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Kevin’s PROGRESS Chapter 76: Hello, Wembley! Review
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Loading...PROGRESS Chapter 76: Hello Wembley
September 30th, 2018 | The SSE Wembley Arena in Wembley, Greater London | Attendance: 4,750
When PROGRESS first announced this show last year, it was huge news. This would be the largest independent wrestling event in United Kingdom history. But, it’s not like it went off without a hitch. Zack Sabre Jr., winner of Super Strong Style 16, planned to take his World Title shot on this show and Will Ospreay was scheduled for a massive match with Jimmy Havoc. Both were pulled by NJPW to work mediocre matches at Fighting Spirit Unleashed. PROGRESS scrambled and came up with a “Three and In” series to determine a new World Title contender. Anyway, I’m truly happy to finally have the time to check this show out.
There was a pre-show battle royal that’s not included on the VOD right now. I’m sure it was fun, but the show already clocks in at four and a half hours. Jim Smallman kicked things off and was highly emotional at the sight of the huge crowd. He was just genuinely happy about it all. Commentary tonight would be Glen Joseph and a rotating cast of color commentators in Dahlia Black, Callum Leslie, and Matt Richards.
Mark Haskins w/ Vicky Haskins vs. Matt Riddle
Things opened with the final independent wrestling date for one Matt Riddle. They shook hands before the bell and engaged in some good old fashioned grappling. On his way out, Riddle did the good thing by making sure Haskins looked great. Mark doesn’t need a ton of help with that, but he just tied Riddle up with surprising ease. It was as if he was Matt’s equal on the mat. The crowd was great for this. Though audio out there was a bit muffled, they still sung and cheered for everything. Haskins fired up late and dared Riddle to hit him harder. It was just to goad him in and set up a DVD. That kicked the match into the highest gear for a ferocious closing stretch. Riddle rolled into a fisherman buster and hit a cradle tombstone, while Haskins countered the Bro to Sleep into a Destroyer. Riddle’s armbar counter was outstanding. Haskins dodged a kick and won with Made in England at 17:16. A hell of an opener. It was straight up wrestling and it worked very well. They didn’t overdo anything, allowing the rest of the card room to shine. [***¾]
Post-match, Haskins declined a handshake and instead brought it in for a hug.
PROGRESS Women’s Championship: Jinny [c] w/ The House of Couture vs. Millie McKenzie vs. Toni Storm
The two toughest challengers to Jinny’s title get shots together. The story here was kind of that Millie McKenzie was thrown in the middle of an existing rivalry between Toni and Jinny. However, she was not intimidated by the spotlight or how young she is and took it right to her opponents. The House of Couture made their presence felt, getting involved at every turn. Laura Di Matteo and Candyfloss ran out to kind of even the odds and ensure there would be no more interfering. The fans erupted for Millie throwing suplexes, including a double German on her opponents. Toni also wowed them with a piledriver on the apron to Millie. After Toni hit Strong Zero on Jinny, the House of Couture got in the ring. Laura and Candyfloss did too, only for Laura to clock her and hit Toni with an Acid Rainmaker! She placed Jinny on Toni for the three count at 8:29. The match was solid but felt a bit rushed. [***]
From a booking perspective, I hate this move. Not Jinny retaining, but Laura joining the House of Couture. She fought hard to get out of Jinny’s shadow. When she returned, they hyped how she might be the one to know how to beat Jinny and she even mentioned wanting a title shot. Then, she just joins her like nothing. It feels like poor storytelling.
The new House of Couture stood tall until Jordynne Grace made her UK PROGRESS debut. Jinny and Laura bailed, leaving the other three to get beat up by Grace. In the following days, Jinny seemed to tweet that the stable disbanded, which is lame. Like, they were around for most of the year and it all to just get Jinny and Laura back together? Grace’s debut came off well at least.
PROGRESS Atlas Championship: Doug Williams [c] vs. Trent Seven
With the storyline of Doug Williams retiring when he takes his next loss, his title reign hasn’t felt in jeopardy until now. Trent’s a big enough name that a loss here would work for Doug’s final match. The atmosphere was great for this, with the crowd completely invested in both men. There’s a deliberate change of pace here. It’s a clear Doug Williams style match and that’s a good thing. I appreciate that we got a more serious Trent here. He and British Strong Style tend to be comedic on a lot of PROGRESS shows, but he understood the gravity of this match. They exchanged holds on the mat and strikes, playing this evenly. The fans thought it was over when Doug delivered Chaos Theory. The champ couldn’t believe it. Seven put the focus on Doug’s neck and nearly won it with a Burning Hammer. A second Chaos Theory still only got a near fall, showing how much Doug was willing to put Trent over. From there, Seven surprised the hell out of Doug with a running cross body that earned him the three count at 14:17. I liked how the finish came from out of nowhere and was the move Trent never seems to hit. The slow pace worked for this and everything felt meaningful as they told a great story.[***½]
The locker room emptied to say goodbye to a British wrestling legend and the fans gave him a standing ovation.
No Disqualifications Match: Jimmy Havoc vs. Paul Robinson
A serious changing of gears. Also, the least interesting match on the card by far for me. At the last show, Havoc had a spectacle of a match with Will Ospreay that seemed to go on for about five days. Havoc came out painted in all white, which wasn’t a good look. This is the kind of violent match that Jimmy seems to rely on these days. Seriously, he’s having them at a crazier pace than ever. Thumbtacks, staples, light tubes, chairs, etc. You name it, these guys used it. Robinson’s back and head were gushing blood and they clearly got the look they wanted from this match. The ending saw Jimmy stop a Curb Stomp through light tubes with an Acid Rainmaker. He then did the light tube Curb Stomp and that needed to be the finish. Instead, he added another Acid Rainmaker that looked kind of weak, winning in 13:45. It was as brutal as they wanted, yet it never captivated me the way Jimmy’s better hardcore stuff has. Haskins/Havoc this wasn’t. [***]
Super Strong Style 16 will take place at the Alexandra Palace again next year. While that was hype, it brought out former SS16 winner and PROGRESS World Champion, Travis Banks. He threw his name into the hat for next year’s tournament.
