Thanks to The Buzzards Wrestling Podcast for sending us the following:
Tyler Bate, who has praised the impact Triple H has had on him, since he was crowned WWE’s first ever United Kingdom Champion. The 19-year-old from Dudley, England won a 16-man tournament on WWE Network last month and has since made his debut on NXT. Bate says ‘The Game’ has been a source of great support, along with other staff at their Performance Center (PC) in Orlando, Florida.
“Everybody that I have met has been a huge help, like Triple H is a wonderful man. He’s really helped me with adapting to the WWE style of performing. All the guys behind the scenes that you don’t really see on TV more, like Matt Bloom, who’s the Head Coach at the PC, he’s been a huge help and William Regal as well. They’re all fantastic and amazing at their jobs.”
The laid-back teenager admitted in an interview with The Buzzards Wrestling Podcast, that it still hasn’t quite sunk in what he achieved that January night at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool:
“Nothing really fazes me, not very often anyway, apart from when Triple H is raising my hand in front of thousands of people with the WWE United Kingdom Championship in my hand. I don’t think I could ever put into words how I felt at that moment. You almost get an out of body experience and you’re watching yourself, and you’re like, ‘Oh My God’, this is really me now. You don’t really realise it’s happening until it’s happening. It’s really hard to describe.”
His first title defence was a successful one, this past Wednesday night, on the latest episode of NXT. It came against a man he usually teams up with to form the Moustache Mountain tag team, Trent Seven. Bate was full of praise for the 35-year-old:
“Me and Trent have tag team titles all over the world. We’re the Progress Tag Team Champions, we’re the Chikara Pro Tag Team Champions and we’ve been involved in wrestling, for around the same amount of time. So, we kind of bounce off each other and mentor each other along the way. He’s been a huge part of my journey in wrestling and so has Pete (Dunne).”
Bate also commented on the nature of the WWE UK deals, which have already seen restrictions placed on contracted talent, with some being pulled from British shows that are broadcast on streaming services. He’s still able to perform on other shows in his home country though and will be teaming up with Pete Dunne and Trent Seven to take on Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks at a sold-out FightClubPro event in Wolverhampton in April. Bate believes there are plenty of positives to the arrangement:
“It means we can get more eyes on what we’re doing, whether it be more eyes on British wrestling or more British wrestling fans to watch the WWE, to watch us. It works both ways really, it’s a vice versa thing. WWE will help British Wrestling and British Wrestling will help WWE with its hotbed of talent right now.”
During the interview with Steve Hermon, the 19-year-old also revealed he is yet to meet the WWE owner Vince McMahon but is hoping to rectify that:
“I walked passed him briefly when I was at the Royal Rumble show but hopefully someday soon, I’ll get to sit down and have a chat with him and get to talk to him properly, because everybody who gets into professional wrestling dreams of meeting Vince McMahon. I’ve had the conversation in my head thousands of times, when I’m lying in bed, thinking ‘What am I going to say when I meet Vince McMahon?’ Because he’s The Man in wrestling, he owns wrestling.”
You can listen to the full interview on Audioboom here. You can follow the podcast on Twitter at @TheBuzzardsPod and our Facebook page, which you can find here: https://www.facebook.com/thebuzzardspod/ and we’re also on Instagram: @buzzardswrestlingpodcast. You can find North East Online Wrestling on Twitter @NEONWRESTLING and online here: http://www.neonlinemagazine.com. North East Sporting Events are online here: http://www.nesportingevents.co.uk.
The Buzzards Wrestling Podcast is the home of the best wrestling banter and interviews from the British wrestling scene and beyond. We are a bi-weekly podcast hosted on Audioboom and you can also download and subscribe on iTunes and listen on Stitcher and Tune In Radio. Past interviews include, Rob Van Dam, WWE United Kingdom Championship competitors Trent Seven and Pete Dunne, Cody Rhodes and WWE Cruiserweight Classic participant Clement Petiot.
