#BACKFILL returns to continue our chronological look at PROGRESS, and we’re going to a show that would be historical for more than one reason, with Chapter 9… and someone’s a big fan of U2, it seems: “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kick Me, Kill Me”.
#TLDR: A marker was laid down at PROGRESS’ Chapter 9 event, with the violent beginning of the first major storyline in company history. A storyline that would put PROGRESS on the map: Jimmy Havoc. Aside from that, there was also an unbelievably-great three-way between Mark Haskins, Zack Sabre Jr. and Ricochet, and the debut of a future star of PROGRESS: a Dutchman whose name probably isn’t extended to “Thomas End”.
The Full Review: The usual pre-show video featured Stixx forcing Mark Haskins to tap at the last chapter, and this is building to Stixx vs. Nathan Cruz here today. There’s interviews cut in a debate-style format from Cruz and Stixx.
As you’d expect, Cruz buries Stixx like there’s no tomorrow, and breaks kayfabe by using Stixx’s real name, then launches into a tirade about how “indy wrestlers will kill the business”. Hey, every good heel has to make it sound like he believes his cause, and Cruz almost had me believing that indy wrestling would take money away from “professionals”. This was a really good scene-setter.
Dave Mastiff vs. Tommy End
Holy crap, none of these guys look like they do today. In the pre-match graphic, End looked like a fresh-faced kid, whilst Mastiff’s beard is a good two years away from the glory it is today. End’s filling in for the injured Jimmy Havoc, and he starts by being taken into the corner by Mastiff, before working an arm wringer which gets reversed back and forth.
End grabs a headlock, but a shoulder tackle attempt just sees the Dutchman get rocked back into the ropes. Mastiff ducks a kick, then shoves End to the mat with another shoulder tackle, before shoving End into the corner. More kicks from End rock Mastiff, before a short kneedrop gets End a near-fall.
A chop from End sent Mastiff into the turnbuckles, and he followed in with some shoulder charges and a back elbow before going to the top rope and missing a double stomp. Mastiff flattened End with a crossbody off the ropes, getting him a “big fat bastard” chants, before a knee-lift gets another two-count.
A rear chinlock from Mastiff keeps End on the mat, before he lifts him up for a stalling vertical suplex… with the fans counting up to 30 before End’s dumped onto the mat. Despite that, End grabs the ropes at two to avoid being pinned, but he gets taken into the corner for some strikes, then back to the mat for some bodyscissors.
End tries to fire back with a snap to the chest, then some forearm strikes and kicks, only for a back elbow to take the Dutchman down once again. Another fightback sees End hit a forearm smash and a moonsault press for a near-fall, but Mastiff blocks a roundhouse kick, before taking a second strike to the head. He follows up with a double knee press off the top, then another roundhouse kick for a near-fall.
A double stomp off the top rope connects, but Mastiff immediately rolls to the outside for cover, and End follows him and throws Mastiff back into the ring, but walks straight into a lariat. Mastiff looks to end things with a deadlift German suplex, bridging up for a two-count, before sending End into the bottom turnbuckle with another German suplex.
Mastiff goes for a cannonball dive into the corner, but is met with a big boot from End, and then another diving double stomp off the top, and the debutant wins! An impressive showing from Tommy End, and one of PROGRESS’ better openers. ***½
Of course, End got a “please come back” chants, and three years later, he’d be on his way out to WWE…
Natural PROGRESSion Series – Semi Final: Eddie Dennis vs. Paul Robinson
The winner of this faces Mark Andrews in the final at the next chapter’d show, and from the bell, Dennis tries to intimidate Robinson. There’s a foot in height between these men, so I guess this is a little David and Goliathy?
Dennis easily takes Robinson into the corner, then hurls him across the ring. A second attempt of that saw Robinson counter it into an armdrag, but Dennis grabbed a wristlock, and crouched down to mock “Mr Wrestling”’s height. The see-saw kip ups helped Robinson get out of the wristlock, but Dennis stood himself up and dropped the kickboxer with a forearm smash.
Robinson grabs a hammerlock and rolls through to take Dennis to the ground, but that too gets reversed before someone turns on the blue and yellow lights over the ring for some reason. Robinson wraps himself in a ball, and is proceeded to be shoved around the ring, before Dennis lifts him up and dumps him in a powerbomb.
