PROGRESS Wrestling held its final non-London show of the year on Sunday. Chapter 99: “With A Flake, Please” saw three huge title matches. Here are the results:
– Mark Andrews defeated Primate
Andrews hit a Shooting Star Press to the back for the win. This was a very short match, lasting just over six minutes.
– The Anti-Fun Police (Los Federales Santos Jr. & Chief Deputy Dunne) defeated The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake)
Drake attempted to hit Santos with a tombstone piledriver, but Santos used his weight to topple Drake and subsequently pinned him.
– PROGRESS Proteus Champion Paul Robinson defeated Chris Ridgeway to retain his title
Per Robinson’s chosen stipulation for the Proteus title, the match could only be won via submission or knockout. Robinson retained via TKO.
– Cara Noir defeated Ilja Dragunov in a two-out-of-three falls match
Dragunov voluntarily tapped out to nothing early on, giving Noir the first fall. Dragunov then hit Noir with a Torpedo Moscow running uppercut to tie the score.
Noir won the match with a vicious package piledriver. Both men received a standing ovation after the match.
– Jinny defeated Meiko Satomura to win the PROGRESS Women’s Championship
Jinny pinned Satomura with an inside cradle after kicking out of a Death Valley Driver. The match was very mat-based and played to Jinny’s strengths. She enters her second PROGRESS Women’s title reign just under 12 months after losing the title to Jordynne Grace.
– Timothy Thatcher defeated Kassius Ohno
Thatcher headbutted Ohno’s forearm and submitted him with a Fujiwara armbar. This is his first win in PROGRESS after returning from injury.
PROGRESS Unified World Champion Eddie Dennis defeated David Starr to retain his title
Dennis hit Starr with a low blow during Starr’s long intro listing his many nicknames. Outside the ring, Dennis was overly confident and received a low blow in return from Starr.
Dennis’ FSU stablemate Mark Andrews came out to ringside halfway through the match to distract the referee, which gave Starr a visual submission win. With the referee in a bad state after being squashed in the corner, Andrews hit a Shooting Star Press onto Starr and placed Dennis’ arm over him to pick up the win.
The show ended with Jim Smallman thanking the Sheffield crowd one more time before he leaves PROGRESS at the end of the year.
PROGRESS returns to its home of the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London on December 30 for the promotion’s annual mystery card show Unboxing Live.
PROGRESS Wrestling returned to its home at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London on Sunday for the first time since the company’s biggest show of the year, which took place at Alexandra Palace.
Here are the results from Sunday’s show:
– Mark Andrews defeated Connor Mills
Andrews got the win with a low blow. PROGRESS Unified World Champion Eddie Dennis interfered on multiple occasions, giving Andrews the advantage.
After the match, Dennis and Andrews beat down Mills. The OJMO and David Starr made the save. While stood on the stage after a brawl, Dennis promised Starr a Unified World Title opportunity “at some point in the foreseeable future,” providing Starr could beat an opponent of Dennis’ choosing. Starr’s opponent was chosen to be The OJMO.
Breaks’ partner was originally meant to be Darrell Allen, but was replaced by Sid Scala due to Allen’s absence.
– The NIC were set to face Do Not Resuscitate in a match, but a video message from Spike Trivet introducing Pretty Deadly as backup for DnR quickly led to a five-on-two beatdown and the match never got underway.
– Cara Noir defeated Ilja Dragunov
This was a rematch from Chapter 96. Noir got the win by catching Dragunov’s Torpedo Moscow running uppercut into a rear naked choke.
– PROGRESS Women’s Champion Meiko Satomura defeated Dani Luna to retain her title
This was Satomura’s first title defense since her crowning at Chapter 95. A Death Valley Driver got her the victory.
– PROGRESS Proteus Champion Paul Robinson defeated “Present” William Eaver to retain his title
Per the champion’s stipulation, the match could only be won by knockout or submission. Robinson retained the title with multiple curb stomps, causing a TKO.
– David Starr defeated The OJMO
Starr earned another PROGRESS Unified World Championship opportunity as a result. A draping DDT followed by a Han Stansen lariat got him the win.
PROGRESS returns to the Electric Ballroom on Sunday, November 24 for Chapter 98, featuring the return of Timothy Thatcher.
PROGRESS Wrestling returned to the O2 Ritz in Manchester on Sunday with the fallout from the company’s biggest show of the year, which took place at London’s Alexandra Palace last month.
– Today’s show opened with new PROGRESS Unified World Champion Eddie Dennis cutting off ring announcer Jim Smallman’s opening routine. He purposely demonstrated his ability to control a crowd before ridiculing David Starr’s INDEPENDENT movement.
– Pretty Deadly (Sam Stoker & Lewis Howley) defeated The Young Guns (Luke Jacobs & Ethan Allen)
This was a PROGRESS Chapter debut for both teams. The crowd was very receptive for the Manchester-based Young Guns.
– PROGRESS Proteus Champion Paul Robinson defeated Travis Banks to retain his title
The stipulation chosen by the champion meant that the match could only be won by submission or knockout. Following plenty of brawling on the outside, Robinson defeated Banks by technical knockout after stomping his head into an exposed ring.
