Courtesy of The Ecstasy of the Gold Wrestling Website
Andy Roberts has been the “Unstoppable,” the “Wildman,” the “Dad Bod God,” the “Stovie Superman,” the “Ticking Time Bomb” and the “Wrestler of the Year.” But ever since squaring up to The Bloodline on WWE SmackDown in June, he’s also fancied himself “the Sports Entertainer.”
A veteran in his prime, his physical evolution has seen him develop from Andy Wild, a decorated Junior Heavyweight into Andy Roberts, a bitter beefy beast. As the European Heavyweight Champion of the Union of European Wrestling Alliances, he has proven himself to be a dominator in the upper weight classes. The UEWA’s premier title boasts a unique international lineage but Roberts has distinguished himself from past champions with a sprawling 1,530-plus day reign that has set multiple records for longevity, successful title defences and interpromotional reach.
In addition to his commitments as champion, Roberts has earned himself top spots in Insane Championship Wrestling and Discovery Wrestling on top of coaching at his own Fife Pro Wrestling Asylum school.
Despite these successes at home, Roberts continues to suggest that his time on the independents may be coming to an end, implying that he’s on his way to another wrestling “universe” soon. The only questions seem to be whether or not he’ll be sticking around long enough to capture the ICW “Universal” title or to put the Y-Division Championship on a spinner belt before his next Sports Entertainment assignment.
As Impact Wrestling Gut Check comes to Glasgow and WWE NXT Europe continues to loom, time may well be running low on his independent career. If so, who could we hope to see him face in the Sports Entertainment Universe? Here are five picks of potential opponents for “Ucey” Andy Roberts.
Finn Balor
Long before Andy Roberts filled the ring with his imposing size and malicious intent, “the Unstoppable” Andy Wild wowed audiences with his athleticism, speed and technical skill. After debuting in the fledgling Scottish scene in 2006, he was able to spread his wings from West Lothian’s Scottish School of Pro Wrestling and gain international experience for numerous promotions, including Westside Xtreme Wrestling in Germany, Super Wrestling Alliance in Spain and Combat Zone Wrestling in the United States. Wild also made stops at Fight Factory Pro Wrestling in Ireland, where he was able to train with Fergal Devitt.
In 2011, Wild and Devitt had their first, and as yet, only singles match. This was likely the biggest test of the young Wild’s career, while the internationally established Devitt was already in his second reign with the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
Wild came closer than close to defeating the future WWE Universal Champion on that night, but couldn’t overcome a combination of the diving double foot stomp and the Bloody Sunday which brought this spirited fight to its finish.
The defeat surely stung but Wild’s gutsy performance not only earned him the adulation of the audience but a handshake from Devitt as well. If anyone thought this show of respect from Devitt was merely family show theatrics, it was soon made clear that Wild had truly earned the Irishman’s admiration. Come April 2012, Devitt (now both the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and the NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion) saw enough in Wild to pair him with Sean Guinness in an FFPW tag team bout against himself and fellow co-founder Paul Tracey.
In 2023, Roberts remembered their singles match by saying: “One of my favourite ever matches. To face off against one of my idols was crazy at that point in my career. Maybe we will run it back in another universe one day, Finn Balor.”
If it were to happen again, we would see a very different contest. This version of Roberts, the man who proudly proclaims himself to be “the best Heavyweight in Europe,” isn’t one to be starstruck. Not even in the presence of a “Demon King.”
Bronson Reed
Roberts, as the UEWA European Heavyweight Champion, has been proud to call himself “the best Heavyweight in Europe.” Having succeeded in toppling the likes of Big Damo, Rampage Brown, Doug Williams, Leyton Buzzard, Mark Coffey, Wild Boar, Krieger, Kenny Williams, Bad Bones, BT Gunn and Chris Ridgeway, it’s hard to argue with him. Mark Andrews even went on record calling him “one of the best big men in the country.”
If Roberts can be considered to have dominated the Heavyweights of the UK and Europe then perhaps Australia’s Bronson Reed would be the new challenge that Roberts needs to prove himself on the global stage. The former WWE NXT North American Champion has been on a warpath on Monday Night RAW with wins over Otis, Shinsuke Nakamura, Chad Gable, Ricochet and Tomasso Ciampa. Roberts vs. Reed has the potential to offer some of the best Big Lads Wrestling seen this side of the Progress Wrestling Atlas division.
