himself with Pat McAfee, Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch in the process.
However, it has emerged that the original plans for the faction didn’t involve Pete Dunne, as Danny Burch suggested to Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT on talkWRESTLING that Ridge Holland was set to be the group’s fourth member.
As Danny Burch alluded to on talkWRESTLING, Ridge Holland was the original plan for the stable with Pat McAfee before his terrible, terrible injury. Pete Dunne was a late substitute.
Ridge Holland suffered an ankle dislocation & fracture, patellar dislocation and ruptured patellar tendon after his leg buckled following a dive from the aforementioned Oney Lorcan on the October 7 episode of NXT.
Ridge Holland has since undergone surgery for the incredibly nasty injury that he suffered and is unfortunately expected to be out of in-ring competition for a substantial period of time.
At this time, it is unclear as to what the plans were for Pete Dunne before Holland’s injury. Dunne had been doing some work for NXT UK, so it’s possible he would have stayed in England been part of the brand if it wasn’t for Ridge’s injury.
This storyline is presumably leading to a WarGames match at some stage, pitting Pat McAfee, Danny Burch, Oney Lorcan and Pete Dunne against Undisputed Era, though that has not been confirmed.
