WALTER defends the Progress World Title against the winner of Super Strong Style 16, Zack Sabre Jr!
PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter 77: Pumpkin Spice Progress
September 22, 2018
The Electric Ballroom
London, England
Watch: Demand Progress
Timothy Thatcher comes out for his match. His original opponent Tyler Bate had to pull out due to injury, so taking his place is Pastor William Eaver! Except, he’s not a pastor anymore. He’s walking out with a mic, talking about how today is the day to change your life. I guess he’s…a motivational speaker? A street preacher? Um, ok.
Timothy Thatcher def. William Eaver
Not a great start for Eaver’s new character, as he taps out to Thatcher here in what was a serviceable contest. I do think if he can flesh it out a little more, and Progress helps build it, there could be something here for this “Present” gimmick. Thatcher wins with a Fujiwara armbar. **1/2
Millie McKenzie vs. Isla Dawn ends in a no contest
The reformed unit of Jinny and Laura Di Matteo interfered, causing the match to be thrown out. Up until then, these two were having a fine match, where nothing particularly of note took place. Jinny and Laura stood tall until Charlie Morgan and Nina Samuels attacked them. In case you missed it, Jinny and Laura teamed back up at Wembley, and left the rest of the House of Couture to be beaten up by Jordynne Grace. I guess this makes Charlie and Nina faces now? **1/2
The new Atlas Champion Trent Seven comes out for his open challenge. Answering the challenge is MCW Champion (and BULLET CLUB member) Gino Gambino!
PROGRESS Atlas Championship: Trent Seven (first defense) def. Gino Gambino
This was a fine first defense for Seven. The first half of the match was comedy, as Gambino pulled out an inhaler and sprayed it in Seven’s eyes. I don’t know about you, but I think when you get sprayed with battery acid, that should be a three count. It got more serious after that, with Seven hitting a lariat and Gambino hitting a piledriver for a close nearfalls. In the end, Seven pulled Gambino off the top rope and landed a Burning Hammer to retain. I wouldn’t be upset if I saw more of Gambino in Progress off of this showing. ***1/4
PROGRESS Tag Team Championship: Aussie Open (first defense) def. The 198 and Grizzled Young Veterans
The 198 and GYV were the last two teams in the Wembley Thunderbastard that didn’t win, so Progress gave both teams another chance at this show. I personally would have rather seen Aussie Open defend one-on-one against either team, but this was fun. Both challenging teams had close nearfalls, with the Vets having dual Shankly Gates on and the 198 pouncing when another team went down. Ultimately, the Close Your Eyes piledriver and the Fidget Spinner kept the titles on Aussie Open. A nice, chaotic end to the first half. ***1/2
After intermission, Eddie Dennis had some words. He said he would win the Progress Title when he took his shot. Good to know.
Paul Robinson def. Mark Andrews
Not to harp on about the music, because it’s a dead issue, but Robinson coming out without Scroobius Pip is just wrong. There was a funny point during Andrews’s entrance, where Robinson looked like he was aggressively singing along to Fall To Pieces. Credit to Matt Richards on commentary, but this is the first time these two have wrestled one-on-one since the final of the first Natural Progression Series at Chapter 10. I feel like a broken record, but this was another match that was just fine. The work was solid, but it didn’t stand out to me until the very end. Robinson won after an awesome spinning rana off the top rope and a curb stomp. **1/2
Winner Gets A Progress World Title Match: Mark Haskins (w/ Vicky Haskins) def. Chris Brookes, Jimmy Havoc
This opportunity came about from Havoc and Haskins both winning at Wembley, while Chris Brookes had a title match on the German tour that ended in a no contest. This felt very clunky for some reason. It was your standard three-way match, where two are in and one is out with some three-man spots mixed in. However, there weren’t that many three-man spots, and almost all of them just looked wonky. Drew Parker beat up Havoc and dragged him out of the match. That left Haskins and Brookes together, and the finish was very smooth. I’d like to see those two one-on-one at some point. Haskins got the win with the Sharpshooter. **1/4
PROGRESS World Championship: WALTER (8th defense) def. Zack Sabre Jr.
This was Sabre’s title shot that he earned from winning this year’s Super Strong Style 16 tournament. This is also a rematch from Progress’s Wrestlemania Weekend shows, which I was lucky enough to see. Zack came out to Mother by Idles, so instead of that, we saw a recap of his Super Strong Style 16 wins. Don’t get used to it, as Progress have already said that we won’t be getting that again. I just don’t understand why they can’t cut the intros, as I just skip them now, but it is what it is. Now onto the match.
This was a physical chess match. Sabre kept hunting for an opening, but WALTER was not giving him an inch. Sabre eventually got his opening and went after any limbs that WALTER left free. It slowly devolved into a battle of attrition where Sabre kept trying to grind WALTER down while WALTER battered him with strikes. Sabre came as close as he would when he almost locked on a modified Rings of Saturn, but he couldn’t keep WALTER from the ropes. From then, Sabre kept pissing WALTER off until he got put away with the Fire Thunder Driver. A stellar match that topped the one I saw live. Go out of your way to seek this out. ****1/2
FINAL THOUGHTS: This was an average show that was saved by a main event I would put on par with Bate/WALTER from Wembley. The tag title match is worth a watch as well.