BRM Reviews PROGRESS Chapter 80: Gods and Monsters

[Big Red Machine]

PROGRESS Chapter 80: Gods and Monsters (12/8/2018)- Manchester, UK


CHRIS RIDGEWAY vs. PAUL ROBINSON- 7/10
A great, intense striking battle with a good heel finish. A strong opener.

SPIKE TRIVET PROMO- EXCELLENT!

EL LIGERO vs. DREW PARKER (w/Spike Trivet)- 6.75/10
The story of this match was Trivet’s interference. El Ligero probably overcame it a few too many times for Parker to really come out of this looking good, but Parker did prevail in part due to Trivet’s interference by the end.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- great
DNR beat up El Ligero and Trivet cut one of the horns off of his mask. The only flaw here was that this all took a little bit too long for me to be able to pretend the other babyfaces just weren’t ready to come out yet.

PETE DUNNE vs. MARK ANDREWS- 6.75/10
Dunne responded to Andrews’ offer of a pre-match handshake by shoving him down, establishing himself as the heel. Then they did a match that basically ignored that dynamic. This was pretty much seven minutes of big spots and reversals to big spots. It was excellent for the time it got, but also came pretty close to turning into overkill.

PROGRESS ATLAS TITLE MATCH: Trent Seven(c) vs. Dan Moloney- 7.5/10
Seven worked the neck and Moloney worked the leg. This was a great, hard-hitting match, punctuated by one utterly terrifying spot on the apron.

DO NOT RESUSCITATE (William Eaver & Chuck Mambo) vs. EDDIE DENNIS & MARK HASKINS (w/Vicky Haskins)- 6.75/10
They went for a good long while and it was a great brawl and getting quite exciting… and then we got a run-in for the blatant DQ. That was frustrating. Drew Parker was the one who did the running in. He (and the rest of DNR) were soon dispatched by Mark Andrews, who ran out to make the save Haskins and, yes, for Eddie Dennis as well. Andrews and Dennis had a big stare-down after the match. The announcers told us that their issue had been “put to bed” after they had their match, but I’d much prefer them to very, very cautious and distrusting around the other, even if they are being brought together to fight this common foe.

TYLER BATE vs. ILJA DRAGUNOV- 8.5/10
I don’t usually comment on this a sort of thing (often because there isn’t much to comment on, other than “Kevin Dunn sucks” or “don’t cut from a match to show us the commentators!”… okay, maybe I do lay that second one pretty often), but the camerawork for that big strike exchange these two had felt downright cinematic. It was shot from behind Bate but at an angle as Bate was throwing strikes. It was pretty damn epic.
These two just went out there and had an absolute battle. They just wailed away on each other and slammed each other around and put a bunch of drama into it and made it rock. They even managed to do an airplane spin spot in a way that actually helped a match rather than taking away from it.

#1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH: LAX (Santana & Ortiz) vs. CCK (Jonathan Gresham & Chris Brookes)- 6.5/10
We get goofy shenanigans at the beginning of this #1 contendership match. Because that definitely makes the titles seem important. Ortiz is even wearing a shirt that says “combat rules everything around me” while engaging in this goofery. Also, if combat is so important to you, then maybe you should use your arms to try to fight off the German Suplex you’re being lifted up for instead of using them to flip off the non-legal member of the other team?
Anyway, I didn’t like this very much. The quintessential spot in this match to me saw both teams in the ring and lined up for a chop battle, but instead of them just chopping each other, they waited around and first Santana got to chop Brookes, who sold it big. Then Ortiz got to chop Gresham who also sold it big. Then Brookes got to crawl over and check on Gresham while LAX just stood there. Yeah, they tried to make it look like they were gassed and selling, but you shouldn’t be doing it for that damn long for a f*cking CHOP. It shouldn’t take that much out of you that you should be selling for this long.
In essence, this match didn’t come off as a fight. It came off as four guys acting out a match that they had put together for the purpose of getting pops. And they did get their pops. Good for them. But what they didn’t do was tell a story because this match was completely disjointed, and they didn’t actually make the fans give a sh*t about the outcome, either, as the fans were just chanting “THIS IS PROGRESS!” and “FIGHT FOREVER!” (also, if you’re going to chant “FIGHT FOREVER!” then you can’t cheer at the finish. Either you want the wrestlers to keep fighting forever or you don’t, and if it’s the latter, then you shouldn’t be chanting “FIGHT FOREVER!” in the first place).


This was a solid show from PROGRESS, brought down by a disappointing main event. Ilja vs. Bate is pretty much everything that is great about those two wrestlers. The next PROGRESS show I’ll be watching is the final match in the CCK vs. LAX trilogy, so hopefully these guys get back on track for that one.