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WWE created NXT UK as a way to highlight the amazing British talent there was in professional wrestling with the likes of Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne, Grizzled Young Veterans, Kay Lee Ray and others proving that the British Isles are home to some of the best wrestling talent in the world.
There have been many memorable title reigns from British stars on NXT UK. Pete Dunne held the NXT UK Championship for a record-breaking 685 days before losing it. Similarly, former NXT UK Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray held her title for 649 days before losing it recently.
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Whilst those two names, amongst others, are examples of British superiority on NXT UK, there has been an invasion of sorts on the brand as there are a handful of wrestlers from Europe and even further afield than that who have also found success on the show.
So, let's take a look at 5 non-British wrestlers who have become champions in NXT UK.
#5. Former WWE NXT UK Women's Champion Rhea Ripley
Rhea Ripley has skyrocketed up the ladder in WWE where she currently finds herself the reigning RAW Women's Champion after winning the Royal Rumble and successfully challenged Asuka on Night 2 of WrestleMania 37.
Before she was on RAW, Ripley was also dominating the Black and Gold brand after becoming the one to finally dethrone Shayna Baszler and win the NXT Women's Championship.
But many of you might have forgotten that neither of these instances were when Ripley first achieved championship success in WWE as she was, in fact, the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion, even though she's Australian.
NXT UK held an eight woman tournament to crown the first ever NXT UK Women's Champion and Ripley defeated Xia Brookside, Dakota Kai and Toni Storm to win the title, and also become the first ever female Australian champion in WWE history, and all on a UK based wrestling show!
#4. Former NXT UK Heritage Cup Holder A-Kid
A-Kid was a breath of fresh air and an undeniably exciting new WWE talent when he joined NXT UK for his singles debut in October 2019. He even defeated wrestling veteran Kassius Ohno in his first match for the company.
As WWE NXT UK love an eight-man tournament they held one to crown the inaugural NXT UK Heritage Cup holder, a new championship that came with its own stipulations - British Rounds Rules.
British Rounds Rules is a unique match stipulation that consists of six 3-minute rounds with a 20-second break between rounds. A whole match is 2-out-of-3-falls and falls can be won by pinfall, submission or count-out, once a fall occurs the round ends. The match ends once a wrestler has won two falls or if there's a disqualification or knockout.
As all Heritage Cup matches are competed under British Rounds Rules, you'd think that a British wrestler would naturally triumph in the tournament, but it was Spanish wrestler A-Kid who blew the competition away, beating 'Flash' Morgan Webster, Noam Dar and Trent Seven to hold the trophy.
A-Kid recently lost the Heritage Cup to the first ever NXT UK Champion Tyler Bate.
#3. Former NXT UK Women's Champion Toni Storm
Toni Storm has always been one of the upcoming female wrestlers to look out for in WWE and she proved that when she became the second woman to win the NXT UK Women's Championship.
But perhaps more interestingly, she became the second non-British person to win the women's title on the British off-shoot of WWE and the second Australian woman to do so after Rhea Ripley.
It was Storm who Ripley beat in the finals of the tournament to crown the inaugural champion and the pair remained in a rivalry until 44 days later when Storm was able to defeat Ripley to win the title.
Storm would hold the title for 230 days until she lost it to Kay Lee Ray in August 2019. This marked the end of the Australian dominance of NXT UK's Women's Title and Lee Ray became the first British woman to hold it.
#2. Current NXT UK Champion Walter
When Pete Dunne was NXT UK Champion the question was asked many times, 'Who could possibly beat Pete Dunne for the title?' But then Walter came along to WWE and we all went, 'Oh yes, Walter could.'
And Walter did. The Austrian behemoth and leader of Imperium was the one to finally end Pete Dunne's extraordinary title reign at 685 days. A title run that surely wouldn't be beaten?
Well, here we are 797 days into Walter's NXT UK Championship reign where we're now asking ourselves, 'Who could possibly beat Walter for the title?' and at this point, it doesn't look like anyone ever will.
There's something quite interesting about an Austrian champion with a German aesthetic dethroning an English one, smashing his unsmashable record and still looking like there's no way on earth he can be beaten.
#1. Current NXT UK Women's Champion Meiko Satomura
Brand new NXT UK Women's Champion Meiko Satomura is an iconic female wrestler who shone in the Mae Young Classic. So when it was announced that she had signed with WWE and would be heading to NXT UK of all places, I was extremely excited at the possibility that I might be able to see her live but, of course, the pandemic happened.
But not even COVID could stop Satomura from ending Kay Lee Ray's historic NXT UK Women's Championship reign and becoming the third non-British person to hold the title out of the four champions that had ever done so.
On the most recent episode of NXT UK, Kay Lee Ray and Meiko Satomura clashed for the second time in the show's epic main event. Whilst Lee Ray had triumphed over Satomura the first time they met, she wasn't so lucky the second time around and Satomura became the first Japanese wrestler to win a title in NXT UK.
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