On December 15, 2016, it was revealed that Wolfgang would be one of sixteen men competing in a two-night tournament to crown the first ever WWE United Kingdom Champion on and January 14 and 15, 2017. Young defeated Tyson T-Bone in the first round, advancing to the quarter finals. In the quarter-finals, he went on to defeat Trent Seven before losing to Seven's tag team partner Tyler Bate in the semi finals.
On the September 13 episode of NXT, Wolfgang faced Pete Dunne for the WWE United Kingdom Championship in a losing effort. After the match, Wolfgang was brutally attacked by The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O'Reilly). This attack ended when Trent Seven and Tyler Bate came out to help Wolfgang. On June 18, 2018, it was announced that Wolfgang would fight Adam Cole on the second night of the UK Championship Tournament, for the NXT North American Championship. He would go on to lose the match.
Wolfgang turned heel on the October 31 edition of NXT UK after a losing match against Mark Andrews, allying himself with brothers Mark and Joe Coffey against Andrews, Flash Morgan Webster, and Travis Banks. On the first December 5 episode of NXT UK, the trio of Wolfgang and the Coffey brothers was officially dubbed Gallus during a segment, calling out British Strong Style as well as the returning Travis Banks.