Mark Andrews

Mark Andrews (born 25 January 1992) is a Welsh professional wrestler and musician who is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is a former Impact World Tag Team Champion.

He and stablemate Flash Morgan Webster also wrestle for the England based Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro), where they are in their first reign as Undisputed British Tag Team Champions.

He previously wrestled for WWE, where he and Webster were the first Welsh Champions in WWE history during their reign as NXT UK Tag Team Champions.

It was for NWA Wales that Andrews made his wrestling debut, appearing in a battle royal in 2006.

Shortly afterwards, Andrews began competing under a mask, using the name "The Lightning Kid".

He has stated that this was to hide his young age from audiences.

Andrews' rise as The Lightning Kid was gradual, with most his appearances in 2006 and 2007 limited to promotions in South Wales.

His first appearance outside Wales was at the 2007 Holbrooks Festival in Coventry, where he first met his long-time friend (and wrestling rival), Pete Dunne.

January 2008 saw Andrews make his first international appearance, when he was flown out to Madrid to compete for La Super Wrestling Alliance (SWA).

In 2009, Andrews first began to gain exposure on Britain's independent wrestling scene, making appearances for British Championship Wrestling and Premier British Wrestling; where he competed against Noam Dar.

In November 2009, Andrews wrestled at IPW:UK's event in Chatham, Kent, against Zack Sabre Jr..

He had a previous stint in Impact Wrestling - then known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) - in the mid 2010s under the ring name Mandrews.

He is also the bassist and co-lead vocalist of the band Junior.

Andrews started training at the age of 13, upon discovery of the NWA Wales training school in Newport.

As well as training there under Edd Ferris, Andrews would travel to Kent three times a year to attend NWA UK Hammerlock's training camps, where he learned off the likes of John Ryan, Paul Tracey and Andre Baker.

It is here that he met Zack Sabre Jr.., who later became Andrews's mentor.

In 2010, Andrews started to appear regularly for Coventry-based Triple X Wrestling.

He appeared as part of a stable called "The NexXxus", a parody of the "Nexus" faction in the WWE.

Under the name "Mandrews Tarver", Andrews joined fellow 'rookies' Wade Helix (Helix), Hitch Sheffield (Wild Boar), Phil Otunga (Phil Ward) and Gav Gabriel (Morgan Webster) as the group ambushed and attacked various members of the roster.

On 15 October 2010, Andrews challenged Andy Wild for the SPWO UK Championship in a losing effort.

In 2011, Andrews debuted for Insane Championship Wrestling in Glasgow, attempted to qualify for the Union of European Wrestling Alliances European Cruiserweight Championship tournament and competed at Premier British Wrestling's annual "King of Cruisers" six-way match in Irevine.

Andrews also made two appearances for the newly reformed Frontier Wrestling Alliance, which included an encounter against long-time rival Wild Boar at Thorpe Park.

Andrews started to make appearances for Preston City Wrestling, where he twice came up short in encounters for Bubblegum's PCW Cruiserweight Championship, including in a three-way match that also included Austin Aries.

Andrews' match against Kris Travis at "PCW SuperShow 4" was nominated for "UK Match of the Year" in the Fighting Spirit Magazine Reader Awards 2014, the second year running Andrews had been nominated for the honour.

In Attack! Pro Wrestling, Andrews continued heavy involvement in the creative direction of the organisation.

May saw Andrews reprise his role as Pikachu, as Attack!

presented the second instalment of their popular video game themed shows, "Press Start Level 2".

Taking on Arthur Klauser-Saxon (Tyler Bate), who was styled as Machoke, Andrews picked up the win to gain the hold of the 24:7 Championship for a second time.

As with his first reign, he did not hold the title for long – with T-Bone winning the title almost immediately, styled as Bowser.

At the following show, "The Weird And Wonderful World of Attack! Pro Wrestling", Andrews again regained the title, defeating current holders Sam Bailey and Zack Gibson in a soccer-themed tag team match, alongside Pete Dunne.

For a third time, Andrews lost the title almost as quickly as he had won it, with Lana Austin and Nixon Newell striking the same evening to take the belt.

Andrews also made another short trip to the US independents in 2014, which included a dark match appearance at DREAMWAVE's "Good As Gold" event in LaSalle, Illinois.

In addition to the USA trip, Andrews also made his debut for Germany's award-winning Westside Xtreme Wrestling.

Appearing on the Mülheim leg of the "wXw Drive of Champions Tour", Andrews teamed with Pete Dunne and Chris Brookes, losing out to Big Daddy Walter, Axel Dieter Jr. and Da Mack.

Andrews' most successful year-to-date earned him three nominations at the Fighting Spirit Magazine Reader Awards 2014, where he was shortlisted for "Best UK Wrestler" and "Best UK Tag Team" (with Eddie Dennis), alongside his "UK Match of the Year" nomination for his PCW encounter against Kris Travis.

Meanwhile, the online message board UKFF voted Andrews the 3rd best wrestler in the UK, with a series of complimentary comments, including: "Mark's the poster boy of the resurgence British wrestling is seeing at the moment. Talented, likeable, and genuinely cool."

After signing a contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, it was confirmed that Andrews would be moving stateside.

Andrews' "home" promotion, Attack!

Pro Wrestling, hosted a farewell show on 24 January 2015.

Titled "Mandrews Goes To America", the show was held at Cathays Community Centre in Cardiff, a small venue just minutes from where Andrews grew up.