Noam Dar
Noam Dar has proven to be one of the real highlights of WWE NXT, whether he’s in the ring or making mischief elsewhere. The NXT Heritage Cup was just about the last thing I would have expected to be the sole surviving remnant of NXT UK but Dar has done a beautiful job in the WWE Performance Centre.
One fun thing about the Heritage Cup is that it does feel out of place like it could vanish from the WWE canon overnight. But Dar’s adoration of his big shiny cup keeps it alive, and if it matters to him then it matters to a locker room that surely cannot stand him.
Whether it’s for the prestige of being champion or just to send the mouthy Dar back into a comatose state, wrestlers are fighting tooth and nail to take that trophy away from him and it’s brilliant.
While Dar is doing very well in sunny Florida, an itch he’s never been able to quite scratch is Andy Roberts. Roberts and Dar have been central to one another’s careers since they began their training together. Their unique chemistry helped to kickstart the ICW Zero-G Championship division, while they also traded titles as foes and teamed as friends for Pro Wrestling Elite, Preston City Wrestling and Brian Dixon’s All-Star Wrestling, to name a few. Young, competitive, hungry and quick, they brought the best out of one another.
When Dar was due to leave Scotland for WWE in 2016, it was Big Andy who was chosen to face him in his send-off match. When the unique circumstances of 2019 allowed WWE’s Dar to return to ICW, it was again Roberts who was chosen to test him.
If their paths were to cross once more, Dar would likely find a very different man staring back at him. Wild may have been happy to be a part of Dar’s journey to becoming a WWE Superstar, but Andy Roberts isn’t here to make stars, he’s here to become one. Furthermore, Roberts’ showing against James Mason in an FPWA British Rounds match suggests that he’d have no trouble playing Dar’s Heritage Cup game.
Joe Hendry
“Sports Entertainment” is a phrase usually associated with WWE, but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who encapsulates it any better than the all-singing, all-dancing, Judo black belt, freestyle wrestling National Champion, Commonwealth Games competitor, and former Impact Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry.
Roberts and Hendry have faced off many times in ICW and Discovery, but with both now being the best they’ve ever been, and with Hendry serving as a judge for the upcoming Impact Gut Check try-outs, it would be fascinating to see how much fight these two powerhouses would bring to an Impact ring.
Drew McIntyre
When Drew Galloway was released from WWE, WrestleZone was his sixth stop back on the independents in 2014. Roberts was chosen to be his opponent for both the Battle of the Nations honour and the EVOLVE Championship. Though Roberts recalled (in his “Wrestling With Anxiety” article) that this period was close to the nadir of his career and physical conditioning, it’s telling that both WrestleZone and the former WWE Intercontinental Champion trusted him to deliver in such a significant match.
When Galloway and Roberts met in Aberdeen, they were both very different athletes. After witnessing Drew McIntyre’s rise to the WWE Championship, it feels mad watching the match back now and seeing him do leapfrogs, dropkicks, sunset flips and crucifix pins. For Roberts too, after his wrestling resurgence and intense weight training, it just feels wrong to see him have to back away from anyone.
”I feel lucky to have had the chance to work with Drew between his first and second run with WWE. I wrestled Drew at WrestleZone in the North of Scotland and, whilst they are a great company with a big draw on the night, Drew went out of his way to give it a ‘big match’ feel by contacting the appropriate people and asking to defend the EVOLVE title. All of my experiences with Drew have been the same as this one: an incredible talent with a larger-than-life aura, trying to build up everyone around him.” – Andy Roberts (November 1st, 2022)
In 2023, Roberts would not be intimidated by McIntyre and any match between them would feature some of the nastiest chops and most beautiful belly-to-belly suplexes you could ever hope to see. And that’s Sports Entertainment.
When Roberts does venture out into the universe, there’ll be a lot of fun to be had. But until then, for as long as we have him, there are plenty of titles still to be won and great matches to be had right where he is.
🆂🆆🅽 | Scottish Wrestling Network 