WWE To Hold First NXT UK TakeOver Event In January

WWE is planning to bring its exciting TakeOver specials to the NXT UK brand. WWE’s EVP Talent, Live Events, and Creative Paul Levesque (Triple H) took to Twitter to announce the existence of the WWE Network special event.

Triple H announced that it will take place at the Empress Ballroom on January 12, 2019, He also made sure to point out the event would air on the WWE Network for fans around the world to watch. WWE didn’t announce an exact air time for the event, but it did announce that it would stream live on the Network. We’d expect it to take place in the evening in the UK, which would make it sometime in the afternoon in the eastern time zone.

The tweet reads, “@NXTUK returns to the place it began… the place we first TOOK OVER. #NXTUKTakeOver: Blackpool will stream LIVE from the Empress Ballroom on January 12, 2019 only on @WWENetwork.”

In addition to the massive TakeOver event, WWE will also hold a set of NXT UK television tapings on the January 13.

Tickets to both the NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool event and the TV tapings will go on sale via bookingsdirect.com on November 26 at 10 a.m. local time. Pricing information for the tickets isn’t available at this time.

WWE had its United Kingdom Championship tournament at the Empress Ballroom in January 2017. Ultimately, Tyler Bate won the tournament and became the first WWE UK Champion. Eventually, he lost that championship to Pete Dunn, who’s held the title ever since. WWE had a second UK tournament at Royal Albert Hall in June 2018 to determine Pete Dunn’s number one contender.

With the success of the two tournaments, WWE had a set of tapings for the NXT UK brand in July 2018. The first episode didn’t air until October 17, 2018, however. Since then, NXT UK has had 10 episodes on the WWE Network, and it will have aired plenty more by the time the TakeOver event takes places in January. This has given the company lots of time to develop story lines and establish the top matches, including a contender for Pete Dunn.

.@NXTUK returns to the place it began … the place we first TOOK OVER. #NXTUKTakeOver: Blackpool will stream LIVE from the Empress Ballroom on January 12, 2019 only on @WWENetwork. #WeAreNXTUK pic.twitter.com/xW4LFjZLiX

— Triple H (@TripleH) November 24, 2018

Because of the late start, WWE has actually been pushing out episodes of NXT UK at a rate of two per week. This has allowed them to get enough episodes out there to get everything in order for the brand’s first TakeOver special.

As of this writing, no matches have been announced, but we expect to get an idea of the card once WWE finishes its next set of tapings, which are taking place in Liverpool today and tomorrow.