WWE’s Flash Morgan Webster on NXT UK, ABBA and forming a Subculture supergroup with Lin-Manuel Miranda

The Hamilton creator seems to be a fair (Pictures: WWE/ Rex)

WWE superstar Flash Morgan Webster’s wrestling journey has always been intertwined in music – from his early influences and his character to a very famous fan.

The NXT UK wrestler, who is part of the Subculture team alongside Mark Andrews and Dani Luna, was known as the Modfather for much of his career, coming out to The Jam with a motorcycle helmet in hand, and it was always a given that both artforms would come together for him in a big way.

He exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘When I was younger, mum would always have The Jam playing in the kitchen, Motown.

‘I’ve got a little bit of a secret here – if you play the first three chords to any ABBA song, I know the words to nearly any of them and I know what song it is just based off my mum’s love of ABBA. Music’s always been a big part of my life.’

Music even provided a direct spark for pursuing wrestling after he discovered a Daniel Bryan video set to Baba O’Reilly, and realised the potential waiting to be harnessed.

‘It absolutely blew me away! It was the first time it really made me think, wait a second – The Who and wrestling can co-exist and it works perfectly,’ he beamed. ‘For me, that was all guns blazing to start pursuing this and make sure I can incorporate that all together.’

Webster has gone from strength to strength, building up his name on the British independent scene and now being a major part of NXT UK, having also wrestled in the US in the company’s stateside black and gold brand.

His crowing glory came in 2019 at NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff, when he and fellow Welshman Andrews captured the tag team titles in front of their friends, family, and even Lil-Manuel Miranda, who shared a clip of himself screaming with joy as the duo won the gold.

‘I’ll be honest with you, at the time I didn’t really know who he was! I’d heard of Hamilton, I hadn’t seen it. But everyone was going nuts about it,’ he laughed.

‘Hamilton hit Disney during lockdown, I watched it, I loved it and then it kind of dawned on me just how big that was that he was there that night and that he loved what he was seeing.’

Now that Webster’s aware of Miranda’s work, maybe there’s room for him in Subculture to harness the musical side of the act?

‘Mark’s very musical,’ he pointed out, referring to his tag team partner’s band Junior. ‘And I play the drums. We just need to get Dani Luna playing the flute or violin or something and we’re all-in.’

Of course, Miranda isn’t alone with his appreciation for Subculture – who challenge Pretty Deadly for the NXT UK Tag Team Titles tonight on BT Sport – with WWE Hall of Famer Edge being someone who truly understands the meaning behind what they’re doing.

‘He knows just how important music crossover, art and fashion, all these things come together to create pro wrestling – and he was right behind it,’ he smiled, after the Rated R Superstar recently sported one of their t-shirts on The Bump.

‘When we met him maybe two years ago or whatever… we ended up speaking to him about Weezer and music and stuff like that, and realised just how much music means to him. So, when this Subculture thing started kicking off, he was fully behind it.’

The trio will be particularly delighted by that, considering almost the entirety of the act has come from their own minds.

‘Everything you see, 99 percent of it is myself, Mark and Dani. From the design of the logo which Mark did, to the creation of the entrance video – which again, Mark did,’ he said.

‘We’ve been on hand when it came to the creation of the music, all the jackets we did ourselves. It really has been a big passion project for us. It comes from that – being on the indies, we had that DIY mentality of, you go out, you did it yourself and you create your own buzz.

‘Somewhere along the lines, you get lost a little bit when it comes to this. I spoke to Mark yesterday and Mark said that he feels himself that he’s found his passion again, and I’ve found my passion. What better way to do it, surrounded by two of your best mates?’

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Looking to the future, the key goal for Webster is to be back in front of fans again, particularly after seeing Raw and SmackDown welcoming people back into the stands over the past week.

‘We just want the fans back. We really do. We don’t know when that’s gonna be, things are opening up here which is great. There is no pro wrestling without fans, and Money In The Bank showed that,’ he said.

‘Everything’s just turned up a notch when everyone’s back. The UK has the best fans in the world, and I can’t wait to get them back in.’

*Subculture challenges Pretty Deadly for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship tonight at 10pm on BT Sport 1.

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