PROGRESS Chapter 56: La Danse Macabre - Report

PROGRESS Chapter 56: La Danse Macabre – Report
Credit: Martin Bentley

PROGRESS Wrestling held their first main show since their big Alexandra Palace show in September – “Chapter 56: La Danse Macabre” on October 29th at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London.

0: Big T Justice & The OJMO defeated The N.I.C. (Charlie Carter & Oisin Delaney) – a fun pre-show match featuring talents from the Knucklelocks Gym in London, formerly the PROGRESS Wrestling School. Justice and OJMO are a lot like Enzo and Big Cass were, with Carter and Delaney bumping all over the ring for the giant Justice. Carter took a big move from Justice, and OJMO tagged in to get the pin.

British Strong Style came out to start the show, with Pete Dunne apologising for some of his actions while he was the PROGRESS World Champion. This was taken as a babyface turn for the group, as the Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) came out to confront them, spitting at Trent Seven and Tyler Bate. Moustache Mountain chased them off, leaving Dunne prone to an attack from behind by the debuting Joseph Conners, who beat down his fellow WWE UK star. Moustache Mountain returned to prevent Conners from doing further damage to Dunne.

1: Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) & Omari defeated Connor Mills & Never Say Die (Alex Cupid & Dillon D’Angelo) – an excellent six man tag featuring some of the freshest young talent in the UK. Omari was making his PROGRESS debut, having made waves in promotions such as Fight Club: PRO and Lucha Forever, while Aussie Open were making their first main show appearance. The finish came when Fletcher and Omari cleared Never Say Die out of the ring, and Davis hit a big Pull Up Piledriver on Mills for the win.

2: Strangler Davis defeated Timothy Thatcher – this was a rematch from a meeting on PROGRESS’ Freedom’s Road series of shows earlier in the year. Thatcher came into the match with an eye injury, wearing a patch, and despite outwrestling Davis for much of the contest, Davis targeted the eye, and eventually got a low blow to get Thatcher in position for the Strangle Hold, where referee Marc Parry called a stop to the match, giving Davis his second win over Thatcher.

3: Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) defeated Chris Brookes & Jimmy Havoc (w/Kid Lykos) – this was supposed to be a match for the PROGRESS Tag Team Championship with #CCK defending the titles, but Kid Lykos is out of action with a wrist injury, so Jimmy Havoc filled in, and it was declared a non-title match. Brookes and Havoc gelled well as a team, but when Lykos got involved at ringside, Havoc went for Drake and Gibson with Lykos’ baking tray, and hit Lykos by mistake, leading to the Grizzled Young Veterans hitting Havoc with the Ticket to Mayhem for the win.

4: WALTER defeated Wolfgang to retain the PROGRESS Atlas Championship – Wolfgang was making his PROGRESS in-ring debut after making a challenge to WALTER at Alexandra Palace. The ICW and WWE UK star gave WALTER a tough test, even hitting a big dive to the outside, but WALTER overwhelmed him with his power and strength, eventually retaining the title with a massive powerbomb.

5: Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) defeated Sexy Starr (David Starr & Jack Sexsmith) – Sexsmith and Starr played on the obvious reference in their name by going for armbars on their opponents as well as Jim Smallman. Bate and Seven brought back the Moustache Mountain name following their long runs as hated Tag Team Champions for most of the year. This was a comedy match playing off Sexsmith’s sexuality, but settled into a really good contest by the end. Moustache Mountain got the win when Bate hit Starr with the Tyler Driver 97.

After the match, Vicky Haskins came out with a giant spiked bat, leading to Mark Haskins turning on Sexsmith and Starr, attacking them from behind. Jimmy Havoc came out, seemingly to make the save against the man he had a big Death Match with at Alexandra Palace, but Havoc joined forces with the Haskins’ instead, joining in the attack on Sexy Starr.

6: Toni Storm defeated Charli Evans to retain the PROGRESS Women’s Championship – this was the first meeting between the two Australians, with Evans gaining the shot by winning an eight-woman tournament earlier in the month. Evans came the closest of anyone to ending Storm’s impressive title run, throwing her through chairs and getting several near falls, but Storm’s big match experience paid off in the end, as she hit Evans with the Strong Zero Piledriver to retain the title.

7: Travis Banks defeated Keith Lee to retain the PROGRESS World Championship – Lee claimed the shot with his win over Banks at Chapter 53 in July, in the build to Banks’ title shot at Alexandra Palace. This played well off the previous match, with Lee acting more cocky, being absolutely sure that he had too much for the champion. Banks got offense whenever Lee got too big for his boots, cutting the big man down whenever he could. Lee’s belief that he could win the title just by showing up backfired, as Banks got him up for the Kiwi Krusher for the win in his first defence of the title.

PROGRESS return on November 12th at the O2 Ritz in Manchester with “Chapter 57: Enter Smiling”, with tickets already sold out. The Camden return at the Electric Ballroom is on November 26th for “Chapter 58”, with tickets on sale to mailing list members at 12pm UK time on October 30th.

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