'The Statement' Andruew Tang discusses his WWE tryout, Kenny Omega and Singapore Pro Wrestling (Exclusive)

To be the "first" at anything is an achievement in its own right. To be the first-ever professional wrestler from your home country? Well, that makes a monumental statement about your drive, determination and talent.

I recently caught up with the first-ever professional wrestler from Singapore, "The Statement" Andruew Tang, to chat all about his journey to the top, his recent WWE tryout, and having Kenny Omega visit Singapore.

Regular viewers may notice the voice in the video below isn't my own, as sadly Andruew and I couldn't calibrate our schedules due to time difference - but it was a pleasure to formulate the questions and hear The Statement's answers.

Watch the video below for more, or keep reading for the highlights!

Andruew, you are THE first-ever professional wrestler from Singapore. What inspired you to become a professional wrestler?

I remember when I was 10 years old, playing video games with my cousin. The game was WWF SmackDown. I didn't watch wrestling, you know, I got my a** whooped - but I found the game very interesting - the colourful characters, the mesmerising and devastating wrestling moves.

I went back home, did a lot of research on wrestling, watched wrestling and, following that, I was blown away by the athleticism on display in the ring, the larger-than-life presence, the charisma.

Growing up, I really idolised The Rock and his ability to captivate and mesmerise the crowd. I was blown away by that. I told myself, "Okay, this is something I have to do in my lifetime. I want to be like The Rock, I want to be a pro wrestler - the way they carry themselves inside the ring, the way they entertain the crowd," and I feel like that's my calling and, since then, I've never looked back.

I just try my best to make my dreams a reality.

Being the first-ever must have been a little daunting. What obstacles did you face?

Initially, I started off at the age of 23 and there were no wrestling promotions in Singapore, so basically what I would do was, I set up realistic goals for myself, to see how I could get one step closer to the pro wrestling business.

Thankfully, I met my partner, Vadim, who owns a promotion in Russia. He has been around for 15 years and there are a lot of WWE guys who have wrestled in the promotion, very established, experienced wrestlers in Russia. We decided to venture into Singapore, and we've never looked back.

I mean, the challenging part was actually learning pro wrestling, and then eventually to build up a scene, a wrestling culture here in Singapore. When I first started off the pro wrestling scene, in Singapore, 2012, there wasn't a boom, not during my time, where pro wrestling was watchable and accessible on TV in mainstream media.

So, basically to get support from the fans, to show them that our promotion is credible, the stuff we do inside the ring is good, it's value for money and making them want to come back for more, telling their friends and spreading through word-of-mouth.

NEXT: Andruew discusses sharing the ring with Kenny Omega

The Singapore scene is now thriving, you'd have to say. Tell us a little bit about that, and Singapore Pro Wrestling.

I remember when we first started doing shows, people were sceptical about us because of the size. They would make comparisons with the stars you see on TV from the WWE, who are so big, huge, tall. They would ask, "Singapore guys, can they do it? They are so small. Will they be able to wrestle against WWE stars and foreigners?"

Yeah, eventually we changed that mindset because we trained hard and proved to them that, "Hey, we can do it inside the ring and we are trying our best to be of that standard."

Over the course of seven years, the company has grown a lot. I remember when we first started wrestling in 2012, we had 60 people and right now, seven years, 30+ shows later, we have an average of at least 500-700 people in attendance.

We work with a number of reputable promotions like NJPW and we've had WWE scouts coming down twice to have a look at our wrestling. It's really impressive; the sky is the limit for SPW and we just keep growing and helping Singapore progress to the next level.

You recently had Kenny Omega over here to visit, how did that go?

It was great. You know, I got a shock because, having Kenny Omega down in Singapore, he's arguably the best pro wrestler in the world right now and, to be honest, I was starstruck as well. You know, when I was watching indies in the past, Omega was definitely one of my idols.

Stepping foot inside the ring with Omega gave me goosebumps. Kenny's popularity, he is really famous in Singapore. Within 24 hours, just releasing his match card, the event got sold out.

Yeah, it was such a huge honour for me having that match with him and we did some amazing stuff.

I learned so much because I feel like whenever you work with a wrestler who's more experienced than you, you always have something to take back and try to adapt your style to actually be better - be better for myself and more versatile to face different opponents inside the wrestling ring and inside the wrestling world.

Of course, you've shared a ring with Omega, and the likes of CIMA, Renee Dupree, Baliyan Akki, Emi Sakura and many others. Who has been your favourite opponent?

Well, if it's for a singles match, I would say that it would be the former WWE United Kingdom champion, the Bruiserweight Pete Dunne.

We had a match in 2017 at SPW. Why is it one of my favourite matches? Because he was the most high-profile wrestler I'd ever faced and to face off against the WWE UK Champion was such a big accomplishment and career milestone for me.

I want to see where I stand against a champion, and he took me to my limits. I learned so much from him in that match. The way he works is really different because he's really unorthodox and you can't really prepare for an opponent like that - but, yeah, I mean, I'm really happy for the performance I pulled off.

I won't say it's a five-star classic, but take a look at that match.

NEXT: What's next for Andruew Tang?

The Statement auditioned for Tough Enough in 2015, but would actually receive a tryout this year

On that note, who would be your dream opponent?

I would say, maybe Rey Mysterio because, growing up, he was one of my childhood heroes and because we are of a similar stature. He is a highflyer, I'm not a highflyer, I'm a power-style wrestler and I think we could put a really good match together.

I want to test myself and see where I stand. Of course, I just had a tag match with Kenny Omega, I would love to have a singles match with Kenny to see where I stand as well. At the moment, I would say it's Rey Mysterio and Kenny Omega but you never know. I hope Kenny Omega will come back to Singapore and we can have that dream match, mano-y-mano, one-on-one, I want that rematch and we'll see who's the better man.

[Andruew chuckles]

You recently took part in a WWE tryout in China. Tell us about that.

Well, it was definitely an experience, I must say, because it was a huge honour for me.

Me and my mates, Trexxus and Alexis Lee, the three of us were the first batch of wrestlers to actually represent Singapore in WWE tryouts which was a dream come true.

Just the fact that we got selected as three of the ten South East Asian talents. I must say, though, it was physically demanding. They pushed me to my limits. I'm sure I did quite well, I did my best and I'm just hoping I get a contract.

It was mentally stressed because athletes from all around the world, athletes from China, they have athletic backgrounds, and it was such a huge honour for me to be actually doing the tryouts with them. When you do the tryout, the coach says everyone starts from ground zero, so we had to push ourselves to see where we stand and try to get a WWE contract.

It's already done so I'm crossing my fingers and hopefully you might see me in WWE NXT.

What's next for 'The Statement' Andruew Tang?

The world!

Basically to go overseas and make a name for myself, to be a bigger name. The past seven years, I've made a statement in South East Asia and I'm sure now is a time for me to make a statement across the world - UK, US, Europe, Mexico, and make the whole universe feel the...

[Andrew roars]