PROGRESS Chapter 42: Life, The Universe & Wrestling
Jim Smallman Intro - He is addressing appearing in a suit in the WWE thing. He Sold Out, but Don't Be A Dick! He mumbles some other stuff about WWE and he brings out his 'WWE friends'
Finn Balor Promo - As you would imagine, everyone is marking out over Finn. He wants to compete... in a musical chairs game. Lame, I believe that only CHIKARA could pull this off without being stupid, and to make things worse, Balor was eliminated first and Smallman gave him the win. Fucking Birmingham screwjob. Finn Balor really sucks at this game.
After wasting all that time...
Yes! A prelude to Thatcher's return, Ringkampf is here. Poor Axel Dieter was the only one trying to mat wrestle here, for everyone else, this was a big hoss fight. Great opener, it had all the babyface vs heel dynamics, it went a bit longer than I was expecting, and surely I wasn't expecting Ringkampf going over.
UUUGGHH, he hasn't been fired since lat show. Sexsmith attacked Sebastian during the introductions. Throughout the match, we saw Eaver helping out Sebastian, until during a ref distraction, Sebastian accidentally punched him off the apron. I seriously just put up with this shit because I'm interested in Sebastian and Will Eaver.
Post-Match - Sebastian is slapping Eaver over and over and over again to the chants of "Fuck Off Sebastian". Eaver didn't do a thing.
Jimmy Havoc Promo - He is calling out Smallman because (1) Dunne is not here and he owes him a title shot and he's not following up on their obligations, (2) Paul Robinson is hiding from him and Will Ospreay is not here, and (3) he wants to fight....so out comes....
Tommy End super over tonight, second "Thank you for taking your champions the day of your show" by WWE. This was a really short match considering the guys involved and how over both are. Match was going great, it's a shame it didn't last longer since I have no idea if End is coming back any time soon. Length-wise this rating should be lower, but I really liked what I was watching.
Jim Smallman wastes some time - Waste of time as always, but at least we got some "Mom", and "Dad" chants.
Natural Progression Series IV First Round Match
Not much to this match, Windsor is just leagues ahead of Grace, who I believe doesn't have more than 50 matches under her belt while Windsor does have some 7-8 yrs since her debut. Windsor was also a great heel, she has the look and style. Match was a lot more competitive that I think it should have. Grace botched the same spot twice, which consisted in jumping on Windsor's shoulders to do god knows what. Right gal won, I really can't wait for the second round to begin, it's gonna be great.
You know, I think SPPT has become my favorite team in PROGRESS, ever since the 7-way for the title, I just see them differently; meanwhile Generico and Steen....I mean Ligero and Mastiff have gone down the ranks now that Cruz is not with them. Before the match, Mastiff addressed some comments he had said on social media about Black and TK, also at one point we saw Mastiff wear a Generico mask and the ref powerslam Black before sending her to the back, which was followed with the ref and Ligero squaring each other up to fight. I'm all for comedy, but there are too many things going on right now. Once all that was over, they had a nice little comedy match, I think they wasted so much time in the beginning that they just went straight for the 'chaos' part of the match. Really disappointed that there was no addressing of Nathan Cruz' situation.
Paul Robinson may have more heat than Sebastian, and that's hard to achieve. Hometown hero Spud is super over and wearing a PROGRESS jacket, seems like we're getting old school Rockstar Spud tonight for his debut. Robinson jumped Spud and started slapping him with his belt before the match could even start. Robinson had the upper hand for 80% of the match really, up until the most disgusting loogie spot I've ever seen, then he was reminded of his TNA career and he got pissed. Great story told by this match and a great showing for Spud in his PROGRESS debut, kinda shows that he hasn't been damaged beyong repair by TNA. Finish was unfortunate, but necessary to protect Spud and The Swords of Essex angle from last show.
"Essex is a shithole" may be my new favorite chant, I don't even know Essex, nothing against them, but I like the chant.
Post-Match - Robinson attacks Spud with a chair and curb stomp until Jimmy Havoc came to fight Robinson, who quickly ran away. I really want Havoc to get his hands on him, that is not a feeling that I get often anymore. Big ovation for Spud, his parents were in attendance. Everyone singing to Spud's song was awesome, he made me think of a young HBK for some reason.
Atlas Championship Open Challenge
This was the first time the Atlas title is being defended as the main event, which makes me think they should have done this a lot more before tonight. During the intros, Brown had a face of "Am I really dropping the title to this guy?". Jesus, maybe he was thinking that, he's going heavy stiff-looking on Riddle. Match was awesome, just back and forward, kicking each other's ass like crazy. I wasn't a fan of the finish, seemed like it came out of nowhere, maybe on a second watching I'll appreciate it more.
A really up and down show for PROGRESS, the good things were awesome, and the bad ones were just terrible. Riddle vs Rampage Brown is worth checking out, and while you're at it, you may as well check out Ringkampf since they'll become a big name later on in PROGRESS, likewise Spud vs Robinson if only for the hometown reaction. Something that I didn't notice until I started to close this review is how unnecessary BSS were, I didn't miss neither champion until the end.