After the match, TK Cooper came out and teased that he would help his former South Pacific Power Trip stablemate Banks to his feet, but Cooper then attacked him.
– Dani Luna defeated Toni Storm
Luna got the win with a roll-up.
Following the match, Storm put Luna over by telling her that she has to beat PROGRESS Women’s World Champion Meiko Satomura. Then, Jinny made a surprise appearance and was dressed in gear reminiscent of her trainer Jimmy Havoc. She stared down Storm and seemingly reignited the two’s storied rivalry within PROGRESS.
– TK Cooper defeated Roy Johnson
This match might have ended early as Cooper took a nasty bump on the outside that cut him open. Following Cooper’s win, he was chased away by Travis Banks.
– Ilja Dragunov defeated Cara Noir
Dragunov got the win with his Torpedo Moscow running uppercut. The crowd was electric throughout for both Dragunov and new fan-favorite Cara Noir.
– PROGRESS Tag Team Champions Jordan Devlin & Scotty Davis defeated The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) to retain their titles
This was Devlin and Davis’ first defense of their newly-won Tag Team titles after Davis successfully cashed in his Natural Progression Series championship opportunity at Chapter 95.
– In light of his departure from PROGRESS at the end of 2019, co-owner Jim Smallman thanked the crowd as he finished his last ever show in Manchester. It was later announced at a live recording of the Tuesday Night Jaw podcast that Smallman’s close friend and colleague Matt Richards would take over Smallman’s role as both ring announcer and in creative writing.
WWE’s Kassius Ohno is heading to PROGRESS Wrestling and wXw for shows this December.
PROGRESS announced today that Ohno will face Timothy Thatcher at their Chapter 99 event on Sunday, December 15. It’s taking place at the O2 Academy in Sheffield, England.
Ohno last wrestled for PROGRESS during their Super Strong Style 16 tournament in 2018, making it to the finals before losing to Zack Sabre Jr. Ohno last appeared for wXw in 2016, which was before he re-signed with WWE.
On night two of wXw’s World Tag Team Festival yesterday, Thatcher became the wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion by defeating Bobby Gunns.
Ohno is part of the NXT UK roster on WWE television. He recently feuded with Sid Scala, defeating Scala in a singles match and a British Rounds match. Scala is an on-screen authority figure as general manager Johnny Saint’s assistant.
Jordan Devlin and Scotty Davis defeated Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) and now former champions Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson and James Drake) to win the PROGRESS tag team titles
Scotty Davis submitted Mark Davis for the win and had earned the opportunity by winning the Natural Progression Series the night prior. This is Devlin’s first championship victory in PROGRESS.
Pete Dunne defeated Cara Noir via submission
Noir was a mystery opponent who impressed in the NPS. Post-match, Dunne said that British wrestling is in safe hands and that he is not done with independent wrestling.
Moustache Mountain defeated Matt Riddle and Keith Lee
Trent Seven pinned Lee after a burning hammer/spiral tap combination with Tyler Bate.
Meiko Satomura defeated Jordynne Grace to win the PROGRESS Women’s Championship
Satomura got the pin after hitting the Scorpion Rising.
Paul Robinson won the PROTEUS Championship Rumble after entering first
The entries were Robinson, Ilja Dragunov, Travis Banks, Dani Luna, Connor Mills, Spike Trivet, Danny Duggan, Dan Moloney, Chakara, Sugar Dunkerton, Session Moth Martina, Gene Munny, Los Federales Santos Jr., Chief Deputy Dunne, Vacant, Chuck Mambo, The OJMO. Millie McKenzie. Charli Evans, Roy Johnson, Jonathan Gresham, ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey, NIWA, Eddie Kingston, TK Cooper, Sid Scala, Fraser Thomas, Chris Brookes, Chris Roberts and William Eaver.
Robinson eliminated Duggan to become the inaugural champion.
Eddie Dennis cashed in his World Championship opportunity and defeated David Starr and WALTER to win the PROGRESS Unified World title
Mark Andrews attacked Starr with a chair before Dennis pinned him. Dennis earned his title shot by defeating Andrews at Chapter 76: Hello Wembley last year. WALTER was the defending champion.
An NXT UK vs. NXT tag match has been added to PROGRESS Wrestling’s show at Alexandra Palace next month.
WWE announced today that Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) will face Matt Riddle & Keith Lee at PROGRESS Chapter 95: Still Chasing. The show is taking place at Alexandra Palace in London, England on Sunday, September 15.
Bate & Seven are former PROGRESS Tag Team Champions.
Riddle and Seven both previously held the Atlas Championship. The Atlas title was unified with the PROGRESS World Championship when WALTER defeated Seven this May.
PROGRESS’ first show at Alexandra Palace — called Chase the Sun — was held in 2017.
WALTER will defend the PROGRESS Unified World Championship against David Starr at Still Chasing. Meiko Satomura will challenge for the PROGRESS Women’s Championship, which is currently held by Jordynne Grace. There will also be a rumble match to crown the first Proteus Champion. The Proteus Champion will be able to pick the rules for their title defenses.
Pete Dunne makes his return to PROGRESS at Still Chasing. The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) will also defend their PROGRESS Tag Team titles.
