British Strong Style

Pete Dunne (left) and Trent Seven (right), who formed the group in July 2016

On 31 July 2016, the Dunne Brothers (Damian Dunne and Pete Dunne) were set to take on Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) at Progress Wrestling's event in London, England. The match ended with Pete and Seven turning on their partners and walking off together, signaling the start of a new partnership,[5][8] which they subsequently dubbed "British Strong Style".[9] On 25 September, Dunne and Seven defeated the London Riots (James Davis and Rob Lynch) for the Progress Tag Team Championship.[10] On 27 November, Dunne and Seven took part in a seven-man elimination match for the vacant Progress World Championship. The match came down to Dunne, Seven and Jimmy Havoc. After Havoc managed to eliminate Seven from the match, he was attacked by both Seven and Dunne, which brought out Tyler Bate, seemingly to exact revenge on Seven. Bate, however, turned on Havoc, helping Dunne become the new Progress World Champion and turning British Strong Style into a trio.[11][12] Bate and Dunne were positioned as the spotlight wrestlers of the group, while Seven became its mouthpiece.[13]

After capturing the Progress World Championship, Dunne attempted to pass his half of the Progress Tag Team Championship to Bate, which led to Progress management stripping British Strong Style of the tag team title. They, however, allowed Bate and Seven to wrestle for the vacant title, leading to a match on 30 December, where the two defeated the London Riots and LDRS (Marty Scurll and Zack Sabre Jr.) to become the new champions.[14][15]

Tyler Bate after winning the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament

In January 2017, all three members of British Strong Style took part in a tournament held by WWE to crown the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Championship.[16][17] The trio were not acknowledged by WWE, instead Bate and Seven were referred to by the Moustache Mountain name,[18] with Dunne being positioned opposite the two as the main villain of the tournament.[19] The tournament eventually came down to Bate and Dunne in the finals with Bate emerging victorious to become the first WWE United Kingdom Champion.[20] After a four-month reign, Bate lost the title to Dunne at NXT TakeOver: Chicago.[21] While WWE did not recognize British Strong Style as a stable, the WWE United Kingdom Championship was entered into storylines involving the group in Progress.[22] The trio's participation in the tournament was also added to their villainous act in Progress with the members wearing NXT jackets, playing up the fact that they were under WWE contracts and promising they were going to leave Progress with the promotion's two championships.[14][23]

On 23 April, British Strong Style faced off against the Ringkampf stable of Axel Dieter Jr., Timothy Thatcher and Walter from the German Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) promotion in a six-man tag team match, where both of their Progress titles were on the line. The match ended with Seven pinning Walter for the win, meaning that British Strong Style continued both of their title reigns.[24][25] The following month, British Strong Style found themselves new rivals in the #CCK stable of Chris Brookes, Kid Lykos and Travis Banks, who debuted by interrupting their attack on Matt Riddle. This led to a match on 25 June, where Bate and Seven lost the Progress Tag Team Championship to Brookes and Lykos.[26][27] On 9 July, British Strong Style and #CCK faced off in a six-man tag team match, where Brookes and Lykos agreed to put the Progress Tag Team Championship on the line with the added stipulation that if British Strong Style did not win the match, they could never again challenge for the title. British Strong Style ended up cheating their way to a victory, making Bate and Seven the new Progress Tag Team Champions.[28][29]

On 10 September, British Strong Style lost both of their Progress titles to members of #CCK with Bate and Seven losing the Tag Team Championship to Brookes and Lykos in a ladder match, while Dunne lost the World Championship to Travis Banks, ending the group's ten-month domination over Progress.[30][31] Following the loss of their titles, British Strong Style turned face with Dunne apologising for some of his actions as champion.[32] At Chapter 76, Seven defeated Doug Williams to win the Progress Atlas Championship. At Chapter 82, a rematch of the WWE United Kingdom Championship match from NXT TakeOver: Chicago between Dunne and Bate was the main event. Dunne defeated Bate in what ring announcer and co-owner Jim Smallman said was the duos farewell match, implying both seemingly were going full-time with NXT UK and WWE.

On 1 September 2017, British Strong Style, billed as "House Strong Style", entered the 2017 King of Trios tournament, hosted by the American Chikara promotion in Wolverhampton, England. After defeating House Whitewolf (A-Kid, Adam Chase and Zayas) in their first round match,[33] House Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield, Mark Angelosetti and Simon Grimm) in the quarterfinals,[34] and House Rot (Frightmare, Hallowicked and Kobald) via forfeit in the semifinals, House Strong Style advanced to the finals of the tournament, where, on 3 September, they defeated House Sendai Girls (Cassandra Miyagi, Dash Chisako and Meiko Satomura) to become the 2017 King of Trios.[1][35]

After Roderick Strong turned on Pete Dunne at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, Dunne teased a return of the stable in WWE on Instagram days later.[36] In April during WrestleMania Axxess weekend, Bate and Seven lost an NXT Tag Team Championship match to Strong and Kyle O'Reilly. After the match, they were attacked by The Undisputed Era until Dunne made the save, thus reuniting for the first time in WWE. It was later announced that Dunne, Bate and Seven would take on The Undisputed Era on the first night of the second annual United Kingdom Championship Tournament in June 2018.[37]

British Strong Style won their match against The Undisputed Era on 18 June. The following night, Bate and Seven defeated O'Reilly and Strong to win the NXT Tag Team Championship for the first time, whilst Dunne retained his WWE United Kingdom Championship against tournament winner Zack Gibson, meaning that all members of British Strong Style were now champions in WWE. However, Bate and Seven lost the titles back to O'Reilly and Strong two days later. At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4, Bate and Seven failed to regain their titles against The Undisputed Era while Dunne retained his title against Gibson once again.[38]