My first live wrestling show of 2017 was PROGRESS Wrestling in Birmingham. With the WWE UK Tournament happening the same weekend, some of the talent was unavailable (including the World and tag team champions, Pete Dunne and Moustache Mountain respectively) and the likes of Ospreay, Sabre and Scurll missing, the card looked lacking. Luckily PROGRESS had some surprises up their sleeves.
PROGRESS Wrestling
CHAPTER 42 - Life, The Universe and Wrestling
15 January 2017
15 January 2017
O2 Academy, Birmingham
Before any in-ring action. Jim Smallman opens and talks about some of the talent working the WWE Tournament but he said he had no hard feelings because he also has friends in WWE. This brought out Finn Balor to an almighty pop. He joked around and randomly, played a game of musical chairs. It was an amazing surprise start to the show and great to see Balor in such a small place.
1) Ringkampf (Axel Dieter Jr. & WALTER) beat The London Riots (James Davis & Rob Lynch) - Great opener. Dieter looks like a natural heel with a smug look plastered on his face whilst WALTER is just a big brute who makes the London Riots look small. Ringkampf really impressed me and I also liked the look of London Riots. MOTN.
2) Jack Sexsmith beat Sebastian - Bit of a comedy match really, nothing to write home about. After the bout, William Eaver, who was at ringside with Sebastian, looked like he would turn face but ended up leaving with Sebastian.
Jimmy Havoc came out to a great reaction. He ran down the recently reformed Swords of Essex after Will Ospreay turned his back on him at the last event. Havoc then called out someone from the back for an impromptu match. It turned out to be the recently WWE bound Tommy F'N End.
3) Jimmy Havok beat Tommy End - It was great seeing End live before he joins NXT. Understandably he didn't go all out here but it was still a decent exhibition which felt special. End put Havok over then amazingly travelled down to Blackpool on the same day to debut against Neville at the UK Tournament.
4) Alex Windsor beat Livii Grace - This was in the Women's Championship tournament and was easily the worst match of the night. It was the match after the break and could have been placed elsewhere. It was slow, sloppy and not a good welcome back.
5) South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper & Travis Banks) beat The Origin: Banter Edition (El Ligero & Dave Mastiff) - Fun match, obviously some comedy from Ligero and Mastiff. Mastiff even put on an El Generico match and did some lucha spots. I still believe Ligero is one of the most underrated UK talents.
6) Spud beat Paul Robinson - Spud was the hometown boy and making his PROGRESS debut. Robinson is part of the Sword of Essex with Ospreay and attacked before he match with his belt. Spud nearly killed himself with a trio of suicide dives and won by DQ.
Rampage Brown was to defend his Atlas Championship (over 205 pounds) in an open challenge. He was answered by Matt Riddle!
7) Matt Riddle beat Rampage Brown to win the PROGRESS Atlas Championship - Bro are you kidding me? Finn, End and Riddle as three surprises? I've always liked Riddle but he's become one of my favourites recently as I track down random matches of his, so I was so happy to see him live. The finish came a little out of nowhere but that's Riddle for you bro. It sent me home happy in a show where I didn't expect much but it really delivered.
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