As we’re all spending more time inside, we’re back with another list of suggestions on shows to pass the time.
After going through the more recent stuff, it’s time to wrap up our look at PROGRESS’ back catalogue, by going back to their early years – back when the shows were a lot less frequent! Newer fans may well have not had the time to jump into their original shows. Well, if you’ve got a subscription at demand-progress.com, here’s some vintage stuff…
Chapter 1: In The Beginning – Where it all started, in the Garage in Islington… and the first show had a cracker as the PROGRESS title tournament pitted the LDRS against each other: Marty Scurll vs. ZSJ.
Chapter 2: The March of PROGRESS – After coming up short in the tournament, Marty Scurll gets a title shot on the second show, but comes up short in a best-of-three falls match against Nathan Cruz.
Chapter 4: The Ballad of El Ligero – the first Natural PROGRESSion Series gets going with Mark Andrews and Will Ospreay facing off. Wonder if they went anywhere… Nathan Cruz’s reign as PROGRESS Champion continues in earnest with a banger against El Ligero…
Chapter 5: For Those About to Fight, We Salute You – the LDRS reunite here to take on the London Riot as PROGRESS stalwarts continue to cement their spots in the company…
Chapter 6: We ♥ Violence – Mexican Eagle vs. Mike Mason wouldn’t usually make this list, but when the folks behind PROGRESS rib about it, you know it’s special… El Ligero vs. Ricochet headlines as the PROGRESS championship staff continues to gain notoriety.
Chapter 7: Every Saint Has A Past, Every Sinner Has A Future – Ligero’s reign continues with a cracker against Noam Dar to start us off here… Jimmy Havoc vs. ZSJ with Nigel McGuinness as a special guest referee was a fun technical match that looks absurd in isolation in 2020… Will Ospreay vs. Mark Andrews stands out too for reasons you shouldn’t need to guess at!
Chapter 8: The Big Boy’s Guide to Strong Style – a three-way between Doug Williams, Darrell Allen and Eddie Dennis covers a lot of the spectrum, but was a tasty little match… El Ligero vs. Rampage Brown was another title change, the third in just eight shows, which may worry those who forget that PROGRESS wasn’t monthly at this stage!
Chapter 9: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kick Me, Kill Me – Tommy End vs. Dave Mastiff will shock a few… Doug Williams vs. Rampage perhaps will surprise a few newer fans, while Mark Haskins vs. Ricochet vs. ZSJ absolutely won’t…
Chapter 10: Glory Follows Virtue As If it Were Its Shadow – Paul Robinson vs. Mark Andrews in the Natural PROGRESSion Series final was notable in itself – let alone for the follow-up matches…
Chapter 11: To Fight War, You Must Become War – It’s back to the Natural PROGRESSion Series, with Flash Morgan Webster vs. Josh Bodom being a collector’s piece… FSU vs. Swords of Essex in the tag title tournament is predictably great.
Chapter 12: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Room – PROGRESS’ move to the Electric Ballroom continues the reign of Jimmy Havoc as “PROGRESS management” threw a four-way title defence against Rampage Brown, El Ligero and Marty Scurll to headline in their new home…
Chapter 13: Unbelievable, Jeff – the show that opened a lot of eyes to PROGRESS back in the day, ZSJ vs. Prince Devitt steals the show ahead of a ladder match as Mark Andrews tried to regain the PROGRESS title from Jimmy Havoc…
PROGRESS World Cup – Tommy End vs. Rampage Brown on a non-chapter show is probably a match that a lot of people would have skipped over back in the day… while we got more Devitt as the future Finn Balor had a crack at Jimmy Havoc’s PROGRESS title.
Chapter 14: Thunderbastard – the eponymous match features a wacky mix of names… FSU and the London Riots continue the run of usually-good tag title matches in the promotion… while Rampage Brown and Samoa Joe knock it out of the park.
Chapter 15: Just Because You’re Paranoid, Doesn’t Mean They Aren’t Out To Get You – the wordy titles continue as Pete Dunne and Flash Morgan Webster stole the show in a Natural PROGRESSion Series match that’d be repeated plenty of times down the line… while Jimmy Havoc’s REGRESSion stable continued their war on PROGRESS against FSU, Noam Dar and Will Ospreay in a wild careers vs. titles main event.
