Major Creative Team Shakeup for NXT UK & New NXT UK Talent Restrictions

WWE reportedly recently made a major shakeup to the creative team for their NXT UK brand, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s issue that WWE officials held a Zoom meeting with NXT UK talent on September 24th informing them of the new changes made for the brand’s resumption of television tapings.

The first notable change involved the announcement of the departure of Glen Joseph, former co-owner of PROGRESS Wrestling and head writer of the NXT UK brand, due to personal reasons. The company announced that Jim Smallman, another former co-owner of PROGRESS Wrestling, will be replacing Joseph as the brand’s new head writer.

Another notable change involved talent being informed of new restrictions placed upon them going forward. Talent were told that they would no longer be allowed to sell merchandise on their own, which had been previously allowed in order for talent to supplement their low monetary NXT UK contracts. Talent were also told that they would no longer be allowed to use outside third party services under their WWE ring names, similar to the restrictions placed on WWE’s main roster talent. Meltzer reported that talent were upset over the loss of the added income from those services, especially with the lack of work caused by the coronavirus pandemic. NXT UK contracts reportedly are only worth around $24,000 to $36,000 per year with the exception being top talent like WALTER who are paid closer to high-end NXT talent in the United States.

Meltzer also reported that WWE had recently signed more European talent for their NXT UK brand and are planning to begin debuting them within the upcoming weeks.