World Of Sport TV Tapings Announced
In May, there will be five World of Sport TV tapings for ITV, according to PWInsider. Currently, the tapings are planned for Thursday 5/10 at 6:30 PM, Friday 5/11 at 2 PM and 6:30 PM and Saturday 5/12 at 2 PM and 6:30 PM, no talent is confirmed at this time.
On New Year's Eve 2016, a World of Sport pilot episode was launched after the project went dormant for decades, ending back in 1985. WWE held their tournament shortly after to crown the Inaugural WWE UK Champion in January of 2017. Tyler Bate would defeated Pete Dunne in the finals.
After a successful World of Sport pilot, a lengthier series was set to get started. Impact Wrestling (with Jeff Jarrett at the helm) attempted to partner up with the project, but ultimately things fell apart during contract negations, causing those tapings to be cancelled all together. Impact cited logistical issues at the time, but it was also rumored there was an issue with it being a 10 episode series rather than an ongoing, weekly series.
WOS live show dates in May are being rescheduled as a result of contract negotiations. All those who bought tickets will receive a refund.
? ITV WOS Wrestling (@WOSWrestlingITV) May 2, 2017
More recently, WWE announced a UK Championship Tournament to take place on June 18 and 19 at Royal Albert Hall in London, England. WWE has looked into potentially air their own UK talent on ITV, but that has yet to come to fruition.
Last September, Triple H spoke with The World According to Wrestling podcast and noted that World of Sport potentially making a return in early 2017 did adjust what WWE wanted to do in the UK.
"Did it change our timing a little bit because of when they positioned their show? Yeah, but we are talking by maybe months or something not speeding up the process in terms of getting it done," Triple H said. "We've been working on this for a long time. Any other show aside, if they are successful I'm happy for them. And, at the end of the day, it all helps the industry so we just do what we do. And I think we do it better than anyone else on the planet."
Last month, The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported WWE ramping up its UK expansion by still wanting to do tapings for local programming, and likely WWE Network programming, and run a UK-based promotion. They also look to open up a UK Performance Center down the road with the idea of bringing UK trainers to the main WWE Performance Center in Orlando to teach them how WWE wants talents trained, and then have the UK trainers run the facility.