15 Ups & 6 Downs For WWE NXT In 2019
4. Pete Dunne - A Man Without A Country
When Pete Dunne's fantastic 685-day reign as United Kingdom Champion came to an end in April, most assumed him broadly better off.
Cruelly (to the talent, if not WWE) NXT UK had become wrestling shorthand for the most boring kind of Good Wrestling™, and Dunne had always seemed beyond its limitations right up until he lost his precious prize to Walter. It appears, in hindsight, it was saving him from the hinterland.
A series of half-baked mini-feuds kept him on television but with issues even 'The Bruiserweight' himself admitted to not really caring about. A Survivor Series NXT Championship match against Adam Cole was a pyrrhic victory for the character - it gave him something to do on the night but nothing to chase in the aftermath of a predictable defeat.