The PROGRESS Wrestling Thread

[PRINCE2356]

I went to the show yesterday, was a very good show but as i have said to a few people it felt more like an "occasion" than a "great show".

 

Never been to the Brixton Academy before but what a lovely bit of architecture very much along the lines of the Apollo in Manchester, looked like someones house and a big curtain had been opened up and there was a wrestling ring.

 

Onto the actual show - I thought the 2 out of 3 falls worked very well with Ciampa/Sabre Jr, very good to see something i have never seen in one of those matches for the very long first fall. I would certainly rank this number 3 out of their 3 matches but still very good but not the quality of their Manchester match.

 

Rampage vs Joe Coffey - very happy with the general result of this as not a big fan of Coffey who apart from his entrance theme i find massively overrated. But the Atlas tournament though a good idea at first, it has been a bit of a damp squib just due to the difficulty of the Group stage scoring.

 

6 woman tag - really good showcase of what everyone can do, but the resulting pin fall looked quite suspect with Laura Di Matteo having her right leg under the ropes whilst the count was being administered.

 

Pastor Vs Sebastian - Bit of a bad do with the knockout to Seb, some utter tossers chanting "one more time" after the incident proves once again that some wrestling fans are idiots. But good on Jim Smallman saying on the mic that this was an accident and not a setup.

 

British Strong Style vs Riots - Another good tag match, very surprised with the result as the Riots have only held the belts for around 4 months.

 

Chuck Mambo vs Paul Robinson - definitely much a time filler but good to see Robinson back.

 

The Origin vs FSU/Gallagher/Moser - Obviously the highlight of this was the Usual Gibson intro shenanigans, as much i wanted to see him come out with a big viking foghorn to do his spiel - the old school Jimmy Rave Bog Roll worked a treat. Just the small thing of Gibson pinning Jack Gallagher in his last UK match was great as these two have been constant rivals in the North West and be a shame we won't see anymore of there matches again. But really happy the Origin are sticking around and i can guess now all 4 can have a go at the main title.

 

Scurll/Haskins/End - Really good 3 way match which built brilliantly with Scurll taking out all the referees before Jimmy Havoc made his return (literally the roof blow off) and now sets up the Havoc/Scurll feud now. But before then I think we will be getting the Haskins/Scurll rematch at either Manchester or Camden before the big feud all kicks off.

 

Can see Haskins feuding now with all 4 of the origin members, hopefully ending up with Gibson as the last man to face him and then Gibson taking the title.

[Benno]

Yeah that was a lot was fun. Going in as stated, I thought the card was a bit underwhelming but the success of the show was always going to hinge on the big atmosphere - and the two big moments, a Havoc return and a Haskins win. Both of those moments absolutely delivered and just the whole thing was a great spectacle to be a part of.

 

I can’t say I was particularly fussed on Brixton as a wrestling venue, lovely place it is, I’ve never been into that All Star Theatre presentation with 95% of the crowd on one side - the ring was just so far away for lots of people. I’m sure it all looked and felt great from the ring, but sightlines were pretty poor. If the big screen footage is anything to go by, I actually don’t think it’s going to look that good on tape either, the ring area was just this huge scruffy dead zone with lots of empty space. It’s genuinely impressive they filled such a big place and I hope they made loads and loads of money, but from a completely selfish point of view I think the more intimate Camden and Ritz shows are a better overall experience.

 

Match wise, I don’t think anything exceeded expectations but most of everything was solid, I really enjoyed the Tag match in the first half. ZSJ/Ciampa is something I think I’d have to watch back on tape to get the most out of, but I really liked the closing stretch. That Origin tag was probably my highlight live, just so much fun, the Origin should never go away. The Gibson promo was just unbelievable in the big arena – the Jimmy Rave style toilet papering was an amazing spectacle.

[PRINCE2356]

Yeah thought it was a bit sparse with only 3 rows of seating on the right and left hand sides of the front row. When i went down at half time, i couldn't believe how far away the balcony was but felt the sound from upstairs travelled better than usual plus i felt the above seats gave a much better appreciation of the action than downstairs.

 

But same here i think the Ballroom and the Ritz are great wrestling venues more so the Ritz as its has better sightlines than Camden. But glad they will be doing another 1 off show at Brixton next year .

Edited September 26, 2016 by PRINCE2356

[The Dart]

My first Progress show.  Missed the first 2 matches, due to being an idiot, and thinking it started at 4.

 

Rest was OK.  Zabre vs. Ciampa was very good, rest was nothing to get too excited about.  But the atmosphere was tremendous, and that made it great.  The crowd wasn't as full of dicks as I had been expecting, and I loved the overall presentation of the show.  The music, the lighting, all fantastic.  But I would agree that the venue, as amazing as it is, maybe doesn't quite suit wrestling, but I doubt anyone would complain about that too much, because the positives outweigh the negatives.  Disagree with Prince above though.  I thought that London Riots v BSS was one of the worst matches I've ever seen live.  Absolute turd.

