British Wrestling *clap* *clap* *clap*

Like many others, I enjoyed the WWE UK Championship last weekend. It was well planned, well executed and did a great job at shining a light on competitors from our fair isles who might otherwise not have otherwise been able to perform to a worldwide audience.

In comparison to the World of Wrestling event on ITV a few weeks beforehand, it was a lot more polished product, boasting better wrestling, better storytelling and much more excitement. This excitement was due to the vignettes telling you about the competitors, and also the knockout format of the event which allowed us to get to know the wrestlers who made it to the later rounds better.

The UK has a large number of independent wrestling associations who would be in danger if the WWE just comes in and signs up all the talent to the new weekly show that has been promised. If they can’t compete with the salaries or opportunities that are given to those that sign up, then there is the possibility that the stars will jump ship and the fans will stop going along.

This is a business model that has been used by large chains such as Starbucks or Costa is to swamp the competition to run them out of business and effectively create a monopoly. I really hope that WWE isn't just trying to swamp the UK scene to take whatever they can get from it.

It seems that WWE has been working together with the UK independents to establish a good working relationship, which can be seen by the fact that Finn Balor paid a visit to the PROGRESS Wrestling show on the night of the UK Championship final and the fact that they were able to agree for 16 wrestlers to be released for the weekend to compete.

There have also been rumours that Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) – one of Balor’s former employers – have also entered a deal to get their matches streamed on the WWE Network. PROGRESS have their own online streaming, so obviously ICW would have a competitive advantage being on the WWE Network due to the sheer number of viewers that it has. Whether this would be as part of the standard WWE Network subscription, or if you would need to pay an additional amount for this content – so that the network is effectively just a carrier for the content -  is yet to be seen. If it is the former then there is a risk of less money going into the business as a whole or ICW not perhaps getting their fair cut.

There will obviously be winners and losers but it would be bad for everyone if the WWE just came into a country and swamped its entire wrestling scene. All the indications are that it is currently trying to go about it in the right way and hopefully that will continue