Mark Haskins gets a chance to win back the title he never lost when he takes on WALTER for the PROGRESS World Title! Meanwhile, Travis Banks returns to Progress to take on David Starr!
(Writer’s note: Sorry for the delay, everyone. Finals kicked my ass this year. At least I passed! Anyway, I don’t want to skip any more chapters this year. So, I’m going to combine these two shows into one review. Again, apologies for the wait, and hope you like the reviews!)
PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter 78: 24 Hour PROGRESS People
November 11, 2018
O2 Ritz
Manchester, England
WATCH: Demand Progress
Eddie Dennis def. “Speedball” Mike Bailey (PROGRESS debut)
I haven’t seen Speedball since he got the BANHAMMER, but he is in much better shape aesthetically than he was the last time I saw him. Dennis got big cheers coming out, playing into his promo from the last show where he himself wasn’t sure where he stood with the fans. Speedball was popular coming out for the match, and he lived up to the cheers with his impressive offensive arsenal. He got a lot of offense in, and even kicked out of a Next Stop Driver before falling to a second one right after.
This was a great win for Dennis, because he didn’t have to cheat to beat a capable opponent. He was just the better man. This was a great start on his way to his eventual Progress World Title match. Fantastic opener, and if I were Progress, I would book Mike Bailey for any shows that I could. ****
Isla Dawn def. Lana Austin
We had a new referee for this match named James. His favorite cheese is mozzarella. This was Lana Austin’s PROGRESS debut, and her fellow Mancunians welcomed her with open arms and loud chants. The crowd was much more behind her than Isla Dawn, despite the company seeming to be behind Isla. Dawn got the win with a Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex, borrowed from Manami Toyota. Between Progress, NXT UK, and the Mae Young Classic, I’ve seen enough Isla Dawn to say that she’s not very memorable. **1/4
Jordan Devlin def. Chris Ridgeway
The crowd is on fire for both guys, as both of these guys are continuing to rise through the ranks in Progress. Holy hell, these guys brought the fight to each other here. I can only compare this to a NEVER Title match or a 12 minute G1 sprint from New Japan. Hard strikes at an incredibly fast pace with a molten-hot crowd. The transitions and reversals came at lightning speed, and I couldn’t turn away. Devlin got the win with a package piledriver in a late contender for Progress Match of the Year. This crowd is taking everything up to another level here, and I’m loving it. ****1/2
Ilja Dragunov vs. David Starr goes to a no contest when Travis Banks attacks both men
This was another stormer, this card has been really good so far. Let’s talk about David Starr for a moment. Between his stuff in Rev Pro, OTT, wXw, and now this singles run in Progress, David Starr has cemented himself as one of the best unsigned talents in the world right now. He can be a fiery babyface, a self-righteous heel, and anything in between. His character work is off the charts, and his matches are fantastic to boot. If I were running a company (*cough*All Elite*cough*), Starr’s name would be near the top of my list of guys to work with.
Back to the match. It wasn’t as fast-paced at Ridgeway/Devlin, but this was just as brutal. Both men leveled each other with chops and lariats, with Dragunov barely going off of his feet toward the end. There was a solid two minutes at the end of these two just battering each other with lariats, and by the end of it, the crowd was giving both men a standing ovation.
Then Travis Banks came out and ruined everything. He laid out both men, beat up ring crew, and got more heat here than he ever did as World Champion (which wasn’t his fault). This was a really good match, and a really good angle to bring Banks back into the fold. ***3/4
PROGRESS Tag Team Championship: Aussie Open (second defense) def. Calamari Thatch Kings
At some point in the Thunderbastard Tag League, Thatcher and Brookes beat Aussie Open, so Aussie Open want their win back. I’m not sure when that happened, but I don’t want to think about that goddamn tag league anymore, so I’ll take their word for it.
