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Perry’s Perspective: PROGRESS Chapter 25: Chat Shit Get Banged

February 17, 2016 | Posted by Chad Perry
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Perry’s Perspective: PROGRESS Chapter 25: Chat Shit Get Banged  

Date: January 24, 2016
Location: Camden, Greater London, England; Electric Ballroom
Commentary: RJ Singh & Glen Joseph

It took much longer than usual for this show to come out due to the PROGRESS offices being closed and then some production issues on the first release. Thankfully PROGRESS is back with their first show of 2016 in front of a sold out crowd. The title of the show is truly an interesting one; the Urban Dictionary definition is: “Expression used to humiliate people who hate on someone or something.”

PROGRESS Tag Team: The Origin (c) vs F.S.U.
The Origin is represented by El Ligero & Nathan Cruz, this is their first defense of their 2nd title reign since winning the belts at PROGRESS 23 in a three way match. FSU is the team of Mark Andrews & Eddie Dennis, they the first PROGRESS Tag Team champions. This is the first title defense of the 2nd reign for The Origin; they won the belts at PROGRESS 23 in a three way match. I know I have made note of it before but The Origin have the best entrance music in all of wrestling with “Turn the Page” by Metallica; not only is it a great song but the tempo fits them perfectly. The Origin worked over Dennis heavily in the early portions of the match. Cruz was stuck in the tree-of-woe, Dennis missed a baseball slide attempt but Andrews followed up with a double stomp. Origin hit Andrews with wheelbarrow DDT into a German suplex combination that looked brutal, but it was only good for 2. Andrews had what looked like a three count on Cruz, but Ligero yanked the referee from the ring. While the referee was down on the outside Ligero put half of the tag shields (see below) in the ring. This allowed Cruz to hit a tombstone to Andrews onto the shield, and that was all she wrote. Fantastic way to start the show as the crowd was into the whole match and all four guys looked fantastic. Good classic tag team wrestling to start with a final five minutes filled with frantic action.

OFFICIAL RESULT: The Origin by pinfall @ 13:01 (***1/2)


These are the PROGRESS Tag Team Championship’s, and they are awesome.

Natural Progression Series III Semi Final Spot Match: Damian Dunne vs. Tyler Bate:
Dunne lost to Sebastian at PROGRESS 20, while Bate was pinned Pastor William Eaver at PROGRESS 22 in the tournament. There is an open spot in the semi’s though so these two men who impressed in the last round were invited back. Of the two men Bates impressed me more initially and that retained here. Bates had some highlight moves with a very well executed belly-to-belly and a diving European uppercut from the second rope. There was a vicious headbutt spot that looked right out of NJPW’s NEVER division that led to Bate hitting an old fashioned airplane spin followed by near coast-to-coast headbutt. Dunne finished Bate off with a springboard double knee buster. I would like to see more from both of these guys on future PROGRESS shows, especially Bate. Good match with very solid work from both men.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Damian Dunne by pinfall @ 9:56 (***)

Michael Dante vs. Rob Lynch:
Dante as representing Sumerian Death Squad, Lynch is representing The London Riots. The winner of the match gets to choose the stipulation for the match between the two teams at PROGRESS 27 in March. This was exactly what everyone was expecting it to be, a stiff slugfest. Lynch won with a spear. These two brutalized each other with series of kicks, elbows and punches. The match was good, while nothing too special. However, the tag match in 2 months is sure to be a very good match as there will be four big brutes knocking each other around. Lynch announces after the match that the stipulation for their match in 2 months will be a TLC match, that has some serious potential!

OFFICIAL RESULT: Rob Lynch by pinfall @ 9:10 (**1/2)

PROGRESS Title #1 Contendership: Mark Haskins vs. Zack Gibson:
Regardless of who wins the main event my preference to be their next challenger would be Haskins. While he may not be in the Okada department for international talents that TNA dropped the ball on, they certainly wasted an opportunity with a very good wrestler. Gibson (who is also a member of The Origin) controlled the match for the most part with a slow and methodical attack that ha the fans glamouring for a Haskins comeback. Haskins was able to make a furious comeback led with a huge forearm exchange between the two men that sent Gibson retreating to the outside. Haskins took to the air and cleared Gibson out on the outside. Haskins did a lot of work on the arm of Gibson once he gained control of the match. Gibson returned the favor of working over Haskins right arm a little bit later in the match as these two put on a great technical showcase. Haskins was able to reverse arm work by Gibson into a stretch muffler, which forced the tap out. Great match here with Gibson still looking strong in defeat. The entire match was built at a good pace and they kept the crowd with the throughout 20 minutes. The arm work done by both men (along with the selling) was great.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Mark Haskins by submission @ 19:39 (****)

