Tyler Bate Addresses NXT Move Rumours

Tyler Bate has opened up about the 2020 rumours that saw him tipped for a move across the pond alongside fellow former NXT United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne.

Speaking with Inside The Ropes‘ Lead Writer Gary Cassidy on the morning after his NXT UK Heritage Cup win aired on the WWE Network, Tyler Bate admitted that a move to the States has been floating around his mind.

“It’s been something that’s been floating around in my mind, is like if and when might I want to go to the States but for me, my goals in wrestling are very simple, and it’s just to enjoy it and to do it my way, really. And I get both of those things in NXT UK.”

Bate added that he’s in no rush, paying tribute to the crew in NXT UK.

“So I’m in no rush to go to NXT or go to main roster or anything. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve peaked, there is no progression to the States, I’m already winning. So for me, it’s just if and when I go to the States, it’s if I feel that my work in NXT UK is finished, but I feel like there’s still a lot of fun to be had here which is what keeps me here. I love the crew as well. The NXT UK crew is the UK indie guys that I came up in wrestling with. I have deep relationships with some of the people on the roster, so that’s something that I really appreciate about NXT UK.”

Meanwhile, when asked which one match he would show to someone who isn’t familiar with his work, Bate paid tribute to his match with Dunne at NXT TakeOver: Chicago.

“That’s a really tough one. It depends on the person. I guess the Pete Dunne Chicago TakeOver one is always going to be… It feels like like that one is timeless, it will never go out of date. I feel like, in any time period, if anybody asks me that question, that’s a match that I feel could hold up. But I also feel the same about the WALTER Cardiff TakeOver match. I feel like that, for me, is like a magnum opus. So I feel like, in my matches, I try not to do or give people fireworks and tricks to just like clickbait people into watching it, I try and make them like timeless classics, because to me, what is true to wrestling is the wrestling part. So for me, my matches are always about the wrestling because it’s the one constant that remains true to wrestling through all time.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Thanks to Tyler Bate for taking the time and to WWE United Kingdom for facilitating the chat. You can follow Tyler Bate on Instagram here, watch Tyler Bate every week on NXT UK, which is available via the WWE Network at 8pm every Thursday, then on BT Sport every Friday.