I love how the commentators talk about how Brookes and Thatcher are working together as a team, even though this is maybe their fourth match and they both have much more regular partners. Progress commentary: if you aren’t annoyed, you aren’t listening. This was a nothing happening tag match with a good couple minutes at the end. The finish was cool, as Fletcher and Brookes fought for pin covers while Thatcher choked out Davis in the ropes. Fletcher got the better of Brookes and kept him down for a three. **1/2
PROGRESS Atlas Championship: Trent Seven (second defense) def. Zack Gibson
My words couldn’t do this justice. It was a 10 minute roast battle, and afterwards, Seven beat Gibson in five seconds. Well, I guess my words did do it justice. Anyway, this was fun, so go watch it. N/R
PROGRESS World Championship: WALTER (ninth defense) def. Mark Haskins (w/ Vicky Haskins)
This felt like a flashback to 2016, with the crowd firmly behind Mark Haskins. Now, did I think Haskins was winning this match? No. But this Manchester crowd sure as hell did, and that took this match up to another level. People were even booing WALTER as he kept going after Haskins’s neck, which the announcers wouldn’t stop talking about. Haskins kept getting up and fighting back, taking out WALTER’s legs with kicks and hitting dives to the floor. He jumped over WALTER’s dropkick and hit a double stomp. Haskins even got the Sharpshooter on the massive WALTER!
Didn’t matter. As Matt Richards said on commentary, WALTER is not just the Ring General, he’s the Dream Killer. He doesn’t care that Haskins never lost the title. He doesn’t care that Haskins almost had to retire. Much like Brock Lesnar, WALTER doesn’t give a shit about Mark’s kids. When WALTER shows up, he puts people down. Fire Thunder Driver, WALTER retains. ****
FINAL THOUGHTS
One of the best top-to-bottom Progress shows in a while. Three matches at ****+, with one at ***3/4 makes this one hell of a show to check out.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter 79: One Big Neck with Sausage Hands
November 26, 2018
Electric Ballroom
London, England
Jordan Devlin def. Mark Andrews
This was another really good performance from Devlin. This wasn’t as balls-to-the-wall as the Ridgeway match, as there were a few chinlocks in this one. But these two worked well together and had as good of an opener as you can ask for. In an awesome spot, Devlin pulled Andrews off of the mat directly into a Saito suplex for a nearfall. Right after that, he hit a move that YouTube tells me is named the Ireland’s Call for the win. ***1/2
Jinny & Laura Di Matteo def. Charlie Morgan & Nina Samuels
Second match on the card, y’all know what time it is! They come out and brawl like this is some blood feud, when I wasn’t even aware the House of Couture broke up until the last Ballroom show. To say something positive about this match, Nina Samuels impressed me here. She didn’t get much shine during the House of Couture days, so I wouldn’t mind seeing her in a singles match or two to really get a feel for how she wrestles.
Now to the negatives. First off, I heard so much hype for Charlie Morgan before she came into Progress about how she was having these great matches in Pro Wrestling EVE, and how much of a star she came across as for that promotion. I don’t know what those people are watching, because Morgan has been thoroughly unimpressive since coming into Progress this year. She’s had opportunities against the likes of Millie McKenzie and Toni Storm, and been as meh as possible.
Then there’s the whole Jinny and Laura Di Matteo deal. Progress has fallen victim to what I call “the Virgil Theory.” The Virgil Theory states that once a subordinate feuds with their boss, they will never be over again. It happened with Virgil, it happened with Alex Riley, and it happened to Laura Di Matteo. There wasn’t much to do with her except to pair her back up with Jinny, but a little explanation of that on-screen would be nice. Jinny won with a rolling kick that kinda hit Samuels. Thus ends the saga of the House of Couture, maybe the most unnecessary group in Progress history. **
Jimmy Havoc vs. Drew Parker never started
Havoc attacked Parker before the bell rang with the intentions of killing him with his axe. Spike Trivet came down and hit Havoc with a chair before that could happen. Chuck Mambo and William Eaver came out, seemingly to run off Trivet and Parker. That was before they took Havoc out as well, initiating a four-man beatdown on the former Progress champion. They leveled Jimmy with chairs before stealing his axe and leaving to big boos. This was really well done, as the crowd was red hot against Parker and his newly-made gang. I’m interested to see how this goes.
