Tate Mayfairs is one of the top young competitors on the British independent scene, having made appearances for some of the top UK independent promotions including IPW, DNA Pro Wrestling, Riptide Wrestling, Breed Pro Wrestling and More. Trained out of the Knucklelocks School Of Wrestling that boasts training some of the very best wrestlers on the scene including Danny Black, Connor Mills and current Rev Pro UK Crusierweight champion Michael “OJMO” Oku. Tate is the currently the All Nations Champion for Rumble Wrestling promotions as well as the former Rumble Wrestling Heavyweight champion.
Tate Mayfairs recently made his main show debut for Progress Wrestling in a loosing effort to Big Guns Joe on the WWE Network, Tate had previously made appearances for Progress Wrestling in Dark Matches including one against current NXT UK Tag Team Champions Pretty Deadly. Bodyslam via our British Wrestling Podcast Tea and Tights: A Great British Wrestling Podcast spoke with Tate Mayfairs regarding his Progress debut and more.
Andy: Now, you’ve just made your Progress network debut this passed weekend against Big Guns Joe, How was that?
“It was great, it was really cool, I’ve had 2 Dark matches/pre show matches for Progress at the Electric Ballroom, but this was the first 1 on the network on the main show and it felt good to be there, I was very happy to be there, I’ve been at every single Progress show, working backstage in many capacities but this time I was able to be front of stage on the network showing the world why Tateness is greatness!”
Andy: It was a great match indeed, against Big Guns Joe, but it was a submission so it doesn’t count
“Exactly, I appreciate that you follow the logic there”
Andy: Well you either win the match by pinning someone’s shoulders to the mat or you knock them out
“Exactly that, all that matters is that when you look at the stats at the end of the day Big Guns Joe failed to pin me or Knock me out so, you know, he has not beaten me in my eyes. But all of that aside, it was a pleasure to work with Joe, he’s another guy who is just an incredibly hard working guy, a decent human being, you know, the pair of us have been compared to each other backstage by the likes of Chris Brookes etc. they say Big Guns Joe is the Tate Mayfairs of the North and Vice versa, for the amount of hard work we put into our craft, in making sure that we continue to get better and we also make sure that shows are put together, people aren’t at the shows, all the production is put together and they go ahead the best they can, so from that perspective it was was good to share that with him (Joe) on the network as well.”
Andy: It’s quite a debut to have because Joe has been quite a major star as part of Progress since their return, he was in the natural progression series, the Tag Team championships and involved in quite a lot of big story lines, so quite a big debut
“Yeah absolutely, Joe’s done Phenomenal, he’s had a great year, he was already rising and rising and then what a weird year we all had, especially in wrestling to do these lockdown tapings and yeah, he had the opportunity to be in the NPS (Natural Progression Series) and he took it and he run with it, and he was on pretty much, if not every chapter, then he was on most chapters from the beginning of the year until his match with me where he failed to knock me out or pin me”
Dan: So I’ve got to ask, was this your first time in front of an empty arena, because Progress is one of the few companies that haven’t bought back fans yet
“Yeah, good question, it was my first show in front of an empty arena, I was training throughout the year and obviously there’s no people there when I was training, but the never is when your training, so I watched the product that was being put together by multiple different companies and I saw what I liked and what I thought worked and didn’t work, I tried to give it a lot of consideration in the training I was doing leading up to it and yeah applied it, its a different beast, the audience aren’t there with you, they’re such a large participant in a pro wrestling match and so you’ve got to approach it in a different way, you’ve got to fill the space and fill noise in a different way and perform differently and I think I did well, I was quite happy, I’d like to do more but I’m also glad I’ve been wrestling in front of big crowds again”
Andy: Now you said you made you progress dark debut actually a couple of years prior, and one of them was against the current NXT UK Tag Team champions Pretty Deadly
“I love those boys, they are great, they’re just it. I remember they were doing their own thing and then it was pitched that yeah maybe you guys could be a thing and they were both not so sure, they weren’t particularly close friends prior to this but when they got together, it was a match made in heaven, as they say and that was their Progress debut, was the match against myself in that tag match and so I’m glad to have been a part of that, and you know we’ve just been talking about my Progress match on the network that just aired and both the lads shared it online and gave a shout out to me and Lewis Howley shouted out Tateness is Greatness, because everyone knows its fact”
Tate has a bright future ahead of him as he looks to live up to his “Tateness is Greatness” motto, he has plenty of experienced wrestlers backing him. Despite being a young competitor with only 4 years in wrestling thus far he has already competed in high profile matches against some of the best talents in the UK and beyond including NXT UK star Sha Samuels and recent IMPACT wrestling star Speedball Mike Bailey.
You can keep up to date with all things British Wrestling with our Tea and Tights: A Great British Wrestling Podcast and their weekly Brit Wres Round Up.
You can check out his debut on Progress Wrestling Chapter 126: Behold the turtle on the Peacock streaming service in the US and on the WWE Network everywhere else.
You can follow the Tea and Tights team on Twitter Andy @GBOtaku82 and Dan on @BigDaddyDanTT as well as Tea and Tights page @TeaandTightsPod
show us your support and buy a shirt. You can visit our store by clicking here.Make sure to follow us on Twitter @BodySlamNet and on Instagram @BodySlamDotNet
Also check us out on Facebook and give us a like and share by clicking HERE.
