After several months lying dormant, NXT UK exploded back onto our screens last month – and the brand is bigger and better than ever thanks to its new home, the BT Sport Studios!
That resurgence, though, isn’t just down to the venue change, as the roster seems revitalised and refreshed following months of inactivity in the ring. One of the Superstars who looks set to kickstart her career is WWE‘s youngest Scottish Superstar – Isla Dawn is youngest Scottish Superstar.
Inside The Ropes‘ own Kenny McIntoshspoke to Isla this week to discuss her resurgence within NXT UK, and how another Scottish WWE Superstar – WWE Champion Drew McIntyre – has inspired her to chase the NXT UK Women’s Championship.
Speaking about NXT UK’s move to BT Sport Studios, Isla Dawn said she hopes the venue can become the brand’s Full Sail – and said she eventually wants WWE to bring some fans into the venue!
“It’s perfect. That’s what I hope it’s going to be, going forward, is our version of Full Sail, somewhere that we can call a permanent home, because it’s the most unreal space. We were all sharing photos of it on our phones before we managed to get in and we got great feedback with people saying it looked amazing.
“Then when we walked into the studio, it blew any expectations we had out of the water. It was beautiful, it’s just such a great thing. It looks great on TV and it feels like such a nice home for everybody. Hopefully this is somewhere we can be long term, get fans in eventually and make it even more special than it is right now.”
NXT UK’s youngest Scottish Superstar said, while the past few months haven’t been ideal, getting to move to BT Sport Studios was “a silver lining to the cloud” while reflecting on Drew McIntyre’s unique WrestleMania moment. Speaking of the WWE Champion, Dawn would reminisce about seeing the Ayr-born Superstar 15 years ago and knowing he was set for big things.
“I remember when I used to go to shows and I must have been like ten or something. It was like 2004-2005. Even then, I remember seeing Drew and he was heads and shoulders above everybody. He looked like an absolute superstar when he was still doing independent shows in places like Bellshill. Even then, he was always someone that I remembered and stuck in my mind. I stopped going to live shows for a while but I always remembered Drew. Then he got signed and it seemed so wild for a Scottish person to be able to achieve that. We had such a small Scottish wrestling scene and for someone to have broken out of it and exceeded that expectation of what a Scottish wrestler could do.”
Isla Dawn went on to say how Drew McIntyre would change independent wrestling and the notion that leaving WWE is the decline of your career, and shown there was – not just a way back for him personally – but an open door for Scottish wrestlers to make it to the company, so long as they put in the work.
“He smashed through so many barriers and then even when he came back to the Independent scene, he smashed through the barriers of what you can achieve once he leaves WWE. He never went down the route of, ‘I’m not going to try as hard. I’m just gonna do signings.’ He became the best independent wrestler again. Then he came back and became the best in WWE today. He just constantly breaks down every single expectation. I think that’s just a massive inspiration for everybody. I feel that at one point, it was almost like you felt like he was THE Scottish person in WWE, it’s almost a god-like thing of, like, he was the only one that was going to be able to do that – but I think he opened the doors for so many people and now we can all follow in his footsteps and hope to achieve that same thing.”
Thanks to Isla Dawn for taking time out to speak to us. You can read the full interview here.
You can watch Isla Dawn every week on NXT UK, which is available for viewers in the UK & Ireland via BT Sport and globally via the WWE Network.