Jordynne Grace def. Isla Dawn
Millie McKenzie was originally advertised for this match, but got injured the weekend before. Jordynne Grace came out to a massive reaction, which surprised me. She looked good here too, planting Dawn with a Michinoku Driver and crushing her with a Vader Bomb out of the corner. After her middling performances on the past few shows, I was ready to write of Isla Dawn here. But she had her best Progress performance to date here, hanging with Grace and hitting a nice Northern Lights suplex. Grace got the win with a bearhug, which is an…interesting choice. **1/2
PROGRESS Atlas Championship: Trent Seven (third defense) def. Kyle Fletcher
Fletcher has put on a lot of mass since he debuted in Progress, and this was his step-up to the heavyweight division in Progress. He was quite impressive here, showcasing his newfound strength to go along with his agility. Seven stayed a step ahead with his experience, but wasn’t able to put the tag champion away as easily as he wanted. Seven hit Fletcher with a Seven Stars lariat, and even pulled out a Dragon Superplex, but Heavyweight Kyle wasn’t going down that easily. Eventually, Seven took advantage of Fletcher’s recurring knee problems and tapped him out with a figure four. The result was never in question, but these two had themselves an above-average match here. More Aussie Open singles matches please, because both guys have acquitted themselves well in that environment. ***1/2
The Anti-Fun Police def. Team Tremendous
This was a lot of comedy, but after that, the match was pretty fun too. There was a mexican Latino standoff between all four men that ended in a ring crew member getting shot. If Dave Chapelle has taught me anything, it’s that you just have to sprinkle some crack on the body. The rest will take care of itself! After that was a lot of big man dives and cool tag moves. Bill Carr might wanna think about wrestling more in the UK, because there are tons of small guys that he can throw around like he did Detective Dunne here. AFP get the win, but the real victory was in the friends we made along the way. ***
Eddie Dennis def. Mark Haskins (w/ Vicky Haskins)
It’s been nice to see Eddie away from Mark Andrews for a while, and just see him interact with other people on the roster without that feud clouding over everything. He had a match with Haskins here that took a little while to develop, but ended up being a solid back-and-forth affair. The crowd was largely behind Haskins, as they just can’t seem to quit him. But there was a contingent of Dennis fans, continuing the confusion as to where he stands with everyone. Dennis gets another win here as he reverses a Star Armbar into a crucifix pin for the flash win. He couldn’t celebrate for long as Drew Parker’s group, now known as Do Not Resuscitate, came in and attacked both men. Trivet then stole Vicky’s barbed wire bat, the bastard! ***1/2
Travis Banks def. David Starr
Main event Travis is back! And I’m not being sarcastic this time, this is the main event! I realized during this match that as bored of his title run as I was, I did miss Travis Banks on these shows. He’s getting more heat than ever, and when he has opponents the quality of David Starr, the matches are ace as well. These two fought like guys with a problem with each other, which is something I appreciate after the beatdown Banks put on Starr in Manchester. None of the collar and elbow tie-up nonsense, get to the fighting. It was a lot of brawling outside of the ring to start, which ended after Starr was German suplexed through two chairs.
Once the guys got in the ring, the pace didn’t slow down. Starr came after Banks with Han Stanson lariats aplenty. They transitioned the match into a submission battle starting with a Banks rear naked choke, followed by a Starr crossface (Starrface?), which was rolled into a Lion’s Clutch from Banks. Banks hit an awesome springboard double stomp for a nearfall before Starr fired up with a couple Han Stansons. He went for the killshot but got caught by a Slice of Heaven to score the win for Banks. Banks beat up a couple crew members afterwards before getting sent away with another Starr lariat. Excellent main event to re-establish Travis as a main event player in Progress. ****
FINAL THOUGHTS
A solid B-show here from Progress. They did a good job of introducing the Do Not Resuscitate group as well as re-establishing Travis Banks as a force to be reckoned with in the coming months. A show worth checking out.