WWE in the United Kingdom

The 3 July 1976 edition of World of Sport included - in place of its usual coverage of British wrestling - the wrestler versus boxer match between Andre the Giant and Chuck Wepner at the WWWF's Showdown at Shea event from a few weeks earlier (as a warm-up for a screening of the Mohammed Ali versus Antonio Inoki boxing match from Tokyo).^[1] Highlights of the Chief Jay Strongbow and Billy White Wolf versus The Executioners (#1 and #2) Tag Team Two-out-of-three-falls match for the WWWF World Tag Team Championship from the same Shea Stadium show were also screened as an unadvertised extra.

In 1987 the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) received a share of ITV's Saturday afternoon wrestling coverage after the expiry of Joint Promotions' exclusive contract with the network at the end of 1986. This was originally conceived as a rotation between the WWF, Joint and UK opposition promotion All Star Wrestling. In the event only six WWF "American wrestling specials" (three per annum) were aired between the start of the arrangement and the cancellation of ITV wrestling in December 1988.^[2][3] During 1988-1989 editions of WWF Wrestling Challenge (billed as Superstars of Wrestling) were broadcast in the Thames, Central and Tyne Tees ITV regions in various graveyard slots.^[4]

The WWF began globally expanding in the late 1980s, holding its first European event in France in 1987 before holding events in Italy and then in Britain, where the first show was on 10 October 1989 at the London Arena, in front of a crowd of 15,000, and broadcast exclusively on Sky One.^[5][6] The main event in this match featured Hulk Hogan (with Miss Elizabeth) defeating Randy Savage (with Queen Sherri). From 1989 to 2001, WWE was promoted under concert promoters, brothers Harvey and Martin Goldsmith, for UK and European shows.^{[citation needed]}

The WWF's first tour of events in the United Kingdom and Ireland, called UK Rampage, was held between April and May 1991. The first Rampage was held in London on 24 April and was televised by BSkyB to British and Irish viewers.^[7][8] Four more events were held in the country later in 1991 as part of the WWF European Rampage Tour, including the supercard event Battle Royal at the Albert Hall, in London.^[9][10] Nine events were held in the country as part of the European Rampage Again Tour in 1992, including one televised event at Sheffield Arena (see UK Rampage (1992)).^[11] The final televised Rampage event in the country was again at Sheffield Arena on 11 April 1993 as part of the WWF European Spring Tour.^[12] Over the years, the WWF continued hosting various untelevised house shows in Britain, including Mayhem in Manchester in 1998.^[13]

SummerSlam 1992 was the first WWE pay-per-view taped in and broadcast from the UK on August 29 (aired August 31).^[14] In 1997 the company held its first UK-exclusive pay-per-view, WWF One Night Only,^[15] followed by WWF Capital Carnage in 1998^[16][17] and No Mercy in 1999.^[18] From 1999 to 2002 they ran a fall pay-per-view from the UK known as WWE Rebellion.^{[19][20][21][22]} In addition from 2000 to 2003 they ran a spring pay-per-view from the UK known as WWE Insurrextion.^{[23][24][25][26]} Insurrextion in 2003 at the Telewest Arena in Newcastle marked the last of WWE's UK exclusive pay-per-views.^[27][28] In 2004, the WWE taped its first show of the flagship Raw program in the UK for a global audience.^[29]

WWE started to broadcast their weekly arena shows Raw and SmackDown! from the UK in 2004. Due to the time change, all broadcasts were recorded and aired on tape delay. Beginning in 2005 WWE would record twice per year in the United Kingdom, once in the spring and once in the fall. From 2006 to 2009, WWE's recording schedule in the United Kingdom included episodes of ECW.^[30] As of May 2019^[update] all recordings have occurred in England, with the exception of November 2016 which took place at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.^[31]

WWE programming were originally broadcast (then as WWF) in Britain on the Sky network of premium television channels beginning in the 1980s, with a small selection of shows (including Sunday Night Heat and four pay-per-views a year) briefly being broadcast on Channel 4 in 2000 and 2001.^[47][48] During 2004, four of the company's pay-per-views were broadcast on PPV service Setanta Sport.^[49] In 2014, WWE renewed a 5-year deal with Sky to carry programmes through the end of 2019, which included Main Event being added to the schedule.^[50][51]

In June 2019, BT Sport (known as TNT Sports since 2023) announced that they had gained the broadcasting rights for WWE in the UK; their deal began in January 2020.^[52] The broadcasting deal with TNT Sports expired at the end of 2024,^[53] after which Raw and SmackDown broadcast live on Netflix in the country.^[54]

WWE's online streaming service, WWE Network, launched on 19 January 2015 in the United Kingdom.^[55][56] The service closed in the country in January 2025 as part of the global WWE-Netflix deal.^[57]

The second WWE Performance Center branch opened on 11 January 2019 in Enfield, London.^[58][59]

• Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom
• List of professional wrestling attendance records in the United Kingdom