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Midlands wrestlers shine at London PROGRESS Wrestling event - review

It was a big weekend for local pro-wrestlers as several of the West Midlands’ finest shone for PROGRESS Wrestling in front over nearly 2,000 fans at London’s Alexandra Palace.

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The event began with Wolverhampton residents Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher trying to regain their PROGRESS Tag Team Titles. Speaking ahead of the show Davis praised the team that defeated them, WWE superstars the Grizzled Young Veterans.

“I think to deny that Zack Gibson and James Drake are an incredible team would be an outright lie," he commented.

"We had our very first PROGRESS Tag Team Championship opportunity against them one snowy December in Sheffield so we’ve known from the onset of our PROGRESS career that they’re always going to be a team to beat”.

By the time they stepped foot in Alexandra Palace, Aussie Open had already claimed championship gold that weekend, regaining their WXW Tag Team Titles in Hamburg, Germany on Friday night.

They would find less success here, due to a surprise third team being added to proceedings. The previous night Irishman Scotty Davis had won a shot at a PROGRESS title of his choosing, and he used that to add himself and his mentor Jordan Devlin to the Tag Team Title match.

It was a reunion for Devlin and Fletcher, with the two men having had an excellent match in the same venue back in May. There was a notable callback to that clash, with Devlin almost securing the victory off the same headbutt with which he won their singles match. But it would be Scotty Davis that would secure the victory, trapping his near namesake in an armbar, and forcing the Australian to submit.

The next match saw the man who first suggested that Davis and Fletcher form a tag team, say farewell to British pro-wrestling. Birmingham’s Pete Dunne lost his WWE UK Title back in April, and he used a rare appearance in PROGRESS to confirm that he would be moving to America to be one of the stars on WWE’s newly expanded NXT television programme.

He would wrestle rising star Cara Noir, and while the matwork between the two would sometimes lose the crowd, when they started hitting their big moves towards the end, the crowd got into the match in a big way. Noir managed to kickout of Dunne’s Bitter End, even threatening to choke him out, only for the WWE superstar to rally, and secure the victory with a second application of his trademark finisher.

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Dunne’s comrade in British Strong Style, Wolverhampton’s Trent Seven and Dudley’s Tyler Bate would star in a special NXT showcase match against Matt Riddle and Keith Lee. Seven still regularly appears for PROGRESS, the other three men stepped away from the promotion last year, due to their WWE commitments. Therefore the overwhelming emotion during the match was of nostalgic happiness about the men once again competing in PROGRESS.

There was a clever callback to when Riddle once defeated Seven in seven seconds, with Seven ostentatiously dodging the American’s flying knee. Seven would be the highlight of a good-natured match, with his comedic selling of the beating he received from Riddle and Lee being highly amusing. The action would pick up towards the end, with Seven managing to get the super heavyweight Lee up for a big slam.

The next match would see someone that is no stranger to West Midlands pro-wrestling fans win the PROGRESS Women’s Champion. Former Fight Club: PRO World Champion Meiko Satomura defeated Jordynne Grace in her PROGRESS debut. Wolverhampton resident Charli Evans praised Satomura; "Satomura is hands down one of the best wrestlers in the world, regardless of gender. Her strikes & technical ability are unmatched"

Evans was herself in action in Alexandra Palace, as she sought to become the first Proteus Champion.

The heavily hyped title, is designed to be a break from the normal rules of the promotion, with the champion able to determine the ruleset for their defences. It made good on that promise from the start, with the first champion determined in a thirty-person over the top rope Royal Rumble.

This was a rare match where men and women can compete against each other in the PROGRESS ring, and Evans was one of the women seeking to make the most of the opportunity. Beforehand she told the Express and Star that she was partcularly excited to face legendary American prowrestler Eddie Kingston. "He is my wrestling idol. His mix of Japanese & Joshi style with is unforgiving attitude is incredible to watch and I have been a fan of his since I first started watching him in 2009. I’m gonna be the one to eliminate him”.

She would try her best to make good on the boast, as when Kingston entered at number 24, Evans had to be physically restrained by her tag team partner Mille McKenzie.

Despite Kingston tearing into the other male competitors, McKenzie couldn’t stop Evans confronting him. He may have outweighed her by over 100Ibs, and was nearly a foot taller, but that didn’t stop Evans laying into him.

Alas the weight and size meant that only one lariat would put her down. McKenzie would stop Kingston eliminating Evans, but the two women could never get a firm advantage on the hulking American. They would have success against Birmingham’s Thomas Frazier, a local pro-wrestler who recently appeared on ITV’s The Chase. He barely had time to take off his tracksuit before the two women had eliminated him.

It would be a mixed night for local performers in a Royal Rumble that frequently shifted between comedy and drama. Tipton’s Chris Brookes entered at 28, launching himself into the ring to hit his slingshot cutter on Chuck Mambo.

PROGRESS Wrestling

He would join forces with fellow local pro-wrestlers Evans and McKenzie, only to shockingly betray them, eliminating them both. However Brookes strong start would be disrupted by the incongruous sight of veteran referee Chris Roberts coming to the ring to WWE legend Stone Cold Steve Austin’s music, hitting Austin’s trademark stunners on everyone else in the ring, before hitting Brookes with the spectacular Canadian Destroyer.

Despite Brookes’ popularity with the crowd, his elimination elicited a huge reaction. There was also comedy involving local pro-wrestlers earlier in the match, with several pro-wrestlers encouraging Wolverhampton resident Travis Banks to eschew his more serious side to join them in dancing in the middle of the ring.

Birmingham’s Damian Dunne would protest about the dancing, only to almost be eliminated by an errant dance move from his tag team partner Santos.

Someone who was all business was Birmingham’s Dan Moloney would built on his strong performance the day before, impressing before being eliminated by the eventual winner Paul Robinson. Moloney’s irate response suggests that we may see these two meet again for the Proteus Title.

Progress Wrestling’s Still Chasing will shortly be available to watch on Video on Demand through Demand Progress. PROGRESS Wrestling return to Alexandra Palace on 23rd to 25th May 2020 for Super Strong Style 16.

For more information visit demandprogress.pivotshare.com.

By Will Cooling