A satellite headscissor takedown gets Robinson a slight advantage, but Dennis quickly swaps around and lays into Robinson with some chops, then a huge flapjack in the middle of the ring. Dennis goes for a swinging side slam, but it gets countered into an attempted headscissors-come-armdrag, but Robinson loses grip and ends up just freeing himself.
Robinson gets a two-count from a roll-up before he launches himself into Dennis with some forearms, and then a springboard crossbody finally gets turned into the swinging backbreaker, also for a near-fall. Dennis whipped Robinson into a corner and collided with a back elbow, but Robinson avoided a second and flew in with a clothesline, then a slingshot DDT into the ring for a near-fall.
Robinson climbs up top, but his leap is caught by Dennis who swiftly turns it into a jackhammer for a near-fall, before Robsinon escapes a God’s last gift and hits a springboard Slingshot. A series of repeated elbow drops follows, as does a shooting star press that started with Robinson standing on Dennis’ back – a move that looked more flashy than impactful.
Dennis catches Robinson on the top rope and grabs him into a Border Toss, but Robinson counters a suplex and hits a short DDT, before again getting caught on the top rope with a kick. Robinson slips out and sweeps Dennis down to the mat, before hitting a shooting star press for the win! That’s an out of nowhere finish, but given that Robinson’s meeting Mark Andrews in the final, it made psychological sense. Decent match, but I got the impression it never really got out of first gear. **½
Mark Haskins vs. Ricochet vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Something tells me that PROGRESS would kill to be able to hold this match in 2016… Haskins does his own ring announcements again, and he gets booed out of the Garage. Standard!
Once we finally get going, we started with a 3-way test of strength that quickly degenerated into Haskins being kicked out of the ring, allowing Sabre and Ricochet to get going. Sabre avoids a clothesline, and Ricochet does two backflips in a row… just because, then connects with a dropkick to Sabre. Haskins trips Ricochet as he went for a dive, and on the outside Haskins rammed Ricochet’s head into the apron, before catching Sabre with a knee as he went for another dive attempt.
Back inside Haskins gets a two-count after a chop, before Ricochet slides in… and gets tossed straight back out. Haskins lands a suplex then goes for a chinlock, but Sabre works free and uppercuts out of it, and then gets taken down with an uppercut from Haskins. Ricochet returns and gets sent to the outside straight away with a jawbreaker, before Haskins goes to a seated abdominal stretch.
After taking care of Ricochet again, Haskins makes a beeline for Sabre’s leg, and tries for a leg grapevine… then locks in Ricochet in an abdominal stretch as Ricochet’s non-action here was reaching Toru Yano-like levels of stupidity. Ricochet lands a standing shooting star press to Sabre for a near-fall after kicking Haskins out of the submission, and now it was time for Ricochet and Haskins, with the latter caught in a sort-of-suspended monkey flip submission hold.
Ricochet chopped Haskins in the corner, but was met with a hotshot and a German suplex for a near-fall as Sabre returned to kick Haskins out of the ring, but Haskins quickly returned to choke Ricochet and land a running knee to the head in the corner. Haskins locks in Ricochet in a rear naked choke, then chokes him some more in the ropes and kicks away Sabre’s latest attempt to return to the ring.
Haskins drops a knee for a near-fall, before locking in another set of bodyscissors to Ricochet, whose “future of flight” nickname was looking distinctly grounded here. Sabre returned to turn the move into a single-leg on Ricochet, forcing a rope break, but he was promptly dumped to the outside with a back drop. Back to Haskins/Ricochet, and Haskins lays in with a series of uppercuts, before Ricochet’s latest comeback ended with a standing moonsault into Haskins’ knees.
Sabre returned but got elbowed out of a waistlock as Haskins ended up getting caught in a neckbreaker from Ricochet that caused Haskins to DDT Sabre at the same time. All three men stood up together, and this led to a three-way striking battle, with Haskins going for forarms whilst Sabre and Ricochet opted for uppercuts. Haskins’ plea to the pair of “stop hitting me” worked, in that they quit with the uppercuts and swept his legs instead.
Sabre and Ricochet traded shots now, with Ricochet landing a running Ace crusher before Haskins ran in, and took a springboard knee press for a near-fall. Ricochet took a headbutt to the midsection and an uppercut, before Sabre kicked a hand out as Ricochet went for a handspring, which led to Sabre briefly getting in the armbar, at least until Haskins broke it up.