Morgan Webster vs. Paul Robinson:
Robinson became frustrated with Webster right off the bat and went for a chair, but the referee was able to talk him out of it. The action in this contest was fast and furious with Webster leading the way with a lot of high flying moves. when Robinson was on offense he laid into Webster with a fury of fists. Robinson eventually became fed up with not being able to put Morgan Webster away and started reigning down punches. When the referee tried to step in, Robinson went at the referee who DQed Robinson. Before Robinson could continue the beat down on Webster security stepped in and advised Robinson to leave. This is obviously not the end of this feud and I am perfectly okay with that as this was cruising along nicely and I look forward to a rematch.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Morgan Webster by DQ @ 11:23 (***)

Four Way Match: Dahlia Black vs. Jinny vs. Pollyanna vs. Toni Storm:
This is the second women’s match in PROGRESS history, the first was voted by the fans as one of the top 10 matches of 2015. I am not familiar with any of these ladies but had heard some strong praise from the live crowd for it, so that had me looking forward to it. Pollyanna had Storm set up for a double stomp off the top, Black ran up Storm and forearmed Polly out of the ring and onto the floor! Incredible triple submission spot by Pollyanna that had a Gory Special, Boston Crab and a variant Camel Clutch on all three ladies at one point. Jinny tried to have her assistant cut the hair of Pollyanna but she wouldn’t do it, so Jinny took the scissors into her own hands and took care of a few chunks. The ladies put together a beautiful stackplex spot in the corner that led to Storm trying to get the cover on all three women, but coming up with none. PK (I think that was his name) name in and hit a KO punch on Pollyanna, Jinny tossed him out of the ring and got the pin. This was more than just an exhibition match of four talented ladies, you can tell that there was some back story between them by their interactions and chemistry. All four of these ladies rocked and I hope we see more of them in PROGRESS, and other companies soon!

OFFICIAL RESULT: Jinny by pinfall @ 13:00 (****)

PROGRESS Title No Disqualification Match: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Marty Scurll:
This is Ospreay’s 5th title defense since winning the belt from Jimmy Havoc in a No DQ match at PROGRESS 20. These two faced off in a fantastic ****1/2 match for Rev Pro the week prior that was one of the 10 best matches in January and have always shown amazing chemistry with each other. Beautiful video package profiling the history of Ospreay and Scurll before the match gets started. PROGRESS does a fantastic job anytime they put together one of these packages. The two started out with a show of respect with some slaps to the others face, the next minute Ospreay is flipping to the outside. Ospreay is bleeding from the mouth at about the 4 minute mark and then takes feet to the face when going for a flip off the apron. Ospreay was thrown onto the railings on the outside by Scurll and was able to leap up another rung before hitting the most crispt moonsault one can imagine back onto Marty. Will Ospreay never stops impressing and has no limits! Scurll had multiple’s of his signature umbrella hidden under the ring, while he was pulling them out from under the ring Ospreay was getting a table. There was a “save the tables” chant while Marty was setting up the table, warms my heart. Ospreay sends Scurll through the table with a powerbomb and it looks like one of the stiffest and thickest tables I have ever seen in match with the way it breaks. The fight made it’s way to the stage, Ospreay attempted to use the stage to hurricarana Scurll but was countered into a powerbomb through the announcers table. Ospreay used one of Scurll’s umbrellas to apply a brutal crossface back in the ring for a tap out, but this was moments after Scurll had knocked the referee down with another umbrella. Scurll became desperate late and handcuffed Ospreay’s hands behind back. Marty used every weapon in the ring (mostly umbrellas) and just laid into the helpless Ospreay. Scurll locked in the chickenwing and Ospreay is out, his hands are still cuffed so the referee can not even check them. This match is over. Like I said before these two have great chemistry and this was more proof. I can see someone having a preference of their Rev Pro match to this but for me this was the more engaging contest. The hardcore spots were all well executed and they didn’t spend too much time setting them up. My biggest issue with the match (which often will come about in Ospreay’s matches) is the lack of long term, and sometimes short term, selling throughout the match. Even with that though this was still undoubtedly one of the best matches that January had to offer.

Ospreay was uncuffed and received a standing ovation from the crowd to conclude the show.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Marty Scurll by TKO @ 30:14 (****1/2)

All My 2016 Match Ratings

www.twitter.com/cpgoat

9.0
The final score: review Amazing
The 411
Two matches at **** plus a ****1/2 main event to close things off make this a very easy recommendation, the easiest of any show I have reviewed for the site so far. The lowest effort was **1/2 and every match was enjoyable. The character progression of Paul Robinson and Will Ospreay also make this an excellent show. The crowd for PROGRESS is very similar to that of PWG in the US, they love almost everything put in front of them and that makes very a great viewing at home. If you are looking to check out PROGRESS and see what they have to offer across the pond for wrestling this is a great place to start.
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