Who Should Main Event WWE’s UK Pay-Per-View In Wales?

WWE recently confirmed their first UK-based pay-per-view to take place after almost 20 years since their last major event in 2003. This un-named show is set to take place on September 3rd at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, a fitting event for such a hotly anticipated night of graps. But with so many questions still left to be answered, namely who’s going to be there and whether or not they’ll book a Punjabi Prison match (do it, you cowards), what we’re here to speculate about today is who deserves to headline this spectacle.

It’s a safe bet that UK fans will get to see their ‘Tribal Chief’ Roman Reigns in the show’s closing match, or perhaps even boxing megastar Tyson Fury (if WWE can afford him), but which UK-faves will get the honour of sending a very appreciative crowd home happy? There’s plenty of potential options to go with here, but in my humble opinion, there’s only really two natural choices that fit the bill.

The first being the more likely of the two; surely there’s no better hero to the fans gathered than a Scotsman. Drew McIntyre has lobbied hard for WWE to bring a major pay-per-view such as this to the UK since first breaking out as a headlining star. Though his promises stretched as far as WrestleMania itself, which I’m not holding my breath for in September, the fact that this event is finally taking place would be enough to bring a tear to the eye.

It’dalmost be an insult to McIntyre if he didn’t find himself booked into one of the marquee attractions on the night, seeing as how he’s not only become the first-ever British World Champion in WWE’s history, but he’s also a big reason as to why this is even happening. I personally can’t think of a better time for WWE to pull the trigger on the long-awaited Reigns/McIntyre title fight, something which has been in the talks since 2020’s Survivor Series.

The guys and girls backstage in WWE believe Roman and Drew to be the modern equivalent to Hulk Hogan and Dwayne Johnson, the two foremost icons of this generation who, when facing each other in the squared circle, net big moolah. So what better excuse do you need to put these two together for a major clash at the biggest UK pay-per-view of all time?

Drew McIntyre has done more than enough to deserve this big moment, having had his defining WrestleMania moment take place in front of an empty arena and not being able to truly capitalise on his newfound stardom since the end of the pandemic. A huge homecoming spectacle where he can take Roman Reigns to the limit, and perhaps even dethrone him in front of a raucous UK crowd, could be the career highlight he needs to take him to the next level of fame.

Of course the other option here is for McIntyre to face-off against someone from outside of WWE. Now this could stretch to a huge number of wrestlers and other sports stars, but the most likely of the bunch is Tyson Fury. As mentioned, WWE and Tyson Fury have had previous relations when bringing in the Irish-born boxer for their Saudi shows when he faced off against Braun Strowman at Crown Jewel. It was a huge moment for wrestling, especially when you consider just how big of an attraction Fury is both inside and outside of his own sport. Fury has been open to returning to WWE to follow up his fairly-decent encounter with Strowman, but it seems that the seeds are being sown for a potential clash with Drew McIntyre.

Adding an attraction like Tyson Fury to the first UK pay-per-view in over two decades would do huge favour for the company’s gate, as the media attention they’d get just from announcing his involvement would boost those ticket sales exponentially. It would be the first time that UK sports fans would have a reason to care about wrestling, and maybe bring some new eyes to the product for the first-time in a long time.

So you might be wondering at this point: who else could hold a candle to Drew McIntyre’s potential here? Well, there’s one name that comes to mind, a wrestler that has broken records by holding onto the UK Championship for over two years: Gunther (FKA Walter). It’s going to be real hard for VKM to mess this one up, Gunther is an absolute unit and also fits into the typical ‘foreign monster’ mould that he loves to book every few years. Now being a fully-fledged member of the SmackDown roster, alongside Ludwig Kaiser (the former Marcel Barthel), I see this being the start of big things for the former WALTER.

Gunther has the star power, especially in the UK, to storm the main events and maybe even become a threat to ‘The Tribal Chief’. Depending on how Gunther is booked over the next few months, it might not be long before the commentators are touting him as the next big thing in WWE. There are plenty of people inside and outside of WWE that are extremely high on Gunther’s ability, so hopefully that information has trickled down to Vince’s office and it may convince him to put him over in the country that Gunther truly cut his teeth.

Gunther has been a huge part of BritWres, having held the PROGRESS World Championship for an equally impressive amount of time as his NXT UK title run, and has also been a huge draw for NXT UK. The fans have come to love his dominant antics, those brutal chops and his sheer presence as a major star. So why not? Why not give him his career-defining moment in front of a sold-out Principality Stadium?

Of course there are other UK-heroes that you could throw into the mix for the headlining match, names like Sheamus, Pete Dunne (Butch), even bringing in the current UK Champ Ilja Dragunov for a huge bout — there’s a lot for WWE to go with to make this a memorable night. However, for them to match the calibre of Bret Hart vs Bulldog from 1992, there needs to be a marquee main event, something which could easily be found on a ‘Big Four’ card. Drew McIntyre or Gunther are their best options and I hope that WWE don’t pull the trigger too early on either of those star-studded feuds.

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