NXT UK Champion Walter has sustained a hand injury and will no longer be able to defend his title against challenger Ilja Dragunov on next week's edition of NXT UK as initially planned.
This week's episode of NXT UK featured a rare appearance from NXT boss Triple H, who announced that Walter would defend his title against Dragunov next week. That match would have been a highly anticipated rematch of Walter and Dragunov's critically acclaimed 2020 match, which was a strong Match Of The Year contender for many pundits.
Later in the episode, it was revealed that the rematch would no longer be going ahead because Walter had suffered a hand injury.
At the time of writing, there have been no further updates from WWE. Walter hasn't been forced to relinquish his title yet, and the severity of his injury is unknown. Whether or not Walter's injury is legitimate or part of an angle also remains to be seen, but we will keep you updated.
Walter won the NXT UK Championship way back in April of 2019 when he beat defending champ Pete Dunne at NXT TakeOver: New York. The Austrian behemoth is currently the longest-reigning active champion on WWE's roster.
Walter's most recent title defence went down in April when he defeated UK indie veteran Rampage Brown on an episode of NXT UK. That same week, he successfully defended the gold against former NXT Champion Tomasso Ciampa at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver.
"It is tough to bet against Walter," Triple H said of Walter during an appearance on The Bump back in January. "Anyone who has watched him over the last few years, anyone who has recently watched him against Ilja [Dragunov], one of the most physically imposing, physically dominating performers out there. There's no wasted movement, he's not flashy, he doesn't care about how it looks, he's just effective."
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