Progress Wrestling hit London town this weekend with two huge shows from The Electric Ballroom and Alexandra Palace. Saturday night saw the annual Natural Progression Series put the spotlight on 8 rising stars of the BritWres scene, while Sunday’s Chapter 95 show – Still Chasing – witnessed the culmination of the biggest names from Progress and NXT UK come together for a star-studded affair.
The NPS has spring-boarded the careers of Mark Andrews, Flash Morgan Webster and Toni Storm, putting them on the map for future opportunities with the promotion. This year’s event witnessed Scotty Davis go the distance and win the trophy at the end of the night. An unexpected turn of events, with the majority of fans predicting either The O.J.M.O or Cara Noir to make it to the finals, but a welcome one, with the budding talent making waves across the nation.
Scotty Davis defeated DNR’s latest recruit, Danny Duggan, in the tournament finals and went on to cash-in his title opportunity the next night at Ally Pally on Progress Tag Champs, the Grizzled Young Veterans. Davis’ partner, none other than his mentor, Jordan Devlin. Devlin and Davis defeated both GYV and Aussie Open in this huge triple threat opening contest and received a huge celebration from the Progress fans.
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Later on in the first half, Jordynne Grace defended her Progress Women’s Championship against Joshi legend, Meiko Satomura. Meiko gave a tough fight to Grace and managed to find an escape to all her power moves and deep submissions, eventually hitting the frog splash and capturing her first Progress Women’s title.
Progress’ first ever Rumble match had the extra special stipulation of the winner becoming the inaugural Proteus Champion. The brand’s newest title belt went to fan-favourite, Paul Robinson. Robbo entered number one and managed to outlast all 29 competitors, which included the likes of: Ilja Dragunov, Travis Banks, CCK and referee Chris Roberts. Robinson last eliminated DnR member and NPS finalist Danny Duggan to win the title, now able to defend said belt in any match-type he pleases.
In the show’s main event, WALTER defended his Progress Championship against David Starr, in what was their 13th encounter. Starr gave a phenomenal performance against the big Austrian, but couldn’t quite secure the win after the referee took a shot from WALTER. In the chaos of calling out another referee, Progress mainstay Eddie Dennis hit the ring with his contracted title shot in hand.
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Dennis, who most fans had assumed retired from the promotion, shocked the world alongside FSU partner, Mark Andrews, who nailed Starr with a steel chair. Dennis walked away with the Progress Championship for the first time, changing the entire landscape of Progress Wrestling.
A growing theme of the weekend was that BritWres is far from dead. With plenty of big names making a huge comeback to the scene and others establishing themselves as the safe hands that the indies are being left in, this was one hell of weekend to be a wrestling fan.
Make sure you check out these two huge shows on Progress’ demand service, then tell me NXT UK is killing the biz.
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