On 15 December 2016, it was revealed that Bate, Seven and Dunne would be among of 16 men competing in the upcoming United Kingdom Championship Tournament on 14 and 15 January 2017 to crown the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Champion. Bate defeated Tucker in the first round to advance to the quarter-finals, before defeating Jordan Devlin to advance to the semi-finals. Seven would defeated H.C. Dyer in the first round and loose to Wolfgang in the quarterfinals, while Bate defeated Tucker in the first round, Jordan Devlin in the quarterfinals, Wolfgang in the semifinals, and Dunne in the finals to win the tournament and become the inaugural champion. After the tournament, buth Bate and Seven signed contracts with WWE, which allowed them to continue taking independent bookings with some restrictions. Bate would then compete on the NXT brand, where he defended his title; he eventually lost it to Dunne at , in an acclaimed match which later earn them the NXT Year-End Award for Match of the Year.&lt;ref name="2/1 NXT TV Review"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt;