 Griffiths in 2011 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Barri Griffiths (1982-01-13)13 January 1982 (age 43) Tremadog, Wales |
Spouse | |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring names | |
| Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)[4] |
| Billed weight | 297 lb (135 kg)[4] |
| Billed from | Cardiff, Wales[5] |
| Trained by | |
| Debut | 2007 |
| Retired | 2015 |
Barri Griffiths (born 13 January 1982) is a Welsh stunt performer, actor, and formerprofessional wrestler. He is best known for his time withWWE, where he performed under thering nameMason Ryan from 2009 to 2014. He joinedCirque du Soleil in 2016.
Griffiths played as acentre back forPorthmadog FC, but a knee injury curtailed his career. He appeared asGoliath onGladiators in 2009. He began training to be a professional wrestler in 2006, and competed around Europe for the next three years. In 2009, he signed a contract with WWE, debuting inFlorida Championship Wrestling (FCW) and becoming a one-timeFCW Florida Heavyweight Champion. He made his main roster debut in 2011 and joinedThe New Nexus. In 2013, he started working on WWE'sNXT brand until his release the following year.
Griffiths was born inTremadog,[2][4][6] the son of Carys and Malcolm Griffiths.[7] He has a sister named Catrin.[7][8] He attendedYsgol y Gorlan primary school in Tremadog andYsgol Eifionydd secondary school inPorthmadog, before studyingconstruction management atCardiff University for 18 months.[8][9] He worked as a trainee carpenter and in his family'sfuneral home prior to becoming a wrestler.[2][3] Griffiths playedfootball as acentre back forPorthmadog FC, but had to curtail his career due to a knee injury.[10]
Griffiths began training to be aprofessional wrestler in 2006 after attending a wrestling show with a friend where thepromoter and refereeOrig Williams recommended he start wrestling.[3][11][8][12] He trained at aprofessional wrestling school inBirkenhead.[3][11]
Prior to appearing onGladiators, Griffiths had wrestled under the names "Celtic Warrior" and "Smackdown Warrior" since 2007, and had competed in almost 100 matches.[3] He represented the UK in a 'Battle of the Nations'tag team match between the UK and Austria, teaming withDrew McDonald andSheamus O'Shaunessy in a losing effort toChris Raaber, Michael Kovac, and Robert Ray Kreuzer at the European Wrestling Association'sNight of Gladiators show in June 2007.[13] After signing withWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Griffiths had his final show in Wales in October 2008 inPorthmadog, when he won asingles match andbattle royal.[14]
In 2009, Griffiths signed a five-year contract withWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).[15] When he received his work visa, he debuted in theirdevelopmental territory,Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in January 2010.[2] Under the name Mason Ryan, he competed against wrestlers includingJohnny Curtis,Tyler Reks,Johnny Prime, andHunico in his first matches.[1]
On 22 July, Ryan won atriple threat match against defending championAlex Riley andJohnny Curtis bypinning Riley to win theFCW Florida Heavyweight Championship for the first time.[2][11][16]
Over the next few months, Ryan successfully defended the championship against wrestlers includingBo Rotundo,Richie Steamboat, and Eli Cottonwood.[17] At the tapings of FCW television on 2 September, Ryan successfully defended the championship againstJohnny Curtis when FCW commentatorByron Saxton interfered and aided him.[17] The following week, Saxton became aligned with Ryan, accompanying him to the ring and acting as hismanager.[17]
In November 2010, Ryan toured Europe with theSmackDownbrand, defeatingChavo Guerrero inBelfast on 4 November and again inLiverpool on 6 November.[18][19] On 3 February 2011, Ryan lost the Florida Heavyweight Championship to Bo Rotundo, ending a six-and-a-half month reign.[20]
Griffiths, as Mason Ryan, made his WWE television debut on 17 January 2011 episode ofRaw by interfering in a match betweenCM Punk andJohn Cena. Following his interference, Punk presented him with a 'Nexus' armband, inducting him into the group.[15][21] Ryan then participated in the2011Royal Rumble match.[22] On 7 February 2011, he had his debut match onRaw, losing toR-Truth viadisqualification.[23] In late February, it was announced that Punk would faceRandy Orton atWrestleMania XXVII, with each member of The Nexus facing Orton to win the right to accompany Punk to the ring in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania.[24] Ryan was the final member to face Orton, but lost on 14 March episode ofRaw. Following the match, Ortonpunted Ryan in the head.[25] He was absent from television for nearly a month, making his return on 11 April onRaw with the other New Nexus members, attacking Orton and preventing him from earning a WWE Championship match.[26] On 2 May, Ryan lost toKane by disqualification following interference from Punk, and went on to attack both Kane andBig Show.[27] At theOver the Limit pay-per-view on 22 May, Ryan and Punk challengedBig Show and Kane for theWWE Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful.[28] The following month, Ryan suffered an injury and was absent from television to recuperate.[29]