We’re two polls this weekend, for both NJPW G-1 shows in Osaka, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match from both shows to [email protected]” target=”_blank”>[email protected]
We’re also looking for reports on tonight’s Raw house show in Fort Wayne, IN to [email protected]
CMLL TONIGHT AT 9:30 P.M. EASTERN ON THE CMLL YOUTUBE PAGE
Universal women’s title elimination match: Marcela, Amapola, Metalica, Tiffany, Sanely, La Infernal, La Maligna, La Guerrera, Seductora and Avispa Dorada
Dragon Lee vs. Gran Guerrero
Rush & Ciber the Main Man & El Terrible vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Mr. Niebla & Cavernario
Caristico & Volador Jr. & Mistico vs. Sanson & Cuatrero & Forastero
IMPACT ON TWITCH AT 10 P.M. TONIGHT ON PURSUIT AND TWITCH
IMPACT ON IMPACT+ AT 11P.M EASTERN FROM SANTA ANA, CA AT ESPORTS ARENA
Sami Callihan vs. Tessa Blanchard for title shot
Rhino vs. Moose
Scott Steiner & Petey Williams & Jordynne Grace vs. ?
Taya Valkyrie vs. Jessicka Havok for Knockouts title
Ethan Page & Josh Alexander vs. Reno Scum vs. Rich Swann & Willie Mack for tag titles
Michael Elgin vs. Eddie Edwards
COMBATE AMERICAS FROM TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT EASTERN FROM FRESNO ON UNIVISION, UNIVISION DEPORTES AND DZAN
Zoila Frausto (129.6) vs. Reina Cordoba (128.1)
J.C. Llamas (175.5) vs. Ivan Castillo (174.9)
Isaiah Batin-Gonzalez (135.5) vs. Jesse Strader (135.8)
NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT IN OSAKA EDION ARENA AT 4 A.M. EASTERN LATE TONIGHT ON NEW JAPAN WORLD AND 9 P.M. SATURDAY ON AXS TV
Juice Robinson & Toa Henare vs. Ren Narita & Yota Tsuji
Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Toru Yano & Jeff Cobb & Tomoaki Honma
Jon Moxley & Shota Umino vs. Jay White & Chase Owens
KENTA vs. Bad Luck Fale
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Lance Archer
Will Ospreay vs. Evil
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi
Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada
We’re looking for reports on Saturday night’s WWE Raw house show in Toledo to [email protected]
UFC FROM NEWARK, NJ ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON
ESPN at Noon Eastern time
Hannah Goldy (125) vs. Miranda Granger (125)
Claudio Silva (170.25) vs. Cole Williams (176)*
Mara Romero Borella (125) vs. Lauren Murphy (126)
Jordan Espinosa (126) vs Matt Schnell (126)
Lucie Pudilova (125.25) vs. Antonina Shevchenko (125)
Mickey Gall (169.75) vs. Salim Touahri (170)
ESPN+ at 3 p.m. Eastern
Kennedy Nzechukwu (205.5) vs. Darko Stosic (206)
Scott Holtzman (156) vs.; Dong Hyun Ma (158)*
Trevin Giles (185) vs. Gerald Meerschaert (185.5)
Nasrat Haqparast (156) vs. Joaquim Silva (155.25)
Clay Guida (154.5) vs. Jim Miller (154.75)
Colby Covington (171) vs. Robbie Lawler (170)
MLW ON BEIN SPORTS AT 9 P.M. SATURDAY
IMPACT ON TWITCH AT 8 P.M. EASTERN FROM FLORENTINE GARDENS IN LOS ANGELES
Josh Alexander & Ethan Page vs. Tommy Dreamer & Rhino
Michael Elgin vs. Rich Swann
Moose vs. Eddie Edwards street fight
Sami Callihan vs. Willie Mack
Jake Crist vs. Ace Austin vs. Trey Miguel for X title
AAA TRIPLEMANIA FROM ARENA CIUDAD IN MEXICO CITY AT 9 P.M. EASTERN ON TWITCH
Copa TripleMania rumble match
Nino Hamburguesa & Big Mami vs. Sammy Guevara & Scarlett Bordeaux vs. Villano III Jr. & Lady Maravilla vs. Australian Suicide & Vanilla Vegas for mixed tag titles
Keyra vs. Taya Valkyrie vs. Lady Shani vs. Tessa Blanchard vs. Faby Apache vs. Chik Tormenta vs. La Hiedra in a TLC match for Reina de Reinas title
El Hijo del Vikingo & Golden Magic & Myzteziz Jr. vs. Mocho Cota Jr. & Carta Brava Jr. & Tito Santana vs. Pimpinela Escarlata & Mamba & Maximo
Cody Rhodes & Cain Velasquez & Psycho Clown vs. El Texano Jr. & Black Taurus & ?
Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Pentagon Jr. & Fenix & Laredo Kid
Blue Demon Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr mask vs. hair
NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT IN OSAKA EDION ARENA AT 2 A.M. EASTERN LATE SATURDAY NIGHT ON NEW JAPAN WORLD
Toa Henare & Yuya Uemura vs. Shota Umino & Ren Narita
Evil & Sanada & Bushi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. & Lance Archer
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi & Tomoaki Honma vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay & Yoshi-Hashi vs. KENTA & Clark Conners & Karl Fredericks
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Toru Yano
Juice Robinson vs. Taichi
Hirooki Goto vs. Jeff Cobb
Jon Moxley vs. Jay White
Tetsuya Naito vs. Shingo Takagi
Sunday has a Raw house show in Erie, PA.