Haskins countered by Matrix’ing his way out of a PK, before taking out Ricochet and Sabre with a double DDT, and then rolling up Sabre into an armbar. The armbar got reversed back and forth, and then Sabre rolled up Haskins for a near-fall. A hurricanrana got Ricochet a near-fall on Sabre, but then turned into a backslide for a near-fall even though Haskins had his feet on the ropes.
A parade of strikes ends with Ricochet dropping Sabre with a roundhouse kick, and this crowd is really starting to grate on me, as they continue to count one ahead AND in a high pitched voice to keep needling the referee. You know, the gimmick from the last chapter show when the referee’s voice slipped up an octave or two? Ricochet powers out of an armbar and lifts himself free, before a Northern Lights suplex is rolled through into a brainbuster for a near-fall. From there, Ricochet set up Sabre and went to the top rope (and out of camera shot), but Haskins ran in and crotched him before hitting a Burning Hammer-like move that put Ricochet onto Sabre.
Haskins followed up with a lungblower to Ricochet that also doubled as a back senton on Sabre. Haskins then signalled for the Made in Japan (pumphandle driver), but as the referee made the count, Sabre ran in with a penalty kick and made the cover to end the match. This was insane – great, innovative action all around, and one of the best matches in PROGRESS at this point in their history. ****¼
Back from break, we’re shown Jim Smallman asking the crowd how long it’ll be before they stop making fun of the referee for his vocal slip. Yeah, not going to happen… they do a raffle, and Jimmy Havoc comes out to draw the winning numbers. If you’re expecting an angle, you’ll be let down – this is just a segment to show us that Havoc really was there, as opposed to being “injured” and not in the building.
Nathan Cruz vs. Stixx
The start of the second half is the continuation of the Stixx vs. Screw Indy Wrestling feud that’s been bubbling. Stixx bumrushes the ring and goes straight for Cruz, who runs away. Cruz grabs the microphone and tells “Paul” to calm down. Oh, and also to “aim high or f*** off”. That’s good advice for life, really.
Cruz’s promo continues by saying that he’s angry at how Mark Andrews asked him for feedback, only to continue to make the same mistakes he told him about. For a heel, the crowd didn’t react to Cruz, but instead they listened to him intently… that’s the sign of a crowd who agrees with a heel’s beliefs, but not his actions, right?
Cruz kicks Stixx low, and the match gets going as Stixx lays in the corner selling. Some stomps in the corner get followed with Cruz choking Stixx in the ropes, before landing a few chops. A back elbow from Stixx rocks Cruz, but he returns with a dropkick and mocks Stixx as he laid on the mat.
Stixx elbows out of a back suplex, then dropped Cruz with a powerslam, before running at Cruz with a Cactus Jack-style clothesline that took both men to the outside. They brawled outside for a bit, until Stixx caught a leaping Cruz and drilled him into the ringpost. An attempted running clothesline from Stixx was cut-off with a leaping knee from Cruz, who lays into him with more clubbing strikes before they head up towards the bar, and we get a good dose of indy-riffic “we can barely see you” lighting.
Cruz pounds on Stixx by the bar, then by the sound booth, all whilst some fans shout “what’s he doing now?” PROGRESS have obviously improved production since this, but the repeated brawls through the crowd that they couldn’t film or light properly are aggravating to watch.
They finally return to the ringside area, with Stixx being sent into the front row by the stage steps. Cruz has gotten blood on his knuckles as Stixx emerges with a bloodied forehead, and then takes a knee to the head as he returned to the ring. Stixx stand up and takes a leaping forearm in the corner, then a slingshot back suplex for a near-fall.
Cruz continued to pound on Stixx in the ring, before taking him into the corner for a chop… and finally gets cut off with a big boot in the corner from Stixx. The Show Stolen gets Cruz a near-fall, before a big boot from Cruz is telegraphed so badly that Stixx catches the leg and sweeps it back, then spears the hell out of Cruz.
Cruz goes back to peppering Stixx with some punches, but he’s caught in a spinebuster that starts a Stixx comeback, and an avalanche cross body in the corner sends Cruz to the mat. Stixx follows with a series of knees to the head, then snapmares him down for a diving clotheslike a la Ishii. Stixx caught Cruz trying to climb out of the ring, and punched him so hard that Cruz flew off the apron and into the wall near the ring.
