WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne took to Twitter today to address the ongoing changes to the indie wrestling scene in the United Kingdom.
Dunne took to Twitter earlier today and told fans that British wrestling is safe, alive and well. The Bruiserweight wrote, “British wrestling is safe. Will continue to grow, the talent pool is deep. Your favourite wrestlers are achieving goals and taking steps in their career. Don’t believe everything you read [emoji] Britwres is alive and well”
Dunne returned to the discussion tonight and had an exchange with fans. You can see all of his related tweets below.
Dunne’s comments are in response to criticism from fans after it was revealed this week that WWE is placing new restrictions on UK indie wrestlers that will be working for the WWE NXT UK brand, first reported by WrestleTalk. The current policy only restricts talents from working for other promotions that have distribution deals. The new policy will not allow talents to work for any other promotions as long as they are under a NXT UK deal. The only exception to the new policy will be for talents working with WWE partners such as PROGRESS Wrestling in England, Insane Championship Wrestling in Scotland, wXw in Germany and EVOLVE in the United States. The new restrictions will also apply to which contracted talents that NXT UK talents can work against as they won’t be allowed to wrestle anyone under contract to promotions such as Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, World of Sport, Impact and others. These restricted contracts will include a pay raise and will only be issued to the top talents, not everyone. The new policy is reportedly a response to low NXT UK attendance numbers with the feeling that UK fans won’t pay to see the same wrestlers they can see at other local indie promotions.
Dunne also responded to a fan who accused him of “selling out to The Big American Corporation” and forgetting his roots. Dunne wrote, “Put 12 years, a countless amount of money and months away from home at a time in an attempt to get your dream job. When you finally achieve your goal and you can also create a great life for your family I’ll make sure to discredit your hard work and tell you you’re a sell out.”
Below are Dunne’s tweets from today:
https://twitter.com/PeteDunneYxB/status/1067506766496350209
That’s an exaggeration. Also what if your favourite wrestler goes to wrestlemania? That will be out of budget for a lot of people to travel that far, but if they’re truly your favourite you’ll be made up for them and excited to watch on a very affordable streaming service 🤷♂️
— ‘The Bruiserweight’ Pete Dunne (@PeteDunneYxB) November 27, 2018
Put 12 years, a countless amount of money and months away from home at a time in an attempt to get your dream job. When you finally achieve your goal and you can also create a great life for your family I’ll make sure to discredit your hard work and tell you you’re a sell out 👍 https://t.co/jmZAK1hmms
— ‘The Bruiserweight’ Pete Dunne (@PeteDunneYxB) November 28, 2018
Without the hard work of myself and countless other wrestlers with the goal of signing to a major company there wouldn’t even be a thriving UK scene to begin with. Support independent wrestling and support independent wrestlers as they take the next step in their career
— ‘The Bruiserweight’ Pete Dunne (@PeteDunneYxB) November 28, 2018
