Pete Dunne: the brash Bruiserweight blasts his way to #6!

I first learned of the existence of Pete Dunne way back in 2014 when he teamed with storyline brother Damien Dunne and perpetual foe Mark Andrews to form Team UK in Chikara's King of Trios. I was particular impressed him back then, but his exposure to American audiences was pretty much non-existence outside a few folks that subscribe to Revolution Pro or PROGRESS Wrestling's streams.

That changed at the very beginning of 2017 when Dunne was one of eight names inserted into the tournament for the WWE United Kingdom Championship. He burst onto the scene with a series of hard-hitting and compelling matches. He jumped his foes more than once during the tournament as he made his way through Roy Johnson, Sam Gradwell, and perpetual enemy Mark Andrews (a man that walked away from Impact Wrestling for a place in the UK division.) Ultimately, he would fall to one of the men he assaulted, Tyler Bate, in the finals.

Image credit: WWE.com.

Four months later, Dunne would take the title for the first time. He would hold onto it through the end of the year, defending against Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, Wolfgang, Johnny Gargano and Jack Gallagher. His run with the title has made him a clear anti-hero, something helpful when he spends so much time teaming with former rivals Tyler Bate and Trent Seven outside the purview of NXT and WWE. British Strong Style took home the King of Trios this year, held in the UK for the first time, three years after Dunne's first appearance and arrival on American soil.

As he ends the year, he also holds the ATTACK 24:7 title and the Destiny World Wrestling belt, while also spending most of the year as PROGRESS World Champion. He's made appearances all over the independents and starred in the first shows PROGRESS put on in the United States earlier this year.

His unique contract means he's regularly working all over the world for multiple promotions, with limits only on televised promotions not approved by WWE. Whatever the future for the UK division in the WWE will be, it seems clear Pete Dunne will continue to dominate the indies and his division. Hopefully, WWE realizes how much star power they have with the Bruiserweight. He could have major programs in WWE with some truly stellar talents. Who wouldn't want to see Dunne versus Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe or AJ Styles?

Now, it sure would be nice to see Dunne beat the hell out of Enzo Amore one more time.


Tomorrow we continue the non-WWE exclusive stars with another highly decorated worker in 2017...