UPDATED: WWE NXT UK Going On Hiatus, NXT Europe To Launch In 2023, New Worlds Collide Event Announced

UPDATE: WWE has confirmed the launch of NXT Europe and the upcoming Worlds Collide event in an announcement on their official website.

WWE announced today that the NXT brand will grow internationally with the creation of an all-new NXT Europe, with the launch planned for 2023.

“Following the success of our live events and talent identification efforts throughout all of Europe, we believe this is the perfect time to expand NXT beyond the UK,” said Shawn Michaels, WWE Vice President of Talent Development Creative.

Launched in 2016, NXT UK has received critical acclaim and developed WWE main roster talent such as Rhea Ripley, Doudrop, Gunther and Butch. NXT Europe will reimagine the brand and its talent pipeline with a Pan European focus.

Prior to the debut of NXT Europe, Worlds Collide, a premium live event featuring NXT and NXT UK Superstars, will be presented live on Sunday, September 4 at 4 p.m. ET on Peacock in the United States and WWE Network everywhere else.

Original: Fox News reports (and WWE confirms) that WWE’s NXT UK brand is going on hiatus and the company will launch the new NXT Europe next year. According to the company, NXT Europe will “reimagine the brand and talent pipeline” and focus more on Europe.

Shawn Michaels, who is the vice president of talent development creative in WWE, said he was “pretty excited” about the changes. He added: “Given the success of NXT UK, we felt like it was time to expand beyond that.”

NXT UK’s “brief hiatus” (according to Michaels) is expected to last for a few months. In the meantime, WWE is planning to run a final NXT UK event called Words Collide, with NXT 2.0 and NXT UK stars facing off. That happens on September 4 at 4 PM ET on Peacock. This follows the arrival of several NXT UK names on last Tuesday’s episode, with NXT UK champion Tyler Bate confronting NXT Champion Bron Breakker. After that, WWE will work with their staff and talent to launch NXT UK Europe, which HBK says will be “bigger and better.” It was noted there are 22 male wrestlers, 12 female wrestlers and two on-air personalities on the current brand.

Michaels added: “So some of it, like everything with the WWE and NXT, that pipeline is always fluid. It’s going to be one of those situations where we’re going to have a lot of representation going into Worlds Collide. It’s what NXT has always been and that is to be a pipeline for the WWE in support of RAW and SmackDown. That process is going to continue. We’re going to use the UK talent that we can to go into Worlds Collide and keep that representation out there for as long as we can. And as we move things over here in the process, we’ll make all those decisions in 2023 about who’s a part of NXT Europe and who continues to stay here in NXT in hopes of getting a main roster call up. I remember all the times we went to Germany it was off the charts, just fantastic. But I don’t know. I would love to kind of go to Venice, Italy, but that’s just me. But look with WWE and NXT, we just want to go and represent our brand across the world. I certainly have some favorite places I would like to go. Look, I think Paris, France would be pretty cool.“