Mark Andrews: It Stings That I Was Released Two Weeks Before Welsh Stadium Show

On August 18, Mark Andrews was released by WWE. 

The release came in the wake of WWE announcing that NXT UK would be going on hiatus and reboot as NXT Europe in 2023. Andrews is a former NXT UK Tag Team Championship alongside Flash Morgan Webster. 

Speaking on his My Love Letter to Wrestling podcast, Andrews reflected on his release. 

“You just essentially sat there waiting for a call. It was a big group call where it was kind of hinted at that a few people might be losing their jobs. Then, the boys group chat, one by one, ‘I’ve been released.’ ‘I’ve been released.’ ‘Me too.’ ‘Me too.’ The thing is, when it comes to being a professional wrestler, especially when you’re working like a bigger company like WWE, you do expect these things. I remember Drake Maverick texted me years ago when I first signed to TNA, ‘It’s not what you make, it’s what you save.’ That’s got to be your mindset being a pro wrestler because these things happen. The same with American football, they get drafted and they can get let go. It’s kind of the nature of the business. That’s something I’ve been prepared for. There have been numerous occasions in the last six years working for the company where I felt I was going to get released. This one actually surprised me. All the other times, ‘we’re on our way out.’ This one, ‘Oh, two weeks before the big Welsh show? That’s weird timing. Surely this should have been a year ago,” he said with a laugh.

WWE is set to hold Clash at the Castle on Saturday, September 3 in Cardiff, Wales. Andrews is from Cardiff and was looking forward to the possibility of potentially wrestling at Principality Stadium. 

“That’s the bit that stings. Genuinely, I don’t have that much….I don’t feel ill will towards the company for letting a lot of us go. NXT UK is ending, there is a time period between NXT UK and NXT Europe, I do see why it makes sense, but it does sting that it’s two weeks before the only stadium show in Wales to ever happen, the biggest show in British history. To really put that in perspective, it’s not just, ‘Oh, we’re Welsh.’ To me, I’ve pretty much wrestled in every other venue in Cardiff. That would be the one to get off the list. I guess that’s where it gets a little confusing. Me, Flash (Morgan Webster), Wild Boar, and Eddie (Dennis), we’re very close friends outside of wrestling. We all said a year ago, ‘if any of us get on this, that’s the most important thing.’ My only hope right now is for the big Tegan Nox comeback. If that happens, it’s been redeemed in some way. This was a huge opportunity for Wales, for Welsh wrestling and for all the years we put the work in, in the bingo halls. All of the years we put the work in, in Wales, it would have been lush if one of us could have had the moment to be celebrated. Being released, I can take, it’s the wrestling business, you just have to crack on with it. The Welsh show, this is something that might not happen again and it’s the first time it’s happening. That’s the bit that hurts,” he said.

Tegan Nox was released by WWE in November 2021 and has remained a free agent due to visa issues. 

Fans can check out the current lineup for WWE Clash at the Castle by clicking here. Fightful will have live coverage of WWE Clash at the Castle beginning at 1 p.m. ET. 

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