Peter England (November 9, 1993) is a British professional wrestler, currently working for various independent companies in Europe and occasionally the United States under the ring name Pete Dunne. He is the current WWE United Kingdom Champion in his first reign.
Professional wrestling career
Training and early career (2006–2011)
Dunne began training in 2006 at the age of 12, originally under the tutelage of Steve "Psycho Steve" Edwards at Phoenix Wrestling in Coventry, a short drive from his home city of Birmingham. Dunne has said that his early training under Edwards was limited, providing him with only "the basics". Dunne spent most of his early career working for as many small independent promotions as possible, as well as regularly practicing with Mark Andrews and other friends, training in a re-purposed boxing ring in a community centre in Cardiff during the school holidays.
Dunne's first appearance as a wrestler was at the 2007 Holbrooks Festival in Coventry, where he first met and wrestled Mark Andrews. He later trained for a short time under Max Angelus and began working on other small local shows, largely in community centres around Birmingham. Dunne competed as the masked Tiger Kid until January 2010, when he began performing as Pete Dunne after losing a hair vs mask match to Helix at Riot Act Wrestling in Kent. Dunne then began regularly performing in a tag team alongside his kayfabe brother, Damian Dunne.
Dunne began competing internationally and more regularly in 2011, competing for LDN Wrestling, travelling to Ireland for Dublin Championship Wrestling, Wales for Celtic Wrestling & Welsh Wrestling, and Scotland for PBW. In 2011, Dunne co-founded his own wrestling promotion, ATTACK! Pro Wrestling, with the objective of achieving more exposure for their group of friends in wrestling.
ATTACK! Pro Wrestling (2011–2016)
In a move to increase the number opportunities available to their group of friends, Pete Dunne and friend Jim Lee co-founded ATTACK! Pro Wrestling in 2011, arranging a weekend of shows in Pete's native city of Birmingham. On the first weekend of shows in August 2011, Pete wrestled in a four-man tournament dubbed the 'Elder Stein Invitational', in which he advanced to the final, before losing to Mark Andrews. The promotion would later expand to run shows primarily in Cardiff and Bristol, with Pete an ever-present performer, primarily as a face, and often taking on his best friend Mark. Pete later would become one of the promotion's primary heels, after unexpectedly turning on Mark at "Mandrews Goes To America" in January 2015; a show themed as a farewell event to Mark upon his signature of a contract with TNA Wrestling. From mid-2015 to 2016, Pete held the ATTACK! 24/7 Championship for an unprecedented 307 consecutive days, over which time he feuded with Eddie Dennis and Wild Boar simultaneously for the title. He would eventually lose the belt to referee Shay Purser, which acted as the beginning of a lengthy feud with ATTACK's co-founder and ring announcer, Jim Lee. Pete's spell as a performer in ATTACK! Pro Wrestling concluded on November 20, 2016, when he lost a five-vs-five elimination match against a team captained by Jim, with the stipulation that the losing team captain had to leave ATTACK.
Michinoku Pro Wrestling (2013)
Dunne spent three months touring with Japanese promotion Michinoku Pro Wrestling in 2013, teaming with Jason Larusso to defeat Bad Boy (Daichi Sasaki and Manjimaru) in his debut match, but losing to the Brahman Brothers the next night. Dunne lost his next two matches on the tour, before defeating Ayumu Gunji in his first singles match in Japan. Dunne's final match on the tour took place on May 5, when he and Larusso were defeated by Yapper Man 1 and Yapper Man 2.
Revolution Pro Wrestling (2014, 2016–present)
Dunne made his debut for Revolution Pro Wrestling on May 10, 2014, teaming with F.S.U (Mark Andrews and Eddie Dennis) to take on The Revolutionists (Sha Samuels, Josh Bodom and Terry Frazier) in a losing effort. Dunne's next match was in January 2016 at Live At The Cockpit 5, first defeating El Ligero, and then Morgan Webster to win the RPW British Cruiserweight Championship. Dunne held the Championship until July, successfully defending it against Webster, Sonjay Dutt, ACH, Mike Bailey and Matt Cross before dropping the championship to Will Ospreay at Summer Sizzler. Dunne also competed at Global Wars UK, losing to Yuji Nagata on night one and Tomohiro Ishii on night two.
