We recently had the pleasure of catching up with BritWres veteran, Matt Walters, to discuss his life and career.
Firstly, can you give us a background on Matt Walters away from the ring?
OK, so away from wrestling I am a 33 year old guy living in Dalston in North East London where I am
friends with a cat named Roger. I live with my girlfriend, Lenka and I work in media, filming and
editing and that sort of thing. It’s cool because it’s given me some awesome opportunities to travel and
meet some amazing people.
When did you first become interested in professional wrestling and who were some of your favourites
at that time?
I got into wrestling pretty late I’d say. We’d never had Sky TV when I was growing up and my parents
weren’t keen on wrestling and didn’t like me and my brother watching it. It wasn’t until I was 15 or 16
and channel 4 started show WWF Heat that it really entered my consciousness. My favourites were
always the Hardys, Edge & Christian, Chris Jericho and the Rock.
Was there a match or moment which made you want to become a wrestler?
Literally from the first time I watched WWF Heat I knew I wanted to wrestle. I was probably watching
a match between the Godfather and Headbanger Mosh or something.
What was the reaction of your family and friends when you told them that you wanted to become a
wrestler?
When I told my Dad I wanted to go to wrestling training school he said ‘you have rocks in your head’.
My parents were always supportive though, they generally let me do my own thing because I was
always pretty responsible and didn’t do anything too stupid. I guess my friends thought it was cool…
or weird.
You were trained by British legends, Ricky and Saraya Knight. What was that experience like and were
there any other trainers you ever considered learning from?
Looking back at when I started training, it’s quite a nostalgic time because I was 17 years old and that’s
when I loved wrestling the most. Everything was new, fun and really cool. The Knight family were
really great as trainers but also helped me out a lot in my early wrestling years. I was super-broke and
going to art school in Norwich, they would always try to fit me on their shows. Sometimes Julia
(Saraya) would invite me round for dinner with the family, which was great because I didn’t have so
much money for food.
In terms of training, I kind of had a slightly ‘old school’ entry into wrestling as a great deal of my
training came from working on the holiday camps. I did a week-long training camp at WAW and pretty
much went on to the camps and shows from there.
Actually, I do have one training story, which is quite funny. During my first week of training me and
my friend Rob had impressed Julia with our early progress. Ricky had returned from the camps and
showed up at training for the first time. After hearing Julia say that we may be pretty good, he turned to
Roy (Knight) and a wrestler named Bash and said ‘just beat them up a little bit’. So there we were in
the ring getting body slammed, clotheslined and bumped about by Roy and Bash for a few minutes and
at the end of it I thought ‘this is cool’!! It was just a little test to check out our hardiness.
In 2007 I decided to go to America with a few other wrestling friends; Nick Aldis (Magnus), Jim
Cambridge (Jimmy Starr) & Chris Richardson (the Cougar Kid). We went to the Pro Wrestling NOAH
training camp at the Harley Race Wrestling Academy, which was incredible but gruelling experience
being coached, by Naomichi Marufuji, KENTA, Atsushi Aoki and Takeshi Morishima. I also spent a
few months at WWA4 in Atlanta training with Mr Hughes and Elix Skipper who were both very
knowledgeable and great coaches.
When did you make your debut and what are your memories of your first show and match?
I made my debut in the summer of 2001 in Great Yarmouth. I mentioned that I had done a week-long
training camp with the Knights at WAW. At the end of that week, WAW were running a small show
in Great Yarmouth but some wrestlers had pulled out. They asked me and my friend Rob if we wanted
to step in and we jumped at the chance. We faced a pair of baseball/warriors themed wrestlers named
Bash & Crash. It’s fair to say that it probably wasn’t match of the year but it was a great experience
and left made me determined to do more.
In 2004 you won the WAW British Heavyweight Title under the name of Ashe. What did that win
mean to you on both a personal and professional level?
I won the WAW British Heavyweight Title in a match in my home town at the time, Hunstanton,
against Roy Knight (the Zebra Kid). Roy was always somebody that I respected and admired. He was
the guy who, if you were on with him, you knew you would have a tough but great match. I think this
may have been my first ever singles championship match. When the referee counted to three I actually
didn’t believe it. I legit thought it was a rib and thought that someone would come through the curtain
and reverse the decision. I don’t even mean this in a cheesy emotional way, I genuinely thought it was
a mistake. However, when it sunk in, it was pretty cool and it gave me the opportunity to go on and
wrestle some exciting people.
