Euro Fury: Progress Chapter 36 We’re Going To Need A Bigger Room…Again

PROGRESS Chapter 36: We’re Going to Need A Bigger Room…Again

 

September 25 2016

 

We’re in Brixton at the O2 Academy. I was at this show and it was a tremendous live experience. Nearly 2,500 people watching a UK Indie show with only two imports on the entire card and one of those was Tommy End. Plus a fantastic post-show party at the Dogstar where I drunkenly spoke to so many people, fellow Progress fans and wrestlers alike. The day as a whole, from getting into London around lunch-time to staggering into my hotel around 2am, was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in professional wrestling. Let’s see how the show holds on over on VOD.

 

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I appreciate them showing the “Started From The Bottom” video that aired live at the venue as that was outstanding business and had the crowd hot before anything had even happened. Also a big shout-out to Progress and the fans in attendance for playing CKY as a tribute to Kris Travis. I got very emotional as thousands of people stood and applauded. The live VT kicks in with Jim Smallman entering the ring to rapturous applause and noise. I’m glad the atmosphere comes across on video like it did at the venue. Commentary on this show comes from Glen Joseph, RJ Singh and Callum Leslie.

 

Atlas Championship Tournament Final

Rampage Brown vs. Joe Coffey

The Atlas title belt is extremely shiny. I’m a little surprised they didn’t have a wacky title, like a statue or a crown (the original Progress title was a staff, the tag titles are shields) but the belt looks really nice. These two had a blinder in the Block stages so expectations were high. I don’t know if pressure got to the wrestlers, or they simply had the best match they could already, but this contest is strangely underwhelming. They have throwbacks to their first match by having a big old fight on the floor, which benefits from Progress putting video on the big screen behind the ring. This way no one misses the big spots. I approve. The match suffers from a surprisingly sluggish pace and Coffey attempting power spots that he’s not strong enough to hit. Rampage is more impressive and when they do strike duels the match is really tidy, as it was in their Block match. I’m especially enamoured with the Big Lads hitting big suplexes and the match actually comes across a little better on VOD than it did live. They do have clumsy moments, which look even worse, like poor timing on the discus lariat. Rampage kills Joe with a pair of piledrivers to become the first ever Atlas Champ. This was a real disappointment live but it looked better on VOD and was far more enjoyable. It was still awkward at times though and wasn’t the **** classic we were hoping for.

Final Rating: ***

 

Dahlia Black, Alex Windsor & Jinny vs. Pollyanna, Nixon Newell & Laura Di Matteo

TK Cooper makes a dick of himself by a) wearing dungarees to the ring like a cunt and b) trying to take a chair from the front row when they’re all inter-connected. You’re not in the Ballroom now pal! Jinny gets that nuclear heat just for walking out here. Nixon Newell’s “C’est le vie” entrance music is the first tune to get the crowd partying. The party atmosphere in the venue was incredible. This is a pretty decent collection of BritWres ladies talent. They’re all improving together, which is quite delightful. It might result in the kind of division the men created (Scurll, Ospreay, Haskins, Sabre etc all coming through together). There are three distinct feuds going on here, with Pollyanna vs. Dahlia being the one that’s really heated and TK gets involved again to further that. The heels isolate Pollyanna for heat and it’s solid work all round even if the structure of the match is a little uninspired. Laura vs. Jinny is fairly heated and I’m certain they have a blow-off match in their feud that will outshine what they’ve done in the ring so far. Mainly because of Jinny’s progression at controlling matches of late. Laura gets dumped on her head a few times, in sickening fashion. Her neck isn’t going to last. There is some sensational selling in this match, like Jinny dropping like she’s dead or Laura working like Ricky Steamboat or Windsor landing on her face or Dahlia selling TK’s accidental punch. It’s all quite wonderful. Jinny picks off Laura, who takes another horrible looking head-spike out of the corner, for the pin. This was much better on VOD too, which is a thrilling situation for me to be in because I thought the second half of the show was way better.