Progress Wrestling (2014–present)
Dunne debuted in Progress at Chapter 13 on May 18, 2014, defeating Robbie X. Four months later he returned to Progress, losing to Morgan Webster. Dunne was absent from Progress for 19 months after this, returning at Chapter 28 in April 2016, teaming with Damian Dunne to defeat Trent Seven and Tyler Bate. At Chapter 29, Dunne was involved in a qualifying match for WWE's Cruiserweight Classic tournament, losing to Jack Gallagher. At Chapter 30, Dunne competed in the first round of the Super Strong Style 16 Tournament, but was eliminated in the first round by eventual runner-up Mark Haskins. At Chapter 33, Dunne turned on longtime tag team partner and kayfabe brother Damian Dunne, aligning himself with Trent Seven as British Strong Style. Dunne and Seven defeated The London Riots (James Davis and Rob Lynch) at Chapter 36 to win the Progress Tag Team Championships. At Chapter 39, by virtue of retaining their championships in a rematch against the London Riots earlier in the night, Dunne and Seven were entered in a 7-man elimination match for the vacant Progress World Championship. Dunne pinned Jimmy Havoc to become the new Progress World Champion after Tyler Bate came down to the ring and attacked Havoc, thus turning heel and aligning himself with Seven and Dunne. At Chapter 40, Dunne made his first successful defence of the championship, defeating Zack Sabre Jr. On December 16, Progress management forced Dunne and Seven to vacate the Progress Tag Team Championship after Dunne attempted to give his half of the shield to Bate. At Chapter 41, British Strong Style once again left with all of the gold in Progress after Seven and Bate defeated the LDRS Of The New School (Marty Scurll and Zack Sabre, Jr.) and The London Riots to win the Progress Tag Team Championships and Dunne defeated Fabian Aichner to retain the Progress World Championship.
WWE
United Kingdom Championship Tournament (2016–2017)
On December 15, 2016, it was revealed that Dunne would be one of 16 men competing in a two night tournament to crown the first ever WWE United Kingdom Champion on January 14 and 15, 2017. Dunne defeated Roy Johnson in the first round, advancing to the quarter finals and eventually the semi-finals where he defeated Sam Gradwell and Mark Andrews respectively to advance to the finals, where he lost to Tyler Bate.
NXT (2017-present)
On May 20, 2017 at NXT TakeOver: Chicago Dunne made his debut where he defeated Tyler Bate to win the United Kingdom Championship. His first title defense on the June 8 edition of NXT in Brighton, East Sussex, England, where defeated Mark Andrews.
Dunne's most recent title defense was during the November 18 edition of NXT where he defeated Johnny Gargano.
Raw (2017)
Dunne made his debut on the November 6 edition of Monday Night RAW in Manchester, England, after Raw General Manager Kurt Angle interrupted an in-ring segment by Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore. Midway through Amore's segment, his rival Kalisto entered the arena to sit at ringside just before Angle announced Dunne as Amore's opponent. After Dunne defeated Amore, Kalisto entered the ring to congratulate Dunne and raise his hand in victory.
Personal life
Dunne is a vegan.
Defend Indy Wrestling
Dunne (along with Mark Andrews and Eddie Dennis) is a co-founder of “Defend Indy Wrestling”, a clothing line designed specifically for independent wrestling fans. Inspired by the "DEFEND Pop Punk" message propagated by American band Man Overboard, Dunne, Andrews and Dennis created the brand in 2011, producing T-shirts, hoodies and other accessories.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- DT3 / Drop Dead! (Independent circuit) / Bitter End (WWE) (Pumphandle lift dropped into reverse STO)
- Tiger suplex
- Signature moves
- Crash Landing (Independent circuit) / X-Plex (WWE) (Rolling release suplex)
- Cutter
- Double foot stomp
- Jackknife powerbomb
- Superkick
- Kneeling reverse piledriver
- Michinoku Driver II
- Nicknames
- "Bruiserweight"
- "Dynamite"
- "YxB - Young and Bitter"
- "Perfect"
- "Pop Punk"
- Entrance themes
- "Can You Feel My Heart" by Bring Me The Horizon
- "Love Is Blindness" by Jack White
- "Young & Bitter" by Hot Tag - Media Works (WWE)
- "Bruiserweight" by CFO$ (WWE)
- Tag teams and stables
- British Strong Style (w/ Tyler Bate & Trent Seven)
- Strong Style Collective (w/ Travis Banks)
Championships and accomplishments
- 4 Front Wrestling
- 4FW Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Alternative Wrestling World
- AWW British Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Damian Dunne
- ATTACK! Pro Wrestling
- Attack! 24/7 Championship (6 times)
- Elder Stein Invitational (2012)
- Fight Club:Pro
- Fight Club:Pro Championship (1 time)
- Infinity Trophy (2015)
- Kamikaze Pro
- Relentless Division Championship (1 time)
- Over The Top Wrestling
- OTT No Limits Championship (2 times)
- Pro Wrestling Kingdom
- Pro Wrestling Kingdom Championship (1 time)
- Progress Wrestling
- PROGRESS World Championship (1 time)
- PROGRESS Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Trent Seven
- Revolution Pro Wrestling
- RPW British Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
- RevPro British Cruiserweight Title Tournament
- Southside Wrestling Entertainment
- Young Tigers Cup (2015)
- VII Pro Wrestling
- VII Pro Championship (1 time)
- VII Trifecta Trophy Tournament
- Destiny World Wrestling
- DWW Championship (1 time, current)
External links
| 2017 WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament participants |
|---|
|
Dan Moloney • Danny Burch • HC Dyer • James Drake • Jordan Devlin • Joseph Conners • Mark Andrews • Pete Dunne • Roy Johnson • Sam Gradwell • Saxon Huxley • Trent Seven • Tucker • Tyler Bate • Tyson T-Bone • Wolfgang |
