Bron Breakker Beats Tyler Bate to Unify NXT, NXT UK Titles at WWE Worlds Collide

Bron Breakker defeated Tyler Bate at WWE Worlds Collide on Sunday to unify the NXT and NXT UK Championships.

The groundwork for Breakker vs. Bate was laid a couple of weeks ago after Breakker successfully defended the NXT title against JD McDonagh. Following the match, Bate surprisingly emerged and had a staredown with Breakker.

Several NXT UK stars showed up on that episode of NXT, including Gallus and Blair Davenport, but Bate made the biggest impact since he stepped up to the face of NXT.

Bate’s intentions became clearer in the days that followed when WWE announced that it was essentially ending the NXT UK brand and turning it into NXT Europe sometime next year.

With NXT UK going on hiatus until the debut of NXT Europe, the decision was made to have multiple title unification matches at Worlds Collide between NXT and NXT UK titleholders.

Breakker made his television debut just about one year ago, and it hasn’t taken him long to establish himself as the gold standard in NXT.

The son of WWE Hall of Famer Rick Steiner is already a two-time NXT champion, and he has beaten many tough challengers during his time at the top, including Ciampa, Dolph Ziggler, Cameron Grimes, Gunther and Santos Escobar, among others.

Meanwhile, Bate is highly experienced despite being just 25 years of age, as he made his pro wrestling debut in 2012.

Bate was the inaugural United Kingdom champion and is an NXT UK original, who has clashed with many of the best NXT UK has to offer, such as Gunther, Trent Seven and Butch, who was then known as Pete Dunne.

Saturday’s bout was a contrast of styles and a battle between two superstars who have taken very different paths to where they are in WWE.

In what was essentially the swansong for NXT UK, Breakker unified the titles and maintained his position as the top dog in NXT.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).