Ryan returned from injury at ahouse show inJackson, Mississippi in late August.[30] He made his television return on 8 September episode ofWWE Superstars, defeatingJTG.[31] On 26 September, onRaw, Ryan was chosen byVickie Guerrero as the partner forJack Swagger andDolph Ziggler in asix-man tag team match againstZack Ryder and Air Boom (Evan Bourne andKofi Kingston), but Ryan turned on Swagger and Ziggler turning Ryanface, allowing Ryder to pick up the victory for his team.[32]
The following week onRaw, Ryan teamed with Air Boom,Sheamus,CM Punk, andJohn Cena in a12-man tag team match to defeat the team ofAlberto Del Rio,Christian,Cody Rhodes,David Otunga, Ziggler, and Swagger.[33] Ryan began feuding with Ziggler, with the pair trading wins via disqualification.[34][35] Ryan was part of Team Orton at theSurvivor Series pay-per-view in November, where he was eliminated by Cody Rhodes.[36]
He appeared only sporadically on television throughout 2012, and he then rejoined the rebranded developmental systemNXT.[37] He returned to the ring in November for house shows and debuted on the rebootedWWE NXT show and began his singles winning streak on 30 January 2013, by defeatingSakamoto.[38]
Ryan then entered into a feud against Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady; although he easily defeated them in singles matches,[39] he lost to them in a handicap match.[40] Mason was then rarely used on WWE television until he had his final televised match on 24 April 2014 episode of NXT, in a losing effort to number one contender for the NXT Championship. On 30 April 2014, it was reported that Ryan had been released by WWE.[41]
After his release from WWE, Griffiths began wrestling on theindependent circuit, still using his WWE name. His first appearance was for the American Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion, where he became the new APWA Tri State Champion on 31 May.[42] Mason made his debut for the WrestleSport promotion on 16 August where he defeatedAdam Pearce to become the first WrestleSport Heavyweight Champion.[43] On 5 September, atFull Impact Pro'sFallout, Ryan along withMichael Tarver andShaun Ricker participated in a trios tournament, but were defeated by the Full Impact Puerto Ricans (Lince Dorado, Jay Cruz, and Jay Rios).[44] On 5 June 2015, Ryan was defeated by then-Full Impact Pro Heavyweight Champion,Rich Swann.[45]
On 11 October 2014, Ryan won the UPWA Heavyweight Championship inShallotte, North Carolina.[46] His last wrestling appearance to date, was in theUnited Kingdom for Pro Wrestling Pride on 1 November 2015, he was on the losing team in an 8-man tag team match.[47]
On 16 February 2015, Ryan took part in a dark match before theTNA One Night Only's Gut check event defeatingShaun Ricker.[48]
On 20 February 2015, Griffiths, working under the ring name Mason Williams, made his debut for the JapaneseInoki Genome Federation (IGF) promotion, losing toShogun Okamoto.[49]
In January 2016, Ryan announced on his Twitter account that he is now working atCirque du Soleil, as the chief archer ofKà.[50][51]
Griffiths appeared in the second series of the revivedGladiators television show in 2009, and competed under the name "Goliath".[6] When he was working on a television show in Wales about being a wrestler, he was told that producers were looking for new gladiators, and he applied with the encouragement of his trainer,Orig Williams.[3][10] He began filming the first show approximately a month later and had to grow a beard especially for the role.[3][8]
Griffiths has appeared onThe Paul O'Grady Show.[52]Barri Griffiths: Y Reslar, aWelsh language documentary about Griffiths' life in the months before he moved to the United States, aired in September 2010 onS4C.[53]
In December 2011, Griffiths appeared on the TV documentaryOrig, where he was interviewed byTara Bethan, the daughter of his first trainerOrig Williams.[54]
Griffiths marriedAmerican football player Julie Rolfe in 2015.[55][56] They reside inTampa, Florida.[57]
Griffiths speaksWelsh fluently.[3][58] He is an avid weightlifter[59] and once set a world record for holding 20 kg (approx. 44 lbs) of weight with his arms straight for just over one minute.[60]
,Cagematch,Internet Wrestling Database
Media related toMason Ryan at Wikimedia Commons