Finn Balor recently shared his thoughts on the impact of WWE’s NXT UK brand on the European wrestling landscape. The brand was in operation from October 2018 until September 2022 and is now defunct. While there has been no recent update on the company’s follow-up plans to launch NXT Europe, the project has reportedly been shelved with no internal discussion currently ongoing as of late 2025.
The subject of NXT UK came up during Balor’s appearance on Cody Rhodes’ What Do You Wanna Talk About? podcast. Bálor stated that he feels the brand took all the marquee talent from the European wrestling scene, which starved the indies.
“When NXT UK started, which was a huge thing at the time for British and European wrestling, I feel like it kind of took all the talent, and it starved all the indies, and it took a long time for them to rebuild, and for a lot of them, it hasn’t even happened yet, because there’s no one to learn from or look up to,” Bálor said. “Like the guys Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne and everyone else who came to WWE. Now the younger kids don’t have anyone to learn from. So, I feel like there was probably a huge negative effect on the pool of talent that WWE took out of that territory. But, slowly, it’s starting to rebuild.”
The European scene has seen a recent shift in momentum as WWE conducts its “Road to Royal Rumble” tour across the continent this month. This includes a special episode of Raw Düsseldorf, Germany, on January 12, 2026, featuring GUNTHER vs. AJ Styles in the main event.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Cody Rhodes’ What Do You Wanna Talk About? podcast with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. You can listen to the full conversation on the WWE YouTube channel or official podcast platforms.
