My first PROGRESS Wrestling Ballroom show since Chapter 20! With a card I wasn't fully excited about outside out 3 matches, I was a bit worried I would let myself get underwhelmed at most of it, but over hyped at the 3 matches I wanted to watch. It's safe to say this show delivered in spades, while I'd say I still prefer Chapter 55 for my favourite live show, this has to be close second.
Why? Let's find out!
Natural Progression Series V First Round Match:
Chris Ridgeway Def. Omari
Very hot opening match here, I've seen Chris once, at ACW Apollo 4 and thought he was very good, but here he exceeded what I already thought, a very hard hitting match with a lot of excitement. With Ridgeway's prior matches in PROGRESS before NPS, I think he's going to take the whole thing, he's oozing with talent and winning NPS would be a huge boost for him, Omari fits well in PROGRESS also, if he bumped up to over 205 pounds (If he doesn't already weigh that) He would be killer in the Atlas division, very much like Matt Riddle, more slimmed down and technical but can still hit hard when he has to. Overall a great way to start off NPS and the show!
Rating - ***1/2
Roy Johnson Def. Pastor William Eaver
This is what I'd call a WWE style match, where the two men played to their character's strengths as oppose to their personal ones, it was a good match but a nasty spill onto the outside by Eaver compromised the match a little. Shoutouts to Eaver for continuing the match, and thankfully he wasn't seriously injured and hopefully he'll recover quick, Roy is very underrated, a genuine power lifter and sitting at 205 pounds, give him a match with WALTER and watch his value sky rocket. With where the two go from here I'm not to sure, shame that Eaver was a former PROGRESS Champion and since the run he has been out of the spotlight.
Rating - ***
Zack Sabre Jr. Def. Chris Brookes & Trent Seven
This match was so fucking good and so damn fun, the first 5-10 minutes was them messing around, Trent wanting the match to end early to he could fly to Philly, Brookes wanting to skip the 3 way lock up because it's boring and the 3 men trading chops in a circle for a solid few minutes. It all breaks down when Trent delivers the mother of all chops to Zack and all 3 men begin to kick the shit out of each other with Zack putting on a submission clinic, I remember hearing people next to me marking out hard whenever Zack out on a hold. For me, he's one of the best technical wrestlers ever and getting to see him live and even get a photo with him was a great experience. The match ends with Zack coming out on top, with him being in NJPW I guess they didn't want Trent or Chris having a leg over on the other so Zack was essentially the middle man, but the night wasn't over for Chris. Overall, awesome match, almost MOTN.... almost.
Rating - ****1/2
PROGRESS Wrestling World Championship Match:
Travis Banks (c) Def. TK Cooper
I was expecting fireworks in this match, and while it didn't hit a fever pitch, understandably, it was still a very good match and a good way to end the first half of the show. A good chunk of the crowd, including myself, really wanted TK to win, and with the two videos PROGRESS posted about TK's recent injury and encounters with CKK (Click Here To Watch Them) There were hints of either a heel turn for TK with hidden jealously, or building up more sympathy for him depending on how you interpret it, which made for an interesting dynamic. Neither man worked predominantly heel on the other, it was a mostly clean bout with some great psychology over TK not wanting to dive from the top rope after his broken foot, the match ends with Chris Brookes stopping TK from using the title on Travis and Chris pulling the referee out when TK had Travis in a submission. Travis ultimately wins with the Lions Clutch, but during the post match TK begins to beat up on Brookes and Travis gets struck by TK whilst he tries to pull him off, then when Chris jumps TK, Travis pulls him off just so he can get onto TK and beat on him too. All 3 men have to be separated and with TK in the isle whilst Chris and Travis share a stare in the ring, the focus seems to have shifted to cracks in CCK, I have a feel we'll see SPPT reunite in full force and go back to their heel ways.
Whilst a Brookes heel turn seems the most obvious, pushing aside Lykos after his singles success, I think they'll pull a fast one as Chris has been getting the most boos for his recent behaviour, which would make for a good swerve having Travis and TK be the ones to turn bad. Overall, a very good match that didn't give too much away in terms of what we'll see during the triple threat at the next chapter.
