England began training in 2006, at the age of 12,[6] originally under the tutelage of Steve "Psycho" Edwards at Phoenix Wrestling in
Coventry.[1] He has said that his early training under Edwards was limited and provided him with only "the basics".[7] Dunne's first appearance as a wrestler was at the 2007 Holbrooks Festival in Coventry, where he first met and wrestled
Mark Andrews.[7] He later trained for a short time under Max Angelus and began working on other small local shows, largely in community centres around his native Birmingham. He competed
under a mask as Tiger Kid until January 2010, when he lost a
hair vs mask match to Helix at Riot Act Wrestling in
Kent. He then retired the character and mask, adopted the Pete Dunne name, and began regularly performing in a tag team alongside his
kayfabe brother Damian Dunne.[8] He spent most of his early career working for as many small independent promotions as possible such as EDW Wrestling in
Shrewsbury, and Kamikaze Pro Wrestling in Birmingham, 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.[7] Dunne began competing internationally and more regularly in 2011, competing for LDN Wrestling in England; Dublin Championship Wrestling in Ireland; Celtic Wrestling, Welsh Wrestling, Royal Imperial Wrestling in Wales, and PBW in Scotland.[9]
Attack! Pro Wrestling (2011–2016,2017-2018)
In a move to increase the number opportunities available to their group of friends, Dunne and ring announcer Jim Lee co-founded
Attack! Pro Wrestling in 2011, arranging a weekend of shows in Birmingham. On the first weekend of shows in August 2011, Dunne wrestled in a four-man tournament dubbed the Elder Stein Invitational, in which he advanced to the final before losing to Mark Andrews.[10] The promotion would later expand to run shows primarily in Cardiff and
Bristol, with Dunne an ever-present performer, primarily as a
face, and often taking on his best friend Mark.[11] Sometime in 2014, Dunne would be one of the focuses of
BBC 3 television show "
People Like Us", a show revolving around following people from the Birmingham Borough of Chelmsley Wood and its surrounding areas as they make strides to achieve their personal goals, such as weight loss, acting careers or in Dunne's case, becoming a pro wrestler. Dunne would later 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 Andrews upon his signing with
TNA Wrestling.[12][13] From mid-2015 to 2016, Dunne 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.[14] 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 Lee.[15] Dunne's spell as a performer in ATTACK! Pro Wrestling concluded on 20 November 2016, when he lost a five-vs-five
elimination match against a team captained by Lee, 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,[16] but losing to the
Brahman Brothers the next night.[17] Dunne lost his next two matches on the tour, before defeating Ayumu Gunji in his first singles match in Japan.[18] Dunne's final match on the tour took place on 5 May, when he and Larusso were defeated by
Yapper Man #1 and
Yapper Man #2.[19]
Dunne debuted in Progress at Chapter 13 on 18 May 2014, defeating Robbie X.[31] Four months later, he returned to Progress, losing to Morgan Webster.[32] Dunne was absent from Progress for 19 months after this, returning at Chapter 28 in April 2016, teaming with Damian Dunne to defeat
Trent SevenandTyler Bate.[33] At Chapter 29, Dunne was involved in a qualifying match for
WWE's
Cruiserweight Classic tournament, losing to
Jack Gallagher.[34] At Chapter 30, Dunne competed in the first round of the Super Strong Style 16 Tournament, but was eliminated in the first round by
Mark Haskins.[35] At Chapter 33, Dunne turned on longtime tag team partner and
kayfabe brother Damian Dunne, aligning himself with Trent Seven as
British Strong Style.[36] Dunne and Seven defeated The London Riots (James Davis and Rob Lynch) at Chapter 36 to win the
Progress Tag Team Championship.[37]
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, aligning himself with Seven and Dunne.[38] At Chapter 40, Dunne made his first successful defence of the championship, defeating
Zack Sabre Jr.[39] On 16 December, 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.[40] Dunne lost by disqualification to Jimmy Havoc at Chapter 43, but the championship did not change hands.[41] At Chapter 44, Dunne, Seven and Bate were defeated by Havoc, Mark Haskins, and Morgan Webster in a six-man tag team match.[42] At Chapter 45, Dunne defeated Havoc in a no-disqualification match for his fourth successful defence.[43] At Chapter 46, he successfully defended the Championship against Mark Andrews.[44] Dunne defended the Championship twice in
Orlando, Florida during
WrestleMania weekend, defeating Mark Haskins on 31 March[45] and ACH on 1 April.[46] At Chapter 47, Dunne, Seven and Bate put all of their championships on the line against
Ringkampf (
Axel Dieter Jr,
Timothy Thatcher, and
Walter), in a six-man tag team match, successfully retaining all of them.[47] At Chapter 48, Dunne retained the title against both Andrews and Haskins in a triple threat match. He lost the title to
Travis Banks on 10 September.[48] At Chapter 60, Dunne successfully defended his WWE United Kingdom Championship against Jack Gallagher.[49]
In May 2018, Dunne entered the Super Strong Style 16, defeating
Doug Williams in the first round but losing by disqualification against
Zack Gibson in the second round after hitting Gibson with a steel chair.[50] The same weekend, Christian Michael Jakobi, the CEO of
wXw, gave him a challenge against current
wXwUnified World Wrestling Champion,
Ilja Dragunov, who he'd call him the "Best Independent Wrestler in Europe". At Chapter 69: Be Here Now, he accepted the challenge, and the match is scheduled to take place at "Hello Wembley", at the
Wembley Arena.