Final Rating: ***1/2

 

Tangent: at this point William Eaver vs. Sebastian disappears entirely as Eaver hit Seb with a lariat at the introductions and knocked him out cold. Seb ended up being taken out of the ring on a stretcher. He was fortunate and didn’t suffer any serious neck or head damage as a result but it was a very serious moment and well handled by the medical team.

 

Progress Tag Team Championship

The London Riots (c) vs. British Strong Style (Trent Seven & Pete Dunne)

I fucking love British Strong Style. I have the shirt and everything. Trent rags on the slightly injured Rob Lynch*, who got hurt working for PCW the day before, for not being “strong style”. BSS tend to do a lot of brawling and that suits the Riots just fine. They brawl around until they grab chairs and have a sit down punch-up. I’ve done that. In a pub. It got funny looks and I broke my hand. Good night though. They don’t really bother with tags, which makes this a Riots special; a super rowdy hard-hitting tornado style match up. They do some excellent break-down spots where everyone clubbers each other with big spots, one after another. They get a lovely finger-biting four-way to make fun of Pete Dunne’s finger-munching spot. Pre-show I really wasn’t sure who was winning here as it didn’t make sense for either team to lose. The Riots are on fire and having their best run in the promotion and British Strong Style are too new to be jobbing. The hard-hitting action continues throughout with so many sturdy looking hits landing. I love the dirty heels gouging Lynch’s fucked up eye and his fiery double spear comeback. It’s professional wrestling at its best. Rob takes a cricket bat to the eye though and a spike piledriver sees British Strong Style win the shields. Just before the crowd erupts into shocked booing you might just be able to hear me yelling “YEEEESSSS”. “Shit hair no fans”? At least one fan.

Final Rating: ***3/4

 

https://twitter.com/RobLynchRIOTS/status/781976890999537664

 

^ *Rob Lynch’s injuries came the night before this so he wrestled this match, which was pretty badass, with all manner of facial damage. I’m actually shocked he could get through a hard-hitting match with so many injuries. Credit to him.

 

Paul Robinson vs. Chuck Mambo

This wasn’t advertised and Robinson simply shows up at the start of the second half to bemoan not being booked. “How dare you run this show without me?” is what he specifically asks. Mambo isn’t the opponent the fans were hoping for as Robbo’s last feud in Progress was with Havoc. They do manage a great visual by having Mambo’s entrance involving beach balls and the crowd play with them. That party atmosphere I was talking about earlier? In full force here. Robinson is clearly out to prove himself, after spending a while out of the Progress booking loop. He wants to show he’s a big talent. He fucks up poor Chuck with all manner of abuse. Kicks, slaps, knees, spit, headbutts. Mambo is a fun-loving guy but in terms of talent, Robinson is way ahead of him. So it’s probably for the best that Paul is the heel as he leads the match and poor Chuck gets his nose busted up. Eventually Robbo just has too much and Mambo gets pinned. This was an extended squash to announce the return of Robinson to the Progress roster, seeing as he lost quite a bit before leaving.

Final Rating: **

 

Post Match: the fan who wears Carlito shirts gets into it with Robinson in a spot of verbal. Robbo shows remarkable restraint in not knocking him out.

 

Two Out of Three Falls Match

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tommaso Ciampa

Ciampa has put Progress over huge, including an interview on WWE.com, and is back here because his feud with Sabre is currently tied at 1-1. It’s Ciampa’s final Indie date before officially being full time with WWE. The crowd gets a party going again for Tommaso, with many holding up “Psycho Killer” signs and singing along to his music. The crowd love him until Sabre shows up and gets an enormous reaction. You’d think it was Zack that was leaving! Naturally the technical wrestling in this match is excellent as they’re both exceptional at the grappling. The story is Sabre out-wrestling Ciampa and the NXT star getting increasingly wound up by it. Ciampa’s perception is that the fans prefer Sabre and the response reflects that, mainly because Ciampa leans toward heel. There’s no silliness in this match as it’s deadly serious from the opening exchanges. When Ciampa does his running knee outside, where he starts his run-up from is where I was sat, and the view was fine from there. No bad seats in Brixton, which is amazing considering the size of the building. Sabre spends most of the contest manipulating the arm, as he tends to. Some of his work on the arm is sickening, to the point where I actually got worried about Ciampa’s wellbeing. Both guys lean on the rules slightly, Zack getting stiff with his kicks and Ciampa pulling tights on a pin out of defensive desperation. The technical countering is just excellent and the storytelling is strong too. Ciampa tells most of his story without even saying a word. Ciampa counters one of Sabre’s wacky pins resulting in both men getting counted down. So this best of three falls match is going to sudden death.

