PROGRESS Chapter 24: Hit The North!

‘Expansion’ has arguably been the word of the year in pro wrestling in 2015. The WWE Network was expanded into the UK (as well as a number of other foreign markets) at the beginning of the year- prior to that point the Network had not been performing at the levels WWE were hoping for but the increase in subscriptions following the official UK launch in January saw them attain the kind of figures that have at least gone a little way in appeasing shareholders. New Japan, not to be outdone, launched their own on-demand service just a month prior to that and combined it with the announcement that Wrestle Kingdom 9, their biggest show of the year, would for the first time be available on pay-per-view in the US and with English commentary (promoted by Global Force Wrestling). Then, as discussed in my review of NXT Takeover: London, the WWE’s development brand broadened their horizons with a few dates outside of their home base of Florida, before taking in a mini-tour of Texas and then a full on 7-date circuit of the UK earlier this month. It is no surprise then that the UK wrestling industry has followed suit.

PROGRESS Chapter 23: What A Time To Be Alive

Much of the excitement surrounding PROGRESS Wrestling recently has been focussed on their debut show in Manchester, understandable seeing as it represents perhaps the most significant expansion they have taken as a company so far. Before that show however, they had one more event of the year at the Electric Ballroom in Camden- Chapter 23: What A Time To Be Alive and had lined up a card that was a mouth watering prospect, stacked with potentially great matches. In the main event, Will Ospreay would defend the PROGRESS title against TNA’s Mark Andrews in a contest that, if anywhere near as good as their collisions at Chapter’s 4 & 7, would be quite something. Allied to that, Flash Morgan Webster was set to face Zack Gibson for the former’s Natural Progression Series 2 trophy, and the guaranteed title shot that goes with it, The Sumerian Death Squad were defending the PROGRESS Tag Titles in a 3-way match versus The London Riots and The Origin, and Marty Scurll would be going up against recent NXT signing, Tomasso Ciampa. After what was an average (at least by PROGRESS’ standards) Chapter 22, it was as if the company had something to prove (and possibly also remind their London fans of how good they can be ahead of their first main Chapter show to take place outside of the capital).

PROGRESS Chapter 22: Trust, Encouragement, Reward, Loyalty…Satisfaction

Over the past 2 years I have become a massive fan of British wrestling, either through attending live events close to me, catching whatever I could on television or You Tube, or following some companies over their on-demand service. During that time, it won’t surprise you that I, as well as many others across the country are perhaps most excited about PROGRESS Wrestling- what it is, what it can be and how much recognition it is now receiving amongst big wrestling fans over in the States. Despite that, after I began writing this blog, I had a difficult decision to make about whether I should publicly review their shows, especially if I was going to hold them to the same standards as the big promotions in the US and Japan. Firstly, I was concerned that my writing about them might be construed as me going easy on British wrestling, through some kind of bias. For anybody who has listened to me on The Daily Squash or on WrestleTalk TV will know, whether they liked what I said or not, that I have never sugar coated anything, or tried to curry favour with wrestlers or promotions- I say what I think, and I tell it as I see it, that counts for this blog too.