Finn Balor Promo - As you would imagine, everyone is marking out over Finn. He wants to compete... in a musical chairs game. Lame, I believe that only CHIKARA could pull this off without being stupid, and to make things worse, Balor was eliminated first and Smallman gave him the win. Fucking Birmingham screwjob. Finn Balor really sucks at this game.
After wasting all that time...
London Riots vs Ringkampf - 7/10
Yes! A prelude to Thatcher's return, Ringkampf is here. Poor Axel Dieter was the only one trying to mat wrestle here, for everyone else, this was a big hoss fight. Great opener, it had all the babyface vs heel dynamics, it went a bit longer than I was expecting, and surely I wasn't expecting Ringkampf going over.
Sebastian w/Pastor William Eaver vs Jack Sexsmith - 4/10
UUUGGHH, he hasn't been fired since lat show. Sexsmith attacked Sebastian during the introductions. Throughout the match, we saw Eaver helping out Sebastian, until during a ref distraction, Sebastian accidentally punched him off the apron. I seriously just put up with this shit because I'm interested in Sebastian and Will Eaver.
Post-Match - Sebastian is slapping Eaver over and over and over again to the chants of "Fuck Off Sebastian". Eaver didn't do a thing.
Jimmy Havoc Promo - He is calling out Smallman because (1) Dunne is not here and he owes him a title shot and he's not following up on their obligations, (2) Paul Robinson is hiding from him and Will Ospreay is not here, and (3) he wants to fight....so out comes....
Tommy End vs Jimmy Havoc - 7/10
Tommy End super over tonight, second "Thank you for taking your champions the day of your show" by WWE. This was a really short match considering the guys involved and how over both are. Match was going great, it's a shame it didn't last longer since I have no idea if End is coming back any time soon. Length-wise this rating should be lower, but I really liked what I was watching.
Jim Smallman wastes some time - Waste of time as always, but at least we got some "Mom", and "Dad" chants.
Natural Progression Series IV First Round Match
Alex Windsor vs Livvii Grace - 5/10
Not much to this match, Windsor is just leagues ahead of Grace, who I believe doesn't have more than 50 matches under her belt while Windsor does have some 7-8 yrs since her debut. Windsor was also a great heel, she has the look and style. Match was a lot more competitive that I think it should have. Grace botched the same spot twice, which consisted in jumping on Windsor's shoulders to do god knows what. Right gal won, I really can't wait for the second round to begin, it's gonna be great.
South Pacific Power Trip vs The Origin: Banter Edition - 7/10
You know, I think SPPT has become my favorite team in PROGRESS, ever since the 7-way for the title, I just see them differently; meanwhile Generico and Steen....I mean Ligero and Mastiff have gone down the ranks now that Cruz is not with them. Before the match, Mastiff addressed some comments he had said on social media about Black and TK, also at one point we saw Mastiff wear a Generico mask and the ref powerslam Black before sending her to the back, which was followed with the ref and Ligero squaring each other up to fight. I'm all for comedy, but there are too many things going on right now. Once all that was over, they had a nice little comedy match, I think they wasted so much time in the beginning that they just went straight for the 'chaos' part of the match. Really disappointed that there was no addressing of Nathan Cruz' situation.
Spud vs Paul Robinson - 7.5/10
Paul Robinson may have more heat than Sebastian, and that's hard to achieve. Hometown hero Spud is super over and wearing a PROGRESS jacket, seems like we're getting old school Rockstar Spud tonight for his debut. Robinson jumped Spud and started slapping him with his belt before the match could even start. Robinson had the upper hand for 80% of the match really, up until the most disgusting loogie spot I've ever seen, then he was reminded of his TNA career and he got pissed. Great story told by this match and a great showing for Spud in his PROGRESS debut, kinda shows that he hasn't been damaged beyong repair by TNA. Finish was unfortunate, but necessary to protect Spud and The Swords of Essex angle from last show.
"Essex is a shithole" may be my new favorite chant, I don't even know Essex, nothing against them, but I like the chant.
Post-Match - Robinson attacks Spud with a chair and curb stomp until Jimmy Havoc came to fight Robinson, who quickly ran away. I really want Havoc to get his hands on him, that is not a feeling that I get often anymore. Big ovation for Spud, his parents were in attendance. Everyone singing to Spud's song was awesome, he made me think of a young HBK for some reason.
Atlas Championship Open Challenge
Rampage Brown vs Matt Riddle, Bro - 8.5/10
This was the first time the Atlas title is being defended as the main event, which makes me think they should have done this a lot more before tonight. During the intros, Brown had a face of "Am I really dropping the title to this guy?". Jesus, maybe he was thinking that, he's going heavy stiff-looking on Riddle. Match was awesome, just back and forward, kicking each other's ass like crazy. I wasn't a fan of the finish, seemed like it came out of nowhere, maybe on a second watching I'll appreciate it more.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
A really up and down show for PROGRESS, the good things were awesome, and the bad ones were just terrible. Riddle vs Rampage Brown is worth checking out, and while you're at it, you may as well check out Ringkampf since they'll become a big name later on in PROGRESS, likewise Spud vs Robinson if only for the hometown reaction. Something that I didn't notice until I started to close this review is how unnecessary BSS were, I didn't miss neither champion until the end.