16 Wrestlers Who Must Feature In WWE's Crown Jewel World Cup

13. New Zealand - Travis Banks

Travis Banks
Oli Sandler/The Ringside Perspective

Let us actually stop and consider for a moment what this tournament actually is.

You might say it's an entirely pointless endeavour, cynically orchestrated by questionable Saudi oil money, that ultimately serves no purpose than to impress the people paying for it and help get some news space in a territory WWE has designated as "emerging". In fairness, you'd be right.

But that doesn't mean there aren't positives that can be spun out of it, and if tournaments consistently offer wrestling promotions one thing it's an opportunity to debut new talent. You don't have to come up with a reason for them to be on the show, you don't need a convoluted debut storyline or someone to put them over, you just get to let them wrestle.

Travis Banks is going to be a big part of NXT UK, and arguably one of the shrewdest acquisitions the company has made in some time. Debuting him in the 1st round here - even if it's an impressive losing effort to a much bigger name - is a perfect introduction.

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Articles published under the WhatCulture name denote collective efforts of a number of our writers, both past and present.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!