7 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (March 3)
2. The World Is Shrinking
How times have changed.
On February 26, at PROGRESS Chapter 44: Old Man Yells At Cloud - an awful, defensive and instantly-dated name for a wrestling event, incidentally - Tyler Bate brought with him his WWE United Kingdom Championship in what was a bizarre symbol of the shifting wrestling landscape.
At the turn of the decade, this would have been an inconceivable occurrence. WWE was so ignorant and loathsome towards the Independent scene that it belittled Daniel Bryan for even appearing on it. Where else was he meant to hone his act and get himself over? But then, WWE didn't have to honour or even acknowledge it - after all, their in-house talent production factory, Florida Championship Wrestling, was churning out legends-in-the-making like Titus O'Neil and David Otunga on the regular.
When Bate dragged the title across the ground - and to be fair, it's far too big for him, so it was hardly a gesture of disrespect - it marked the first time a WWE title belt has appeared on an Independent British wrestling show.
Compounding the madness, Bate's mother scolded him for his lack of etiquette on Twitter, complete with an angry red emoticon. Bate had better hope his stint in Orlando becomes permanent - there's a bedroom for him to clean, otherwise.