Finn Balor Admits NXT UK Destroyed The Independent Scene

The now-defunct NXT UK, which was the European version of WWE’s developmental system, starved the indies, says Finn Balor.

NXT UK, which ran from 2018 to 2022, housed talents from the UK and other parts of Europe. This version of NXT had its own titles, like the NXT UK Championship, for instance.

In 2022, the last episode of NXT UK was aired on September 1st. The plan was for WWE to form a larger brand called NXT Europe, but the brand’s launch has faced multiple delays due to the company’s deal with TKO Group Holdings, which has changed the landscape of WWE.

Although WWE CCO Triple H said in April 2025 that NXT Europe will be happening, the dates haven’t been set, and concrete plans aren’t yet in place. Finn Balor recently spoke about this subject in a podcast.

Finn Balor Says NXT UK Killed The Indies

When NXT UK was active, it brought in wrestlers from the UK and Europe’s independent wrestling scene, taking the marquee talent and leaving the young wrestlers in the indies without anyone to look up to or be trained by. Finn Balor highlighted this point in an interview with WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Thodes on his What Do You Wanna Talk About podcast.

The Judgement Day member said that the indies are still recovering from that time.

When NXT U.K. 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.

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, you know? But, slowly, it’s starting to rebuild.

h/t: fightful.com

Also read: Finn Balor Blames WWE for Messing Up Demon Character