We take a look back at PROGRESS’ second ENDVR show, held at a curious time in the company’s history, coming weeks after the Jimmy Havoc heel turn.
#TLDR: PROGRESS’ second ENDVR show featured more of the same – some ProJo students looking to establish themselves, a squash, and the answer to a trivia question: “what was PROGRESS’ first women’s match?”
The Full Review: Just a week before PROGRESS’ 10th chapter show, where the follow-up to the Jimmy Havoc turn would continue, we had the second ENDVR show, featuring more of PROGRESS’ up-and-coming trainees.
We open with a promo with Joey Lakeside, in front of an ice cream van. Lakeside’s got high hopes, as he proclaims himself to be a future WWE Intercontinental champion. Lakeside would have been mad that Eddie Dennis dropped him on his head at Chapter 7… but he couldn’t remember it until he saw it on DVD.
Joey Lakeside vs. Eddie Dennis
Glen Joseph is your ring announcer for this show, and Jimmy Barnett is back on commentary too. Dennis grabs a wristlock, and takes Lakeside down to the mat, and keeps a hold of the arm before moving it into a wristlock.
Dennis grabs the hammerlock and moves it to a wristlock, which Lakeside armdrags himsef free from, before a wheelbarrow into a back suplex takes down Lakeside. Lakeside takes a forearm, then blocks a whip into the opposite corner as he tries for a tornado DDT out of the corner, before catching a big boot and locking Dennis in a single leg crab.
A plancha from Lakeside’s caught, and Dennis rams him into a pillar next to the ring, before a swinging side slam dumps Lakeside onto the apron. Dennis scores a near-fall from a kneedrop, before Lakeside fights up… and gets clubbed to the back of the neck. Lakeside hits almost half a Code Red for a near-fall, then dives into a seated Dennis with a cross-body, before a springboard moonsault saw him kicked through the ropes by Dennis.
Dennis hit a dropkick to the back of Lakeside for a near-fall, before a knee lift and some more forearms kept Lakeside at bay. Following a cravat, Dennis took down Lakeside for a stump puller, but Lakeside refused to quit, and managed to somehow slip free and shove Dennis into the turnbuckles.
A big boot keeps Dennis at bay, with some clotheslines setting him up for a kick to the midsection, then a tornado DDT that planted Dennis on his head. Lakeside managed to get hi hands caught under Dennis’ boot, and got a knee to the head for his troubles, before Dennis dropped him with the Next Stop Driver for just a two-count.
A series of avalanches ends with Dennis rolling Lakeside into the bottom turnbuckle for the two-count. Lakeside caught Dennis briefly in a single-leg crab, but kept hold of the leg. Dennis worked free and went for another Next Stop Driver, but Lakeside reversed it into a roll-up, which up with both men getting pinned… resulting in a draw! Good basic opener, and the crowd weren’t too displeased with the draw. **¾
Glen Joseph took the mic and said that they couldn’t restart the match, but offered to book a rematch for later…
We go to the ProJo now, and it’s Mark Hendry, who’s complaining that his match at ENDVR:1 against Thomas Cartelle got changed. He’s now got a broken wrist from Paul Ryker, or namely, breaking a fall to the outside from a press slam. Hendry’s at the ProJo, even though he’s unable to train, and he’s got his eyes set on Cartelle at ENDVR:2. It’ll not have won any promo of the year awards, but it did the job.
We then switch to a video of Mark Hendry and Chuck Mambo… and my God Mambo looks different here. Apparently Hendry can’t wrestle a singles match because of the injury so they’ve booked him in a tag… but get interrupted by Thomas Cartelle kicking seven shades of you-know-what out of them.
Thomas Cartelle & Paul Ryker vs. Mark Hendry & Chuck Mambo
Hendry and Cartelle start off, but Cartelle rolls away from Hendry and punches him in the jaw before tagging out to Ryker. Hendry scores a couple of armdrags, but gets caught in a wheelbarrow by Ryker, and turns it into another armdrag. A second wheelbarrow got caught by Ryker, who turned it into a wheelbarrow suplex and started to stomp away on Hendry.
