Pete Dunne def. Tyler Bate to win the WWE United Kingdom Championship
The WWE United Kingdom Title became a championship back in January. It became an integral sports-entertainment prize at NXT TakeOver: Chicago when Pete Dunne beat Tyler Bate to claim the title in a match that made a massive statement for U.K. competitors in WWE. They're not here to take part, they're here to take over.
It didn't take long for this instant classic to get going. The rivals began the contest with the type of sophisticated back-and-forth mat wrestling that we’ve come to expect from the U.K.’s top competitors. Of course, in true Bruiserweight fashion, things got ugly in short order on the outside of the ring as Dunne brutalized Bate with his patented X-Plex on the unforgiving edge of the apron.
It was going to take a lot more than that to keep the 20-year-old champion down, however. Bate’s explosive power and startling agility were on full display as he busted out a standing shooting star press and followed up immediately with a deadlift suplex. Dunne halted Bate’s momentum temporarily by trapping him in a triangle choke, but the champion countered in a spectacular way by lifting Dunne off the mat with one arm and slamming him back down.
Bate, who defeated Dunne back in January to become the first-ever WWE United Kingdom Champion, came within a millisecond of pinning the challenger after a nauseating airplane spin. The Bruiserweight got right back into it, though, knocking Bate out of the air with a forearm and then plastering him with a suplex setup that ended in a sitout powerbomb.
By the time the two young upstarts were trading lefts and rights in the center of the ring, the Chicago crowd were on their feet and showing massive respect with chants of “U.K.! U.K.!” The Superstars in the ring were just getting started, though. Bate countered Dunne’s Bitter End with a DDT that spiked the challenger directly on his head. The champion then hit a moonsault on the outside and a corkscrew 450 on the inside. Somehow, still, Dunne survived.
The deciding moment came seconds later when Bate attempted a risky dive to the outside, but ended up getting planted into the arena floor by Dunne. Back inside, The Bruiserweight again went for The Bitter End and succeeded this time to claim the WWE United Kingdom Title.
If you’ve yet to see this match, watch it on WWE Network now. This is one they’ll be talking about for a long time to come.
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