The next installment of the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament kicks off this weekend at Download Festival in England and there continues to be much talk surrounding the future of the UK Division as a whole. We know that Triple H has said there will be an announcement at the UK Championship Tournament tapings on June 18th and 19th (catch that story here), speculation being that it could be coming to local television in the UK, the WWE Network or even both. We’ve also seen a General Manager in Johnny Saint announced (go here for that story), as well as WWE reportedly signing a number of talents to contracts (you can find that here). Today there’s more talk surrounding talents being signed.

According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, UK star Chris Brookes has turned down a WWE contract, but a number of others have gotten deals. Charlie Morgan, Nina Daniels, Mark Coffey and Wild Boar have signed contracts with WWE, however they’re not typical. Reportedly, the contracts agreed to are “extended tryout” deals, guaranteeing them a tryout with the company without being given an actual contract. It’s being said that such a deal essentially keeps them from the ITV World Of Sport show, who has reportedly lost out on a total of 12 talents to the WWE.

Additionally, talents signing to WWE will be allowed to work for Insane Championship Wrestling and PROGRESS due to their working relationship with one another, but not Defiant Wrestling or Revolution Pro. Previously, performers under WWE UK deals were still allowed to work for Revolution Pro until very recently. Rev Pro had been offered a business deal like PROGRESS and ICW agreed to with WWE, however they turned it down due to their current relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling.

EA’s Take: I’m not old enough to remember it, but this kind of harkens back to the days when a young Vince McMahon trampled into different territories trying to buy them all out. I know it’s not quite the same, but that was my first thought. I think it’s incredibly smart for PROGRESS and ICW to work with WWE, they’re going to get more word of mouth here in the USA than they’ve ever gotten before. It’s just smart business for both parties. Unless you’re a WWE hater, then you probably see this as a “hostile takeover”!

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