WWE News: Mark Andrews/Flash Morgan Webster looking to face NXT's Undisputed Era & more (Exclusive)

From the moment I walked into the room where the new NXT UK tag team champions Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster were being interviewed, it was clear that they were still recovering from the immense highs of winning the titles in their home country. The crowd carried them on an immense wave as they gave everything they had and more. It was clear to me that I would be not so much asking questions as winding them up and letting them go.

This absolutely proved to be the case. Flash Morgan Webster took so much joy in repeatedly putting his title belt on and taking it back off again between pictures and interviews. Mark Andrews went for the classic over the shoulder look. Both were beaming with pride for most of it.

Tom Colohue:

So you’ve just won the titles after Takeover in Cardiff. The crowd was behind you the entire way, I was sat in it and it was electric, how important is it to have that enthusiasm from everyone around you willing you on?

Mark Andrews:

Honestly it’s just so important. I definitely think being in our in our home town, our home crowd was one of the biggest aspects of that match, you know? I watched it back this morning and you can almost see the cameras shake when the bell rings at the end. It’s Wales; it’s known for being a very patriotic country but it was awesome to see them being so patriotic and so supportive of us winning last night at Takeover.

Flash Morgan Webster:

I don’t know if you saw in the build up to this we were saying together stronger. Of course we stole that from the Euros (European football championship tournament) run that the Welsh team had because they believe that they got to the semi finals - of course they did lose to the eventual winners Portugal - but they they got to the semi finals because of the support of the the fans and I believe that when we walked in last night it wasn’t Grizzled Young Vets versus Gallus vs South Welsh Subculture, it was Grizzled Young Vets versus Gallus vs South Welsh Subculture with the entire Welsh nation behind us so yeah they were, when we think about it now there was no way we couldn’t have won really because they’re all behind us.

Mark Andrews:

Yeah yeah behind us yeah exactly.

Tom Colohue:

As the first Welsh champions how important do you believe that is to people like yourselves who were growing up around Wales and really how do you think it impacts them and their aspirations to have that?

Mark Andrews:

I think it’s incredibly important. Erm; when we started wrestling about fifteen years ago you know there wasn’t really any local role models in the wrestling industry. So you had Adrian Street who was probably the closest thing but he was out in America at the time and he’d moved out there for his career years before so there wasn’t anything locally that we could almost aspire to do really you know? We had to find a local school which wasn’t very you know widely appealed to everyone. Now there’s five contracted Welsh wrestlers and this weekend there’s even more backstage. Last night was being refereed by Chris Roberts who’s someone we’ve known for years from the Welsh scene. To know that there’s now the first ever Welsh champions in WWE history it just goes to show you that there is, there is a part... if you’re a young person in Wales and you want to get involved in wrestling there is a way to do it. It’s much more, you know, it’s almost a more achievable thing now than it was maybe when started 10 15 years ago.

Flash Morgan Webster:

We got some lovely tweets off a lot of people last night but there was one that stuck out when I was reading through and it was off a fan and it said Wales have their first Welsh champions and he, one of them lived 10 minutes from where I live. I looked and it literally was the town over and I thought to myself how crazy would it have been me growing up wanting to become a wrestler and thinking that the next town over in Ebbw Vale there was a person who’d become a Welsh champion or whatever then it would have been feel like it was so much more achievable and again if I can just, if we can just ignite that in anyone from Wales that feels that they want to do this and it feels like it’s a little bit more achievable then I feel like that’s the biggest testament in the world.

Tom Colohue:

How important is it to you that you have the NXT UK brand, whereas previously you didn’t have that, how many more opportunities has this opened it for you?

Mark Andrews:

Oh it’s opened up opportunities for us especially but for everybody up and down the country, really the wrestling scene has been booming in the UK for about 5-6 years now but this is the platform that’s needed to show that off to the world. And we talk about like Triple H’s global localisation plan to to set up NXT essentially across the world and to make stars around the world but I feel like last night was a perfect example of creating stars here in the UK and I think it’s really what this brand needs going forward. NXT UK should be competing with the the top shows on the network and I feel like last night was a good example of that and we’re going to continue to build this brand and create stars here in the UK and as we said a minute ago, give people aspirational figures to look up to to build the UK wrestling scene as a whole and to let people know that pro wrestling is big in the UK.

Flash Morgan Webster:

Yeah exactly what Mark’s just said, on top of it as well I know that there’s a wealth of talent not just in NXT UK but also in the British wrestling scene and there’s a lot of them that if they wanted to become a full-time wrestler or they wanted a long lengthy career they would have had to have moved to America. They don’t have to now and I know that there’s definitely people who work for NXT UK and there’s people on the British wrestling scene that don’t want to leave this great nation and I believe it’s a brilliant platform for people if they do want to go to America they can. If they want to stay here and continue to build this scene, they can do that as well, so yeah it means that we’ve got so much more opportunities here at home.

Tom Colohue:

Just to touch on that, if you were offered the opportunity to go straight to Raw or straight to SmackDown from here and move to the US, is that something you would consider or when you look at Cesaro, Finn Balor wanting to come over here, do you believe this is the place to be?

Mark Andrews:

I do feel like sometimes you dream, plan the rest of your career and I think you know as a kid growing up you want to work for the WWE and now there’s so many different areas to the company. You have NXT in America, NXT UK, 205 Live, RAW, SmackDown that it almost seems like the possibilities are endless. I definitely would consider moving over if big opportunities showed up out in the states. A personal goal for me is to perform at WrestleMania. Another one was to win championship gold in the UK and that one’s now ticked off which is amazing, but yeah definitely if the right opportunity showed up I’d be completely be on board as much as I love being based in the UK. And I think that I’d always come back here at some point in my life but if the right opportunity showed up I’d travel anywhere in the world to try and achieve as much as I can in the WWE.

Flash Morgan Webster:

We had this conversation this morning. We kind of said like the opportunities after that match last night and winning these gold’s kind of the opportunities we’re going to get in the future is amazing. But we have to kind of think ahead and wrestling’s always better when you take it step by step brick by brick as you (Mark Andrews) said last night in the theme song but yeah I think the the next step ahead now is to concentrate on being the NXT UK tag team champions, becoming a division that the likes of Finn Balor, Cesaro -- they are they’re scrambling to come over here. This is so hot and last night was just a taste of what this brand can do and trust me we are only just getting started. It’s onwards and upwards from here, trust me.

Tom Colohue:

With NXT moving to the USA network there’s a possibility for you guys to be appearing there. When it comes to tag divisions there who are you most excited in that division to get the chance to face?

Mark Andrews:

Someone I’ve never, well, people have never had the opportunity to get in the ring with: Undisputed Era actually. Now I know they’re the pretty much a top team in NXT at the moment but we’re the top team in NXT UK right now so it seems awfully fitting and I feel like that’s a match that I would very much enjoy to have and that could really cement our careers as one of the top teams in the company so that’s my choice. Undisputed Era.

Flash Morgan Webster: