History
In a press conference at The O2 Arena on 15 December 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 two days, 14 and 15 January 2017, and aired exclusively on the WWE Network. At the time, it was stated that the championship would be the centrepiece of a new UK-based show produced in the UK, but since the inaugural tournament, it was defended on NXT as well as at independent shows in the United Kingdom.[5][6] The name of the show, NXT UK, and its premiere was finally revealed during the 2018 United Kingdom Championship Tournament. On 7 June 2018, Johnny Saint was appointed General Manager of WWE's United Kingdom-based brand, officially called NXT UK.[7][8]
The show had its first tapings in August 2018, and the premiere episode of NXT UK aired on 17 October 2018.[9] Starting October 31 with the third and fourth episodes, new episodes were premiered in a doubleheader format each week. On 12 January 2019, the first live special episode of NXT UK aired, called NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool. Beginning with the 16 January episode, NXT UK returned to airing one episode each week. In September 2019, Triple H stated that NXT UK was the second most watched programme on the WWE Network, behind NXT.[10] In October 2019, the show moved to Thursdays.[11]
Beginning on 2 January 2020, NXT UK began airing on BT Sport.[12][13] On 21 January 2020, it was announced that NXT UK will also be airing on Paramount Network (now known as 5Action).[14] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NXT UK suspended production in April 2020. It returned to air in September 2020, with the programme moving to the BT Sport studio.[15]
On 18 August 2022, WWE announced that the NXT UK brand would be entering a hiatus in September and would eventually be relaunched and rebranded as NXT Europe.[16] The final episode of NXT UK aired on 1 September.