Chapter 16: Very Very Very Breaky Breaky Breaky Bishi Bishii – the Swords of Essex clash as Will Ospreay and Paul Robinson were on opposite sides of the ring in a singles match… Noam Dar vs. Marty Scurll keeps the pace going too as PROGRESS wrapped up 2014 with some solid action.
Chapter 17: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger – Tommy End and Dave Mastiff do it again… Flash Morgan Webster and Zack Gibson wrapped up the latest Natural PROGRESSion Series in style… while Will Ospreay and Jimmy Havoc clash for the PROGRESS title in a showstealer.
Chapter 18: The Show We Can’t Call PROGRESSleMania For Legal Reasons – Bubblegum vs. Flash Morgan Webster looked to be the match of the night… until a six-way main event that saw Jimmy Havoc defending his title in an elimination match as Will Ospreay, Dave Mastiff, Marty Scurll, Noam Dar and Paul Robinson became the latest roadblocks from management.
Chapter 19: Super Strong Style 16 – Night One – the inaugural SSS16 has some good stuff in the original two-day format. Ligero vs. Ospreay from night one, along with Tommy End vs. Roderick Strong, and ZSJ vs. Zack Gibson lead the way, while Regression vs. the returning London Riots provided another tent-pole in the Jimmy Havoc story.
Chapter 19: Super Strong Style 16 – Night Two – We keep going with the first step in the ZSJ/Tommaso Ciampa feud, while Jinny vs. Pollyanna proved to be a memorable first women’s match on a chapter show… of course, the business end of SSS16 was suitably epic, with both semis (Roderick Strong vs. Will Ospreay and Scurll vs. Sabre) along with the Ospreay/Sabre final being home runs.
Chapter 20: Thunderbastard – Beyond Thunderbastard – PROGRESS’ great run with tag title matches continued here as the Sumerian Death Squad (Michael Dante & Tommy End) went to war against the Hunter Brothers… the second Thunderbastard match lived up to expectations, while Will Ospreay toppled Jimmy Havoc in the match that features THAT balcony dive…
Chapter 21: You Know We Don’t Like To Use The Sit Down Gun – Jimmy Havoc’s designs on a fast return to the PROGRESS title came to a screeching halt as he faced Paul Robinson in a top contenders’ bloodbath… the Sumerian Death Squad are at it again, this time against future Undisputed Era buddies Roderick Strong and Adam Cole… Mark Haskins tries to unseat Will Ospreay in his first defence… while this show was also notable for what would be Kris Travis’ final match as he took on Marty Scurll in an outing that’s extremely emotional in hindsight.
Chapter 23: What A Time To Be Alive! – Big Daddy Walter and Rampage Brown wreck the ring… Flash Morgan Webster and Zack Gibson provide the finals to the second Natural PROGRESSion Series… while Mark Andrews tops off the show as he tries to overcome Will Ospreay.
Chapter 24: Hit The North – a debut in Manchester sees some new faces on the card, but Ciampa vs. ZSJ continued their series with a technical war, while Natural PROGRESSion Series finalists Webster and Gibson took on Will Ospreay as PROGRESS’ 2015 came to an end…
Away from the chapters, take a look at some of the “shoulder shows” – if you’re looking for four-star classics, you’ll not get them on the ENDVR and PTNTL cards (except for ZSJ vs. Sebastian from ENDVR 8), but there’ll be a lot of names there who you’ll likely not have seen before, and a lot of characters in their formative years as well. The Burden of Justice vs. Bhangra Knights from ENDVR 2, Pastor William Eaver vs. Eddie Dennis vs. Josh Bodom from ENDVR 4, Eaver vs. Jimmy Havoc from ENDVR 7, Isaac Zercher vs. Ali Armstrong from ENDVR 8, Dahlia Black vs. Pollyanna from ENDVR 16, and the TK Cooper vs. Hanson/Travis Banks vs. Rowe singles matches from ENDVR 17 (the final ENDVR show to be released under that name) all are worth your time.
We’ve already covered the “glory years” and the “recent past” of PROGRESS in this series, so check it out if you want to devote yourself to the PROGRESS back catalogue…