Chikara (2014–2017)
Dunne made his debut for
Chikara in September 2014, when he, Damian Dunne and Mark Andrews, billed collectively as "Team UK", took part in the
2014 King of Trios, making it to the quarterfinals, before losing to The Devastation Corporation (Blaster McMassive, Flex Rumblecrunch and Max Smashmaster).[51] A year later, Dunne returned for the
2015 King of Trios; this time he, Andrews and Morgan Webster, "Team Attack!", were eliminated in their first round match by United Nations (Juan Francisco de Coronado,
Mr. Azerbaijan and The Proletariat Boar of Moldova).[52]
Dunne returned to Chikara on 1 September 2017, when he, Trent Seven, and Tyler Bate, billed collectively as "House Strong Style", entered the
2017 King of Trios, defeating House Whitewolf (
A-Kid, Adam Chase, and Zayas) in their first round match.[53] Over the next two days, House Strong Style defeated House Throwbacks (
Dasher Hatfield,
Mark Angelosetti, and
Simon Grimm) in the quarterfinals,[54] House Rot (
Frightmare,
Hallowicked and
Kobald) via forfeit in the semifinals and House Sendai Girls (Cassandra Miyagi,
Dash Chisako, and
Meiko Satomura) in the finals to win the 2017 King of Trios.[55]
Singapore Pro Wrestling (2017–2018)
Dunne made his debut for
SPW in October 2017, where he would face
"The Statement" Andruew Tang, ultimately defeating him.[56] Following the match, Dunne would promise Tang a rematch.[57] In 2018, Dunne would return to face Tang, however appearing with
Wolfgang and
Mark Davis. The trio would be defeated by Andruew Tang,
Kaiser Trexxus and Aiden Rex in a 3 on 3 match.[58]
On 15 December 2016, it was revealed that Dunne would be one of 16 men competing in the two-night
United Kingdom Championship Tournament to crown the first ever
WWE United Kingdom Champion on 14 and 15 January 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.[59][60] Dunne then signed a contract with WWE, which allowed him to continue taking independent bookings with some restrictions.[61] He then became a part of
NXT, making his debut on 22 February 2017 in a winning effort against Mark Andrews; he then started to appear on
NXT. On 4 April, Dunne, and others who participated in the tournament, appeared on 205 Live to promote upcoming UK live shows.[62]
On 7 May, Dunne defeated Trent Seven at a live event to become the new number one contender for the United Kingdom Championship.[63] At
NXT TakeOver: Chicago on 20 May, Dunne defeated Bate to win the title for the first time in a highly acclaimed match,[64] which was later named Match of the Year at the
NXT Year-End Awards.[65] Dunne made his main roster debut during a one-off appearance on the 6 November episode of Raw in
Manchester, England, defeating
WWE Cruiserweight ChampionEnzo Amore in a non-title champion versus champion match.[66] He then kept on defending his title on NXT, first against Bate on December 20, and then against
Roderick Strong on February 14, 2018.[67]
Dunne turned face when he and Strong subsequently teamed up, starting on 28 March for the
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, defeating
Danny Burch and
Oney Lorcan in the first round and
Alexander Wolfe and
Eric Young of
SAnitY in the semi-finals.[68] They faced the
Authors of Pain in the finals on 4 April; however, the match ended in a no contest when
Kyle O'Reilly and
Adam Cole of
The Undisputed Era attacked both teams.[69] As a result, all three teams faced each other in a
triple threat tag team match at
NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, which acted as the final match of the tournament while The Undisputed Era's
NXT Tag Team Championship was also on the line.[70] At the event on 7 April, Strong
turned on Dunne and attacked him, giving the victory to The Undisputed Era and aligning himself with the stable.[71] This began a feud between Dunne and The Undisputed Era, starting with a singles match on 2 May episode of NXT, in which he defeated Strong by disqualification after being attacked by Cole and O'Reilly.[72]
At the
United Kingdom Championship Tournament event on 18 June, Dunne teamed up with Tyler Bate and Trent Seven as
British Strong Style on the first night (marking the first time they performed as their stable on WWE) to defeat The Undisputed Era,[73] and on the second night, retained his title against United Kingdom Championship Tournament winner Zack Gibson.[74] In July, the
NXT UK brand was established, with the United Kingdom Championship as its top title; Dunne subsequently defended the title on both brands. On 22 August episode of NXT (which also served as the pre-show of
NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4 on 18 August), Dunne once again retained his championship against Gibson; in parallel, he became the longest-reigning champion in WWE at (then) 456 days following
