WWE dropped a huge bombshell today when they announced that 2017 would see the introduction of a brand new championship and a tournament to determine who is the inaugural title holder. In 2017, the United Kingdom Championship will become a reality and Triple H revealed a number of details such as dates, announcers, and much more. This will be the third new championship introduced in the company this year.
Early on Thursday, the official website of WWE revealed that the new title will come into existence in 2017 and a 16-competitor tournament will determine the new champion. Triple H stood in front of everyone at the O2 Arena in London and announced the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament to take place in January.
The new belt looks amazing, and it wasn’t the only thing revealed on Thursday as a lot of details were officially announced.
Sixteen of the top talents in the U.K. will compete in the tournament for the WWE United Kingdom Championship, and they all joined Triple H on stage on Thursday afternoon. Over two days, these 16 competitors will battle it out to be the first person to hold the new title belt.
Here are the names of all 16 competitors and the two alternates in the tournament:
- Trent Seven
- Wolfgang
- Tyson T-Bone
- Tyler Bate
- Jordan Devlin
- Roy Johnson
- Joseph Conners
- Jack Starz
- Pete Dunne
- Tiger Ali
- Tucker
- Sam Gradwell
- James Drake
- HC Dyer
- Saxon Huxley
- Dan Moloney
- Chris Tyler
- Ringo Ryan
While the focus will be on the new WWE United Kingdom Championship and the 16 competitors in the tournament, a lot of attention is going to the announcers. Well, the focus is on one of them as Michael Cole is one announcer while the other is wrestling icon Nigel McGuinness.
Super excited after talking with all the competitors in the @WWE #UKChampionship today. Some amazing stories.
— nigel mcguinness (@McGuinnessNigel) December 15, 2016
As reported by WrestleZone , McGuinness recently finished up with Ring of Honor and there was speculation that he would be heading to WWE as a Performance Center coach/trainer. Now, his role in WWE is known and it appears as if officials from ROH are not happy with him at all.
It seems as if officials from Ring of Honor were not even aware that Nigel McGuinness was leaving the company until this past weekend. To make matters worse and bring about even more anger, they are not happy with him signing with WWE and the role he has with the organization.
As further reported by the official website of WWE , the tournament is going to take place at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England, on Jan. 14 and Jan. 15, 2017.
Triple H was joined in London by NXT General Manager William Regal and former NXT Champion, Universal Champion Finn Balor. It was announced that WWE has worked closely with PROGRESS, OTT, ICW, and Rev Pro to gather a group of the best possible talents for the tournament.
There are no current WWE talents in the tournament, according to Triple H.
“We spent that time to identify and cultivate the best talent in both the U.K. and Ireland, and today we are excited to announce that we will crown, for the first time ever a WWE United Kingdom Champion.”
WWE did have the European Championship for a few years near the end of the Attitude Era. It came into existence in early 1997 and was then retired in the summer of 2002. The new WWE United Kingdom Championship is just the latest new or returning title to come to the organization in the last year.
- WWE Women’s Title – Replaced the Diva’s Title
- WWE Cruiserweight Title – Brought back
- WWE Universal Title – Brand new
- Raw Tag Team Championship – Returned after brand split
- SmackDown Tag Team Championship – Returned after brand split
Earlier this year, the company introduced the WWE Universal Championship which became the top title on Monday Night Raw . The Cruiserweight Championship was also brought back into existence through a tournament on the WWE Network. Now, a third new title is coming about in the form of the United Kingdom Championship and some names have a chance at becoming new stars in the wrestling world with Nigel McGuinness announcing all the action.
[Featured Image by WWE]