 

The crowd were a little disappointed with the double pin but it accelerates this  match into the closing stretch quite beautifully instead of the one guy playing catch up. Ciampa gets even more aggressive at this point going after Zack’s arms as revenge for Sabre’s work. Sabre responds by continuing his vicious assault on the arm, his focus for the entire match. My favourite spot is Ciampa hitting the Pedigree, because he’s a Triple H guy, only for Sabre, who isn’t, to kick out. They hit a load of big spots looking to finish and Project Ciampa off the top should, in all honesty, finish but it doesn’t. Sabre absolutely murders Ciampa with a sadistic armbar until Tommaso taps and Sabre wins the feud. This was so good on tape. Seeing it live I was a little agitated by the odd fan doing the “Moose” business on the counts but you can hardly hear it on VOD. It makes a huge difference. Great technical wrestling, superb match. I’m also a big fan of the imagery where Zack gives Ciampa the same hug that Johnny Gargano gave him after their CWC match.

Final Rating: ****1/2

 

The Origin (Nathan Cruz, Dave Mastiff, El Ligero & Zack Gibson) vs. FSU, Jack Gallagher & Damon Moser

If the Origin lose this match they must disband and I felt that was quite likely going into the show, it being the biggest ever from Progress and this being second from top. Gibson has insane heat here. It’s absolutely ridiculous. The crowd hate the rest of the Origin too but Gibson is simply on a different level. His promo, you know the one (“Liverpool’s number one”) gets unreal heat. It’s always gotten heat but this is off the charts. There’s booing, jeering and so much noise that he can’t finish the promo but then there’s the streamers, the beach balls and the rolls and rolls of toilet paper. Good fucking lord it’s a ridiculous scene. On the other side of things you have FSU coming out to “Party Hard” and the crowd goes completely nuts and that party atmosphere absolutely maxes out. Then there’s Jack Gallagher, in his final Indie match before going to WWE. His music results in more dancing in public than I’ve ever seen. “He’s big, he’s bad, ask your mum he’s probably your dad” is Dave Mastiff’s introduction. Outstanding. I’ve seen Gibson do his intro a few times but this time is madness. There’s toilet paper everywhere. I’ve never seen anything like it. Absolute scenes in Brixton.

 

When we finally get underway they brawl all over the building with Mark Andrews hitting a highlight reel moonsault off a lower balcony. The commentators can’t see it and the entire upper deck can’t see it. I could see it and the camera’s catch it but it’s pretty odd that so many people couldn’t. The match is based on Gibson vs. Gallagher, with them having a history both in Progress and in Manchester. I saw one of their matches from Futureshock a few years ago and that was phenomenal wrestling. Gallagher is leaving tonight so he’s here to give Gibson the rub. Gallagher gets to tie up all the Origin, apart from Mastiff who has a hard time understanding how to undo the hold, which is called, wait for it, the “Bloody Loves the Graps, Me”. The Archbishop of Banterbury manages to undo them all and Ligero makes me laugh by celebrating like he finally figured out the escape. Joel Allen gets pissed off with Ligero and gives him a Stunner to a huge pop. It’s one of the worst Stunners ever. That should be the finish but Cruz pulls the ref out and it all breaks down again. Mastiff whacks Gallagher with a car stereo and Gibson pins him to allow the Origin to continue. This was enormous fun and I’m glad the Origin are sticking around because this is the kind of match they have as a group.