A year prior to that you won the WAW British Tag Team titles alongside Paul Tyrell. What are your
memories of that win and title run?
Well to be honest this was kind of random. I was only put in that match at the very last minute because
Paul’s regular tag partner, Phil Powers, had pulled out. We somehow beat the UK Pitbulls but never
teamed again and never made a title defence. Perhaps we are still champions…
When did you make the decision to change your ring name from Ashe and what was the thought
process behind the name change?
Yeah, so when I started out I was in a tag team called ‘the Dark Angels’, my name was Ashe and my
partners name was Draven (this was Rob, the guy I started my training with). Eventually Draven quit
wrestling and I carried on as the ‘Dark Angel’ Ashe until I took a little break from wrestling around the
end of 2008. When I got back in to wrestling again in 2011 I decided to change for a few reasons. The
first was to stop the confusion between me and the other British wrestling ‘Ashe’ (from the New
Bread). Another was because I wanted as fresh start and to use my own name; Matt Walters. Also,
before I quit in 2008 I had planned to change gimmick entirely and do a masked character called ‘the
Dark Wolf’. I had a mask made but when it arrived, it was pretty terrible so I never did the gimmick. I
liked the name so I decided to keep it when I started wrestling again so I became ‘Dark Wolf’ Matt
Walters.
You've been active on the British scene for over fifteen years. Can you describe for us from an insiders
perspective the differences in BritWres before and during the current boom?
Well, the biggest difference is the internet! This makes me sound so old but when I first started, the
internet wasn’t so prevalent or accessible. Wrestlers and promotions didn’t have the tools that they
have now to communicate and promote themselves. Social media really opened up British wrestling.
British wrestling was kind of on it’s arse when I first started, it had maybe reached an all time low, but
I think the internet enabled people to have access to wrestling footage from all over the world to learn
and take inspiration from as well utilising the traditional British Wrestling methodology. Also
professional wrestling now is so open at all levels. When I started there were very few training schools
and the things like WWE seemed completely unattainable whereas now, there are wrestling schools all
over the country and so many opportunities to be involved with top class promotions in Britain and all
over the world.
You recently took part in the first ever UnPro Wrestling event teaming with Ashmore. What was that
experience like and do you feel as though UnPro can be a major force in British wrestling?
Unprofessional Wrestling was really fun! From what I saw of the show and what I’ve heard, it was a
really strong debut and I really hope it takes off. The promotion team put loads of hard work into the
show and had some really good ideas.
As for my match, I teamed with Ashmore for the first time under the name ‘Craft Beating Company’.
Having not done all that much tag stuff in my wrestling career, it’s a bit of a change of direction and
character for me. Essentially ‘CBC’ are a couple of beer drinking, hipster pricks… I get to drink beer
in the ring, it’s pretty sweet. Before the show we decided that we’d make the tag team more of a
permanent thing so hopefully we can get it on more shows… we ordered 50 merch t-shirts so we’d
better get it on more shows!! We actually have it booked for a few promotions coming up but I can’t
really mention them at the moment. It’s definitely something I enjoyed and really want to do a lot more
of.
If you could recommend one match from your career for fans to check out, which match would you
choose and why?
I never really know how to answer something like this because I am my own biggest critic and don’t
feel like I have reached my potential.
I’d like people to check out the Craft Beating Company debut at Unpro, the live stream of the match
can be found on the Unprofessional Wrestling facebook page.
I don’t particularly think it represents me as a wrestler now but I enjoyed the ladder match against
Jimmy Starr for Falling Starr Wrestling in 2015: https://youtu.be/g15vdVb-Pn4
Which opponents do you most enjoy sharing the ring with?
There are loads but I’ve always really enjoyed wrestling Roy Knight (Zebra Kid), Kip Sabian and Tom
Dawkins. I recently had a match with Danny Collins at Falling Starr Wrestling, which I really enjoyed.
It definitely felt like a battle it was kind of old school in the sense that you had to fight for everything. I
tend to enjoy the physical matches.
What do you do to occupy your time away from wrestling?
Away from wrestling I tend to go to a lot of gigs and festivals. I like really miserable music apparently.
I’m pretty active I go to the gym, occasionally play rugby and go walking. I’ve just started getting back
into climbing as well.
Lastly, if you could name one person who's been the biggest influence on you both personally and
professionally, who would you name?
I’m not sure. Maybe Thom Yorke.. I’m a massive geek for Radiohead. I don’t know.
Once again I'd like to thank Matt for his time with this interview. Matt's been an absolute pleasure to work with on this and hopefully we can catch up again at some point down the line!
