Chris Ridgeway On Jonathon Gresham Helping With His Confidence, The Outlook of Indy Wrestling in 2022

Chris Ridgeway is the PROGRESS World Champion, and he discussed how his confidence as a performer has grown and more in a new interview. Ridgeway spoke with PWMania for a new interview before his match at this morning’s PROGRESS Chapter 136: 24/7 and you can check out some highlights below:

On preparing for his first PROGRESS World Title Defense: “Winning the title at SSS16 felt like the culmination of a lot of hard work. Now, I don’t see myself beatable, with the role that I’m on. Dean Allmark is one of my favorite wrestlers to wrestle from anywhere in the world. He gets a lot of credit for his technical wrestling skills, but what people do not realize is that he is genuinely hard. So it’s going to be a good match, he will throw everything at me on Sunday, but I don’t feel like I can lose.”

On his confidence as of late: “It’s all about the core people I surround myself with. The group I am with, North West Strong, has kept me motivated. Working with people like Jonathon Gresham has also helped me so much. Working in NOAH with the best wrestlers in the world has constantly moved me on. My tag partner (Yoshinari Ogawa), an actual living legend, has took me to another level. Working with talent like this, you can’t go wrong. When you have all that support, you can’t let them down. There is a pressure to deliver because of the company I keep, but it keeps me fresh and wanting to be even better each time I step in the ring.”

On how things have changed since the days of his matches with WALTER and Cara Noir: “I’d say the setup is different under the new management. They’ve come in and hit the ground running, but both eras of PROGRESS have been very good. I don’t tend to look back to previous matches. I am a different wrestler now to the one I was in 2018, 2019. I don’t reflect and watch back these matches. I always look forward and seek improvement.”

On the outlook of indy wrestling in 2022: “For me, this is the best position to be in. I love going to wrestle for NOAH, watching and working with the best wrestlers in the world. I love training and working with the up-and-coming talent this country has, because it is everywhere. It’s the dream set up for me. Even speaking about it now, I feel privileged that I can do what I do in so many ways. This is how I like it.”

On his dream opponent: “There’s so many, and most of my dream opponents I get to work with across the UK and with NOAH, but I would say Minoru Suzuki. That would be fun, a real scrap.”