Butch (Pete Dunne) was introduced to the WWE Universe in January 2017 when he was part of the United Kingdom Championship Tournament.
Butch was a regular for NXT UK and then NXT before transitioning to the main roster in March. Butch was always put in a featured position in NXT UK and NXT, which were spearheaded by Triple H, who is now in charge of the creative for the main roster.
Speaking to Ryan Satin on Out of Character, Butch was asked about his relationship with Triple H.
"It's great, he's a great boss to work for, no bad things at all to say. I love the time with him in NXT, NXT UK was a blast. He's always been great to me, super approachable. I was really happy to see him back in any capacity when he came back from his troubles. It was great to have him around, see him in some capacity and back to work. Now, being head of creative, it's even better because he's there every week and he's so approachable. I can go to him with any small thing. A lot of times, I can leave him to it, I have full trust in him. That whole UK tournament, the trust he put in me to do that. To that point, he probably saw me have one tryout match. He probably had watched footage separately, but I hadn't met him until the press conference, which was a few weeks before the UK tournament and never worked with him until the UK tournament and he had full trust in me to have three or four matches that weekend, to be the ongoing story that weekend, and build the UK title around me. Myself, Tyler (Bate), Trent (Seven), Mark Andrews, others. The trust he put into me there, ever since then, my full trust is in him. I try not to bother him too much, but I know he's there and approachable and I know I'm always going to enjoy the creative and I'm going to do the best I possibly can with it," he said.
Butch was in the finals of the NXT UK Championship tournament, but lost to Tyler Bate.
He continued, reflecting on his tryout match with Bate and advice he got from Triple H and Chris Jericho.
"I definitely met him briefly, me and Tyler did a dark match to test the cameras in Glasgow where we had our tryout. Regal picked us two to wrestle. He was on his phone or whatever, and we were in there and taking it as a job interview. We were out there putting on the best match we possibly could. Halfway through, he puts his phone down and starts watching. I remember him watching the whole thing. After, me and Tyler hung around, he was talking to Chris Jericho and we stood by the rail really awkwardly, we thought, 'We have to get five minutes with him if we can.' Eventually, Jericho turned around and asked us if we were okay or what we needed. We said, 'we just wanted to make sure everything you saw was okay and if there was anything we could do differently, improve, get your thoughts.' Triple H basically just said, 'No, it was great' and Jericho said, 'Give me five minutes, I'll come talk to you.' We had a good chat with him and he had kind words to say. That was the only brief encounter I had with Triple H. Between that and Regal, I'm sure, was a big part of it and that's what led to the UK tournament and that was where I built more of a relationship with him. Even now, he was so busy and it was so brief, I was UK Champion by the time that we actually sat down together and had a more casual conversation. That was quite a long time after. Like I said, the trust he put in me, I will always have trust in him," he said.
Butch won the NXT UK Championship at NXT TakeOver Chicago and held the title for 685 days before losing the belt to GUNTHER (WALTER).
Butch & Ridge Holland are scheduled to challenge for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships at WWE Crown Jewel when they take on The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso). Fans can find the current lineup for WWE Crown Jewel by clicking here.
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