The Positives of PROGRESS Wrestling

I'm sorry, but there just aren't enough negatives to make this a 'positives and negatives' column. In fact, there's probably about one and that's a minor one...

Yesterday, Sunday 27th July, was my third PROGRESS wrestling show. Again, it was at the spacious, air-conditioned Electric Ballroom in Camden Town, London; the new home of PROGRESS wrestling after their farewell to The Garage, Islington about a month ago. I understand that at The Garage, PROGRESS would draw about 400 (give or take; I'm sure I'll be corrected on this?!) and now they are easily selling out 700 in their new home. Progress indeed.

This was a special chapter in the story of the company as they would welcome the biggest star to grace their ring, Samoa Joe. Obviously, this was a huge deal to Jim, Jon and Glen; three huge wrestling fans who are building and continuing to grow their own baby in the form of PROGRESS. This huge reward, for them and the fans, has been just over two years in the making - that's how successful this company has been thus far. And unlike most wrestling shows out there, they weren't relying on Joe to sell-out the show; that would've happened regardless. Therefore, his addition was more of a 'thank you' than anything else. How many wrestling shows in this country can say that?

So far, all three PROGRESS shows that I've attended have wowed me and left me wanting more and this show may have topped the previous two for one reason alone: The talent of tomorrow.

Chapter 14 - Thunderbastard - showcased several of the PROGRESS training school - the Projo. Unlike a lot of shows that have their trainees compete on their shows as 'stars', PROGRESS announced that these guys were trainees; they didn't cover this up in any way. Leading up to the show, I got to thinking that Jim and co. wouldn't have had these lads on the show unless they were ready to impress 700 expectant fans. Not only were they on the show but they had the goal, and reward, of progressing in the Natural Progression tournament. 'Pastor' William Eaver, Chuck Mambo and the winner, Ali Armstrong, all put on a decent match and should be proud of themselves. Whoever the trainers at PROGRESS are should be proud, too, as they seem to have some top talents on their hands and that's credit to them.

The PROGRESS fans also played their part and supported these guys above and beyond what was probably expected. I think it was a given that they would get behind the future of PROGRESS wrestling, but the cheers, and chants, that started were both hilarious and [hopefully] a boost to the guys in the ring. William Eaver, in particular, got a variety of Jesus-themed chants his way!

'Pastor' William Eaver

Another Projo graduate, Joey Lakeside, had an impressive showing in the opening 'Thunderbastard' match that pitted eight guys against each other in an elimination style match that would earn the victor a title shot at a later date. Everyone did a great job, with Will Ospreay taking the win. During the match, Ospreay would perform the move of the night when he dived to the outside to take out his opponents. Impressive stuff.

Whilst I'm talking about 'dives to the outside', I'll get my one complaint out of the way. And as I said earlier, it's a minor one. On the way home, I couldn't help but pick up on all the dives to the outside. I'm thinking that there was at least one dive to the outside in at least four of the seven matches. Similarly to my review of HOP:E last week (with all the spears), I can't help but think that dives were a little overdone at PROGRESS yesterday. Ultimately and more importantly, the fans loved every one of them. They got the pops that they were looking for... this is why it's a minor thing in this case.

Now I've got that out of my system, I'll get back to the positives...

At first I, kind of, hated the Mad Man Manson 'Open Challenge'. I'd watched his promo video on Youtube earlier in the week on the matter (and you should, too) and it was the usual, funny stuff from him. It basically said that he was issuing an open challenge... except for any heavyweights. He then went onto eliminate anyone that he didn't really fancy wrestling, either. I suppose that this, along with the start of his match, was going to be the 'comedy' part of the bout. When his opponent, Michael Gilbert (along with his gimmick of not needing gimmicks) came to ringside, things got serious very quickly. There were signs of comedy here and there, but generally Gilbert was the perfect 'straight man' to Manson's comedy. Actually, Gilbert completely cancelled out the comedy of Manson and gave a no-nonsense, no-frills beating to Manson before tapping him out.

Youtube: Mad Man Manson issues Open Challenge

I think I wanted loads of comedy because it was Manson, but instead I really appreciated what (I think) they were trying to do in showing how dangerous and serious Gilbert can be.