They went outside the ring again, but thankfully Stixx just tossed Cruz straight back in, before nailing Cruz with a Bossman slam. Cruz tried to fight back, but took a headbutt for his troubles before Stixx locked in the Tequila Sunrise for a submission. Well, PROGRESS normally get the second half of their shows off to a flier, but on tape this was absolutely horrid. Perhaps it was because the crowd atmosphere didn’t translate well to tape, or the fact that almost half of this was lost to the curse of fighting-in-the-crowd. As hot as the feud was portrayed in the pre-show videos, that barely came across in the match, I’m afraid. *½
Project Ego (Martin Kirby & Kris Travis) & T-Bone vs. Bhangra Knights (Darrell Allen, RJ Singh) and ?
Originally the Knights were to be partnered by Danny Garnell, but he pulled out of the show with an injury. So, who’d they get as a replacement? Grado? You have to be kidding me… Well, this worked in 2013, and it probably still would today, but but in 2016, Grado has gone down in history as one in a long list of “flavours of the month”, thanks in part to him signing for TNA, who would then utterly fail to capitalise on his popularity (can you tell I’ve never been a fan of his?)
The action starts with Allen and Kirby, and Kirby grabs an armbar, which is reversed with ease. Jimmy Barnett plugs the last ENDVR show, and I’m worried that he was still so bored from the last match he was going to go back into “Loco” Mike Mason vs. Mexican Eagle mode and just rattle off lists instead of commentating.
Allen flips out of a wristlock and dropkicks Kirby to the mat, then swings around into a roll-up or a near-fall. A fan screams out a reference to the old Crystal Maze TV show, and I spat out my coffee… okay, they’ve won me back over. Kirby and Allen work a knuckle-lock, but Kirby wins out and stamps on the hand as Allen goes to the outside to shake off the knock.
Kris Travis tags in, as does RJ Singh, and although Travis misses a stomp on the hand, he slaps Singh to the outside. Allen comes back in, as does Kirby, and Allen hits an inverted atomic drop, before a drop toe hold sends Travis into Kirby’s groin. A dropkick saw T-Bone drop at the rear end of Travis, and we have our sexually suggestive spot of the evening!
Project Ego get rolled backwards for a double wishbone leg-splitter, and an annoyed Travis demands to get someone to kiss his penis better. That’s going to appear weird out of context, and I’ll be honest, it’s weird in context too. Singh lands a swinging neckbreaker before a dropkick gets Allen a two-count on Kirby, and the Bhangra Knights dance their way to a double elbow drop.
T-Bone runs in and tosses Project Ego out of the ring as he demands they sort themselves out, and in comes Grado. Sadly, I know T-Bone doesn’t kill him, but Grado sticks his hands out and windmills himself around the ring, dizzying himself. As Grado grabs onto the referee to catch his breath, T-Bone says in no uncertain terms that he’s fed up of “his comedy bollocks as well” (I’m guessing the act, not his genitals).
Grado stands on T-Bone’s foot, hits a thumb to the eye, then a rear chinlock. T-Bone gets tripped, then takes a prat-fall for a near-fall. A series of shoulder tackles rocks Grado, and he was the guy delivering them, before the third finally knocks T-Bone to the mat. More comedy, and Grado tries to bodyslam T-Bone (and fails, naturally), before a forearm knocks down Grado.
The lighting goes all weird, which is apparently the result of Kris Travis and Martin Kirby replacing the usual A/V technician in the sound booth, and the disco lighting seriously distracts Grado. As the lights get fixed, we have a dark ring, and we genuinely can’t see anything for a while.
Kris Travis tags in and lays waste to Grado for a while, but Grado connects with a clothesline and tags in RJ Singh. Martin Kirby comes in but takes a double arm-wringer as we get another sexually suggestive pose as Kirby goes all missionary on Travis, before they’re turned into a stereo Ethnic Submission. The referee started counting, since Darrell Allen was illegally in the ring, and as they didn’t release the hold, the referee disqualified the Bhangra Knights… but hold on!
From Grado’s bumbag/fanny pack, the Bhangra Knights pull out “the race card” and they get the match restarted. They go back to the Ethnic Submission, and they actually let go this time. T-Bone runs in to flatten both of the Bhangra Knights, then drill Allen with a thirty-second long suspended suplex.
