WWE continues to develop the long-rumored project featuring talent exclusively from the United Kingdom. PWInsider published a detailed report about what’s currently in the works. Here are the highlights:
– The working title for the project is “WWE King of the Ring.” It’s unknown at this time whether or not the UK series would feature the tournament format that KOTR has been known for previously.
– While the project was initially conceptualized as a WWE Network series, WWE has been in talks with several UK TV broadcasters, including ITV.
– The show would be produced in the UK and would feature all British athletes.
Back in August, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted that WWE was looking to launch the series by the end of the year. At one point, there were plans to hold the first tapings back in June, which never materialized. With this latest update from PWInsider, it would appear that securing a UK TV deal is the biggest factor dictating the timeframe of the series.
Pete Dunne is the reigning WWE UK Champion and WWE has been using some of the UK talent in NXT while they work on getting the UK series off the ground. Other UK performers on the roster include Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, Wolfgang and Mark Andrews
WWE’s strong push in to the UK market was initially seen as a response to ITV airing new episodes of a World of Sport wrestling series, but that project appears to be on hold indefinitely.
WWE COO Triple H appeared on The World According To Wrestling podcast last month and admitted that ITV working on a World of Sport revival affected WWE’s plans for a UK series. ITV aired a World of Sport special last December.
“Did it change our timing a little bit because of when they positioned their show? Yeah, but we are talking by maybe months or something not speeding up the process in terms of getting it done. We’ve been working on this for a long time. Any other show aside, if they are successful I’m happy for them. And, at the end of the day, it all helps the industry so we just do what we do. And I think we do it better than anyone else on the planet.”
World of Sport announced a partnership with Anthem last March to bring the series back to ITV, with an initial commission for a 10-part series. Tapings were scheduled for May, but eventually were cancelled with no further announcements.
