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Those who follow UK and European independent wrestling (or those who read “Make Your Own Moments: Four Years of UEWA European Heavyweight Champion Andy Roberts”) will likely already be aware of the historic UEWA European Heavyweight Championship reign of Fife’s Andy Roberts.
On September 7th, 2023, Big Andy faced one of the most significant challenges so far in his 1,520+ days as UEWA European Heavyweight Champion, when he was pushed to the absolute limit by Rampage Brown at Fife Pro Wrestling Asylum’s sold-out Truth or Dare? event.
With Brown serving as the inaugural champion of the Union of European Wrestling Alliances, and Roberts recently setting numerous records as champion, this was a clash between the title’s past and its present, in a bout to determine its future.
Of course, Brown, who stands 6’1 and at an imposing 233lbs, is hardly solely defined by his 2010 reign for the UEWA. He is one of the most decorated men in the history of UK wrestling, having held championships for Insane Championship Wrestling, Progress Wrestling, World of Sport, Revolution Pro Wrestling, Defiant Wrestling and All Star Wrestling. He has worked for Ring of Honor, Impact Wrestling, and while a member of the WWE roster, faced off against both Walter and Ilja Dragunov for the WWE NXT United Kingdom Championship.
Nonetheless, in a match billed by FPWA as a “Big Bar Brawl,” Roberts was able to overcome kendo sticks, powerbombs and piledrivers in his sixteenth recorded title defence. Later, on social media, Roberts dedicated the match to late European Heavyweight Champions Adrian “Lionheart” McAllum and “Alexander” Dean Merton (whose tragic passing had occurred just days prior).
In a tragic story without much of a message, it was the untimely passing of Lionheart in 2019 which led to the vacancy of the UEWA title, and it was at the Pro Wrestling Elite show held in his honour where Roberts pinned Alexander Dean to begin this current reign. Now it’s only Roberts who is left of the past three European Heavyweight Champions.
Though Roberts’ has reigned through tragedy, injury and COVID lockdowns, I can only imagine how times like this must add significant weight and pressure to his responsibilities as both a champion, and a friend to the fallen.
Looking towards the future, this victory over Brown may represent vindication for Roberts, who hasn’t received all of the opportunities that Brown has. As Roberts eyes NXT Europe and a WWE contract, his latest challenger joins Kenny Williams and Wild Boar on the list of former NXT UK talents that the champion has been able to fend off.
In addition to turning back NXT UK in-ring talents, Roberts even scored a British Rounds victory over NXT coach and British legend James Mason, a former European Heavyweight Champion in his own right.
Evidently, the man once known as Andy Wild has been putting together an impressive run of title defences as he seeks to prove his claim that he is the best Heavyweight in Europe, whether he’s on its biggest stages or not. Beyond the ex-WWE talent, he also retained his title against Doug Williams, BT Gunn, Charlie Sterling, Krieger, Liam Thomson, Jason Reed, Kez Evans and numerous others.
Though Roberts is a decorated performer with championships and signature victories in companies like ICW, WrestleZone and Discovery Wrestling, he hasn’t had as many chances to represent his home promotions as a champion as he could be argued to deserve. Though he may be taken for granted or is perhaps still at times punished for having had to prioritise his family earlier in his career, Roberts has been able to create a special run on his own by traveling from promotion to promotion, and defeating men who have held a plethora of major championships all across the world.
With Roberts setting almost every conceivable record for his title, the question to ask is not only who’s next but where’s next?
Since his victory against Brown, Big Andy also defeated his student Craig Berry in non-title action for Fair City Wrestling. Tickets for ICW’s Fear & Loathing XV are reportedly selling well, and with Roberts having defeated numerous former ICW World Heavyweight, Zero-G and Tag Team Champions during his UEWA reign, he is no doubt watching their title scene and aiming to bring some “Sports Entertainment“ to ICW’s annual supercard event in November.
There’s also significant history between ICW and the UEWA, and if this partnership was renewed, the Glasgow roster offers many credible challengers for Roberts’ title. Folk like Big Damo, Jackie Polo/JAXN, Aaron Echo, Sha Samuels, Che Monet, Ashton Smith, Jason Reed, Stevie James and Jack Jester would all bring a lot of fight to Europe’s champion.
In particular, a series of matches with dynamic heavyweights like Damo, JAXN, Jester, BT Gunn, Dave Mastiff and Rampage Brown could prove to be a great attraction in places like TNT Extreme Wrestling, Progress, Rev Pro, Bop Wrasslin, Over the Top Wrestling and ICW. Whenever we’ve seen Roberts with these opponents in the past, it has delivered.
The European Heavyweight Championship is an inter-promotional title, and Roberts has taken it to non-UEWA alliance promotions like Blockbuster Wrestling (ICW’s family-friendly brand), WrestleZone, Top Rope Wrestling Academy, British Championship Wrestling, Wolfgang’s Iron Girders Pro Wrestling and his own FPWA promotion. But his potential among UEWA partners is still practically untouched, even within promotions like Pro 2 Wrestling, Dansk Pro Wrestling, World Wide Wrestling League, Copenhagen Championship Wrestling and Infinite Promotions which either run UK-based shows presently or are promotions where Roberts has a history.
