An update has emerged on WWE’s plans for Tyler Bate following his SmackDown debut on this week’s show.
Ahead of the January 5 episode, WWE was advertising that Butch would team with a mystery partner to face off against Elton Prince and Kit Wilson of Pretty Deadly.
Butch’s mystery partner was revealed to be his former NXT rival and ex-British Strong Style teammate Tyler Bate, who went on to win his WWE main roster debut match alongside Butch.
While recent reports confirmed that there were previously talks about bringing Bate to the main roster, we now know that Bate’s appearance marked the beginning of his official main roster run, rather than a one-off appearance.
Bate’s official WWE.com profile has now been updated to list him as a SmackDown talent, officially ending his run with NXT.
WWE has now shared a video to Instagram of Tyler Bate reacting to his debut immediately after returning backstage.
Tyler Bate stated:
Finally, it’s been a long time coming but the big strong boi has finally arrived on SmackDown, and I am here to stay!
And in case you needed any more confirmation, WWE uploaded this video:
Tyler Bate made his WWE debut as part of the lineup for the inaugural WWE UK Championship Tournament in early 2017.
Bate went on to win the tournament, notably defeating Butch (then Pete Dunne) to become the first ever WWE (NXT) UK Champion at just 19 years old.
The British star went on to make history on the NXT UK brand. He’s the only wrestler to be recognised as an NXT UK Triple Crown winner, following reigns with the NXT UK, NXT UK Tag Team and Heritage Cup titles.
He’s also the only two-time NXT UK Champion, and was the final NXT UK Champion before the gold was unified with the main NXT Championship.
Outside of NXT UK, Bate also held the main NXT Tag Team Championship alongside Trent Seven after defeating Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly of the Undisputed Era for the gold in 2018.
For all the latest WWE news, click here.
Comments powered by CComment