Firstly, can you give us a background on Matt Walters away from the ring?
OK, so away from wrestling I am a 33 year old guy living in Dalston in North East London where I am
friends with a cat named Roger. I live with my girlfriend, Lenka and I work in media, filming and
editing and that sort of thing. It’s cool because it’s given me some awesome opportunities to travel and
meet some amazing people.
When did you first become interested in professional wrestling and who were some of your favourites
at that time?
I got into wrestling pretty late I’d say. We’d never had Sky TV when I was growing up and my parents
weren’t keen on wrestling and didn’t like me and my brother watching it. It wasn’t until I was 15 or 16
and channel 4 started show WWF Heat that it really entered my consciousness. My favourites were
always the Hardys, Edge & Christian, Chris Jericho and the Rock.
Was there a match or moment which made you want to become a wrestler?
Literally from the first time I watched WWF Heat I knew I wanted to wrestle. I was probably watching
a match between the Godfather and Headbanger Mosh or something.
What was the reaction of your family and friends when you told them that you wanted to become a
wrestler?
When I told my Dad I wanted to go to wrestling training school he said ‘you have rocks in your head’.
My parents were always supportive though, they generally let me do my own thing because I was
always pretty responsible and didn’t do anything too stupid. I guess my friends thought it was cool…
or weird.
You were trained by British legends, Ricky and Saraya Knight. What was that experience like and were
there any other trainers you ever considered learning from?
Looking back at when I started training, it’s quite a nostalgic time because I was 17 years old and that’s
when I loved wrestling the most. Everything was new, fun and really cool. The Knight family were
really great as trainers but also helped me out a lot in my early wrestling years. I was super-broke and
going to art school in Norwich, they would always try to fit me on their shows. Sometimes Julia
(Saraya) would invite me round for dinner with the family, which was great because I didn’t have so
much money for food.
In terms of training, I kind of had a slightly ‘old school’ entry into wrestling as a great deal of my
training came from working on the holiday camps. I did a week-long training camp at WAW and pretty
much went on to the camps and shows from there.
Actually, I do have one training story, which is quite funny. During my first week of training me and
my friend Rob had impressed Julia with our early progress. Ricky had returned from the camps and
showed up at training for the first time. After hearing Julia say that we may be pretty good, he turned to
Roy (Knight) and a wrestler named Bash and said ‘just beat them up a little bit’. So there we were in
the ring getting body slammed, clotheslined and bumped about by Roy and Bash for a few minutes and
at the end of it I thought ‘this is cool’!! It was just a little test to check out our hardiness.
In 2007 I decided to go to America with a few other wrestling friends; Nick Aldis (Magnus), Jim
Cambridge (Jimmy Starr) & Chris Richardson (the Cougar Kid). We went to the Pro Wrestling NOAH
training camp at the Harley Race Wrestling Academy, which was incredible but gruelling experience
being coached, by Naomichi Marufuji, KENTA, Atsushi Aoki and Takeshi Morishima. I also spent a
few months at WWA4 in Atlanta training with Mr Hughes and Elix Skipper who were both very
knowledgeable and great coaches.
When did you make your debut and what are your memories of your first show and match?
I made my debut in the summer of 2001 in Great Yarmouth. I mentioned that I had done a week-long
training camp with the Knights at WAW. At the end of that week, WAW were running a small show
in Great Yarmouth but some wrestlers had pulled out. They asked me and my friend Rob if we wanted
to step in and we jumped at the chance. We faced a pair of baseball/warriors themed wrestlers named
Bash & Crash. It’s fair to say that it probably wasn’t match of the year but it was a great experience
and left made me determined to do more.
In 2004 you won the WAW British Heavyweight Title under the name of Ashe. What did that win
mean to you on both a personal and professional level?
I won the WAW British Heavyweight Title in a match in my home town at the time, Hunstanton,
against Roy Knight (the Zebra Kid). Roy was always somebody that I respected and admired. He was
the guy who, if you were on with him, you knew you would have a tough but great match. I think this
may have been my first ever singles championship match. When the referee counted to three I actually
didn’t believe it. I legit thought it was a rib and thought that someone would come through the curtain
and reverse the decision. I don’t even mean this in a cheesy emotional way, I genuinely thought it was
a mistake. However, when it sunk in, it was pretty cool and it gave me the opportunity to go on and
wrestle some exciting people.
A year prior to that you won the WAW British Tag Team titles alongside Paul Tyrell. What are your
memories of that win and title run?