Final Rating: ***3/4

 

Post Match: Gallagher is left alone in the ring and gets a huge standing ovation for his troubles. His stock rose so quickly. At the start of the year could anyone have predicted Jack would be on his way to WWE? I’m glad he’s getting that chance because he’s a terrific professional wrestler and he should turn a few heads with his style. After that Jim announces Progress are coming back to Brixton next year for another show at the O2 Academy.

 

Video Control gives us a fantastic look at the three main eventers on tonight’s show. “Why do I do this?” ask all three. “To be Progress wrestling champion”.

 

Progress World Championship

Marty Scurll (c) vs. Mark Haskins vs. Tommy End

Scurll gets the big entrance with four female dancers doing Scurll cosplay while a demented version of “Singin’ in the Rain” plays. The aim is to make three regular BritWres talents seem like legitimate big stars in front of the crowd they helped to draw. It works. All three guys are extremely talented and this is a chance for Haskins and End to prove their status as top Indie guys, even if the latter is on his way to WWE. Everyone shines despite the usual three-way selling issues constantly coming into play. They try and make me forget this by simply doing the best they can with the one-on-one sequences. In particular Haskins gets to look really tough for taking a beating off both opponents and continually firing up and coming back. End showboats a little with his strikes and looks outstanding with his feet and knees. He might even overdo it a bit as the crowd start to lean towards him, which is not what Progress want because he’s leaving. They do occasionally work on triple threat stuff like Haskins getting both opponents in the Star Armbar. Also both faces doing the “superkick, just kidding” to Marty, throwing that back in his face.

 

Where the match changes is when Scurll goes after his umbrellas that the ladies brought out here pre-match. So there’s a reason for them to be there! They also bring into play a table on the floor. For a moment it looks as if something sickening is going to happen before a safer spot occurs with Scurll and End hurling Haskins through it. Scurll doesn’t take well to Tommy flipping him off and breaks his finger. It’s at this point that they begin to run so many near falls that it looks like Scurll might even retain, which was unthinkable. The match riffs off the Havoc-Ospreay title change match where Havoc continually bumped the refs until Smallman had to referee. They have Marty do that here, wiping out both opponents and all three of Progress’ refs (Roberts, Paz and Joel). Smallman gets in there, again repeating the Havoc-Ospreay title switch and a certain someone gets a wee bit miffed about the theft of his gimmick. JIMMY HAVOC shows up to an enormous reaction. “I hope you suffer” scream the audience. It’s one of the loudest pops I’ve ever heard. Watching the VT back you can see thousands of people jumping around and going nuts. Acid Rainmaker for Scurll and there’s a moment where Havoc poses with the belt where I think he might actually be inserted into the match. End gets eliminated by a recovering Scurll but Haskins straps Marty into the Sharpshooter and cranks way back on to get the submission and win the Progress title. The booking was crazy here, in a good way, and the outcome is Mark Haskins standing tall as the Progress Wrestling Champion as the biggest Indie show of the year ends. The live crowd were treated to End, Ciampa and Gallagher saying goodbye in the ring but the VOD ends with Haskins as champion. As it should do.

Final Rating: ****1/4

 

 

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

There were people, in the build up to Brixton, that were disappointed it wasn’t a ‘WrestleMania’ kind of show from Progress but in a way it was. They blew off a lot of storylines, including the big one, which is Mark Haskins pursuit of gold. Plus they ended the third act of Progress with the return of Jimmy Havoc, the man who dominated Progress during its early years. From a storyline stand-point this was a very satisfying show. The two big matches really delivered and the majority of the undercard was solid. Perhaps the Atlas tournament final under-delivered slightly but the early matches came across better on VOD than live. I’m glad the atmosphere for the rest of the show was there. A couple of those matches had a truly special vibe in the arena; the Origin match and the main event. I enjoyed going to this show a great deal and the post-show party was a wonderful experience. I must admit I don’t recall all of it but a met a lot of great lads and we drank a lot of beer. Plus I got a hug off Jim Smallman and had the chance to put over all the Midlands boys (Haskins, Trent and Dunne) to their faces. As an experience Brixton was fantastic and I’ll be back next year.