Cartelle tags back in and jabs Hendry some more, before an enziguiri is blocked and countered with a clothesline. Hendry drops Cartelle with a slam, but Ryker’s tagged in again as Chuck Mambo makes the tag for his team. After taking a brief powder to the outside, Ryker returned to catch Mambo in a headlock, before a spot of rope running saw Cartelle get a blind tag and shove down Mambo.
Cartelle plays Mortal Kombat with Mambo, but gets slingshotted into the turnbuckles, before a neckbreaker drops him. A dropkick from Mambo takes Cartelle into the corner, as Mambo goes for the Mambo Number 5 – but Cartelle blocks the fifth kick and goes for some bodyscissors. Mambo worked free and went for the surfboard, then turned it into the Romero special before kicking Cartelle free into a faceplant.
Mambo dropkicks Cartelle into a neutral corner, then sends him flying across the ring with a monkey flip that almost had Cartelle faceplant into a turnbuckle… but then Ryker walked in and just booted Mambo in the head. Ryker gets tagged in and continues to work on Mambo, dropping him with a one handed slam.
Cartelle tags back in and gets a one-count from a suplex, before Mambo gets caught on the middle rope with a choke from Cartelle. Ryker returns with a kick to the ribs of Mambo, before he launched Mambo across the ring with a gutwrench suplex. Another one-handed takes down Mambo, with a Ryker elbow drop getting a two-count, before Mambo fights free from a headlock and ducks a clothesline… only for Ryker to take him down again with a clothesline.
In comes Cartelli, but he quickly takes a tiltawhirl backbreaker from Mambo, who makes the tag to Mark Hendry. Unfortunately, Ryker also tagged back in, but Hendry took him down with some forearm shots, before Mambo came back in with a flying double axehandle. The faces teamed up with a double dropkick to take Ryker down, before a double clothesline sends him to the floor. In came Cartelli with a clothesline to Hendry, who finally got some shots in, before clotheslining Cartelli to the floor and connecting with a tope. Mambo also went flying, dropping Ryker with a double axehandle on the floor, and for some reason Hendry and Cartelli randomly fought to the back.
We were left with Mambo and Ryker in the ring, with a Slingblade from Mambo taking down Ryker once more. Mambo went up top, but missed an elbow drop, and that left Ryker to pick up the pieces with a running powerslam for the win. Basic, but it did it’s job – and continued the storyline between Hendry and Cartelli. **½
Post-match, Tyson James came into the ring with the microphone. James, of course, was squashed by Krysis in a one-and-done squash match. Tyson issues a challenge to Paul Ryker or Chuck Mambo, but says that he wasn’t booked, and he really wants a match. Paul Ryker’s almost rolling around laughing… and we have our match.
Tyson James vs. Paul Ryker
Tyson runs into Ryker and stomps away at him. To no effect. One Khali-like head chop drops James, who then gets launched across the ring “like a fleshly javelin”. Double entendres ahoy from the commentary crew! Ryker lands a running powerslam, but doesn’t make the cover, instead opting to leap to the top rope and connect with an impressive frog splash, before a one-fingered pin gets the win. (Not Rated)
We’re back at the ProJo for a night-time promo from a woman called Easy Tiger. She’s part of a three-way match tonight in what was the first ever women’s match in PROGRESS history. How’s that for a trivia note? Apparently this is Tiger’s first match… so she’s sort of an underdog against her opponents.
Rhia O’Reilly vs. Leah Von Dutch vs. Easy Tiger
Leah and Rhia throw Easy out of the ring to start us with, before Leah takes Rhia into the corner by the hair. Rhia returns the favour, before they trade hiptosses, as Tiger’s knocked off the apron.
