Production On 14 and 15 January 2017, the American
professional wrestling promotion WWE held its first
United Kingdom Championship Tournament event. The tournament crowned the inaugural holder of the
WWE United Kingdom Championship, which was won by
Tyler Bate. A follow-up to the event called the
United Kingdom Championship Special aired on May 19. On 7 April 2018, a second United Kingdom Championship Tournament event was scheduled for 18 and 19 June at the
Royal Albert Hall in
Kensington,
London,
England and to air on 25 and 26 June exclusively on the
WWE Network. In addition to featuring wrestlers from WWE's new
NXT UK brand, the tournament also featured wrestlers from the American-based
NXT. On 25 May 2018,
Shawn Michaels and
Triple H were scheduled to make appearances at the event. On 7 June,
Johnny Saint was announced as the General Manager of WWE's United Kingdom-based brand, officially named NXT UK. A United Kingdom Championship Tournament: Bracketology special aired on the WWE Network later that day, with appearances from all 16 tournament competitors.
Storylines The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed
villains,
heroes, or
less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers. Storylines were produced on the
NXT television program. On 28 April 2018, it was announced that
British Strong Style (Pete Dunne,
Trent Seven and
Tyler Bate) would face
The Undisputed Era (
Adam Cole,
Kyle O'Reilly and
Roderick Strong) in a
six-man tag team match on the June 18 event. On 14 May, WWE revealed details about the second United Kingdom Championship tournament, scheduling the first round matches for the
2018 Download Festival from 8–10 June and succeeding rounds for the United Kingdom Championship Tournament event on 18 June. The winner of the tournament will receive a United Kingdom Championship match with
Pete Dunne on the following day. On 18 May, the remaining 8 competitors were announced. On 23 May, it was announced that
Aleister Black and
Ricochet would face
EC3 and
Velveteen Dream in a
tag team match on the 19 June event. On 25 May, a
fatal four-way match between
Isla Dawn,
Jinny,
Killer Kelly and
Toni Storm was announced for the 18 June event. The winner of the match will receive a
NXT Women's Championship match with
Shayna Baszler on the following day. On 18 June, it was announced that
Adam Cole would defend his
NXT North American Championship against
Wolfgang the following day. On 18 June, it was announced that The Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong) would defend their
NXT Tag Team Championship against Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate and Trent Seven) the following day. ==Participants==