Rating - **** (+5 For Post Match)
PROGRESS Wrestling Women's Championship Match:
Toni Storm (c) Def. Chakara
With Toni's original opponent Jinny being injured, then her replacement Millie McKenzie also getting injured the Friday before the show, the match itself did a feel little rushed and thrown together, which is a shame but they did well with what they had. Jinny cut a great promo pre match, seemingly giving a heartfelt speech, to the point where hecklers in the crowd were being shushed by other audience members, but of course it was all a ruse to sucker fans in before she verbally put them down and Toni. She then reveals Toni's opponent, Chakara, who I've heard great things about, and I'm sure if they had more time to plan their match out, would've been awesome, but with only two days notice and not really knowing when Chakara herself was chosen, the two only put on a so so match. In the post match Nina Samuels joins Chakara and Jinny in beating down on Toni, seemingly forming a stable, which is a first for PROGRESS to have an all women stable with Jinny of course being the Queen of the operation. Hopefully this leads to Jinny becoming champion as she's incredibly talented and would make a fantastic champion, the woman you'd want to see get beat, and being trained by Jimmy Havoc, you know she's a damn good wrestler.
Rating - **3/4 (+5 For Jinny's Promo)
Jimmy Havoc & Mark Haskins Def. Mark Andrews & Danny Jones
What could've easily been just a story progression match between Mark Andrews and Eddie Dennis turned out to be a very solid tag team match, with Eddie cutting a great pre match promo debunking F.S.U as Mark Andrews and insert Welsh wrestler here, with some fans even turning on Mark during the promo. This feud has been very interesting with a lot of Eddie's actions being somewhat justifiable with how the picture has been painted, but of course Eddie going too far has made him the bad guy who's right. As for the match, Haskins and Havoc had control for most of the bout with a few hope spots for the Welsh duo, I was honestly expecting Eddie to cost them, but instead Havoc and Haskins were allowed to do all the heeling and they've become a force to be reckoned with in PROGRESS and I think they'll become tag team champions very soon. The post match was good, Eddie coming from commentary to applaud Danny's efforts whilst squaring up to Mark, I honestly can't wait for the blow off.
Rating - ***3/4
Flash Morgan Webster Def. Doug Williams
I actually missed this match during the announcements, so it was a nice surprise seeing these two, seeing Flash at the merch table I assumed he was wrestling I just didn't know who. The match as expected was really good, Doug is a UK wrestling legend and Webster is a star in the making, with the built in story of being the nearly man and was even originally going to take a break from PROGRESS before this match. The things Doug can do with his size is quite the spectacle and of course Flash delivered in spades, the ending was interesting, we all thought the out and out turn of Webster was finally going to happen, much like we thought it would at Chapter 55. Vicky Haskins arrives and helps Mark win, but Mark didn't notice the assist and was as shocked as we were, during a small talk he has with PROGRESS management (Which You Can Watch Here) A woman appears at the end, calling him Bumblebee, we assume this was Vicky, but it might be someone else who is revealed later down the line. Flash shook Doug's hand post match being apologetic and even took to Twitter to apologise for how the match ended. I'm liking the suspense of him either joining Havoc and Haskins, or perhaps turning heel on his own with a different manager all together.
Rating - ***1/2
Main Event - PROGRESS Wrestling Atlas Championship Match
WALTER (c) Def. Timothy Thatcher
To say this was MOTN is an understatement, this is already my MOTY and the at that point, January hadn't even ended, in a month were we had Suzuki Tanahashi at Sapporo about 24 hours earlier, 4 barnstormers at WK 12, a fantastic match earlier in the card and WWE/NXT putting on several great matches, this trumps all of them. It started off with some great mat wrestling, which even commentators pointed out, as we were expecting them to just lay into each other from the get go, slowly the two become more aggressive until the chops begin to come out but they still wrestle to the mat in between. The match kicks into overdrive once WALTER seemingly just loses it and starts beating the shit out of Thatcher with a horrendous onslaught of chops and kicks, Thatcher's chest was purple within minutes and WALTER essentially turned heel for the duration of the match with how vicious he was being. Thatcher counters the offence brilliantly by targeting WALTER's hand and from there the two just go to war with each other with vicious submissions, more chops and kicks than there were audience members and a fever pitch ending of a chop to fucking head and pile driver combo with Thatcher kicking out, but then gets given a destructive powerbomb and is finally put away. On a side note, the crowd made the match even more electrifying, this wasn't a case of a crowd making a match better, but the crowd complimenting an already perfect match, if I was a mark for own ratings, I'd give this match more than 5 stars through the combination of the match and the crowd being in harmony and making one another better and better.
The match told a fantastic story of two faction members going all out and not holding holding back, making the Atlas title feel so damn important that they would go this far for it. You couldn't have asked for a more perfect match, it had a beautiful blend of mat and submission wrestling along with stiff strong style sequences that PROGRESS has become known for in many respects. WALTER overpowered Thatcher, but he knew how to counter WALTER's onslaught and at times, we all thought Thatcher was going to win, and that's when you know a match had got you by the collar in terms of investment, when you have no idea who's going to win or how it's going to end as WALTER, at least in PROGRESS, usually wins via his sleeper hold. My favourite PROGRESS match, and when it comes to top 10s, this won't just be on my matches of the year list, I guarantee it.