Raw is live on Monday from Pittsburgh. Brock Lesnar will appear on the show.
Smackdown and 205 Live will be taped Tuesday night in Detroit
Joseph Currier looks at the successes and failures of WWE’s latest nostalgia episode.
WWE went back to the nostalgia well for last week’s Raw Reunion episode.
The show featured dozens of returns and was capped off by Steve Austin, Ric Flair, and Hulk Hogan all making appearances. Austin led a toast to Monday Night Raw to close the episode, with all of the returning wrestlers coming out and taking part in what was genuinely a sincere moment. Austin didn’t give out stunners to anyone. There was no one to come crash the segment. He spoke about all of the returners being a family, and it was intended to be a real celebration for all of them.
Raw Reunion also included an increasingly rare appearance by John Cena, D-Generation X, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall saved Seth Rollins from AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, Bray Wyatt attacked Mick Foley and put him in the Mandible Claw, and there were nine 24/7 title changes. R-Truth started and ended the night as 24/7 Champion, with Drake Maverick (twice), Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, Kelly Kelly, Candice Michelle, Madusa, and Ted DiBiase holding the title between Truth’s reigns.
The new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has details on WWE’s second quarter financials. Financially, things look great. But product popularity continues to fall, slowly but steadily.
We cover how WWE was able to beat most projections and bring in higher profits in the second quarter, even with most key metrics showing declines.
We discuss how the company’s finances look going forward, as well as two big television deals on the horizon.
We also have news on what could end up being the most important pro wrestling show of the year, AEW’s TV debut. We break down the two key busiess aspects to the story, and discuss what those in the TV industry expect in terms of ratings for the show.
We cover Jerry Lawler’s lawsuit against Hardeman County, TN regarding the death of son Brian one year ago.
The new issue also covers C.M. Punk and the rumor mill that seems to follow him everywhere. We talk about the reaction to his discussion of AEW in a recent interview, as well as those who say they expect him to go back to WWE.
We also have the latest on the SummerSlam card, and how the show is doing on the secondary ticket market. We also cover how the other WWE shows in Toronto that week are doing in terms of ticket sales.
We have coverage of UFC 240 from this past weekend, and have business notes on nthe show, and also detailed television ratings for the prelims.
There’s also a run down of the ratings of all the major TV shows, along with detailed demo info for the WWE shows and results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
We will be doing two shows today and one tomorrow, with a show with Garrett Gonzalez today and another tomorrow covering the latest news and G-1, plus Fumi Saito and Jim Valley and I are doing a show today on Harley Race.
With all kinds of issues holding up ticket sales on the Ticketmaster end, it took three hours for AEW to sell out the 10/2 show in Washington, DC. There were 1,800 tickets up at one point on the secondary market, so as noted, the scalpers were ready for this one. This is the first AEW show with any legit scalper buy aspects to it based on that industry sleeping on All Out. There will also be about 1,000 tickets released within the next week or so after more production issues are figured out and seats will be released.
Cain Velasquez said in an interview today that he has two more dates with AAA after TripleMania. He didn’t say what they were but presumably that’s the Madison Square Garden and Forum in Los Angeles shows. I do know that when the deal was made for Velasquez, the idea was he would do MSG if he didn’t fight on 9/21 in Mexico City, and he’s not fighting on that show.
This is a great article on movie stars and booking control including Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel and their demands regarding fight scenes
Jim Smallman, who has been the man in charge at Progress since its inception, officially announced he will be leaving the company at the end of the year. Smallman has been working and will continue to work for WWE U.K. running shows and creative.
WWE
The WWE vs. MMA edition of Celebrity Family Feud taped months ago will air on 8/18 on ABC with The Bella Twins, J.J. Garcia, Lauren Garcia, and mother Kathy against Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Ryan Bader and Tyron Woodley.
For Monday’s Raw in Pittsburgh, you can get 25 percent off all tickets by using the promo code WWEKW. The sale runs until Noon on Monday.
WWE and DK Publishing are releasing a book called Beyond Extreme, about the wildest matches in WWE history.
Kambi has put up the star ratings for both Takeover and SummerSlam for betting purposes. You can bet over or under (thanks to David Taylor and wweleaks.org):
Candice LeRae vs. Io Shirai **3/4
Shayna Baszler vs. Mia Yim ***1/2
Street Profits vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly ****1/4
Velveteen Dream vs. Roderick Strong vs. Pete Dunne ****1/2
Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano *****
Charlotte Flair vs. Trish Stratus **3/4
Finn Balor vs. The Fiend **
Kevin Owens vs, Shane McMahon **1/2
Natalya vs. Becky Lynch ***1/2
A.J. Styles vs. Ricochet ****
Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins ****
Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton ***1/4
UFC
Jon Anik responds to Cris Cyborg’s criticism of his announcing.
Martin Bravo vs. Steven Peterson has been added to the 9/21 show in Mexico City.