Well to be honest this was kind of random. I was only put in that match at the very last minute because
Paul’s regular tag partner, Phil Powers, had pulled out. We somehow beat the UK Pitbulls but never
teamed again and never made a title defence. Perhaps we are still champions…
When did you make the decision to change your ring name from Ashe and what was the thought
process behind the name change?
Yeah, so when I started out I was in a tag team called ‘the Dark Angels’, my name was Ashe and my
partners name was Draven (this was Rob, the guy I started my training with). Eventually Draven quit
wrestling and I carried on as the ‘Dark Angel’ Ashe until I took a little break from wrestling around the
end of 2008. When I got back in to wrestling again in 2011 I decided to change for a few reasons. The
first was to stop the confusion between me and the other British wrestling ‘Ashe’ (from the New
Bread). Another was because I wanted as fresh start and to use my own name; Matt Walters. Also,
before I quit in 2008 I had planned to change gimmick entirely and do a masked character called ‘the
Dark Wolf’. I had a mask made but when it arrived, it was pretty terrible so I never did the gimmick. I
liked the name so I decided to keep it when I started wrestling again so I became ‘Dark Wolf’ Matt
Walters.
You've been active on the British scene for over fifteen years. Can you describe for us from an insiders
perspective the differences in BritWres before and during the current boom?
Well, the biggest difference is the internet! This makes me sound so old but when I first started, the
internet wasn’t so prevalent or accessible. Wrestlers and promotions didn’t have the tools that they
have now to communicate and promote themselves. Social media really opened up British wrestling.
British wrestling was kind of on it’s arse when I first started, it had maybe reached an all time low, but
I think the internet enabled people to have access to wrestling footage from all over the world to learn
and take inspiration from as well utilising the traditional British Wrestling methodology. Also
professional wrestling now is so open at all levels. When I started there were very few training schools
and the things like WWE seemed completely unattainable whereas now, there are wrestling schools all
over the country and so many opportunities to be involved with top class promotions in Britain and all
over the world.
You recently took part in the first ever UnPro Wrestling event teaming with Ashmore. What was that
experience like and do you feel as though UnPro can be a major force in British wrestling?
Unprofessional Wrestling was really fun! From what I saw of the show and what I’ve heard, it was a
really strong debut and I really hope it takes off. The promotion team put loads of hard work into the
show and had some really good ideas.
As for my match, I teamed with Ashmore for the first time under the name ‘Craft Beating Company’.
Having not done all that much tag stuff in my wrestling career, it’s a bit of a change of direction and
character for me. Essentially ‘CBC’ are a couple of beer drinking, hipster pricks… I get to drink beer
in the ring, it’s pretty sweet. Before the show we decided that we’d make the tag team more of a
permanent thing so hopefully we can get it on more shows… we ordered 50 merch t-shirts so we’d
better get it on more shows!! We actually have it booked for a few promotions coming up but I can’t
really mention them at the moment. It’s definitely something I enjoyed and really want to do a lot more
of.
If you could recommend one match from your career for fans to check out, which match would you
choose and why?
I never really know how to answer something like this because I am my own biggest critic and don’t
feel like I have reached my potential.
I’d like people to check out the Craft Beating Company debut at Unpro, the live stream of the match
can be found on the Unprofessional Wrestling facebook page.
I don’t particularly think it represents me as a wrestler now but I enjoyed the ladder match against
Jimmy Starr for Falling Starr Wrestling in 2015: https://youtu.be/g15vdVb-Pn4
Which opponents do you most enjoy sharing the ring with?
There are loads but I’ve always really enjoyed wrestling Roy Knight (Zebra Kid), Kip Sabian and Tom
Dawkins. I recently had a match with Danny Collins at Falling Starr Wrestling, which I really enjoyed.
It definitely felt like a battle it was kind of old school in the sense that you had to fight for everything. I
tend to enjoy the physical matches.
What do you do to occupy your time away from wrestling?
Away from wrestling I tend to go to a lot of gigs and festivals. I like really miserable music apparently.
I’m pretty active I go to the gym, occasionally play rugby and go walking. I’ve just started getting back
into climbing as well.
Lastly, if you could name one person who's been the biggest influence on you both personally and
professionally, who would you name?
I’m not sure. Maybe Thom Yorke.. I’m a massive geek for Radiohead. I don’t know.
Once again I'd like to thank Matt for his time with this interview. Matt's been an absolute pleasure to work with on this and hopefully we can catch up again at some point down the line!