Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews recently spoke with Kenny McIntosh of Inside The Ropes and discussed several topics including the NXT UK Heritage Cup, winning the NXT UK Tag Team Championship and more. Here are some highlights:
On The Heritage Cup:
Webster: “It is old school meets new school, it’s the old school rules meets the modern day wrestling, and I think I’m just really, really excited for you all to see what we’ve produced here. I feel like we’re coming back with no fans, and I think one of the ways that we can combat the lack of fans is to just make it more aggressive, more intense, more sporting and what better way to do that than to bring back these British old school rules? And I’m just super excited for you to see what we’ve produced because I honestly think this Heritage Cup has already produced some of the best matches you’re going to see.
On wrestling without crowds:
Andrews: “You know, I actually think out of any of the wrestling that’s going on in the world right now that maybe NXT UK is the best prepared because the British wrestling scene wasn’t always the kind of, the hot thing that it is now. Iit hasn’t been as booming as it is now, and I think that we’ve almost had more practice than a lot of others around the world performing in front of no one. Honestly, it’s like we’ve all been there where we’ve gone to a show and there’s only been two or three people in the crowd, which sounds absolutely crazy, considering how booming the scene is now.”
“But I think most of our roster, at least the guys that have been at it a good while, we’ve all done it before. We’ve all wrestled in front of no one, really, so it’s not this uncomfortable vibe that a lot of people might feel like overseas for example. I think this is something that everyone’s kind of in their comfort zone doing.”
Webster: “I think if you looked across the board, you look at NXT, you look at RAW and SmackDown, anyone who’s really excelled when it comes to no fans, the likes of Daniel Bryan, the likes of Finn Balor, Timothy Thatcher, your AJ Styles, your Cesaro, every single one of them has either adapted from the British style or you know, they’ve done the rounds over here. So I feel like they really tapped into that sportingness, that intensity, that aggression, and they’ve really borrowed from what we do best. So I think when you look at that and when you look at who’s really doing well with these no fans, it’s the people that have been able to adopt that kind of British style, you know elements of it, and bring it to their wrestling today, whereas we’re not adopting anything. This is our style, so if you’re enjoying the pinnacle of the no fans era, then you’re not gonna see any sort of imitation when you watch NXT UK, you’re gonna see the real product. So if you enjoy it, then come and check us out because we are the best at what we do.”
On winning the NXT UK Tag Team Championship in Cardiff:
Andrews: “It was the best day ever, wasn’t it? It was just the best, I mean, you know, I felt like me and Flash both, we actually had a lot of relief once it was over because when something is lined up so perfectly, you almost doubt yourself and you prepare for something to go wrong, you know, an injury or a screwup or something like that. And it felt like it was too good to be true, to be honest. It was in our home country, all of our friends and all of our family in the crowd, we became the first ever Welsh champions in the history of WWE, and then the cherry on top of it as well was my band did the theme song for the event. It felt like this is all too good to be true. ”
“To do it in Cardiff on such a big event in one of my favorite matches that I’ve ever had in my 15 years of wrestling, it couldn’t have gone better, to be honest.”
Webster: “On my side as well, one of the biggest reasons I got into wrestling was because there was a British wrestling legend from my hometown called Adrian Street, and he was there as well, so on top of these two, the flip side was that Mark’s band plays it and the guy who was kind of a childhood hero to me was in the building watching along. Like as Mark said, if this was written down, you’d go this isn’t believable, you know, this would never play out as well as it did and fortunately we were able to do it.”
On European talent finding success in WWE:
Andrews: “When we were younger, growing up, it really didn’t seem that attainable, you know, you had a few British wrestlers out in WWE but it was maybe British Bulldog, maybe William Regal, maybe Fit Finlay, but there wasn’t really a go-to ladder to climb, if that makes sense. You had companies like FWA, for example, but even that it didn’t seem too attainable, especially being from Wales, you know? And I like to think that now with NXT UK, but not only that but having a crop of Scottish wrestlers, a great crop of Irish wrestlers, a great crop of Welsh wrestlers and English wrestlers as well, which makes the majority but especially for Scotland, Wales and Ireland now, there is that kind of direct attainability, I guess. ”
The full interview is available here:
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