Brock Lesnar's loss of the
WWE Universal Championship at
SummerSlam on 19 August.[75][76][77]
On 29 August episode of NXT, Dunne teamed up with
NXT North American ChampionRicochet against The Undisputed Era, losing due to a miscommunication.[78] As both blamed the other for their loss, the two had a match for both titles on 19 September episode of NXT, marking the first time a WWE United Kingdom Champion faced a NXT North American Champion. The match ended in a
no contest after The Undisputed Era attacked both men.[79][80] After numerous attacks in the following weeks, Dunne eventually teamed up with Ricochet and the
War Raiders to take on Undisputed Era at
NXT TakeOver: WarGames in the
titular match on 17 November, where his team would pick up the victory.[81]
At
NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool on 12 January 2019, the inaugural NXT UK TakeOver event, Dunne retained his title against
Joe Coffey in the main event.[82] Two weeks later, Dunne appeared as a surprise entrant in the
Royal Rumble match at the
namesake pay-per-view on 27 January, but was eliminated by
Drew McIntyre.[83] At
NXT TakeOver: New York on 5 April, Dunne lost the UK Championship to Walter, ending his record setting reign at 685 days.[84] On 14 April episode of NXT UK (aired 22 May), Dunne lost his rematch against Walter for the United Kingdom Championship after interference by Fabian Aichner and
Marcel Barthel, thus turning Walter heel. The following week, after Walter, Aichner, and Barthel named their group Imperium, Dunne joined the members of British Strong Style to brawl with Imperium in the ring.[85]
The BroserWeights (2019–2020)
Dunne moved back from NXT UK to NXT in June 2019, rekindling his feud with Roderick Strong; after Strong started a feud of his own with
NXT North American ChampionVelveteen Dream, Dunne got involved on the 24 July episode of NXT, attacking Strong and indicating his desire to go after Dream's title.[86] The three faced off in a
triple threat match for the title at
NXT TakeOver: Toronto on 10 August, where Dream retained his title.[87][88] Dunne would then go on with a three-way feud against
Damian Priest and
Killian Dain, culminating in a Triple threat match to determine the #1 contender for the
NXT Championship at
Survivor Series, which he won.[89] At Survivor Series on 24 November, he was unsuccessful in his match against Cole.[90]
On 10 January 2020 episode of NXT, the participants of the
2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic were announced, with Dunne and
Matt Riddle being announced as surprise participants; they would later take on the name of The BroserWeights, a
portmanteau of Dunne's "Bruiserweight" nickname and Riddle's "Original Bro" nickname.[91] Together, they defeated Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster in the first round on 15 January,[92] Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel of
Imperium in the semifinals on 22 January,[93] and
Grizzled Young Veterans (
James Drake and Zack Gibson) in the finals on 29 January to win the tournament and earn a match against
Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly of
The Undisputed Era for the
NXT Tag Team Championship at
NXT TakeOver: Portland.[94][95] At the event on 16 February, Dunne and Riddle defeated Fish and O'Reilly to win the titles.[96]
After a successful title defense with Riddle against Fish and O'Reilly on 11 March episode of NXT, Dunne became inactive due to being unable to travel to the U.S. during the
COVID-19 pandemic. In his absence, Riddle teamed-up with Timothy Thatcher as Dunne's replacement (although he wasn't considered co-champion), until 13 May episode of NXT where Thatcher walked out during a title defense, leading Riddle to lose his and Dunne's titles to Aichner and Barthel.[97][98] After he stopped appearing on NXT due to the pandemic, Dunne remained inactive from March to October 2020; meanwhile, Riddle moved to the
SmackDown brand, resuming his activities as a singles wrestler.[99][100]
On 17 September, Dunne made his return to NXT UK as a
producer.[101] Dunne eventually made a temporary return on the NXT UK brand on 15 October episode of NXT UK, teaming up with Ilja Dragunov to defeat NXT UK Champion Walter and Alexander Wolfe of Imperium.[102]
On 28 October at
Halloween Havoc, Dunne returned to NXT, attacking Kyle O'Reilly and joining
Pat McAfee's
Kings of NXT stable alongside Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan, turning heel in the process.[103] The Kings of NXT faced against Undisputed Era at
WarGames on 6 December, where Dunne was the first competitor from Team McAfee to enter the match along with O'Reilly. Team McAfee lost the match when O'Reilly pinned Lorcan.[104] Dunne faced
