Ranking The Futures Of WWE's 9 UK Tournament Entrants
William Regal looked at Tyler Bate like a proud father...
Several years ago, it would have been unfathomable for WWE to run a tournament solely focused on some of the best independent talent in the United Kingdom. On January 14 and 15, that's exactly what the juggernaut did, positioning 16 young hopefuls in a tournament to crown the first ever WWE United Kingdom Champion.
Tyler Bate was the winner, beating Pete Dunne in the final match. That bout alone made the entire idea worthwhile, although earlier rounds had also been peppered with some serious quality.
Even though WWE didn't pick every UK fan's favourite for the brackets, there was method to such madness. After all, the company wanted to concentrate on a handful of entrants, telling their stories and promoting them as worthy of the WWE banner.
What does that mean for everyone else? There could only be one winner, and the promotion were careful not to cast every heel the same. Naturally, this means some have a better chance than others of continued success in WWE.
From least likely to most, let's rank their chances...
9. First Round Eliminations
It's not unfair to claim that WWE drafted in many of the 16 men making up the initial brackets to act as filler. On the surface, this may seem like a slight against those wrestlers. Instead, it should be viewed as a compliment from management; they knew guys like Tyson T-Bone and Danny Burch would do an excellent job putting others over.
Of those eliminated during the first round, Tucker, James Drake, H.C Dyer, and Roy Johnson look the most likely to get another crack in WWE. Others, such as Dan Moloney and Saxon Huxley, were clearly just there to fill out the ranks.
Still, they wouldn't have been picked in the first place if WWE didn't believe they could do a good job. The same goes for T-Bone and Burch, both veterans of the UK scene. Burch is already accustomed to WWE's system, having worked as part of NXT programming on and off since 2011.
Although both older wrestlers possess a good look, it's difficult to see them making a genuine impact on WWE's main roster in 2017. Meanwhile, there's hope for the likes of Tucker and Drake.