We’re just over one week away from WWE’s United Kingdom Champion Tournament and we’re all still trying to wrap our heads around it. WWE likely is, too, as they still haven’t revealed what will become of the new champion after the tournament, which is the first shot fired in the looming war for the UK’s pro wrestling fans. And now they’ve made it clear that if they can find better talent than the originally-announced 18 names for the tournament, they have no problem swapping them out.
On Thursday morning, WWE announced that Mark Andrews would be joining the tournament. Andrews has developed an increasing reputation for being one of the premiere high-flyers in wrestling through his work in Progress Wrestling and PWG in the past couple of years, among other promotions.
BREAKING NEWS: #MarkAndrews of Cardiff, Wales will compete in the 16-man tournament field at the @WWEUKCT, LIVE Jan. 14-15 on @WWENetwork. pic.twitter.com/Q8LCS81gTI
— WWE (@WWE) January 5, 2017
At this point, it is unclear which of the 18 previously announced names Andrews will be replacing, or whether he (or any of the UK Tournament competitors) have been signed to any sort of contract by WWE.
Andrews has been working in TNA since 2014, when he won the second edition of British Boot Camp. He debuted under his “Mandrews” nickname and was on Impact Wrestling just a few weeks ago competing for the X Division Championship.
The 24-year-old has already been wrestling for over 10 years and is closely linked to fellow UK indie stars Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, and Zack Sabre Jr. In addition to his pro wrestling career, Andrews also plays in a pop punk band and created a line of clothing and accessories touting “Defend Indie Wrestling.” So get ready for him to get a lot of undeserved flak about joining this tournament on that last count.
If you’ve never seen Andrews in the ring before, you should probably watch this highlight video, because it rules.
