5-time WWE champion on moving to Friday Night SmackDown for the first time in seven years

WWE SmackDown ended the first week of 2024 with a bang after New Year's Revolution. Meanwhile, a five-time champion opened up about moving to Friday Night SmackDown for the first time after seven years in the promotion.

Earlier this year, Tyler Bate made his official move to WWE's main roster when he appeared on Friday Night SmackDown as Butch's tag team partner against Pretty Deadly. Bate signed with the promotion after he won the inaugural NXT United Kingdom Champion in 2017.

He spent several years on NXT and NXT UK before moving to WWE's main roster. Speaking to Metro UK, Tyler Bate spoke about his move to Friday Night SmackDown, which took place after seven years of working with the promotion under different developmental brands.

"Because I’ve been in wrestling so long, it’s almost like sometimes I forget how young I still am," he said. "Even though I’ve been here for seven years, I still have a lot of time."

He added:

"It’s finally like it got to the point like people were just like, “Come on. Let’s get Tyler on!” So I’d rather that then, like, I’m “not ready for the main roster”. It’s been like partly tactical." (H/T Metro UK)

In 2017, he had a dark tag team match on the show alongside Trent Seven.

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Tyler Bate talks about working with Butch on WWE SmackDown

British Strong Style has been a popular faction on the independent circuit in the United Kingdom. Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne, and Trent Seven had recreated it on the developmental brand in the UK. However, the team failed to defeat Imperium.

Lately, Butch was teaming up with Bate on the developmental brand against Gallus. Speaking to Metro UK, Bate was asked about his current work as a tag team with Butch on Friday Night SmackDown.

"A lifetime of work was all coming together," he said smiling. "We both put a lot of pressure on ourselves with where we come from in representing British wrestling, and the style of British wrestling."

The Big Strong Boi added:

"Taking that to the main stage feels like a huge responsibility. But I feel like we’re both nailing it… [I was] super proud of how it went. It couldn’t have been more ideal for me."

The two are feuding with Pretty Deadly on WWE SmackDown.

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