MISCELLANEOUS
Jon Moxley, Luchasaurus and Penelope Ford have been added to the Jericho cruise from 1/20 to 1/24.
The first-ever singles match with Dragon Lee vs. Volador Jr. takes place on Monday night in Puebla. The NWA world welterweight title will be at stake. It will stream live. Also on the show has Electrico defending the Mexican national lightweight title against Virus.
TJP vs. Damian Slater was announced for 8/31 in Perth, Western Australia for EPW.
Dan Severn vs. DCT and Ken Shamrock & Carlo Cannon vs. Jonathan & Sean Preston are on the BCW show on 8/30 in Melbourne (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
Bellator announced a 10/12 show in Milan, Italy with both MMA and kickboxing. The show will air on Paramount no a tape delay with Vadim Nemkov vs. Rafael Carvalho as the main event for the U.S. There will be a live component that will air on Bellator’s web site in the U.S.and live on Ch. 5 in the U.K. featuring Melvin Manhoef vs. Yannick Bahati and Alessio Sakara vs. Canan Grigsby.
Bar Wrestling from last night in Baldwin Park,CA: Jake Atlas & Heather Monroe & Andy Brown & Dom Kubrick b Yuma & NHK & Watts & Ryan Taylor, Luchasaurus b Brandon Cutler, Taya Valkyrie b Ethan Page, Delilah Doom & Eli Everfly won over Reno Scum, Phoenix Star & Zokre and Peter Avalon & Ray Rosas, Tyler Batman b Tommy Dreamer, Brian Cage & Scott Steiner b Joey Ryan & Orange Cassidy (thanks to Shannon Walsh and wrestlingwithdemons.net)
PCW Ultra on 8/9 in Wilmington, CA has Josef Samael & Jacob Fatu vs. Homicide & Eddie Kingston, Mil Muertes vs. Dan Maff, Tessa Blanchard vs. Sumie Sakai, Jake Atlas vs. TJ Perkins, Matt Sydal vs. Artemis Spencer, Douglas James vs. Schaff vs. Brian Pillman Jr., Daga vs. Puma King and a meet and greet with Barbara Blank, better known as Kelly Kellly.
Billy Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins will appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS on 8/7.
Newspaper story regarding Davey Boy Smith Jr’s Great North Wrestling Triple Threat Match vs Ted Hart vs Hannibal next Saturday Aug 10 at the Petawawa Civic Center in the Ottawa Valley. Rene Dupree and Wes Brisco will also be on the card as well as Max Testosterone and Lady Yasmine who are both participating in WWE’s Canadian Try Out in Toronto next week.
Ubisoft announced today that three iconic WWE theme songs will be making their way to the critically acclaimed Rocksmtih 2014. The three tracks include the entrance themes for Steve Austin, The Rock, and Chris Jericho. No word on if more are to come, but the songs will be available starting August 6th, 2019.
PROGRESS Wrestling has revealed the bracket and first round-matchups for this year’s Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
The tournament is taking place at Alexandra Palace in London, England from May 4 to May 6. The winner will receive a future shot at the PROGRESS World Championship.
NXT’s Kyle O’Reilly and Trevor Lee, the NXT-bound DJZ, and NXT UK’s Travis Banks, Jordan Devlin, and Ilja Dragunov are among the entrants in Super Strong Style 16. All Elite Wrestling’s Darby Allin is also in the tournament.
The matches on the left side of the bracket are:
Chris Brookes vs. Ilja Dragunov
Trevor Lee vs. Aerostar
Travis Banks vs. DJZ
Artemis Spencer vs. David Starr
The right side of the bracket has:
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Chris Ridgeway
Darby Allin vs. Paul Robinson
Lucky Kid vs. Jordan Devlin
Kyle Fletcher vs. Daga
WALTER is the current PROGRESS World Champion and will face Atlas Champion Trent Seven in a title unification match at the Super Strong Style 16 show on May 5.
A member of the NXT roster is the latest wrestler announced for PROGRESS Wrestling’s Super Strong Style 16.
PROGRESS announced on Wednesday that Kyle O’Reilly will be an entrant in the 16-man tournament. It’s taking place at Alexandra Palace in London, England from May 4-6.
This will be the first time O’Reilly has wrestled for PROGRESS.
O’Reilly has another match for a promotion WWE has a relationship with tomorrow (Thursday), with him challenging for Austin Theory’s EVOLVE Championship at EVOLVE 125 in Queens, New York. The show will begin at noon Eastern time and will air live on Club WWN.
The winner of Super Strong Style 16 will receive a future PROGRESS title shot. Here are the 15 entrants that have been announced thus far:
PROGRESS Wrestling is unifying their men’s division singles titles.
It was announced today that PROGRESS World Champion WALTER will face Atlas Division Champion Trent Seven in a unification match at Alexandra Palace in London, England on Sunday, May 5. That’s the second day of PROGRESS’ Super Strong Style 16 tournament.
WALTER has been World Champion since winning the title from Travis Banks in July 2018, while Seven has held the Atlas title since defeating Doug Williams in September. The Atlas Championship was introduced in 2016 as a title for wrestlers over 205 pounds.
