BRM Reviews PROGRESS Chapter 98: May I Play Devil’s Advocate?

[Big Red Machine]

PROGRESS Chapter 98: May I Play Devil’s Advocate? (11/24/2019)- London, UK


FSU (Eddie Dennis & Mark Andrews) vs. DESTINATION: NOWHERE (Connor Mills & The OJMO)- 7.75/10
An excellent action-packed fifteen minutes that made both Mills and The OJMO fell like they’re right on the borderline of being top-tier guys and made The OJMO especially look like someone you could give two wins to and then give a title shot and no one would bat an eye. They actually allowed him to have Dennis tapping here, but Andrews was actually the legal man. Yes, Dennis has the out that he knew he wasn’t legal, butt he visual of a guy having the champ tapping out is still a powerful thing. They also made an effort to keep the babyfaces looking strong with a dirty finish, so I think it’s safe to say that PROGRESS has some definite plans for Destination: Nowhere right now.

DO NOT RESUSCITATE SEGMENT- good
Spike Trivet teases kicking William Eaver out of the group but it turns out that this was the signal for Eaver to assault Chuck Mambo, who is the actual target. They Pillmanizered Mambo’s arm as Trivet stood there and calmly gave the orders and explained to Mambo why he was being kicked out of the group. The crowd didn’t care much about this, but I thought that the execution- and especially Trivet’s performance- were excellent.

THE NIC (Oisin Delaney & Charlie Carter) vs. PRETTY DEADLY (Lewis Howley & Sam Stoker) (w/Spike Trivet)- 6/10
Trivet cut a promo before the match in which he buried the NIC as belonging on the pre-show. They took exception to this and charged out to start this off with a hot brawl. Unfortunately, the crowd quieted down soon afterwards. Pretty Deadly picked up the win in a solid match that deserved more crowd reaction than it got.
The camera cutting away from a pin to show us the manager’s face was infuriating. Why are more and more companies doing sh*t like this?

#1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH: Millie McKenzie vs. Jinny- 6.5/10
This was originally supposed to be Jinny vs. Toni Storm, coming out if their interaction at Chapter 96 when Jinny showed up with her Jimmy Havoc mask on, but Toni got booked on Survivor Series so Millie McKenzie was brought in as a replacement. Jinny was still wearing the Jimmy Havoc gear. The commentators tried to fit all of this together by saying that Jinny’s previous farewell was actually a goodbye to the “old Jinny” and now we’re getting Jinny Havoc instead. I appreciate they’re making an effort to not make the goodbye seem totally cheap in light of first letting Ospreay back in the company after he lost a match with the stipulations that he had to leave, and then doing a much-publicized farewell for Jimmy Havoc earlier in the year and not wanting people to feel that that was cheapened in hindsight.
The announcers put over how much punishment Jinny took the match and she did take quite a bit, but so did Millie. Jinny won cleanly, and in perhaps the most out of character thing I’ve ever seen a wrestler do, this new Jinny offered Millie a handshake. Millie snubbed her, and quickly headed to the back, clearly upset with herself.

NO DISQUALIFICATIONS, NO COUNT-OUTS MATCH: Travis Banks vs. T.K. Cooper (w/NIWA)- 7.75/10
NIWA tried to attack Banks before the bell but Banks just kicked his ass then went after Cooper, who responded by walking out of the match. Smallman then made this one no DQs because the personalities involved have a history of taking a cheap way out of matches (like this sort of thing, or getting DQed) and because “I’ve only got two shows left.” Why should that second part matter? Why not do the logical thing to prevent fans and wrestlers from being screwed out of matches in every match, regardless of how long you’re planning on being around?
At one point T.K. pulled out a Roman Reigns flak jacket to protect his chest. A smart idea. Then the referee took it off of him and threw it away. WHY?! It’s a no DQs match!
Other than that one spot, I thought this was a GREAT weapons match that built up very well to an absolutely crazy finish. The babyface winning in the first match by overcoming both heels caught me by surprise, but I certainly wouldn’t be upset if this were the end of the feud.

DAVID STARR vs. DANNY DUGGAN- 6.75/10
The fans outright laughing at Danny Duggan when he claims he’ll win the world title in 2020 was fantastic. The match was very solid. Starr overcame a distraction by DNR (who were quickly taken out but the NIC. Duggan had apparently asked DNR not to help him earlier, so he might be on his way out of the group soon, which would make for quite the short tenure.

ROBBO’S RULES MATCH FOR THE PROGRESS PROTEUS TITLE: Paul Robinson(c) vs. Timothy Thatcher- 8/10
Another interesting and uniquely-wrestled match that is a perfect example of why I am quickly falling in love with this rule-set. Every time I see Robinson’s match listed on one of these shows, it always jumps out at me as the match I want to see most. This is wonderful, beautiful COMBAT.

PROGRESS TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Jordan Devlin & Scotty Davis(c) vs. Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan- 7.25/10
They did lots of stuff, but it built very well and had a spectacular finish. I just wish they hadn’t spent so much time on the outside (and especially without being counted out). I was also a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see Davis getting much mat-work with Burch and Lorcan. I’ve been a little disappointed with their appearances outside of WWE over the past few months, as they seem to be working a much more spotty “indy” style than they used to.

Another very solid show from PROGRESS. They once again moved their stories along bit by bit while delivering us some great- not blow-away but still great- wrestling throughout most of the card. The next show looks pretty damn stacked, including the possibility of finally getting that David Starr title win. We’ll see what happens.