O’Reilly grabs a headlock, but Von Dutch elbows free into a hammerlock, then a headlock, before taking Rhia down to the mat. Rhia rolls back for a two-count, then transitions into headscissors, which Von Dutch frees herself from and pushes O’Reilly’s knees down to try and force a submission.
Tiger watches from the outside as Rhia grabs a waistlock, but Leah works free into a full nelson, before that’s countered into a drop toe-hold. O’Reilly works into a surfboard/STF combo, then grabs a headlock, before Leah counters that into a wristlock, which gets broken as Easy Tiger finally makes it into the ring and hits Leah with a forearm.
Tiger gets double teamed, but ducks a clothesline and takes down her opponents with a double clothesline, before sending Leah and Rhia into the corner for some pancake shoulder charges. Tiger goes back and forth, but takes a big boot from Von Dutch, and gets caught in the corner, with O’Reilly dropping her with a rear neckbreaker as Tiger was caught in the middle turnbuckle. That looked nasty.
A leaping clothesline gets Von Dutch a two-count on Rhia, who goes into the corner for some shoulder charges, then a Mr Perfect-like snapmare to the seated Leah. O’Reilly gets a near-fall from a snap suplex, as Tiger rolls back in and steals a one-count before Rhia tosses her out of the ring again. Leah gets a near-fall from a schoolgirl, and rubs Rhia’s face in the mat before pulling back into a brief choke.
Leah stands on Rhia in the corner, before trapping her in the ropes in a surfboard-like move. Von Dutch follows up with a cartwheel into a back rake – an awesome heel move – then locks in a seated cobra clutch to Rhia, as Easy Tiger jumped in to add a submission of her own. Some back elbows from Tiger dropped the pair, but O’Reilly got a near-fall with a neckbreaker.
Rhia and Leah went back to exchanging blows, as Leah got a two-count from an inverted facebuster. Von Dutch went up top and missed a moonsault, before a Fisherman’s suplex from O’Reilly took down Leah. As Rhia motioned to the crowd, Easy Tiger hit a low dropkick to send her out of the ring, and stole the pin for the win. This was what it was – if I were Bryan Alvarez, there’d be something about how Easy Tiger ran the ropes, but they did what they could. **
The embarrassed Von Dutch attacked her afterwards, but O’Reilly made the save by throwing her out of the ring. Unfortunately for Tiger, Rhia’s celebrations were a ruse, as she dropped her on her head with a double arm DDT as the crowd chanted “one more time”. I thought Easy Tiger was a face?
We’re now taken to a promo from a man who’d become PROGRESS champion about two and a half years later… Pastor William Eaver! It’s a promo to build the show, and his endeavour on the path of righteousness. He’s going to absolve his opponent of his sins…
“Flash” Morgan Webster vs. “Pastor” William Eaver
Hey, once Webster’s back from injury, this could conceivably be on the main shows… this is the PROGRESS debut for both men, and my word Eaver looks weird in his singlet. Almost like an anti-Mordecai.
Eaver starts by encouraging Webster to accept the Lord’s ways… so Webster just flips him off. Eaver takes Webster into the corner, then backs off, before Webster does the same, and also mocks Eaver’s poses. The crowd in the Bedford are having fun with Eaver’s gimmick, but turn on him when he cheapshots Webster with a knee to the midsection.
Webster pushes Eaver off from a headlock, but gets dropped with a shoulder tackle, before an armdrag takedown flips Eaver into the corner. Webster gets two feet up to block an avalanche from Eaver, and takes him down again, before Eaver gets sent to the floor where he ends up tripping Webster as he prepared for a dive. We go back to a headlock on Webster, with Eaver sending him into the corner with a forearm, before we get some mounted corner punches.
Eaver chokes Webster across the middle rope, but Webster makes a comeback by whipping Eaver into the turnbuckles, before a snapmare and a dropkick gets him just a one-count. An eye rake sent Webster to the mat as Eaver got a two-count, but Webster fired back and landed what’d become the Special Brew Flip (inverted senton) for another near-fall.