Rating - ***** (+5 For The Crowd)
Final Thoughts:
I haven't been to many PROGRESS shows but this will go down as one of my favourites no matter how many I go to, like I said earlier, the card wasn't fully pumping me outside of 3 matches, which is rare for PROGRESS to do to me, but watching the show just shows how any PROGRESS card will be at worst, a great show, and this was a fucking great show, with a great crowd especially during the main event. We also have many questions leading into future shows, the fates of CCK & SPPT, Jinny's new faction, Flash Morgan Webster's allegiances and finally were & when will Dennis and Andrews come to blows. Check out Demand PROGRESS for not only this fantastic show, but many many more brilliant shows, and not just from them, they offer a brilliant variety of wrestling content that any wrestling fan will enjoy.
Fianl Rating - 8.5/10
But these were simply my thoughts, did you think different? Were you there live? Watched it on demand? Did your feelings on certain matches change from when you saw them live to when you saw them on demand? Let me know in the comments below or tweet me @BogglesTheOwl and don't forgot to follow my aforementioned Twitter as well as my Facebook Page and I look forward to writing for you guys again, very soon.
Rating - ****1/2
PROGRESS Wrestling World Championship Match:
Travis Banks (c) Def. TK Cooper
I was expecting fireworks in this match, and while it didn't hit a fever pitch, understandably, it was still a very good match and a good way to end the first half of the show. A good chunk of the crowd, including myself, really wanted TK to win, and with the two videos PROGRESS posted about TK's recent injury and encounters with CKK (Click Here To Watch Them) There were hints of either a heel turn for TK with hidden jealously, or building up more sympathy for him depending on how you interpret it, which made for an interesting dynamic. Neither man worked predominantly heel on the other, it was a mostly clean bout with some great psychology over TK not wanting to dive from the top rope after his broken foot, the match ends with Chris Brookes stopping TK from using the title on Travis and Chris pulling the referee out when TK had Travis in a submission. Travis ultimately wins with the Lions Clutch, but during the post match TK begins to beat up on Brookes and Travis gets struck by TK whilst he tries to pull him off, then when Chris jumps TK, Travis pulls him off just so he can get onto TK and beat on him too. All 3 men have to be separated and with TK in the isle whilst Chris and Travis share a stare in the ring, the focus seems to have shifted to cracks in CCK, I have a feel we'll see SPPT reunite in full force and go back to their heel ways.
Whilst a Brookes heel turn seems the most obvious, pushing aside Lykos after his singles success, I think they'll pull a fast one as Chris has been getting the most boos for his recent behaviour, which would make for a good swerve having Travis and TK be the ones to turn bad. Overall, a very good match that didn't give too much away in terms of what we'll see during the triple threat at the next chapter.
Rating - **** (+5 For Post Match)
PROGRESS Wrestling Women's Championship Match:
Toni Storm (c) Def. Chakara
With Toni's original opponent Jinny being injured, then her replacement Millie McKenzie also getting injured the Friday before the show, the match itself did a feel little rushed and thrown together, which is a shame but they did well with what they had. Jinny cut a great promo pre match, seemingly giving a heartfelt speech, to the point where hecklers in the crowd were being shushed by other audience members, but of course it was all a ruse to sucker fans in before she verbally put them down and Toni. She then reveals Toni's opponent, Chakara, who I've heard great things about, and I'm sure if they had more time to plan their match out, would've been awesome, but with only two days notice and not really knowing when Chakara herself was chosen, the two only put on a so so match. In the post match Nina Samuels joins Chakara and Jinny in beating down on Toni, seemingly forming a stable, which is a first for PROGRESS to have an all women stable with Jinny of course being the Queen of the operation. Hopefully this leads to Jinny becoming champion as she's incredibly talented and would make a fantastic champion, the woman you'd want to see get beat, and being trained by Jimmy Havoc, you know she's a damn good wrestler.
Rating - **3/4 (+5 For Jinny's Promo)
Jimmy Havoc & Mark Haskins Def. Mark Andrews & Danny Jones
What could've easily been just a story progression match between Mark Andrews and Eddie Dennis turned out to be a very solid tag team match, with Eddie cutting a great pre match promo debunking F.S.U as Mark Andrews and insert Welsh wrestler here, with some fans even turning on Mark during the promo. This feud has been very interesting with a lot of Eddie's actions being somewhat justifiable with how the picture has been painted, but of course Eddie going too far has made him the bad guy who's right. As for the match, Haskins and Havoc had control for most of the bout with a few hope spots for the Welsh duo, I was honestly expecting Eddie to cost them, but instead Havoc and Haskins were allowed to do all the heeling and they've become a force to be reckoned with in PROGRESS and I think they'll become tag team champions very soon. The post match was good, Eddie coming from commentary to applaud Danny's efforts whilst squaring up to Mark, I honestly can't wait for the blow off.
