Pete Dunne Peter England ( January 31 , 1993 ) is a British professional wrestler , currently working for various independent companies in Europe and occasionally the United States under the ring name Pete Dunne . Professional wrestling career . Training and early career ( 2006 – 2011 ) . Dunne began training in 2006 at the age of 12 , originally under the tutelage of Steve " Psycho Steve " Edwards at Phoenix Wrestling in Coventry , a short drive from his home city of Birmingham . Dunne has said that his early training under Edwards was limited , providing him with only " the basics " . Dunne spent most of his early career working for as many small independent promotions as possible , as well as regularly practicing with Mark Andrews and other friends , training in a re - purposed boxing ring in a community centre in Cardiff during the school holidays . Dunne ' s first appearance as a wrestler was at the 2007 Holbrooks Festival in Coventry , where he first met and wrestled Mark Andrews . He later trained for a short time under Max Angelus and began working on other small local shows , largely in community centres around Birmingham . Dunne competed as the masked Tiger Kid until January 2010 , when he began performing as Pete Dunne after losing a hair vs mask match to Helix at Riot Act Wrestling in Kent . Dunne then began regularly performing in a tag team alongside his kayfabe brother , Damian Dunne . Dunne began competing internationally and more regularly in 2011 , competing for LDN Wrestling , travelling to Ireland for Dublin Championship Wrestling , Wales for Celtic Wrestling & Welsh Wrestling , and Scotland for PBW . In 2011 , Dunne co - founded his own wrestling promotion , ATTACK ! Pro Wrestling , with the objective of achieving more exposure for their group of friends in wrestling . ATTACK ! Pro Wrestling ( 2011 – 2016 ) . In a move to increase the number opportunities available to their group of friends , Pete Dunne and friend Jim Lee co - founded ATTACK ! Pro Wrestling in 2011 , arranging a weekend of shows in Pete ' s native city of Birmingham . On the first weekend of shows in August 2011 , Pete wrestled in a four - man tournament dubbed the ' Elder Stein Invitational ' , in which he advanced to the final , before losing to Mark Andrews . The promotion would later expand to run shows primarily in Cardiff and Bristol , with Pete an ever - present performer , primarily as a face , and often taking on his best friend Mark . Pete later would become one of the promotion ' s primary heels , after unexpectedly turning on Mark at " Mandrews Goes To America " in January 2015 ; a show themed as a farewell event to Mark upon his signature of a contract with TNA Wrestling . From mid - 2015 to 2016 , Pete held the ATTACK ! 24 / 7 Championship for an unprecedented 307 consecutive days , over which time he feuded with Eddie Dennis and Wild Boar simultaneously for the title . He would eventually lose the belt to referee Shay Purser , which acted as the beginning of a lengthy feud with ATTACK ' s co - founder and ring announcer , Jim Lee . Pete ' s spell as a performer in ATTACK ! Pro Wrestling concluded on November 20 , 2016 , when he lost a five - vs - five elimination match against a team captained by Jim , with the stipulation that the losing team captain had to leave ATTACK . Michinoku Pro Wrestling ( 2013 ) . Dunne spent three months touring with Japanese promotion Michinoku Pro Wrestling in 2013 , teaming with Jason Larusso to defeat Bad Boy ( Daichi Sasaki and Manjimaru ) in his debut match , but losing to the Brahman Brothers the next night . Dunne lost his next two matches on the tour , before defeating Ayumu Gunji in his first singles match in Japan . Dunne ' s final match on the tour took place on May 5 , when he and Larusso were defeated by Yapper Man 1 and Yapper Man 2 . Revolution Pro Wrestling ( 2014 , 2016 – present ) . Dunne made his debut for Revolution Pro Wrestling on May 10 , 2014 , teaming with F . S . U ( Mark Andrews and Eddie Dennis ) to take on The Revolutionists ( Sha Samuels , Josh Bodom and Terry Frazier ) in a losing effort . Dunne ' s next match was in January 2016 at Live At The Cockpit 5 , first defeating El Ligero , and then Morgan Webster to win the RPW British Cruiserweight Championship . Dunne held the Championship until July , successfully defending it against Webster , Sonjay Dutt , ACH , Mike Bailey and Matt Cross before dropping the championship to Will Ospreay at Summer Sizzler . Dunne also competed at Global Wars UK , losing to Yuji Nagata on night one and Tomohiro Ishii on night two . Progress Wrestling ( 2014 – present ) . Dunne debuted in Progress at Chapter 13 on May 18 , 2014 , defeating Robbie X . Four months later he returned to Progress , losing to Morgan Webster . Dunne was absent from Progress for 19 months after this , returning at Chapter 28 in April 2016 , teaming with Damian Dunne to defeat Trent Seven and Tyler Bate . At Chapter 29 , Dunne was involved in a qualifying match for WWE ' s Cruiserweight Classic tournament , losing to Jack Gallagher . At Chapter 30 , Dunne competed in the first round of the Super Strong Style 16 Tournament , but was eliminated in the first round by eventual runner - up Mark Haskins . At Chapter 33 , Dunne turned on longtime tag team partner and kayfabe brother Damian Dunne , aligning himself with Trent Seven as British Strong Style . Dunne and Seven defeated The London Riots ( James Davis and Rob Lynch ) at Chapter 36 to win the Progress Tag Team Championships . At Chapter 39 , by virtue of retaining their championships in a rematch against the London Riots earlier in the night , Dunne and Seven were entered in a 7 man elimination match for the vacant Progress World Championship . Dunne pinned Jimmy Havoc to become the new Progress World Champion after Tyler Bate came down to the ring and attacked Havoc , thus turning heel and aligning himself with Seven and Dunne . At Chapter 40 , Dunne made his first successful defence of the championship , defeating Zack Sabre Jr . On December 16 , Progress management forced Dunne and Seven to vacate the Progress Tag Team Championship after Dunne attempted to give his half of the shield to Bate . At Chapter 41 , British Strong Style once again left with all of the gold in Progress after Seven and Bate defeated the LDRS Of The New School ( Marty Scurll and Zack Sabre , Jr . ) and The London Riots to win the Progress Tag Team Championships and Dunne defeated Fabian Aichner to retain the Progress World Championship . WWE . United Kingdom Championship Tournament ( 2016 – 2017 ) . On December 15 , 2016 , it was revealed that Dunne would be one of 16 men competing in a two night tournament to crown the first ever WWE United Kingdom Champion on January 14 and 15 , 2017 . Dunne defeated Roy Johnson in the first round , advancing to the quarter finals and eventually the semi - finals where he defeated Sam Gradwell and Mark Andrews respectively to advance to the finals , where he lost to Tyler Bate . Personal life . Dunne is a vegan . Defend Indy Wrestling . Dunne ( along with Mark Andrews and Eddie Dennis ) is a co - founder of “ Defend Indy Wrestling ” , a clothing line designed specifically for independent wrestling fans . Inspired by the " DEFEND Pop Punk " message propagated by American band Man Overboard , Dunne , Andrews and Dennis created the brand in 2011 , producing t - shirts , hoodies and other accessories .