
WWE announced the launch of NXT UK back in 2017, as the first of what was planned to be multiple regional NXT brands in the company. with Tyler Bate becoming the inaugural champion.
The brand was the brainchild of Triple H and current AEW star William Regal, and helped groom many of WWE’s current stars, including Rhea Ripley, Gunther, Doudrop and Butch.
WWE announced earlier this month that the brand was officially closing down after the upcoming Worlds Collide show, instead being repurposed into NXT Europe next year.
Regal spoke about the closure of the brand on his Gentleman Villain podcast, noting that the brand was a passion project of his, and that he doesn’t care if he gets fired for defending the brand.
He said:
“So, if they want to try and take me up on this, take me up on it and if I get fired from the company I’m working for now for sticking up [for them], then so be it. ‘NXT UK’ was a passion project of mine, to give a decent place for British and European talent to get a pipeline so they could go to WWE and have the charmed life that I’ve had. If they don’t like that, then they can get stuffed … This was all done for the right reasons. How it’s played out is an unfortunate thing.”
Regal was a major part of the NXT brand for nearly a decade up until his release in January. He has since debuted for AEW as the manager of the Blackpool Combat Club.
Regal’s own son Charlie Dempsey came into WWE through the NXT UK brand, and recently made his debut appearance on NXT 2.0 in a segment with Chase U.
transcription via Wrestling Inc.
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