Finn Bálor at
Vengeance Day on 14 February for Bálor's
NXT Championship in a losing effort.[105] Dunne then entered a feud with
Kushida, whom he defeated on 7 April at
Stand & Deliver.[106] The Kings of NXT quietly disbanded when McAfee moved to SmackDown as a color commentator. On 27 July episode of NXT,
Ridge Holland returned from injury by attacking
Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher after Dunne and Lorcan's match against the latter, joining their alliance.[107]
The alliance was short lived when Holland was called up to SmackDown, and Lorcan and Burch were released as part of mass layoffs. A now solo Dunne started feuding with the debuting
Tony D'Angelo, and subsequently turned face to join team Black and Gold, already consisting of Ciampa, Gargano and Knight for
WarGames on 5 December, losing to Team 2.0, consisting of D'Angelo,
Bron Breakker,
Carmelo Hayes, and
Grayson Waller.[108] On 21 December episode of NXT, Dunne defeated D'Angelo but was brutally attacked by D'Angelo with a crowbar afterwards.[109] On 11 January 2022 episode of NXT, Dunne lost to D'Angelo in a Crowbar on a Pole match.[110] On 15 February at
Vengeance Day, Dunne defeated D'Angelo in a weaponized steel cage match to end their feud.[111] On 1 March episode of NXT, Dunne faced Carmelo Hayes for the
NXT North American Championship in a losing effort, which turned out to be his final appearance for the brand.[112]
On 11 March episode of SmackDown, Dunne made his official main roster debut under the new ring name Butch, aligning himself with Ridge Holland and
Sheamus in their feud against
The New Day, establishing himself as a heel.[113] On 8 April episode of SmackDown, Butch competed in his first match on the brand, where he was defeated by
Xavier Woods.[114] At
Clash at the Castle on 3 September, Butch managed Sheamus against Gunther in a critically acclaimed
Intercontinental Championship match; though Sheamus was unsuccessful, he received a standing ovation from the Cardiff crowd, effectively turning Butch and the Brawling Brutes face in the process.[115] On 16 September episode of SmackDown, Butch and Holland won a fatal four-way tag team match to become the #1 contenders for the
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship.[116] The following week, they faced the champions
The Usos for the titles in a losing effort after interference from Imperium.[117] They had another opportunity at
Crown Jewel on 5 November but lost again.[118]
Butch would later enter a feud with
The Bloodline with help from his stable mates,
Kevin Owens and Drew McIntyre. This would culminate at
Survivor Series WarGames on 26 November in a WarGames match which they lost.[119]
On the June 9 2023 episode of SmackDown, Butch defeated
Baron Corbin to qualify for the men's
Money in the Bank ladder match.[120]; however,
Damian Priest would win the match at the
namesake event. The Brawling Brutes all competed in a 25-man
battle royal at
SummerSlam, but none of them were successful in winning. Sheamus would be removed from television in late-August due to a shoulder injury, leaving him and Holland on their own.[121] Later in the year, Butch would be invited to the NXT Global Heritage Invitational on WWE’s developmental brand, NXT. He would be put in Group A alongside
Tyler Bate,
Axiom, and
Charlie Dempsey. Butch would top the group and face the winner of Group B,
Joe Coffey. Butch would win the match against Coffey to be the number one contender to face
Noam Dar for the
NXT Heritage Cup at
NXT No Mercy. However, Butch would be unsuccessful in winning the Heritage Cup. On the November 17 episode of SmackDown, visible dissension appeared between Holland and Butch after a loss to the
Street Profits. One week later, Holland walked out on Butch during a tag team match against
Pretty Deadly, resulting in a loss in what would be their final match as a team.
In March 2024, he was listed as a producer for matches taped for
WWE Speed.[127]
Professional wrestling style and persona
Dunne is nicknamed "The Bruiserweight" in reference to both his
weight class and wrestling style, which mostly consists of brawling, stiff strikes, submission grappling, and
bending of his opponents' fingers. His finishing maneuver is a
pumphandle reverse STO called the Bitter End which was originally called Drop Dead.[128] He then transitioned into a more manic and aggressive style when he adopted the Butch character on the main roster.
Other ventures
Alongside fellow wrestlers
Mark Andrews and
Eddie Dennis, England co-founded Defend Indy Wrestling, a clothing line for
independent wrestling fans. Inspired by the "Defend Pop Punk" message made popular by American
pop punk band
Man Overboard, the trio created the brand in 2011 to produce clothes and other merchandise.[129]