This year’s Super Strong Style 16 is taking place at Alexandra Palace from May 4-6. Travis Banks, Ilja Dragunov, and Trevor Lee have already been confirmed for the tournament, with the winner receiving a future title shot.
WALTER, Seven, Banks, and Dragunov are part of the NXT UK roster, while Lee reported to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida earlier this month.
After reporting to the Performance Center last week, NXT’s Trevor Lee will be appearing in May for a promotion WWE has a working relationship with.
PROGRESS Wrestling announced on Monday that Lee will be making his debut for the promotion as an entrant in this year’s Super Strong Style 16 tournament. The tournament is taking place at Alexandra Palace in London, England from May 4-6.
Travis Banks and Ilja Dragunov have also been announced for this year’s Super Strong Style 16. Banks won the tournament in 2017. The tournament winner receives a future title shot.
Zack Sabre Jr. won Super Strong Style 16 last year, defeating NXT’s Kassius Ohno.
Lee said farewell to CWF Mid-Atlantic over the weekend. He defeated Cain Justice in a match that went more than 75 minutes, with Lee vacating the CWF Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship as he departed the promotion.
Lee was part of the group of WWE signees that reported to the Performance Center last Monday. ACH, Rachael Ellering, Karen Q, Samuel Shaw, Jonah Rock, Elliot Sexton, 3.0 (Scott Parker & Shane Matthews), Nick Comoroto, and former college football players Omari Palmer and Ricardo Miller also arrived at the Performance Center.
Here are today’s PROGRESS Unboxing Live results at the Electric Ballroom in London. This appears to be Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne’s last appearance for the company at the moment.
– Trent Seven defeated Los Federales Santos Jr. to retain the Atlas title.
Seven defeated Santos after two piledrivers to retain the title.
– Chris Ridgeway defeated Spike Trivet, Mark Haskins, Travis Banks, Shigehiro Ire and Jody Fleisch in a six way
Ridgeway submitted Irie. This was Fleisch’s debut for the promotion.
– Jordynne Grace defeated Jinny Couture to win the PROGRESS women’s title.
– Drew Parker defeated Chris Brookes
Parker hit the Back Seat Driver on Brookes for the win.
– Will Ospreay and Paul Robinson defeated Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher to win the PROGRESS tag team titles
Robinson was said to have suffered a massive cut to the head during the match.
– Eddie Dennis defeated Marcel Barthel
Dennis defeated NXT UK’s Barthel after hitting the Next Stop driver.
– Pete Dunne defeated Tyler Bate
Dunne defeated Bate in what appears to be their final match in the British independent scene for now.
A new report indicates that WWE is looking to substantially restrict the number of promotions that their United Kingdom talent will be allowed to wrestle in.
A WrestleTalk report out today said that following this weekend’s tapings in Liverpool, a number of talent were given new contracts. These new contracts come with a pay raise, but also with new caveats: for one, they can only wrestle under WWE and WWE’s partner groups, which include PROGRESS, ICW, Fight Club Pro, Attack! Pro Wrestling, Futureshock, Over the Top Wrestling and wXw. They will be allowed to take the rest of their advertised booking through the end of the year.
Additionally, PWInsider reported that these promotions won’t be able to film WWE contracted talent, leaving them in dark matches.
NXT UK talent under these new deals reportedly won’t be able to wrestle against talent contracted to promotions such as Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, World of Sport or any other promotion that WWE considers major. They also won’t be able to perform for a promotion if there isn’t a paramedic there.
More local, lesser known promotions in the UK will likely be hit hardest. Pro Wrestling Chaos announced this morning that Flash Morgan Webster, El Ligero and James Drake, all under WWE contract, would no longer be able to perform at their events. Tidal Wrestling also announced that El Ligero would no longer appear after their final show of 2018.
Before the new contracts, UK talent were only banned from promotions that had a significant streaming or television presence, like RevPro or Defiant. The report stresses that these new restrictions don’t apply to everyone on the UK roster, but does apply to the majority.
This news comes as WWE is looking to ramp up their presence in the UK. With the establishment of the NXT UK brand, they look to regularly tape television there going forward. NXT UK will hold their first TakeOver event in Blackpool on January 12.
A SmackDown-brand house show took place in Brighton, England yesterday as WWE’s European tour continued.
– United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Jeff Hardy to retain his title
– PROGRESS Atlas Champion Trent Seven defeated Zack Gibson to retain his title
Seven defended the Atlas title that he holds in PROGRESS Wrestling. The championship is for wrestlers who weigh over 205 pounds.
– Asuka & Naomi defeated Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville
– Shelton Benjamin defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas
Almas attacked Benjamin before the bell and carried on once it started, but Benjamin pinned him with a roll-up in about two minutes.
– SmackDown Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus defeated The Usos and New Day in a three-way match to retain their titles
Cesaro pinned one of the Usos to retain.
– Rusev & Lana defeated R-Truth & Carmella
This was just comedy with dancing and dance breaks and about 30 seconds of wrestling, with Rusev pinning Truth. As they were celebrating, Aiden English blindsided Rusev before all four sent him packing.
– Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson defeated Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe
– SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair to retain her title
Mandy Rose tried to interfere, but that led to Naomi, Asuka, and Deville coming out. Charlotte cleaned house after that but was rolled up by Lynch for the pin.
