The first season of Freedom’s Road came to a close with… a completely different look? Hope you like Brass Eye!
Branded as “Thursday Night Fight Night”, there’s a flashy new entrance sequence which kinda reminds me of the “building site” motif that Rev Pro used. We open in a studio of all places, as Glen Joseph is there with Earl Black Jr. and cameraman Jack Hill as we’re live on tape at times.
Tonight’s main event if Matt Riddle defending the Atlas title against Rob Lynch, whilst Connor Mills also takes on Spike Trivet (“silver spoon versus ferret boy”). Talking heads Earl and Jack are almost like sports pundits here, and we’ve got a series of tweets on the bottom – some that came in perhaps a bit too quick to be legit!
Spike Trivet vs. Connor Mills
We’ve still got the “neon” Freedom’s Road graphics as everyone’s favourite spoiled brat heads out. The reception he got for the second season was a lot hotter, for the obvious reasons, as ring crew member James Best is dragged over to get spat at.
Connor Mills has matching trunks and jacket, although I have a feeling that “Fighting Spirit” motif may not last in the land of Tyler Bate. Mills gets jumped at the bell by Trivet, but he recovers to kick him really hard and send the posh boy packing. An apron PK follows, as does a twisting corkscrew Asai moonsault as Mills is busting out the big guns in the opening minutes.
Just as I type that, he slipped off a springboard back to the ring, and Trivet takes over, working over the arm for a spell, dragging Trivet into the turnbuckle by his shoulder. Trivet works a wristlock, wrenching away on Mills almost like he’d watched a lot of Zack Gibson, but Mills worked up and headbutted Trivet to get free. Another springboard follows, with a flying forearm getting a near-fall, before calling for what I think he called the Mill Shock.
Unfortunately, Trivet countered it into the Birthright – a double underhook backbreaker – for a near-fall. Some swiping slaps follow, but that riles up Mills into dishing out some receipts, before rebounding off the ropes with a discus lariat! The flurry continues with knee strikes in the corner, before landing the Mill Shock – a release suplex with a kick to the back of the head – for another two-count.
Connor goes up top to finish off Spike, but he misses the 450, only to rebound with a bicycle kick! Unfortunately, Mills is quickly caught with a Judo throw as Spike puts him in the Privilege Lock/Rings of Saturn, and there’s a quick submission. A hell of a contest between two guys fairly young in their careers, with a lot of room to grow!
From there, it’s back to the studio where the hashtag’s changed… I smell a bit of satire here folks! Earl reckons that Connor will need at least a few days to recover from that loss, before picking apart his game… blaming going to the top rope for the loss rather than focusing on the striking game. Glen warns us that Spike will be intolerable moving forward. And the rest! Oh hey, the hashtag changes yet again!
We flash back to “a few weeks ago” where Rob Lynch challenges Riddle for the Atlas title. It feels like Earl mocks the promo… Big! They throw up a Tale of the Tape graphic, and yet another new hashtag appears, and this is rapidly entering Brass Eye territory for satire.
Glen throws to pre-match comments from Rob Lynch, whose face is heavily masked by the shadow of his cap. Riddle comes up and there’s a pull-apart. Back to the studio for more tweets and yet another hashtag, inspired by McDonalds, as they throw to the “live match”, which accidentally sees them go back to Glen who’s clearly fancying a burger…
Once we have an aborted vox pop from Al Ronald, we’re finally taken to ringside for our main event!
PROGRESS Atlas Championship: Rob Lynch vs. Matt Riddle (c)
It’s the Riots’ “old new music” for those keeping track, whilst Riddle’s still got Warren G.
Riddle schools Lynch in the early moments, scoring with a takedown but Rob was able to keep with things, at times going hold-for-hold with Riddle. A back senton with Riddle piggybacked on him breaks up a rear naked choke, before a big lariat left the Bro reeling.
Lynch keeps up the pressure with an overhead belly to belly for a near-fall, but he follows up with some German suplexes… and you know what that means! Riddle throws some of his own in, but Lynch pops back up too, and this is like a Newton’s cradle of German suplexes! Eventually Riddle rushes in with a knee and a fisherman’s buster for a near-fall as the champion surged ahead… backdropping Lynch almost all the way to the floor before a springboard forearm knocked him down.
We start going airborne as Lynch hit a dive into Riddle on the floor, before Riddle no-sells a Destroyer… and throws in one of his own! That left Rob down and out, but Riddle couldn’t capitalise, and instead we go to a shout-off of Bro and Mate as they leather each other with repeated forearms.
An overhead kick from Riddle takes Lynch into the corner, but Riddle’s attempt at a forearm into the corner is met with a spear as Lynch exploded out of the corner, getting a near-fall with Riddle way too close to the ropes. So Lynch just chops away at Riddle, who gleefully gives receipts, before a second overhead kick is caught, and eventually met with a Bro to Sleep.
A tombstone slam follows as Riddle lifted up Lynch… but from the kick-out he scissors Lynch for the Bromission, forcing Rob to submit. That was absolutely insane – saving the best for last in this series of Freedom’s Road, hard-hitting and exemplifying the Atlas division. Just superb!
Back to the studio now as Glen and his talking heads unpack what we just saw, with Earl expecting a match with more finesse, rather than a slog-fest that we just saw. They replay some highlights, and then it’s time for yet more new hashtags… and more tweets which include a sneak peek to next season, eh?
There’s yet more replays, showing Lynch landing awkwardly from Riddle’s destroyer (and giving the GIFers a freebie), with some more tweets possible sewing seeds (everything for a reason). After a quick commercial for Freedom’s Road, we’re back for one more hashtag, more replays, and a few more pointers for a possible London Riots split… and we’re done!
My God, this was… quite the show. A satire on the production of live sports, and how certain wrestling companies have tried too hard to shoe-horn interactivity and social media lounges into their product this was just bonkers, even if that final segment quickly veered into “jumping the shark” territory and hammered home the gag with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to a nut. The second season was taped this past Tuesday (June 27) in London, but won’t be airing until later in the year. PROGRESS have announced that the entirety of the “main show bit” of that taping will be released in one go so you can binge-watch, but they’ll be airing it episodically on Facebook and most likely Twitch as well. There’s some good stuff in the second series, including matches like David Starr vs. Jack Sexsmith and Ashmore vs. Donovan Dijak.