A vicious back elbow flattens Allen, as did a kick to the back and a kneedrop, but Allen kicked out at two as the restarted match had a more serious vibe to it. Kris Travis scored a one-count from a suplex, before Allen took some big boots in the corner. Kirby continued to work over Allen, and Project Ego tried for a double-team chokeslam, only for Allen to elbow free and dropkick both men to the mat.
Grado gets the tag in, and he does the Dusty Rhodes jabs to all three opponents, then a bunch of Bionic Elbows. Travis accidentally enziguiris T-Bone, before Grado blocks a Pedigree with a Rock Bottom. T-Bone dropped Grado with a forearm, but T-Bone turned around into a pair of superkicks from the Bhangra Knights.
Grado took a Famouser from Kirby, before Allen hit a roundhouse kick on Travis, then the Bhangra Buster on Kirby (Blockbuster-like flip neckbreaker from a Fireman’s carry), but T-Bone broke the cover and tossed Singh to the outside. Allen took the same journey, before T-Bone turned around to a bare bellied Grado… who succeeded with a bodyslam! However, T-Bone wasn’t legal, and the legal man – Kris Travis – ran in and schoolboy’d Grado for the win.
Well, Grado certainly was a product of his time. He wasn’t an awful wrestler, but the comedy act certainly wasn’t one that could survive for long without any kind of background storyline. He could do basic stuff, but at least everyone knew his limitations. This match was easily split into two – the comedy half, and the serious half, but neither was terrible, but it did take a while for it to get going. ***
Angle Alert!
Project Ego and T-Bone exited stage left, leaving the Bhangra Knights and Grado in the ring to commiserate themselves. Jim Smallman enters the ring to do the usual “let’s give a big hand to these guys…” spot, but gets interrupted by the masked London Riots, who lay into everyone with the cricket bat. Grado takes an elbow drop to the balls, and the London Riots become my favourite tag team.
Darrell Allen tries to fight back, but gets obliterated with a pop-up spear, and the London Riots corner Jim Smallman. Jimmy Havoc enters the ring with a chair for the save… and to a massive cheer. Smallman grabs the microphone and tells the Riots that they’re not welcome… and with that said, Havoc smashes the chair over the back of Smallman repeatedly. The crowd here is shocked… even more so when Glen Joseph gets a beating as he tries to make a save.
Havoc smashes Smallman with a cricket bat, and the crowd chant “what the ****” in response to this all. Cue the first “**** you Havoc” chants, and he continues to put the boots to Smallman, before grabbing the microphone and tells Smallman that he’s not a raffle-drawing mascot. I’ll save the gory, personal details as Havoc made references to Jim Smallman’s ill mother.
Havoc’s grievances were the kind of comments that on paper made sense, like how the reaction to “I’m hurt, I can’t wrestle” being “who can I replace you with?”… and how he was put in a death-match on the very next show after Nigel McGuinness had put him over as a technical wrestler. Some fans started throwing empty beer cups into the ring as Havoc again smashed Smallman with the cricket bat. I was surprised no fans tried to hit the ring, but then again, once Havoc threatened to slit their throats, that put paid to any risk of invasion.
Havoc bemoaned how PROGRESS took his chance to be a technical wrestler and turned him into yet another deathmatch wrestler. Havoc said that the only people he respected were Rob Lynch and James Davis, and that he was going to take their lead and do what he wanted to do. Which was slap Smallman hard and walk away.
Jim Smallman’s then-future wife rushed the ring, as did Glen Joseph and a few others, as he was slowly taken away to the applause of the fans. Then they had to almost spoil it all and show Grado and the Bhangra Knights walk away after they too had gotten to their feet.
That was a well done storyline – and this was just the start of it! They really needed to do something with Havoc after his long losing streak through straight wrestling and hardcore matches… and where they went with this was truly epic.
PROGRESS Title: Doug Williams vs. Rampage Brown (c)
With no Jim Smallman, Glen Joseph stepped into the breach as ring announcer as the crowd stopped selling the shock of the last angle, so they could chant “Glen! Glen! Glen!”. Or “Nazi Staff”. And there’s the downside of modern day wrestling fans – I’m convinced you could actually have someone killed in the ring, and there’d be fans who’d stop caring so they could chant the right name moments later…
Anyway, I digress. Rampage, of course, won the title last time out against El Ligero, and Doug Williams gets a shot at the title for winning a three-way on the same show… or for being Doug Williams. Either’s good. Nathan Cruz got a “you tapped out” chant as he introduced Rampage Brown… and this whole “Screw Indy Wrestling” thing really paled into the background after what just happened.
