Mark Henry left surprised how NXT UK’s Walter missed out on Breakout Star of the Year nomination

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Aniket Rai

Former WWE wrestler Mark Henry thinks NXT UK star Walter deserved a nomination for the Breakout Star of the Year

Mark Henry featured as a guest on this week’s latest episode of the Busted Open podcast. He ended the segment talking about NXT UK wrestler Walter.

Mark Henry during his WWE days
Mark Henry “The World’s Strongest Man” is introduced during the WWE Smackdown Live Tour at Westridge Park Tennis Stadium on July 08, 2011 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Walter, whose real name is Walter Hahn, made his debut on the Black and Gold brand in January 2019. Since then, the Austrian wrestler has gone on to impress the WWE Universe by being a part of some memorable matches.

One of these matches came in WWE NXT TakeOver: New York, when he defeated Pete Dunne to win the NXT United Kingdom Championship.

Walter (L) is the current WWE NXT UK Champion. (WWE)
Walter (L) is the current WWE NXT UK Champion. (WWE)

His most memorable match came this year on the October 29th episode of NXT. Walter took on Ilja Dragunov and defended his UK Championship in what was tipped as the fight of the year by many fans.

Mark Henry wanted NXT UK sensation Walter to be a nominee for Breakout Star of the Year

Keeping all of this mind, Mark Henry made a valid point when he questioned the exclusion of Walter from the ‘Breakout Star of the Year’ award at the WWE Slammy Awards 2020.

The Slammy Awards were hosted by WWE this week after a 5 year hiatus. The Breakout Star of the Year had many deserving nominees, but Walter did not feature on the list.

The Street Profits ultimately went on to win the award in a category which baffled Mark Henry the most out of any other.

“That was the Slammy that I was the most conflicted about. I thought there were so many options.”

The Street Profits won the Slammy Award for the Breakout Star[s] of the year. (WWE)
The Street Profits won the Slammy Award for the Breakout Star[s] of the year. (WWE)

Henry said that he was disappointed that Walter was not on the list despite him having some great matches this year.

“I hated that Walter was not on that list…. he still had a few matches that I thought was as good as any other matches we saw on mainstream wrestling.”

‘The Strongest Man in the World’ doesn’t think that Walter should have won the award. However, he was adamant that the 33-year-old should have at least made the list.

“I wasn’t ready to give him the nod but I was just saying, at least put the guy on the list.”

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