Rating - ***3/4
Flash Morgan Webster Def. Doug Williams
I actually missed this match during the announcements, so it was a nice surprise seeing these two, seeing Flash at the merch table I assumed he was wrestling I just didn't know who. The match as expected was really good, Doug is a UK wrestling legend and Webster is a star in the making, with the built in story of being the nearly man and was even originally going to take a break from PROGRESS before this match. The things Doug can do with his size is quite the spectacle and of course Flash delivered in spades, the ending was interesting, we all thought the out and out turn of Webster was finally going to happen, much like we thought it would at Chapter 55. Vicky Haskins arrives and helps Mark win, but Mark didn't notice the assist and was as shocked as we were, during a small talk he has with PROGRESS management (Which You Can Watch Here) A woman appears at the end, calling him Bumblebee, we assume this was Vicky, but it might be someone else who is revealed later down the line. Flash shook Doug's hand post match being apologetic and even took to Twitter to apologise for how the match ended. I'm liking the suspense of him either joining Havoc and Haskins, or perhaps turning heel on his own with a different manager all together.
Rating - ***1/2
Main Event - PROGRESS Wrestling Atlas Championship Match
WALTER (c) Def. Timothy Thatcher
To say this was MOTN is an understatement, this is already my MOTY and the at that point, January hadn't even ended, in a month were we had Suzuki Tanahashi at Sapporo about 24 hours earlier, 4 barnstormers at WK 12, a fantastic match earlier in the card and WWE/NXT putting on several great matches, this trumps all of them. It started off with some great mat wrestling, which even commentators pointed out, as we were expecting them to just lay into each other from the get go, slowly the two become more aggressive until the chops begin to come out but they still wrestle to the mat in between. The match kicks into overdrive once WALTER seemingly just loses it and starts beating the shit out of Thatcher with a horrendous onslaught of chops and kicks, Thatcher's chest was purple within minutes and WALTER essentially turned heel for the duration of the match with how vicious he was being. Thatcher counters the offence brilliantly by targeting WALTER's hand and from there the two just go to war with each other with vicious submissions, more chops and kicks than there were audience members and a fever pitch ending of a chop to fucking head and pile driver combo with Thatcher kicking out, but then gets given a destructive powerbomb and is finally put away. On a side note, the crowd made the match even more electrifying, this wasn't a case of a crowd making a match better, but the crowd complimenting an already perfect match, if I was a mark for own ratings, I'd give this match more than 5 stars through the combination of the match and the crowd being in harmony and making one another better and better.
The match told a fantastic story of two faction members going all out and not holding holding back, making the Atlas title feel so damn important that they would go this far for it. You couldn't have asked for a more perfect match, it had a beautiful blend of mat and submission wrestling along with stiff strong style sequences that PROGRESS has become known for in many respects. WALTER overpowered Thatcher, but he knew how to counter WALTER's onslaught and at times, we all thought Thatcher was going to win, and that's when you know a match had got you by the collar in terms of investment, when you have no idea who's going to win or how it's going to end as WALTER, at least in PROGRESS, usually wins via his sleeper hold. My favourite PROGRESS match, and when it comes to top 10s, this won't just be on my matches of the year list, I guarantee it.
Rating - ***** (+5 For The Crowd)
Final Thoughts:
I haven't been to many PROGRESS shows but this will go down as one of my favourites no matter how many I go to, like I said earlier, the card wasn't fully pumping me outside of 3 matches, which is rare for PROGRESS to do to me, but watching the show just shows how any PROGRESS card will be at worst, a great show, and this was a fucking great show, with a great crowd especially during the main event. We also have many questions leading into future shows, the fates of CCK & SPPT, Jinny's new faction, Flash Morgan Webster's allegiances and finally were & when will Dennis and Andrews come to blows. Check out Demand PROGRESS for not only this fantastic show, but many many more brilliant shows, and not just from them, they offer a brilliant variety of wrestling content that any wrestling fan will enjoy.
Fianl Rating - 8.5/10
But these were simply my thoughts, did you think different? Were you there live? Watched it on demand? Did your feelings on certain matches change from when you saw them live to when you saw them on demand? Let me know in the comments below or tweet me @BogglesTheOwl and don't forgot to follow my aforementioned Twitter as well as my Facebook Page and I look forward to writing for you guys again, very soon.
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