Title shots are on the line as the South Pacific Power Trip take on Jack Sexsmith and WALTER, with a Progress World Title shot hanging in the balance!
For anyone looking for my review of Chapter 70: May 27th, 1978, don’t worry! In keeping with the 1978 spirit of the show, you will find the full review of the show in your bi-annual PWPonderings newsletter! This month’s newsletter went to print before the show went up on demand, so expect my full review in the December issue! There were a few pertinent results, so I’ll list them here.
- Mark Haskins & Flash Morgan Webster (2) def. Mayhew & Mills (0) in the Thunderbastard Tag Team Series
- The Grizzled Young Veterans (2) def. Aussie Open (2) to retain the Progress Tag Team Titles in the Thunderbastard Tag Team Series
- Chris Ridgeway def. Drew Parker in a Natural Progression Series semi-final
Now onto Chapter 71!
PROGRESS WRESTLING
CHAPTER 71: F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.P.R.O.G.R.E.S.S.
JUNE 10TH, 2018 AT THE O2 ACADEMY IN SHEFFIELD
WATCH: DEMAND PROGRESS
We started with Nixon Steffanie Newell coming out. She said that the previous night at the NXT Download Festival shows, she injured her knee and wouldn’t be able to challenge Jinny for the Progress Women’s Title on this show. She has selected a replacement, and that replacement is Dakota Kai! Kai came out and said that she would win. A fair replacement, and we got to hear C’est La Vie, so I’m all good here.
Michael Dante def. Damien Corvin to become #1 Contender to the Atlas Championship
Progress quickly realized that once WALTER was removed from the Atlas division, the Atlas division was pretty dry. So they brought in a couple of tag team specialists to get some new blood in the division. First is Damien Corvin of the Kings of the North, who made a lone appearance for Progress early last year. Then is Michael Dante, who I’m surprised wasn’t covered in mothballs on his way out considering his last appearance for the company was before the Brixton show in 2016. A nice opener here, as Dante speared Corvin to get the title shot. ***
Thunderbastard Tag Team Series: Mark Haskins & Flash Morgan Webster (w/ Vicky Haskins) (4) def. The Anti-Fun Police (Damien Dunne & Los Federales Santos Jr.) (0)
Haskins & Webster came out to Fuck The Police by NWA, which made them faces on principle. You know, because that’s a good song. Vicky Haskins is hot. I wish the audio was good enough for me to hear what Santos is saying. The crowd is popping for all of it, but it just gets lost on VOD. He was very impressive here though, at one point catching both Webster and Haskins in mid-air and dropping them with a double flatliner. In the end, Webster hit Santos with a low blow, allowing Haskins to roll him up for the win. After the match, Vicky and Mark looked proud of Flash, so it looks like their peer pressure has worked on the poor boy. Someone show Flash an after-school special, quick! ***
Natural Progression Series Semi-Final: Mark Davis def. Danny Duggan
Davis finally came out to Run The Jewels, which is good because it’s RTJ, but not good because I liked Higher by Kill The Ideal too. I realized that Aussie Open just like good music.
What I also realized here is that Danny Duggan is not up to the Progress standard. His offence here was atrocious. Almost all of his strikes were about three inches away from making contact, and his “lariats” were barely touching the guy. It was like he was afraid to lay it in, so he held up, which made all of his stuff look like crap. This was a problem in his first round match with Danny Jones, but it looked a lot worse here. I will say this, it made Davis look all the more impressive in comparison. He was lighting Duggan up with chops and high-impact offense, and the crowd was all the way behind him. Davis won with a straight punch to the face out of nowhere, punching his ticket to the final against Chris Ridgeway. And I’m not gonna apologize for the punch pun. **1/2
Deathmatch: Spike Trivet def. Jimmy Havoc
So Jimmy Havoc is in a bit of a tailspin. He’s in a rut in Progress. According to Spike Trivet via Will Ospreay, Jimmy is homeless and his girlfriend left him. And now, Spike Trivet beat him in his own game. At least Spike gave Jimmy 60 quid to remind him of his Tournament of Death payday. Trivet was absolutely ruthless here, as he needed to be if he wanted to get out of this match alive. He sliced Havoc’s arm with a set of scissors and squeezed lemon juice into the wounds. A moment that was particularly memorable was Trivet painting an art canvas with Havoc’s blood. Trivet talked a lot of noise to Havoc toward the end, saying that the British scene didn’t need him anymore. He followed it up with four nasty chair shots for to get the upset win. Havoc did some stuff, but this was the Spike Trivet show through-and-through. It was almost hard to watch as Havoc just didn’t pose the threat he used to, which will no doubt play into his lead up to Wembley. ***1/4
Chris Brookes def. Angelico
The battle of the tall boys. Well, I watched it. They did moves. It went for a while. Brookes won with a Praying Mantis Bomb. I have no further thoughts on the match. Afterwards, Brookes is about to say something about CCK’s status when Haskins and Webster came out and attacked him. Kid Lykos came out, made the save, and hugged it out with Brookes. Nice to see Lykos back. **1/2
WALTER & Jack Sexsmith def. The South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper & Travis Banks); WALTER pins TK Cooper to earn a PROGRESS World Title shot
So let me make sure I have this straight. On Super Strong Style weekend, Travis Banks walks out on the title match against WALTER. WALTER gives up the Atlas Title to get another shot at the World Title. But now, he’s in a match where if he loses, he’ll be barred from challenging Banks for the title again, thus rendering his choice to vacate the Atlas Title meaningless. I have a feeling that pen didn’t make it to paper on this storyline.
The match here was very good, probably the best of the night to this point. Sexsmith and WALTER worked together well, and the Power Trip haven’t lost a step. This was high energy and fast paced, and the crowd was well into it as it went on. There was one point where Sexsmith and WALTER had issue over who would get the pin, but Sexsmith stepped aside and allowed WALTER to pin TK after a lariat. I would expect WALTER to challenge before Wembley, but we’ll see what happens. ***1/2
PROGRESS Women’s Title: Jinny (w/ Chakara) (1st defense) def. Dakota Kai (w/ Steffanie Newell)
Main Event Jinny, it seems. I was skeptical when I saw that this match was the main event, mostly due to how disappointed I was with the overbooked Jinny/Toni Storm match that main-evented the Victoria Warehouse show. But, I was happily surprised to see that the nonsense was exponentially toned down and these two were able to have a really good main event. This was the best Dakota Kai performance I’ve seen since she signed with WWE, but that was entirely due to her having a big opportunity here in the main event. Both women brought their absolute A-game here, and their styles meshed very well here. There was still some shenanigans with Chakara getting involved, and Jinny got the win with the Rainmaker after a beltshot behind the ref’s back. I would prefer Jinny just winning clean and just being better than someone, but I can live with what we got here. Best match of the night. ***3/4
FINAL THOUGHTS
Watch the last two matches. There is nothing else to see here.
What did you think of Progress Chapter 71? Leave a comment down below, or let me know on Twitter, @SuitWilliams.