[Roy]

This was my first Progress show. I thought it was a fun show, really enjoyed it. The show ran really long though - we got in there at 3pm and left nearly 5 hours later at 7:50pm!

 

I liked the vibe of the show and the presentation though I agree with the poster who mentioned that it might not come across well on video. It seemed that the ring  was surrounded by about 3 rows deep of ultras on 3 sides and the cameras seemed to very rarely shoot from the entrance, which would have revealed the vast swathes of fans going back several rows plus a balcony. I think there may have been two cameras so hoping this wasn't the case, but it would be a shame to have a venue that held 2,400 and make it seem tiny.

 

As regards the matches, I wasn't a fan of the Rampage Brown v Joe Coffey match. The pace of the women's 3 v 3 match seemed really quick and didn't really do it for me. It was a real shame about Sebastien being knocked out, sounds like he was ok afterwards. Jim did a good job on the mic to inform people of this.

 

After the interval, Paul Robinson was fantastic as a heel in his match. Zack Gibson was great in the tag match and it was very entertaining. I thought the Ciampa v Sabre match was good though I'm still not sure about Sabre. I've seen him a couple of times live and a few times on TV/online and I do wonder if his style is conducive to larger settings/arenas. The 3 way at the end was booked really well and had a nice ending.

 

One thing that did annoy me was the over-reliance on people using their middle fingers for heat (it's minor league if loads of people on the roster do it) and some of the chants "Tommy, Tommy, Tommy f*cking End" seemed like the sort of thing you'd cringe at during a football match when someone comes up with something really unimaginative. I don't think that's unique to Progress though - it happens a lot at wrestling shows I've been to.

[dannycoll]

I enjoyed the show (congratulations on nearly filling the O2 Brixton ) , however I have enjoyed their shows in Camden &'Manchester more - IMO Robinson vs Mabo cheapened this event

Maybe it was like other posters have mentioned that there were very limited seats ringside .

I think Progress have a great product and run a very professional set up - plenty of up dates , easy to book tickets , Facebook / Twitter

Regularly up dated BUT four years in , can we ask they pay some attention to their timings !!!

Most of their shows run on a Sunday and we all know what the public transport system can be like (clock watching towards the end of a show can take away some of the enjoyment )

[firstnameunknown]

The camera filming for the big screen didn't appear to be EITHER of the handhelds at ringside, so I'm certain the eventual edited version of the show will look rather different.

[The Dart]

I thought that camera was just for the screen and prob not for the main recording. Fine for the screen, but a terrible angle for DVD/On Demand. There was another camera at the back of the venue.

[cleslie92]

There were three roaming cameras, the hard cam and the live screen cam. 

[guts316]

It was my first Progress Wrestling show as well, and sadly I came away from it feeling quite underwhelmed.

 

Ciampa and Sabre Jnr aside, which was hurt by the length of the already epic show at that point, the card was pretty devoid of any really top quality wrestling. It felt that multi person matches were used largely to get people onto the card, rather than presenting meaningful one on one encounters. The 1st half of the show was obviously hurt by the unexpected loss of a built up singles match which didn't help.

 

As hard as the wrestlers worked in the main event, I just couldn't get over how overbooked it was - it felt like it was something out of the pits of WCW circa. 2000. As someone only vaguely aware of the product the closing angle didn't register with me as it did to the majority of those in attendance, however I do feel there was a way to still achieve the same outcome without the last 5-10 minutes being such a turn off.

 

Speaking of turn offs, the length of the show has already been discussed but another thing I really couldn't stand was the ring announcer. Yes it was a fantastic achievement to sell all those tickets, four years on from the start of the company, but didn't I know about it by the end to the point of nasuea. Constant talking, constant back slapping - just get on with presenting some actual wrestling that people had paid to see. I know Progress is styled as a more 'adult' product, but I still firmly believe the ring announcer swearing is out of place and a bit bush league at the same time.

 

I really wanted to like this show, having looked forward to it for quite some time, but went away feeling a bit gutted with the outcome.

Edited September 27, 2016 by guts316

[Guest]

Ring announcer is one of the owners and also a stand up comedian. Not to my tastes either as dont see a ring announcer as a personality, but then again I love a good One Fall when Simon Cassidy is announcing so who am I to judge

[Polish Dad]

This was my first live PROGRESS show, but I've been following online for around a year (having gone back and watched all the old shows from Chapter One onwards).
 