Webster took a hard Irish whip into the turnbuckles, before Eaver raked the eyes again and slammed him to the mat. Eaver climbed to the top… and missed a swandive headbutt. After getting up, Eaver sees Webster flip over him and land a crossbody for a near-fall, before Webster finally connected with a corkscrew tope to the outside for another two-count.
Webster gets another two-count from a moonsault press out of the corner, before a stiff lariat from Eaver turned Webster inside out. After kicking out, Webster was taken to the corner and whipped across the ring, but he blocked it en route and laid into Eaver with a flying knee. Eaver dropped into the ropes to crotch Webster up top, but Webster headbutted free and landed a 450 Splash for the win. Good match, not quite as basic as the rest, and it did its job in hammering home William Eaver’s gimmick. Even if it wasn’t subtle. ***
Ali Armstrong vs. Fug
Bedecked in yellow trunks, yellow boots and red kneepads, Fug got his colours from Hulk Hogan, but is probably better known as Nathan Cruz’s bodyguard. Except here he’s in gear, and not the WCW Creative Control-esque bouncer’s suit. Guess that means I have to go back and correct those spellings when I called him “Thug”… which is why on-screen graphics are important!
Fug towers over Armstrong, who slaps him in the chest, and then gets shoved into the corner. Armstrong asks for a test of strength, and gets it, which Fug sells briefly, and shoves Armstrong back into the corner. Armstrong ducks a clothesline and tried for a Fireman’s carry, only to collapse and get covered for a two-count by Fug.
Armstrong goes into the corner chest-first, then is whipped hard into another corner before Fug stands on his back. A stiff slap to the chest follows for the Reading-born Armstrong, who then low bridges Fug to the outside, and goes for a dive… except he stops himself, climbs through the ropes, and then drops a double axehandle right where Fug was. Seconds earlier.
After crashing and burning in the fans, Armstrong was picked up and rammed into one of the Bedford’s pillars, and taken back into the ring by Fug for a two-count. He tried to fight back, but a single clubbing forearm from Fug took him down, as did a backbreaker, which got turned into a backbreaker stretch as a submission attempt.
Armstrong fights free, and tries a couple of lariats which make Fug wobble, before a crossbody gets caught, and Armstrong works it back into a reverse DDT for a near-fall. After ducking another clothesline, Armstrong goes for the Fireman’s carry and pulls off an Airplane Spin, before a Finlay roll gets him just a two-count. Ali goes to the top, and looks for a crossbody, but Fug easily catches him and lifts him into a Fireman’s carry… and one TKO later, Fug gets the win. A comedy extended squash, but hey, that was Ali’s gimmick at the time. **½
Watching these shows back almost three years later, it really sucks when you see where some people have gone. I’ve said it before, but Armstrong had a lot of potential – something PROGRESS clearly saw in him. The “comedy wrestler” gimmick gets a lot of heat, and is something that usually dies out quickly unless the performer works in different towns and cities, in front of different fans. That being said, it doesn’t have to be like that, if the guy behind the act can actually work. In much the same vein as say, Santino Marella, even at this stage in his career, Armstrong was more than a one-spot guy, or even a guy whose arsenal of moves was “whatever finishers he saw off of the telly”. Had injuries not stepped in, PROGRESS could have had a heck of a cult hero…
The Burden of Justice is that team of the “Warden” Phil Ward, and Steve Burden – the reformed criminal and his parole officer. Ward grabs the microphone and gets in Burden’s face… and that of a few fans in the crowd too. Ward says he’s got the key for Burden’s freedom, but if Burden steps out of line, he’ll be sent back to prison, and then calls the crowd and the Bhangra Knights criminals in a line that read like someone hadn’t finished the promo. That ended really awkwardly…
The Burden Of Justice (Phil Ward & Steve Burden) vs. The Bhangra Knights (Darrell Allen & RJ Singh)
We start off with Allen and Burden, who’s probably had his jeans painted onto him, and Allen gets shoved into the ropes from the lock-up. Allen grabs a wristlock and sends Burden to the mat, but Burden reverses it and elbows the upper arm of Allen.