They place a graphic on-screen to advise us that “there is no commentary on this match for obvious reasons” – cue the “Jimmy Barnett is Jim Smallman” conspiracy theories! Rampage and Williams trade forearms to start us off, before Rampage pokes the eye and then gets taken down with a shoulder tackle.
Williams works an arm wringer, then turns it into a hammerlock that Rampage reverses out of… then he gets whipped down to the mat. A hiptoss from Williams leads to an armbar, and he holds onto it despite Rampage’s attempts to roll free.
Doug manipulates the wrist, and goes back to the wristlock, before regaining the hammerlock. Throughout this match, in lieu of commentary, the insufferable crowd was even worse, particularly their high-pitched mocking of the referee. Rampage finally grabbed the rope to force a break, and once he’s back on his feet, a knuckle lock from Williams leads back to a hammerlock, which Williams bridges in, before a schoolboy attempt is sat-down on by Rampage, and so we enter a sequence of reversing near-falls. All together now… Wrestling!
Rampage grabs a waistlock, but Williams switches it into another hammerlock, but gets taken into the corner and Rampage counters with some forearm strikes and sends Williams to the outside. They brawl around the ring, with some headbutts from Rampage being about the worst of it, and they go back into the ring… where Williams grabs another hammerlock. Again, Rampage frees himself, and lands a clothesline for a one-count, before Williams countered with an avalanche clothesline.
Nathan Cruz went up top to distract Williams from a top rope kneedrop, giving Rampage the chance to throw him to the mat for a near-fall. Rampage choked away at Williams, then dropped a knee to the upper back, which sent the veteran into the ropes, and in prime position for a slingshot choke.
Rampage deadlift suplexes Williams from the apron and back into the ring for a two-count, before Williams backdropped him out of the ring to avoid a piledriver. Williams went flying, but his tope took out Cruz, who sacrificed himself to save Rampage, as Rampage followed up with a clothesline on the outside.
Rampage rolled in to take the countout, but at the count of seven he went back outside to continue the beatdown, then roll in Williams for a near-fall as the crowd started to get behind him. Some kicks send Williams back to the mat, but he pops up and fires back with forearms, before Rampage cuts him off with a back elbow and another clothesline.
Williams tried for the Chaos Theory, but mule kicked Williams before hitting a Samoan drop for a two-count. In response, Williams caught Rampage’s arm in a bridging armbar – almost like Austin Aries’ Last Chancery – but Rampage made the ropes to force another break. A running leaping knee into the corner rocked Rampage, who then got taken down with a suplex, and Williams signalled for the Chaos Theory.
Rampage elbowed free, but lost Williams in a Fireman’s carry and ended up taking the Chaos Theory (backwards roll into a German suplex) anyway. Nathan Cruz popped up on the apron and got punched down, but that distraction set up Williams to turn around into a brainbuster for a near-fall.
After the kick-out, Rampage called for a piledriver, but again Doug backdropped free, and followed up with a Fisherman’s suplex before going up for the Bomb Scare kneedrop. Williams connected, but Rampage kicked out, before shoving Williams neck-first into the ropes. From there, it was a simple case of a piledriver for Rampage, as he made the cover to retain the title. A nice main event, but the angle just before made this feel less important than, you-know, the figure head of the company being slaughtered? ***¾
PROGRESS’ fanbase have gotten a reputation for themselves, and it’s shows like this that helped them earn it. Throughout the show, the insufferable “count-ahead-of-the-referee” gimmick was made worse by them doing it in a high pitch… all because referee Chris Roberts’ voice broke at the last show and for ONE CALL ONLY went up an octave. Add in their reaction to the Jim Smallman/Jimmy Havoc angle being “to act serious… until we can make our next cool chant” and you can understand some fan’s love/hate relationship with this company’s fanbase. I get how fun it is to feel like you’re part of a crowd (a family, if you would), but this era of PROGRESS had a crowd that was so unaware of themselves, it wasn’t even funny.
That rant aside… this show was pretty good, fans aside. The three-way between Mark Haskins, Zack Sabre Jr. and Ricochet on any other show would have been the most remembered thing, but given the storylines, it was a virtual afterthought here. The debuting Tommy End left a hell of a mark, and the main event, whilst unspectacular, was a good solid wrestling match