The 2018 Super Strong Style 16 concludes as the final four men face off for the right to be called Super Strong Style 16 Champion! Also, a deathmatch between Joey Janela and Jimmy Havoc, Toni Storm defends the Women’s Title, and a former Progress World Champion returns!
PROGRESS Wrestling: 2018 Super Strong Style 16 Day Three
Filmed May 7th, 2018 at Alexandra Palace in London, England
Commentary by Glen Joseph and Matt Richards
Available to watch at Demand Progress
The VOD begins with Glen Joseph sitting with Tyler Bate before the show. Tyler tells us that due to an injury to his shoulder, he will be withdrawing from the SSS16. Man, if only there was a big match with all the losers from the tournament. That could solve this issue pretty quickly.
Before the first match, we see video of Mark Andrews’s band performing the night before. When they go to perform their last song, Eddie Dennis chokes out the band’s manager. Back live, Andrews comes out and calls out Eddie. After recapping what Eddie’s done to him, Andrews finally accepts Eddie’s challenge for a fight, on the condition that Eddie doesn’t show up to Progress until he’s medically cleared. Eddie accepts and they get into a shoving match before Eddie leaves. Mark goes to leave before Eddie sneaks him and chokes him out in the ring. Great segment, and I can’t wait for Eddie to get back.
Wasteman Challenge: Jordan Devlin wins
Mambo gets the people to throw beach balls. Devlin destroys Johnson, saying his 8×10’s are so ugly, they hang themselves. Ohno recites the Chris Hero rap. Jim Smallman gets on the mic and says that this match is now for Tyler Bate’s semifinal spot in the Super Strong Style 16! I’m making the executive call that Devlin won the Wasteman Challenge.
Super Strong Style 16 Second Chance Hangover Scramble Match: Kassius Ohno def. Angelico, Chris Brookes, Chuck Mambo, David Starr, Jordan Devlin, Roy Johnson; Ohno re-enters the SSS16
The winner of this match will take Tyler Bate’s spot in the Semi-Finals.
Angelico is wearing a Go Pro. This was 8 guys getting their shit in. Devlin hit an insane Destroyer on Starr. Ohno kept knocking out Roy Johnson. Eventually, Ohno knocked out everyone, including an insane elbow to a moonsaulting Jordan Devlin. Ohno pinned Devlin right after to re-enter the SSS16. ***
Mark Haskins and Flash Morgan Webster come out. Haskins asks for a match, and Maverick Mayhew and Connor Mills answer the challenge.
Mark Haskins & Flash Morgan Webster (w/ Vicky Haskins) def. M&M (Maverick Mayhew & Connor Mills)
Haskins and Webster killed them in 3 minutes. This didn’t need to be here. N/R
Super Strong Style 16 Semi-Final: Zack Sabre Jr. def. Keith Lee
Note to the commentators: shut up about these guys sweating! I get it, it was hot, the lights were on. I don’t need you going on about sweat every single match.
Sabre moves on to his second Super Strong Style final, after losing to Will Ospreay in the finals of the first one in 2015. This was solid pro wrestling. Sabre wrestled this match similarly to how he wrestled WALTER in New Orleans, which I was able to see live. He tried to bait Keith Lee by disrespecting him, and hoping Lee would lose his cool and give Sabre an opening. It didn’t work with WALTER, but it worked a lot better in this match, as Lee got cut down multiple times.
Lee was awesome in this match as well, playing the wounded animal that can still strike at any time. Whenever Sabre strung together a couple of big moves, Lee would use his strength to back him off. Whether is was forcefully throwing Sabre off of a cover or lighting his chest up with the big chops, Lee was always a threat here. Even in the final moments, Lee was still powering Sabre up off of his feet. But Sabre was able to get that European Clutch in and get the win. Lee takes his curtain call in the ring, and Sabre moves onto the finals. ***3/4
Super Strong Style 16 Semi-Final: Kassius Ohno def. PROGRESS Tag Team Champion Zack Gibson (w/ James Drake)
I was shocked at how little I enjoyed this. I’ve always been high on Zack Gibson, but he was very much coasting in this one, locking on chinlocks and holds to relative silence. I expected the technical stuff to begin with, but they never left that first gear. Drake got involved, but his interference spots finally paid off as referee Joel Allen caught him cheating and threw him out from ringside. I figured this would start the real match, where we’d get a few minutes of back-and-forth. Instead, Ohno immediately hit the Death Blow and won. It was fine in a vacuum, but I would struggle to find a worse match in this year’s tournament. **1/2
Deathmatch: Joey Janela def. Jimmy Havoc
This is a rematch from Progress: NYC, where Havoc won.
Havoc came out to the most iconic song in Progress history, I Hope You Suffer by AFI. My usual problem with deathmatches is that there isn’t much of a reason for them happening. Part of the reason I loved the Havoc/Haskins deathmatch was that the rivalry between the two had reached a point of no return, and that a deathmatch was the only way to end the issue.