– WWE Champion AJ Styles defeated Samoa Joe and Daniel Bryan in a triple threat match to retain his title
Styles pinned Joe after hitting the Phenomenal Forearm.
This was a good, fun show. The crowd was into all the matches and was lively and loud throughout.
PROGRESS Wrestling presented its biggest-ever show as the promotion came to the SSE Wembley Arena on Sunday, September 30.
Chuck Mambo won a pre-show battle royal
Mambo won by last eliminating Spike Trivett. Both of the finalists are two of the hottest prospects in British pro wrestling, especially as their characters are more colorful than the average indie wrestler. Mambo is a surfer whose entrance sees fans throw beach balls into the ring. Meanwhile, Trivett plays a blueblood advocate for Britain’s Conservative Party, down to talking about wrestling a “Strong and Stable Style” in a riff on an old political slogan.
Big T. Justice, Chris Ridgeway, Damon Moser, Danny Duggan, Danny Jones, Darrell Allen, David Francisco, Drew Parker, Mad Man Manson, Rickey Shane Page, RJ Singh, Roy Johnson, Sid Scala, Stixx, The OJMO, TK Cooper, and William Eaver were the other participants.
Haskins won a very good opener between babyfaces whose styles meshed well. They are apparently good friends outside the ring, and there were plenty of spots where they would anticipate and evade each other’s strikes.
It’s worth noting that Riddle has new entrance music and already looks a fair bit bigger but is still wrestling without boots on.
PROGRESS Women’s Champion Jinny defeated Toni Storm and Millie McKenzie in a triple threat match to retain her title
This was originally going to be Jinny vs. Storm before Storm’s recent injury led to them crowning a new number one contender as a contingency plan. So late was the switch to the triple threat that the advertisement in the latest Fighting Spirit Magazine still had the match listed without McKenzie’s participation.
Despite being a late addition, McKenzie was clearly the crowd favorite. The match was the weakest on the show, which to be frank, is unfortunately typical of PROGRESS’ women’s division. They had a fairly standard triple threat where they took turns to leave the ring and the other two wrestled. Only when McKenzie started hitting suplexes would all three be in the ring for a prolonged period of time. It was a bit cliched, but probably necessary to avoid the heel champion being outnumbered by her babyface challengers.
Throughout the match, Jinny’s House of Couture henchwomen would try to interfere, drawing Candyfloss and Laura Di Matteo out to even the score. However, Di Matteo attacked Storm — helping her former mentor Jinny win the match.
The strengthened House of Couture were then sent fleeing by the debuting Jordynne Grace.
Trent Seven defeated Doug Williams to win the PROGRESS Atlas Championship
For the uninitiated, the Atlas Championship is reserved for wrestlers who weigh more than 205 lbs. Since he won the vacant title in May, Williams has promised to retire from pro wrestling as soon as he lost it. That final match would come here, with Seven winning a fun match with a crossbody.
This match had a little bit of everything, with the challenger playing the subtle heel throughout. Despite Williams having telegraphed his impending retirement with numerous final appearances across the UK, the fans bought into several of his near falls, especially the second time he hit Chaos Theory.
Williams and Seven embraced after the result, and then the roster came out onto the stage to applaud Williams.
Jimmy Havoc defeated Paul Robinson in a no DQ match
This was originally scheduled to be Havoc vs. Will Ospreay, but the latter’s New Japan commitments meant he was unavailable, something that he made his unhappiness about clear on social media.
Robinson is Ospreay’s former tag team partner and had been working as a road agent for PROGRESS. After interactions with both Ospreay and Havoc, he was appointed the special guest referee of their two-out-of-three falls match in August. He attacked Havoc at the end, costing him the third fall and setting up this match.
In a sign of what was to come, Havoc deliberately came out wearing white trousers and with his face and torso covered in white body paint. This was a bloody battle that had the intensity that high-profile death matches in non-specialist promotions sometimes lack. They did relatively little walk and brawl, instead preferring to attack each other with weapons in or near the ring.
The most noteworthy of the spots involved fluorescent light tubes, which were used liberally as the match neared its end. Both wrestlers were sent back-first into them, with Robinson’s back being left a bloody mess. The end came when Havoc curbed stomped Robinson’s face through two light tubes, before hitting the Rainmaker.
A wild match, that astonishingly, may have been only Havoc’s second most violent match of the weekend.
Intermission
After the intermission, Jim Smallman revealed that the official attendance was 4,750. That’s a number which manages to be both an astonishing achievement and something of a disappointment. When the show was announced, it was billed as the biggest UK indie show in the past 30 years, which clearly set the target of beating the 6,193 that ICW’s Fear and Loathing 9 achieved. The failure to do so has necessitated an awkward late shift to talking about it being the biggest English indie show in the past 30 years.
Still, considering that with the half-exception of Riddle they brought in no imports who aren’t a regular part of the British scene (even Bandido and Flamita have wrestled extensively for other promotions this month), whereas ICW used former WWE legends to draw casual fans, it’s a very impressive number.