PROGRESS Tag Team Championship Thunderbastard Match: Bandido and Flamita [c] vs. The 198 vs. The Anti-Fun Police vs. Aussie Open vs. The Calamari Thatch Kings vs. Grizzled Young Vets vs. M&M vs. Sexy Starr
Over the past few months, we’ve been treated to the Thunderbastard Tag Team Series (a round-robin tag tournament). Flamita & Bandido won the titles on the Coast to Coast Tour, so they were added to this even without competing in the series. Due to not having any points in the series, they were forced to enter first against Sexy Starr. For those unfamiliar, a Thunderbastard match works like a Royal Rumble but with pinfalls and submissions. Whoever had the most points in the series would enter last. This exchange had fun character stuff, like Flamita seemingly hitting on Sexsmith and a jealous Starr clocking him. M&M joined the fray next and did their thing before the wildly popular Aussie Open entered. Mark Davis had a blast destroying his smaller opponents. The Anti-Fun Police came in next and were entertaining as always. Santos working the luchadores was outstanding. Grizzled Young Vets cut a promo during their entrance. They used Ticket to Mayhem to send M&M packing as the Calamari Thatch Kings hit the ring. When The 198 enter last, everyone but M&M is alive, so their advantage wasn’t too great. The fans were awesome, with nearly all 4000+ fans standing for the “If you hate Gibson, stand up” chant. Sexy Starr was trounced following the Trapper Keeper. We got the trademark barrage of dives spot, capped by the fans coming to their feet for Santos’’ tope suicida onto everyone before Bandido took Dunne out there with a fall away slam/moonsault combo. Dunne was then eliminated following a Trapper Keeper. Davis got rid of Brookes with Close Your Eyes. Flash used his helmet to take out the champs, guaranteeing us a title change. It came down to the 198, Aussie Open, and Grizzled Young Vets. Obviously, the Aussies were the favorites. Flash took a Fidget Spinner and the 198 were eliminated! The fans were truly hot for this, wanting nothing more than to see their guys win and the asshole former champs lose. Davis was taken out, leaving his much smaller partner to survive an onslaught. He did that long enough for Davis to come back. They used a super Fidget spinner to capture the titles after 31:24. Was it a cluster? Absolutely. Was it a blast? You bet. Some parts were too cluttered to work, but a lot of it clicked greatly and the underdog story for Fletcher and Aussie Open came off very well. [***¾]
Ilja Dragunov w/ CMJ vs. WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne
Dragunov was given awful music and didn’t get much of a reaction from the crowd. These two went right at one another as soon as the bell rang. Dragunov withstood some hand damage to hit a suplex off the steps. That should’ve gotten a better reaction than it did. When these two just battled like two stars, the match was strong. When the focus was put on this being a generic heel/face interaction and the interference from CMJ, it lacked. I appreciate things like Ilja getting his head stomped on and just getting to his feet because he doesn’t care about pain. That’s the kind of thing this needed to focus on. Things got hot in the closing minutes and Ilja hit the Torpedo Moscow only for Dunne to bounce back with offense. He made Ilja tap while snapping his fingers at 18:44. I thought this was good, but never touched the level it was hyped up to reach. I also didn’t dig Ilja tapping as he was kind of a guy who seemed to like pain. [***¼]
Number One Contender’s TLC Match: Eddie Dennis vs. Mark Andrews
I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of either guy, but they’ve hooked me with a well told story that has been building for months. I’m not going to cover a ton of spots in this recap. Instead, I’ll focus on two things. One was how the tables in this match wouldn’t break. They kept trying and each failed attempt hurt the feeling of the match more. It was rough and fans began chanting “BOTCHAMANIA.” Not ideal. The other aspect would be the fact that this went on for a while. The match took 18:41, which doesn’t seem that long on paper. However, the show was already at three and a half hours and this was when fans were trying to leave to catch the last ride home. It killed their interest. At one point, Dennis refused to grab the contract to dish out more punishment and the fans weren’t happy. He eventually was the person to win after hitting a Back Stop Driver that bent the table. This happened and it didn’t live up to the great rivalry. [***]
PROGRESS World Championship: WALTER [c] vs. Tyler Bate
For what was basically PROGRESS’ backup main event for this show, this felt like a big deal. The interactions between these two in a dope tag match last year were enough to make me want this. WALTER got a special entrance where violinists played his theme live. It was cool. You’d consider Tyler the underdog based on size but he manages to match WALTER in power in a lot of spots early on. It looks cool because of the huge size difference, but Tyler is a STRONG BOI. It took a chop for WALTER to finally put him in his place. British Strong Style was at ringside to cheer on their buddy but didn’t get involved. That made it a straight up main event with no frills. Bate found openings and noticed that whatever worked needed to be done more than once because WALTER is a tough man. It does cost him a few times as he goes to the well too often. His airplane spin was a clear highlight. The closing set of counters, strikes, and near falls were incredible. It’s especially true for Bate’s wild German suplex, his second airplane spin spot, and the unbelievable Tyler Driver ’97 he busted out. I didn’t think that was even possible. I also lost it for the Bret Hart WM8/SS96 finish tease. Tyler fires up while in the choke, only to get hit with a Fire Thunder Driver that ended this after 30:08. Yea, it was long, but that rocked. Great exchanges and a fantastic story. [****¼]