Match of the night would have to be the Tag Team Championship match between Mark Andrews and Eddie Dennis against The London Riots. This had everything. The match looked over in the first couple of minutes as Jimmy Havoc and Paul Robinson would give the advantage to the Riots courtesy of an ambush. The Riots hit their finish on Andrews only to have him kick out - this would be the first of many near falls that would have me believing that the Riots would win.

I think that's why I loved this match so much - I couldn't see who was going to win. The smart-arse in me was thinking that the Riots were undefeated and Havoc has the PROGRESS title, so why not complete a clean sweep in having all the titles? The other side of me was thinking that this is Andrews and Dennis' first title defence, so surely they can't lose first time out. This was a great dilemma to have as you genuinely lose your sh*t with every near fall - every believable near fall - and that's what this match had.

The thing that backs up my claim is the reaction that Andrews and Dennis got when they won. That was possibly the loudest cheer to a win all night; the fans literally erupted when the three-count was complete. If it was a combination of Andrews and Dennis' popularity and the fans' hatred of the Riots then how many positives is that?! Great stuff and I particularly like 'Party Hard' as a victory theme - I was singing along and everybody was completely into the champions win as a result.

Will Ospreay; Thunderbastard

As I said before, the trainees of PROGRESS made a great first impression earlier in the night and when the main event was over, the other end of British wrestling was also offered a great opportunity.

Samoa Joe and Rampage Brown put on a top match. It was hard hitting, as you'd expect. It made Rampage look like a killer at times and also reminded you that Joe is a hard obstacle to move. Despite Rampage losing the match, he gained a tonne of credibility by kicking out of Joe's Muscle Buster. Seeing that Joe is an active member of the TNA roster and, no less, their X-Division Champion, this was easily the best case scenario for this match.

The inevitable speech from Joe at the end of the night came with a nice surprise for the hugely talented Rampage. TNA are currently doing a second British Boot Camp to scout out the best that we have in this country. Despite WWE recruiting talents from this country, you have to tip your hat to TNA for doing it in a more obvious way. This in turn gives them a better reputation in this country, so fair play to that strategy. Joe would extend an invitation to Rampage to be a part of this year's edition of the process. That's well deserved in my opinion.

Samoa Joe (photo credit: Impact Wrestling)

Everybody deserves a mention; Results:

• THUNDERBASTARD match: Will Ospreay defeated Marty Scurll, Stixx, 'Wild Boar' Mike Hitchman, Joey Lakeside, Darrell Allen, Paul Robinson and Danny Garnell to earn a future title shot
• Mad Man Manson Open Challenge: 'No Gimmicks Required' Michael Gilbert defeated Mad Man Manson
• Mark Haskins defeated Martin Kirby
• PROGRESS Tag Team Championship: FSU (Mark Andrews & Eddie Dennis) (c) defeated The London Riots (James Davis & Rob Lynch)
• Natural Progression: Ali Armstrong defeated 'Pastor' William Eaver and Chuck Mambo
• PROGRESS Championship: Jimmy Havoc (c) defeated Noam Dar
• Samoa Joe defeated Rampage Brown

Bottom line, I may not have had any complaints or negatives from this show but that's because it is one of, if not, the best shows in this country. This show was the exception, but a usual show has 100% British talent (Tommy End is here so often he counts as British talent, right?!), they have their own identity and bring a different brand of wrestling than other promotions in this country.

I don't need to tell you to go to one of their shows, because you should already know that. I don't need to tell you to check them out on Facebook or Twitter (@ThisIsProgress) because you should already be doing that. The only thing I will say is good luck getting a ticket! They sell out every show, without fail, so do the appropriate things to ensure you get one for a future show!

Last, but certainly not least, a shout out to Darrell Allen who was injured in the opening match. Hopefully it's not a repeat of a previous injury, and hopefully it's nothing too serious whatever the diagnosis. As Jim (Smallman) rightly pointed out; these guys do put their bodies on the line to entertain and this is a great example of that. That effort is appreciated and a speedy recovery is definitely hoped for from everyone that has seen Darrell perform... and beyond.

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