Having now defeated two former European Heavyweight Champions, Roberts could perhaps seek out the rest. Although Drew McIntyre (see “New Phenon: The ICW World Heavyweight Championship Reign of Drew Galloway”) will likely have to wait, a rematch with the imposing German, Bad Bones, would be a huge test for the Scotsman.
Elsewhere, as the new measuring stick of the UEWA title, it would be interesting to see Big Andy battle Norway’s Erik Isaksen (formerly UEWA’s longest reigning champion) and Denmark’s Chaos (currently the only two-time champion in the title’s history).
One asterisk on the reign of Roberts is that is defence against Kez Evans went to a no-contest. A rematch between the two would be a logical path to take. Evans spent 364 days as ICW World Heavyweight Champion and even challenged Josh Alexander for the Impact World Championship. A decisive win here would add further prestige to the European Heavyweight title (and Evans would be an excellent champion, should the result go the other way).
On the subject of rematches, past challengers for Roberts’ title such as Wild Boar, BT Gunn, Charlie Sterling and James Mason, now all hold titles of their own in promotions like ATTACK! Pro Wrestling, British Empire Wrestling, BCW, ICW and Progress. Title vs. title rematches could also a significant next step to pursue for these ambitious champions. On top of those, as a Scotsman representing Europe, the Scottish Heavyweight Championship held by Jester and the Scottish Interpromotional Championship held by Frank Cross would be worthy Champion vs. Champion goals for Big Andy too, ones which could further validate his claims to be the UK and Europe’s best Heavyweight.
Despite his longevity as champion, there’s still much that can be done with his reign. Previously, Roberts has carried a cruiserweight division for two-years, held three titles at once for ICW, BCW and PWE, been the Discovery Wrestling iron man, delivered an international challenge for Drew Galloway’s EVOLVE Championship (see: “Self-Chosen: The EVOLVE Championship Reign of Drew Galloway”), been the deadly wildcard in a PPV World title main-event (see: “Distant Shores: The ICW World Heavyweight Championship Reign of ‘El Capitan’ Leyton Buzzard“) and squared up to The Bloodline on SmackDown . He now runs a world-class wrestling school.
History dictates that Roberts can make the most of these opportunities, so I hope that his hard work continues to pay off in 2023 and beyond. Getting back into contention for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship and Discovery Y Division Championship would be among the most instantaneous measures of progression, but it will be interesting to see where Roberts lands in the the Scottish Wrestling Network “End of Year Awards”. In 2017, he received an “Outstanding Recognition” award, as well as “Wrestler of the Year” awards in 2019 and 2021. He previously placed at No.47 in the 2022’s SWN100 list, but can close-calls for titles in ICW, Discovery and New Wave Wrestling; being 2023’s “Square Go!” MVP; and victories over Doug Williams, BT Gunn, Che Monet, Rampage Brown, Chris Ridgeway, Krieger, John Kerr, Craig Berry, Tallon Jr. and Johnny Lions propel him higher in 2023?
With as much uncertainty as as there is possibility for the future, one match is set. At the interactive Truth or Dare? event, FPWA polled their capacity audience on who should receive the next shot at Roberts’ European Heavyweight Championship. Having earned more than 50% of the vote, FPWA “Student of the Year” Frank Gallo is now due to challenge Roberts at ‘Twas A Night At the Wresting II. As a trainee, Gallo is of course not at the level of notoriety as some of challengers Roberts has already faced, but he’s a lunatic and he’s hungry. On the other hand, coach Roberts surely feels he can’t afford a loss to his own student, certainly not with the title on the line, and especially not in front of his FPWA students. This one could get ugly before it’s all over.
“When I won the UEWA European Heavyweight Championship, I was committed to turning my reign into a legacy. It is my belief that either a wrestler can make a title or a title can make a wrestler. Four years on and fifteen-plus title defences against some of the best Wrestlers in the world, I’m confident that not only have I proved that I’m the best Heavyweight Wrestler in Europe, but that I’ve elevated this title to a whole new level. Who’s next!?” – Andy Roberts (“Make Your Own Moments: Four Years of UEWA European Heavyweight Champion Andy Roberts“, July 19th, 2023)
Links:
Andy Roberts Online: Twitter / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Merch
Union of European Wrestling Alliances Online: Twitter / Facebook / YouTube
Fife Pro Wrestling Asylum Online: FPWA.co.uk / Twitter / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube
Ecstasy of Gold Online: Twitter / Instagram / Facebook / See also: “Make Your Own Moments: Four Years of UEWA European Heavyweight Champion Andy Roberts”
Sources / References / Citations Note:
This article is fully cited. You can find all sources linked via the bolded text above. For any corrections/questions, please feel free to submit them via the contact form.
The Ecstasy of Gold Wrestling website 