Tyler Bate has been a staple of the NXT UK brand since its inception. As the first ever WWE United Kingdom champion, Bate has been one of the brand’s top stars, even having some crossover with the regular black and gold brand.
He was not seen on the last set of NXT UK tapings, and of course that would raise a lot of questions. His British Strong Style partners have been active on television, as Pete Dunne is working NXT with Pat McAfee’s faction and Trent Seven was a finalist for the NXT Heritage Cup. Seven was a guest on the Go Home Show Podcast, where he was asked about Bate.
His Mustache Mountain tag team partner said that Bate is doing well, but he’s had to do a lot of internal looking at how he handled several things, including his finances.
“I’ve spoke to him obviously here and there and you know, been around to his house and met up with him and stuff, and you know, this year has been incredibly complex for everyone, you know what I mean? I feel like no matter who you are in the wrestling industry, the year 2020 has taken a bit of a toll on you. So there’s a big part of it where he’s had to…he’s had to do a little bit of soul searching.”
“He’s had to go have a look at how he spent his money, how he lives his life, how he — the time he spends away from wrestling, what kind of influences is Tyler Bate looking at to improve his life, you know what I mean? There’s so many little aspects of things that — and we have to remember and we have to remind ourselves, this guy is 22-years old. He won the U.K. Championship at the age of 19. That’s not a normal life for anyone. There are no 19-year olds on the planet that are WWE champions.”
“It’s career-defining, and I think a lot of responsibility and a lot of power got put on Tyler’s shoulders at such a young age and I feel like that’s the point of this last year is him learning how to deal with that, and like, him learning how to cope with the fame and how to cope with the pressure and how to cope with the limelight so, yeah. He’s been okay, man. But, it’s a humongous learning curve for someone at the age of 22 to learn going into being a WWE Champion.”
Being in a position that Bate has been in at such a young age can take a toll on anyone. It’s not every day a 19-year old gets global spotlight from a company that has the eyes of the world on it, and Bate seems to have had to take time to figure some things out. Hopefully we’ll see Bate back sooner or later and things will be on the up and up for him. You can watch more of the podcast below.
h/t to prowrestling.com for the quote.
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