Mason Williams

**Barri Griffiths** (born 13 January 1982) is a Welsh professional wrestler and actor, best known for his time with WWE under the ring name **Mason Ryan**.

Griffiths studied construction management at Cardiff University, before working as a trainee carpenter and in his family's funeral home. He also played as a centre back for Porthmadog FC, but a knee injury curtailed his career. He appeared as "Goliath" on *Gladiators* in 2009.
Mason Ryan 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 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and debuted as Mason Ryan in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). In July 2010, he won the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship and held the championship until February 2011. He made his main roster debut in January 2011, where he aligned himself with The New Nexus.

## Early life

Griffiths was born in Tremadog, the son of Carys and Malcolm Griffiths. He has a sister named Catrin. He attended Ysgol y Gorlan primary school in Tremadog and Ysgol Eifionydd secondary school in Porthmadog, before studying construction management at Cardiff University for 18 months. He worked as a trainee carpenter and in his family's funeral home prior to becoming a wrestler. Griffiths played football as a centre back for Porthmadog FC, but had to curtail his career due to a knee injury.

## Professional wrestling career

### Training and early career (2006–2008)

Griffiths began training to be a professional wrestler in 2006 after attending a wrestling show with a friend where the promoter recommended he start wrestling. He trained at a professional wrestling school in Birkenhead. Prior to appearing on *Gladiators*, Griffiths had wrestled under the names "Celtic Warrior" and "Smackdown Warrior" since 2007, and had competed in almost 100 matches in countries including Egypt and Venezuela. He represented the UK in a 'Battle of the Nations' tag team match between the UK and Austria, teaming with Drew McDonald and Sheamus O'Shaunessy in a losing effort to Chris Raaber, Michael Kovac, and Robert Ray Kreuzer at the European Wrestling Association's *Night of Gladiators* show in June 2007. After signing with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Griffiths had his final show in Wales in October 2008 in Porthmadog, when he won a singles match and battle royal.

### Inoki Genome Federation (2015)

On 20 February 2015, Griffiths, working under the ring name Mason Williams, made his debut for the Japanese Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) promotion, losing to Shogun Okamoto.

## Other media

Griffiths appeared in the second series of the revived *Gladiators* television show in 2009, and competed under the name "Goliath". 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. He began filming the first show approximately a month later and had to grow a beard especially for the role.

Griffiths has appeared on *The Paul O'Grady Show*. *Barri Griffiths: Y Reslar*, a Welsh language documentary about Griffiths' life in the months before he moved to the United States, aired in September 2010 on S4C. In December 2011, Griffiths appeared on the TV documentary *Orig*, where he was interviewed by Tara Bethan, the daughter of his first trainer Orig Williams.

## Personal life

Griffiths married long-term partner Julie Rolfe, a Legends Football League player, in 2015. He resides in Tampa, Florida. He speaks Welsh fluently.

An avid weightlifter, Ryan once held a world record for holding 20 kg of weight with his arms straight for just over one minute. Ryan is training partners with IFBB pro Stan Efferding.

## Championships and accomplishments

* ***Pro Wrestling Illustrated***
	+ Ranked No. 119 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the *PWI 500* in 2011

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Trewyn`
2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `IGF`
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Goliath, Barri Griffiths . Gladiator Zone. Retrieved on 2010-08-11.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Gaksell, Simon. WWE star Mason Ryan ditched undertaker's life for wrestling stardom . Wales Online. Retrieved on 2013-04-28.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Trewyn, Hywel 2008-11-27. Meet North Wales' very own Gladiators . *North Wales Daily Post*. Retrieved on 2010-08-11.
6. ↑ Hughes, Owen R 2011-01-26. Gwynedd WWE star Barri Griffiths billed as from Cardiff . *North Wales Daily Post*. Retrieved on 2011-01-30.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Williams, Andrew 2009-01-08. Gladiator in hot pants trouble . *Metro*. Retrieved on 2010-08-11.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Devine, Darren 2009-01-04. Welsh duo are TV gladiators . Wales Online. Retrieved on 2010-08-11.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Jones, Geraint 2010-08-05. Barri wrestles with rise to fame . *North Wales Chronicle*. Retrieved on 2010-08-11.
10. ↑ EWA Results . European Wrestling Association. Archived from the original on 2009-06-11. Retrieved on 2010-11-09.
11. ↑ Jones, Geraint 2008-10-28. North Wales wrestler Barri Griffiths off to the USA . *North Wales Chronicle*. Retrieved on 2010-08-11. [*dead link*]
12. ↑ Genome32  (in Japanese). *Inoki Genome Federation*. Retrieved on 2015-02-21.
13. ↑ Jones, Dion 2009-10-19. Tremadog wrestler is off to the US to join WWE . *Caernarfon Herald*. Retrieved on 2010-08-11.
14. ↑ White, Kevin 2010-08-26. Big Barri's preparations for stardom . *Caernarfon Herald*. Retrieved on 2010-11-08.
15. ↑ Sharing memories about Orig, with a smile and tears . *S4C*. Retrieved on 2012-04-26.
16. ↑ Wyn-Williams, Gareth 2015-10-27. Wrestler Barri Griffiths weds bride in Porthmadog . *Daily Post*. Retrieved on 2018-10-01.
17. ↑ Mason Ryan And LFL Lingerie Football League Player Julie Rolfe . Wrestling Inc. Retrieved on 2018-10-01.
18. ↑ Wyn-Williams, Gareth 2015-05-18. Watch: Barri Griffiths wrestling in Gwynedd again . *North Wales Daily Post*. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
19. ↑ Evans, Dafydd 2012-04-19. Mason Ryan yn perfformio yn ôl adre' . *Newyddion*. BBC Cymru. Retrieved on 2012-04-26. Template:In lang
20. ↑ Greenhouse, Debra 2009-01-23. Goliath making waves on Gladiators . *North Wales Daily Post*. Archived from the original on 2012-09-29. Retrieved on 2010-08-11.
21. ↑ Back on track: Mason Ryan's road to redemption, Hungrier than ever . WWE. Retrieved on 2013-07-26.
22. ↑ "PWI 500": 101–200 . *Pro Wrestling Illustrated* (2011-08-08). Retrieved on 2011-08-08.