PETE DUNNE

Due to COVID-19 and the pandemic, Dunne became inactive and could not travel to the US to compete with Riddle. In his absence, Timothy Thatcher replaced Dunne and their titles were lost in May to Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel.

On October 28 at Halloween Havoc, Dunne returned to NXT and turned heel by attacking Kyle O’Reilly and joining Pat McAfee’s Kings of NXT stable alongside Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan. The Kings of NXT faced against Undisputed Era at NXT Takeover: WarGames, 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 Burch. Dunne then faced the NXT champion Finn Bálor at NXT Takeover: Vengeance Day for Bálor’s NXT Championship in a losing effort.

Kings Of NXT Disband

Dunne entered a feud with Kushida and culminated to match at NXT Takeover: Stand & Deliver. At the event, Dunne defeat Kushida.

The Kings of NXT quietly disbanded when McAfee moved to Friday Night SmackDown as a color commentator. However, Dunne still continued to align himself with Lorcan and Burch. On the 27th July edition of NXT, Ridge Holland returned from injury by attacking Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher after Dunne and Lorcan’s match against them, thus joining their alliance. The alliance was short lived though when Holland was called up to Smackdown. Lorcan and Burch were released as part of mass layoffs.

After this, Dunne, now solo, struggled for awhile before starting a feud with the debuting Tony D’Angelo, and subsequently turned face to join team Black and Gold. The team consisted of Ciampa, Gargano and Knight for NXT WarGames. In that event, his team lost to team 2.0.

After Wargames, Dunne remained face and continued feuding with D’Angelo. On the December 21st episode of NXT, Dunne defeated D’Angelo in singles competition but after the match, was brutally attacked by D’Angelo with a crowbar. The two would fight each other in a Crowbar On A Pole match on the January 11, 2022 episode with D’Angelo defeating Dunne. The feud culminated at NXT Vengeance Day where Dunne defeated D’Angelo in a Weaponized Steel Cage match.

Pete Dunne Moves to SmackDown

On the March 11th episode of SmackDown, Dunne made his official main roster debut under the new ring name, Butch. He aligned himself with Ridge Holland and Sheamus in their feud against Big E and Kofi Kingston. Butch competed in his first main roster match on the April 8th episode of Smackdown where he was defeated by Xavier Woods. At Clash at the Castle on September 3rd, Butch managed Sheamus against Gunther in a match for the WWE’s Intercontinental Championship. Sheamus lost the match but received a standing ovation, effectively turning Butch and the Brawling Brutes face. A few weeks later, Butch and Holland won a fatal four-way tag team match to become the #1 contenders for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship.

The following week, they faced the champions The Usos for the titles in a losing effort after interference from Imperium. They had another opportunity at Crown Jewel on November 5th, but lost again. 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 November 26th in a WarGames match which they lost.

NXT Heritage Cup Challenge

On the June 9th episode of SmackDown, Butch defeated Baron Corbin to qualify for the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match. At Money in the Bank, Damian Priest won the match. Later in the 2023, Butch was invited to the NXT Global Heritage Invitational on WWE’s developmental brand, NXT. He was put in Group A alongside Tyler Bate, Axiom, and Charlie Dempsey. Butch topped the group and faced the winner of Group B, Joe Coffey. Butch won the match against Coffey to be the number one contender to face Noam Dar for the NXT Heritage Cup at NXT No Mercy. At the event, Butch was unsuccessful in winning the Heritage Cup.

At SmackDown: New Year’s Revolution on January 5 2024, Butch reunited with Tyler Bate to reform British Strong Style. Four days later, Butch returned to his original ring name, Pete Dunne, and defeated Pretty Deadly in a rematch from SmackDown: New Year’s Revolution. On the February 23rd episode of SmackDown, the duo of Bate and Dunne was renamed to New Catch Republic.

New Catch Republic won the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship Contender Series for an Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship match at Elimination Chamber: Perth but failed to defeat The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor and Damian Priest) for the titles at the event.

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