While there was no announcement of a return to SSE Wembley (indeed in his opening remarks Smallman said that this may be the biggest show they ever do), they did announce that Super Strong Style 16 would return to Alexandra Palace for the second year in a row. Former PROGRESS Champion Travis Banks then came out to confirm that he would be a competitor in that tournament.
Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the segment was that it confirmed that the promotion would not use Banks’ recent injury as a way to return him back to the babyface ranks after his botched title reign, with him turning the crowd with an arrogant promo.
Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) defeated Bandido & Flamita, Chris Brookes & Timothy Thatcher, Connor Mills & Maverick Mayhew, David Starr & Jack Sexsmith, Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson), The 198 (Flash Morgan Webster & Wild Boar), and The Anti-Fun Police (Chief Deputy Dunne & Los Federales Santos Jr.) in a Thunderbastard match to win the PROGRESS Tag Team titles
A Thunderbastard match has basically the same rules as Lucha Underground’s Aztec Warfare matches — it’s a Royal Rumble with pinfalls, submissions, and disqualifications replacing over the top rope eliminations. Bandido & Flamita were the champions heading into the match.
This had a wealth of talent, sometimes too much for the crowd to properly concentrate on the action inside the ring, especially after Gibson got the fans riled up with his usual promo. Perhaps the highlight of the match was when all competitors took turns to dive over the top rope, culminating in the superheavyweight Los Federales Santos Jr. launching himself through the ropes.
The finish came when Aussie Open defeated former champions Grizzled Young Veterans when they hit the Fidget Spinner on Drake to win their first titles since moving to Britain last year.
One note of caution is that it seemed Davis injured his arm, with him being sidelined for a prolonged period of time and asking the referees to bring him ice to apply to his arm immediately after the match finished.
Pete Dunne defeated Ilja Dragunov
Before the match began, we got a very good video package and a promo from wXw’s Dragunov. That decision would prove controversial later. Dunne had not performed at the weekend for Fight Club: PRO, even being pulled from an announced match against CIMA, which naturally led to rumors that he was carrying an injury. With the one exception of limping while going to the top rope, he seemed to be moving fine.
This was a very good match that built in intensity as it went on. The point it hit high gear was when Dunne held Dragunov’s arm and started repeatedly kicking him in the head, attempting to force the referee to stop the match. Dragunov responded by trying to do the same with Jon Jones-style elbows to the face. They then traded headbutts, with the welts on each of their foreheads telling you where they were connecting. It was a match that epitomized strong style.
For the finish, Dunne trapped Dragunov’s arm and then began manipulating his hand to force the submission. They warily shook hands afterwards.
Eddie Dennis defeated Mark Andrews in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for a future shot at the PROGRESS World Championship
We were treated to another video package before the match. This would prove problematic as the show crashed through the 8:30 p.m. finish time that PROGRESS had advertised, meaning that some fans who were relying on public transport to get home had to leave before the main event. It was, however, a very good video package.
This was a clash between former tag team partners that was a year in the making. If Williams vs. Seven echoed Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels, this feud was clearly inspired by Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart, with Andrews refusing to fight his former tag team partner for several months — until the provocations became too much.
They had a fun match that never quite captured the right tone for what was meant to be a bitter grudge match. The key issue was that not only did the standard TLC spots detract from the sense of realism, but the tables supplied by PROGRESS repeatedly refused to break. There were several spots where that happened, with one table managing to withstand someone being thrown into it three times. That unfortunately made the match seem a bit silly, with fans at one point chanting “Table is our champion.”
Still, the action was great with notable spots including Andrews doing a swanton from a ladder on the outside that was a clear tribute to Jeff Hardy at WrestleMania 2000. Likewise, Dennis put Andrews through a table from a ladder with a super Death Valley Driver. Dennis would ultimately secure the contract to earn himself a future title shot.
PROGRESS World Champion WALTER defeated Tyler Bate to retain his title
This was originally scheduled to be WALTER vs. Zack Sabre Jr., but Sabre’s very important New Japan commitments in Long Beach stopped him from headlining the biggest English independent show in 30 years.
That said, there was always a suspicion that Bate had been the original plan, with an injury having forced him to withdraw from the Super Strong Style tournament that crowned the number one contender. Bate earned the title shot by being the only person to win three consecutive singles matches during August.
Two violin players played extracts of WALTER’s music before the match, inspired by NXT having done similar entrances for Shinsuke Nakamura. The Ringkampf theme doesn’t quite suit the presentation.
This was a fantastic match that by the end had turned a partisan crowd into one loudly cheering for Bate. As one would expect, the large size difference between the two men was a key story of the match, although it would instead provide the opportunity for Bate to show his freakish strength. Perhaps the most impressive moves were him successfully deadlift suplexing WALTER, completing two airplane spins, and hitting the Tyler Driver ’97.
The finish saw WALTER increasingly focus on wearing down Bate with repeated submission attempts, including multiple applications of his sleeper. Bate finally separated himself from WALTER, only for the champion to counter with a piledriver for the three count. A somewhat surprising finish to what was an instant classic that will hopefully be a springboard to Bate being pushed more strongly as a singles wrestler in PROGRESS.
PROGRESS Wrestling’s Hello Wembley will shortly be available to watch on video on demand through Demand PROGRESS.