Allen dropkicks Burden, and tries to follow-up, but he’s shoved into the ropes, before taking Burden into the corner with an armdrag. A slingshot roll-up gets Allen a near-fall, before both men make a tag, as Ward and Singh come in, with Singh ordering the crowd to “lower their expectation”.
Ward grabs a waistlock, but Singh works free with an armbar as Jimmy Barnett curses the fans on commentary for singing the Fandango song. Can you tell we’re in 2013?! Ward loses a hammerlock, and Singh’s got a headlock, and lands a shoulder tackle before leaping over Ward and going back to the headlock.
Singh keeps a headlock and slams Ward, before a sequence sees the Burden of Truth screw up and drop elbows on each other as they tried to make a save. A roll-up gets Singh a two-count on Ward, before a missile dropkick from Allen, a neckbreaker from Singh and a pair of dropkicks gets Allen a near-fall.
Allen ties up Ward in knots, then rolls back for a nipple tweak for the hell of it, before bringing Singh back in. A double-team leads to Allen pulling off a roll-through Boston crab, with Singh getting the Ethnic Submission at the other end, before the Bhangra Knights broke the hold to avoid a disqualification.
Burden tries to interfere as Allen ran the ropes, but that just created a distraction for Ward to pounce on. Burden then tags in and chokes Allen with a Kevin Nash-style big boot that did little to quell the fans who were already making those comparisons. Allen hit a back elbow before pushing into a roll-up for a near-fall on Burden, as a series of kicks from Allen only led to him taking a Northern Lights suplex for a two-count.
Ward comes back in and stomps on Allen, before squashing him with an avalanche in the corner. Ward gets in Singh’s face, but that’s just a distraction to allow Burden to choke Allen, who fought back to flip over Ward and make the hot tag to Singh. Singh dropped Ward with a spinning elbow strike, then a leg lariat, but Burden crotched Singh across the top rope, sending him back to the mat.
Ward got a two-count after that, and tagged Burden back in, but the inexperienced Allen rushed in and gave the heels another opening for a double-team. Burden drops Singh with a diving uppercut and gets a trio of two-counts, then tags Ward back in for some more uppercuts. Singh’s sunset flip is blocked with a forearm to the face, as Ward sat down for a near-fall, and then came Burden again, but the heels took a moonsault off the top rope and Singh finally tagged out.
Allen dropped Burden with some clotheslines, then a missile dropkick, before Burden tried for a powerbomb. Allen wriggled onto the apron so he could hit Burden with an enziguiri, before returning to the ring for a twisting neckbreaker for a near-fall. Ward stalked Allen, but he missed a handcuff shot, and took the Razzle Dazzle roundhouse kick.
Allen bounced off the ropes and into the path of a spinebuster from Burden, before he got taken down with a Rainmaker from Singh. Ward dropped Singh with an Ace crusher, before Allen clotheslined him back outside. The Bhangra Knights double-teamed Burden and dropped him with a pair of superkicks, but the heels turned the tables… until Singh worked free as Burden accidentally punched Ward, leaving the Bhangra Knights free to deliver the Bhangra Buster for the victory. A good main event, with more valuable experience for all of the trainees on the card. ***½
Post-match, the Bhangra Knights cut a promo saying that they wanted the London Riots back in PROGRESS – if only so they could beat them up. They’ve not had an answer, but they want the Riots at the next chapter show. Glen Joseph comes in and responds on behalf of PROGRESS, and grants them their match… and it’ll be a part of the tag team title tournament as well!
So that’s the end of the show – some fine action, with a handy bleed-through storyline into the next chapter!