10 months ago
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WWE
"Butch" may be no more on "WWE SmackDown," with a tease that the former Brawling Brute may be reverting to his original ring name of Pete Dunne.
In a previously recorded segment, Butch appeared alongside close friend Tyler Bate, who made his main roster debut on last week's "New Year's Revolution" episode of "SmackDown" as Butch's mystery partner in a match against Pretty Deadly. As the pair chatted over coffee. Butch told Bate that he can handle himself and he just needed a partner for one night. Bate said they had fun "kicking Pretty Deadly's heads in," and told Butch he seemed like he was lost and needed to find his identity.
Butch, however, insisted that their team was a one-and-done. He also mentioned that the Brawling Brutes faction that he had been in with Sheamus (who's been out with an injury) and Ridge Holland (who's been sent back to "WWE NXT") was "in the past." Bate said Butch needed to look to the past and recall who helped him make a name for himself, then asked him what that name was going to be. In the tease, Bate asks, "Well?" and the camera cuts to Butch's face, which looks pensive and intense, before the shot fades to black, the broadcast cutting to the next match before Butch can answer.
Butch and Bate know each other well, as they were both part of the British Strong Style stable in Progress Wrestling before making their debuts in WWE. Bate also defeated Butch to become the first-ever "NXT UK" Champion back in 2017; Butch would return the favor by claiming the title in a critically acclaimed match at "NXT" Takeover: Chicago later the same year.
