In June 2014, PROGRESS held a rare double-header at the Garage in Islington, London. This week, we look at the first half of that show.
With the PROGRESS World Cup – a one night tournament to crown a number one contender – being held later in the day, this was a very swift show, so let’s get to it!
Natural PROGRESSion Series – Qualifier: Dark Panther vs. Ali Armstrong
Panther started by taking Armstrong to the corner for a chop, but Ali replied with a waistlock takedown, before he tried for a Kamala pin… of course, there was no count!
Armstrong trips over Panther and falls into a headlock, and eventually escapes before returning the favour as Panther takes a pratfall for a near-fall. A wheelbarrow roll-up gets another two-count, before a dive attempt is cut-off.
Armstrong accidentally runs into the ringpost to continue the “endearing idiot” character (not my words!), before he starts to count himself out. Ali returns to take a big splash and a crossbody, then gets caught in some grounded legscissors. Panther lands a low crossbody in the corner for another near-fall, before Ali mounts a comeback with a ‘rana and a series of clotheslines.
The airplane spin dizzies Panther, before Ali calls for the Gains Bomb, which I can only describe as an imploding senton meeting a Vader bomb. It missed. After a rebound lariat, Armstrong hits a Fisherman’s suplex for a near-fall, before catching Panther on the top rope with a dropkick. Armstrong followed up with a Muscle Buster, but Panther rolled to the outside… and in comes Isaac Zercher to drill Armstrong with a spinebuster behind the referee’s back.
Dark Panther rolls in as the referee re-emerges, but Armstrong kicks out at two, before he hits a bridging German suplex for the win. A fun opener that got across what it needed to – and also continued the ongoing Armstrong/Zercher storyline. ***
Rhia O’Reilly & Nikki Storm vs. Rosie Leigh & Mischa East
This inadvertently became a England vs. Scotland & (Northern) Ireland match, with Nikki Storm – now SANITY’s Nikki Cross – providing the Scottish element.
Plenty of stalling at the start us off, before Leigh works a wristlock on O’Reilly. She’s eventually shoved into the ropes as Rhia gets a shoulder tackle, before a hiptoss sends the Belfast native to the outside.
O’Reilly gets in Mischa East’s face to cause a distraction, allowing Storm to choke Leigh in the opposing corner, before Nikki’s tagged in and gets a near-fall from a neckbreaker. East finally tags in and takes down Storm with some dropkicks, then a pendulum backbreaker, before missing an charge into the corner.
O’Reilly gets a near-fall from a Mr Perfect-esque neck flip as the heels took over, but East finally made the hot tag to Rosie Leigh, who nailed a double dropkick to the heels, then connected with a tope that sent O’Reilly and Storm into the front row. Leigh went for the Cattle Mutilation, but Storm broke it up.
East and Leigh tried for the Hart Attack double-team clothesline, but Storm tripped up Leigh, as East took a double-arm DDT for the loss. Fun tag match, and you can mark this as “the right team won” if you’re going by experience. **½
Natural PROGRESSion Series – Qualifier: Pastor William Eaver vs. Steve Burden
Now freed from parole – and Phil Warden – Steve Burden’s now billed as being from the Ace Cafe. Which isn’t a euphemism, but a cafe near Wembley in London that’s renowned amongst bikers and car enthusiasts.
Eaver’s moved away from the singlet that he’d worn earlier in his career, but he’s still a heel. A series of chops from Burden sends a lot of hair flying around, before a crossbody is caught and turned into a fallaway slam by the former convict. The Pastor’s sent to the outside, where he took his time to get back in, and after an inverted hotshot, he returned to put the boots to Burden.
Burden misses a crossbody and takes a falling headbutt for a near-fall from Eaver, before a lot of stalling ends up with Burden getting a sunset flip off the middle rope. A Pope-ish hammer/Axe bomber gets Eaver a near-fall, as the crowd start singing random songs from Monty Python and the Life of Brian…
A floatover suplex from Eaver gets him a two-count, but Burden mounts a comeback with a series of lariats, before a slam and a legdrop gets him a near-fall. Burden catches Eaver with a spinebuster as he went for the Clothesline from Heaven, but at the second attempt, Eaver gets it and the win. Decent match for guys at this level **¾
Damon Moser vs. Darrell Allen
Moser was dressed all in black, and wiped his feet on the PROGRESS logo in the middle of the canvas. This started as a slug-fest, before Allen dropped Moser with a Yakuza kick and a roundhouse kick, before Moser no-sold a German suplex and replied with a lariat.