The only issue this match had was Janela being mad Havoc beat him on day two, and that’s not enough to warrant a deathmatch in my opinion. The match itself felt like a garden variety deathmatch. There were tables, tacks, barbed wire, etc. There was also very little selling, which is always an issue for me in deathmatches as well. I’m not asking them to lay around for 2 minutes after every big move, but the lack of selling takes away some of the gravitas of the spot. Janela won as commentary puts over that Havoc hasn’t been the same since he came back from injury nearly 2 years ago. ***
Havoc gets on the mic and says that he hasn’t gotten the respect he deserves. He wasn’t put in Super Strong Style 16, which shows that no one in Progress thinks he’s good enough to carry the title anymore. He isn’t signed with WWE, he isn’t from Australia or New Zealand, and he’s not the wrestler he used to be. Havoc says that he and Haskins teamed up because they killed each other in Ally Pally last year for Progress, and weren’t even booked on the next show. He hates the fact that Will Ospreay lost a loser leaves town match and came back in six months, while Havoc was gone for a year. He thanks Jim Smallman for the pity job and teases leaving before Will Ospreay comes out with an axe!
Ospreay says that he’s waited for years to see Havoc this weak and vulnerable, but taking him out now would be too easy. He says that their feud built Progress, and that he used it to send himself to new heights in wrestling. Havoc regressed, and now he’s just some guy named James. Ospreay wants to finish this, but not with this guy. Ospreay challenges Jimmy Havoc to a match at Wembley! Havoc accepts and throws himself into more tacks. An incredible segment. Jimmy finally explained his motivations since Ally Pally last year, Ospreay came back and cut an awesome promo, and we have a guaranteed barnburner for Wembley. Fantastic stuff.
Back from the interval, Jim Smallman announces that Pete Dunne was not there on this night and that someone had a challenge for him. wXw Promoter Christian Michael Jakobi comes out. He runs down the list of stars that have come out of wXw, including Aleister Black, Alexander Wolfe, and Ringkampf. Jakobi says that Pete Dunne is not the best independent wrestler in the world, he’s not even the best independent wrestler in Europe. Jakobi lays down the challenge: WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne vs. wXw World Champion Ilja Dragunov! The hits just keep on coming!
With 3 successful title defences on the #PROGRESSAustralia tour under her belt, it seems @tonistorm_'s would-be next challenger has been watching events from Australia and biding her time. And now @charliemorganuk has decided the time is right to speak up… pic.twitter.com/eIGMz9kpJO
— PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) April 24, 2018
PROGRESS Women’s Championship Match: PROGRESS Women’s Champion Toni Storm def. Charlie Morgan
Toni Storm won the title on Day Two of last year’s Super Strong Style 16. This is her 14th defense. If Morgan doesn’t win the title, she will not be allowed ringside for when Jinny challenges for the title at Chapter 69. Speak of the devil, Jinny is on commentary for this one.
I said in the preview for this show that this was Charlie Morgan’s biggest opportunity to impress in Progress, and I will say this was easily her best performance. She broke out a springboard moonsault to the floor that really got the crowd going. These two had some pretty good chemistry here. I wish a feud had been fleshed out a little more between these two instead of Charlie being in Jinny’s shadow, but I keep leaning on the idea that that will go somewhere. Toni caught a springboarding Morgan with a German suplex, then hit the Strong Zero to retain. ***1/4
Non-Title Match: PROGRESS ATLAS Champion WALTER def. TK Cooper (w/ PROGRESS World Champion Travis Banks)
My, how far we’ve come. In January 2017, WALTER and TK Cooper participated in a Match of the Year with their respective tag team partners, putting both Ringkampf and the South Pacific Power Trip on the map. In May 2018, WALTER squashes TK Cooper in less than 3 minutes. It’s insane to see how what could have been an incredible homegrown act with the South Pacific Power Trip has completely fallen apart in less than 18 months. With TK Cooper especially, people believed he was the next big star to come out of Progress. Now, he’s just Travis Banks’ fall guy. N/R
After the match, Banks said that as long as WALTER was Atlas Champion, he would never get another World Title shot. So, WALTER handed Jim Smallman the title and chased Banks to the back. They have confirmed that WALTER has vacated the Atlas title, so the issue with Banks is far from over.
Super Strong Style 16 Final: Zack Sabre Jr. def. Kassius Ohno
A PROGRESS Original. 30 Chapter matches. One of the biggest British wrestling stars in the world. By pinning Kassius Ohno with the European Clutch, Zack Sabre Jr solidified his legacy alongside Will Ospreay and Jimmy Havoc as one of the most important figures in Progress history. He’s always been treated like a special attraction in Progress, all the way back to Chapter One where his match with Marty Scurll was treated as a primer for Progress. He has always delivered too, whether it be in acclaimed three-way matches with Ricochet and Mark Haskins, or special singles matches like with Prince Devitt or Tommaso Ciampa. From The Garage to the Ballroom, from Brixton to Ally Pally, Sabre’s always been there for Progress. And at the biggest show in Progress history at Wembley Arena, he’ll be there too.
Oh yeah, there was a match. It was pretty good, I think. Callum Leslie said it on commentary that these two had wrestled 12 times in their careers, and it looked like it as well as both men knew each other’s signature moves like the back of their hand. Sabre caught Ohno in the same submission he used to beat him in PWG’s 2015 Battle of Los Angeles final, but Ohno turned it into a rollup. In an amazing spot, Sabre caught Ohno out of a moonsault into a triangle choke. Ohno kept finding ways to the ropes on Sabre submission attempts, and he had Sabre set up for the Death Blow. But Sabre caught the European Clutch and got the win. Zack Sabre Jr will challenge for the Progress World Championship at Wembley Arena. ****1/2
Final Thoughts
This was a newsworthy show, to say the least. Ospreay/Havoc, Dragunov/Dunne, and ZSJ are all booked for Wembley, Dennis/Andrews is set up at some point, and the Atlas Title is now vacant. An easy watch, and definitely one to watch.