The big arena definitely made the atmosphere feel different, with my section being quite quiet compared to the more central one (I was on the right hand side of Stalls), but I was okay with that considering the length of the show it would have been quite tiring being on my feet shouting for the whole thing. The exception to that was Zack Gibson's promo, loved that guy since he was pissing about in 21CW as Zack Diamond (and was absolute dogshit) and he's blossomed into the most fantastic unlikeable heel while I was gone from wrestling.

There are two things that brought me back into wrestling properly; one of them is Jim Smallman. I love how genuine his emotions are, and find his enthusiasm infectious. I think PROGRESS would feel lessened without him out front ring announcing. The other was Jimmy Havoc's heel turn and title run. I watched PROGRESS from Chapter One when I got On Demand. It was interesting, but felt very much like the BritWres I remembered from before and wasn't incredibly appealing. It was from the moment of his heel turn that I was completely hooked, to the point where I'm comfortable saying that Jimmy Havoc made me love watching British Wrestling again. I flew from Southampton to Glasgow the week before just to see him appear at the hardcore show held in his name by Mikey Whiplash.

I say this so you know there's no overstatement when I say that to be there for his return is one of the best moments of my life. I've rarely given myself so completely to an emotional moment, but I was screaming like a schoolgirl for this.

 

For me, Scurll's run on top hasn't been as compelling. I think he had the tools to be an intriguing PROGRESS foil, a heel champion who was more concerned with just winning than he was with Havoc's "Fuck PROGRESS" mentality. Despite that, it never quite clicked for me, so it was a joy to see Haskins take the belt. Could see Gibson being the next man to dethrone him.

Really enjoyed the show, and really glad I chose this to be my first PROGRESS live show.

[zahidf]

zach gibson is getting a shot at haskins in manchester.

[Guest]

I lasted on day in the progress fans fb page. Dear god they love a moan

[Big Benny HG]

Just realised I didn't say anything about PROGRESS' biggest ever show last weekend.

 

I would definitely agree with what seems to be the common view that it was a show of great 'moments' and being a great 'occasion' as opposed to being a great 'show' full of great 'matches'.  The sheer size of the place and the way it was set up meant that everyone was so far away from the ring it was more like sitting back and watching what was happening (like a play in a theatre, or a WWE arena show) than the audience feeling 'involved' right in the action like you would with your typical PROGRESS show.

 

Being there live, I often felt disconnected from what was happening in the ring.  We were only on the 5th row, so actually closer than literally thousands of people, but we still felt miles away.  We also had the disadvantage of being too far away to have a good, close view of the ring, but not far enough away to be on the bit where the floor started sloping and you would get a clear view straight over everyone's head.  In actual fact, I noticed when going to the bar at the back of the stalls that there was a much better view from there.  As such, I found myself watching quite large bits on the big screen but also found it quite difficult to keep my attention and was being easily distracted by other stuff going on around the audience.  While I did have a great day and enjoyed the show for the most part, I am absolutely certain it will come across much better on screen (either via the OnDemand or DVD) than it did from my live perspective.

 

Those great moments, though (such as the Jimmy Havoc return, the farewell to End, Gallagher & Ciampa, the Andrews moonsault and the Origin introduction with the Jimmy Rave toilet paper streamering), definitely delivered in a big, big way.  As a spectacle, it simply couldn't be faulted.  It felt important, grand, and as if it was something special.

 

While their claim of it being the biggest show from an English independent promotion in decades depends on your definition of 'independent promotion' (the attendance was there or there abouts the same as 'Universal Uproar' in 2005, but a good thousand short of 'International Showdown' that same year.  They clearly beat FWA's British Uprising 3 and Revival, but there was at least one massive WAW attendance about a decade ago that would have rivalled this.  There will have been All Star holiday camp shows that have done similar, and some of those Mickey Francis Guvnor shows in Manchester may well have beaten this too), the achievement of selling 2,400 tickets and absolutely packing out the place cannot be understated.  They didn't sell this out on the attraction of international import guest names, or being an AMERICAN WRESTLING LIVE circus show with posters on every lamppost or chip shop - they sold that many tickets because they were a red hot brand, with people believing that this was a special occasion to celebrate and enjoy the peak of British wrestling.  There were people in that crowd I recognised from all over the country, coming in because this was seen as the flagpole event of the current BritWres hotstreak.  To do this purely on the reputation and good will of the PROGRESS brand is absolutely fantastic.

 

While I wouldn't want all PROGRESS shows to be presented like this, I do like the idea of them doing one big showcase event like this a year, which sounds like what they have planned.  I'm also excited now to see what direction they go and what stories start being weaved when they start the new "Volume" of PROGRESS shows in Manchester in 2 weeks and then Camden 2 weeks after that.