Allen got worked over in the corner, before a Samoan drop and a senton got Moser a near-fall. An enziguiri on the apron gave Allen an opening, which he capitalised on with a missile dropkick, before Moser went outside for a breather. Instead, Moser got a baseball slide, before he cut off Allen’s attempt at a dive with a chair to the head. Instant DQ, and at least they kept it short before the DQ finish! *½
After the match, Allen grabbed a chair, but Danny Garnell came in to break things up. Instead, he DDT’d Allen, as Damon Moser and Danny Garnell seemed to have formed an alliance.
Elimination Match: Chuck Mambo, Pete Dunne, Will Ospreay & Joey Lakeside vs. Regression (James Davis, Rob Lynch, Paul Robinson & Isaac Zercher)
Coming off the back of Paul Robinson’s heel turn at chapter 13, he and Will Ospreay eyeball’d each other during the entrances. This was Pete Dunne’s ENDVR debut, having made his inaugural PROGRESS appearance at the prior chapter. Needless to say, “Bruiserweight” seems to be working out a lot better for him than his “Dynamite” moniker.
Mambo and Davis started things off, and it was the Newquay surfer who got the early advantage, taking down Davis wand getting a near-fall with a double knee press. We even got the Mambo No. 5 series of kicks, before Ospreay and Robinson tagged in… with Robinson quickly tagging out to Zercher to avoid his former partner.
Zercher tried to ragdoll Ospreay, and took him into the corner after some headscissors, where of course, Robinson tagged in. Then back out after taking a shot. Rob Lynch takes a few chops from Joey Lakeside before a two-handed chop knocked him down, and in came Pete Dunne.
A schoolboy from Dunne got a near-fall on Robinson, as did a back senton, before he caught Robinson’s double-axehandle and turned it into a facebuster for a near-fall. Ospreay tagged in, so of course, Robinson ran away.
Joey Lakeside got cornered for a while as the Regression quartet targeted him. Jimmy Havoc blasted Lakeside with a can of Fosters, before Paul Robinson returned for some ground and pound. Lakeside had a brief comeback, before falling to a lariat from Rob Lynch for a near-fall was Will Ospreay broke it up.
Ospreay got a hot tag finally and knocked down Davis with a handspring overhead kick, before a neckbreaker and a quebrada got a near-fall as Lynch broke things up. Ospreay and Dunne put paid to Lynch with a double enziguiri, before a standing shooting star press on Davis forced a break-up from Zercher.
The London Riots fell to dives from Lakeside and Mambo, before Zercher press slammed Robinson into the pile. Dunne followed up with a moonsault off the middle rope to the outside, with Chuck Mambo getting the worst of it. Will Ospreay dived too, with a shooting star press off the top to the floor.
After that settled down, Robinson and Lakeside paired off, before an Acid Rainmaker from Havoc dropped Lakeside on the apron. Ospreay tried to get involved, but he was mule kicked, then kicked straight in front of the referee, forcing an elimination by DQ. That meant nothing, as Robinson stomped on Will’s Ospreays, allowing Zercher to hit the Shellshock on Ospreay for the second elimination of the match.
Pete Dunne low-bridged Zercher to the outside, but found himself facing both of the London Riots, and taken out with a double shoulder tackle, before a Doomsday Device got them a near-fall. Chuck Mambo made the save, but quickly fell to a District Line Powerbomb for the next elimination.
Joey Lakeside went next, with an Exploder suplex from Isaac Zercher giving the elimination, as Pete Dunne was the last man standing for the babyfaces. He hit a missile dropkick to Zercher’s knees, then a superkick to Lynch. Despite that, Dunne got thrown into a pop-up spear, and that was it as Regression took the win. A fun elimination match, with the niggle of all of the eliminations being rushed in at the end, but this did a good job of establishing the “Regression B team” as threats. ***¼
As a show, this was extremely swift, with the entire card done in an hour (after entrances had been edited out). If you take this as a standalone card, it’s the weakest ENDVR to date, but as a warm-up for the World Cup show, this did it’s job perfectly fine.