ARIK

**Alex Sparkes** (born November 29th, 1991) Is a British professional wrestler currently signed to BCW, VALOR & FAM, where he performs under the ring name **ARIK** and he is the current VALOR Cruiserweight champion

## Early life

Alex is the son of Keith and Maggie Sparkes. They were a working class family and money was limited, however he and his brother always had a good supply of video games to keep them going. They owned the original NES console and would spend a lot of their time playing Duck Hunt and Super Mario. Sparkes's brother and Cousin Jack were his best friends, when he was little as at school he would get bullied from a lot of the other children. The bullying he and his brother were tormented with at school were the first signs of his psychological well being affecting his attitude. The thought that anyone would mistreat his brother that he loved fuelled his anger and would lead to multiple violent outbursts.

These early outbursts were subdued when Alex met Lianne when he was 15. It took his mind off of all the worries he had in his life. He encouraged him over their many years together to fend for himself, leave his childhood home and follow his dream to become a professional wrestler.

## Professional wrestling career

### SSPW (2002 - 2010)

SSPW was more or less a backyard wrestling company, however by the time 2010 rolled around SSPW had become somewhat of a British Indie Wrestling phenomenon. ARIK dabbled in owning and running SSPW up until around about 2008 when he left to begin training with Gavin Poole at the 'Golden School'. ARIK finished up his days at SSPW by losing his SSPW 'Suffolk1' championship to PJ Tekken. In this time ARIK travelled around the Suffolk/Essex area with Matt Baker working under the team 'The Bury Boys', whilst still travelling up to Norfolk to train with Poole.

### The Golden School (2008-2011)

ARIK joined the school in 2008, Gavin Poole has gone on record saying that ARIK 'embarrassed' his school by continuing his 'backyard project' while being trained by one of the UK's biggest legends. ARIK attended the School with Gavin's oldest son Benedict Poole. The two didn't get on due to the stigma that followed ARIK due to his tendencies to look for other schools that may have catered to his needs better. Poole was notorious for training only one way for everybody. After 3 years of training on and off, ARIK hadn't progressed as much as he'd wished and never even wrestled at a show.

### Returning to SSPW (2011-2012)

ARIK would return to his backyard group SSPW. SSPW began running small shows at local school gyms. Notably ARIK had a main event match at one of the shows in front of 85 people against AC Arthurz. This match would be the one that got ARIK on the map. He soon got a call from Arthurz close friend Scott Barnett.

### Wrestlefury Dojo (2012 - 2013)

ARIK wasn't under the tutelage of Barnett for long, He did however get a massive amount of exposure to people involved with NGC. Barnett enrolled ARIK to his finishing school, he would train alot with Brent Delivine and Barnett and soon after would travel to meet with Rebellion (Screech & Devlin Danoose) to continue training before he was eventually contacted by NGC.

## Personal Life

Alex married his wife Lianne on the 26th April 2014. They are raising their 3 year old son Elias. Alex and Lianne are currently expecting their second child in September of this year.

## In Wrestling

* **Finishing Moves:**
	+ Apocoplex (Bridging package powerbomb)
	+ Goomba Stomp (Leaping double footstomp)
* **Signature Moves:**
	+ Lunchbox (backstabber variants)
	+ Chaos Emerald Neckbreaker (Pumphandle neckbreaker)
	+ Chaos Emerald Driver (Pumphandle driver)
	+ Arik used splash (Frog splash)
	+ Sniper Kick (Kneeling superkick)
	+ Neckbreaker variations
* **Nicknames:**
	+ The Psycho Sniper
	+ The Certified Loner
	+ Shit Hot
	+ The Nerdy Neckbreaking Machine
	+ The Cartridge King
* **Theme songs**
	+ Lavender Town metal remix (current VALOR)
	+ 22 Pilots - Heathens edit (current Fam)
	+ The White Stripes - Seven nation army dubstep remix (current BCW)
	+ Manchester Orchestra - Pride (former NAH/KAPOW!)

## Championships and Accomplishments

* **VALOR Wrestling:**
	+ VALOR Cruiserweight Champion (1 time; current)