We finally close out our reviews of WrestleMania weekend, with the PROGRESS Wrestling title match between Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay. This was held on Saturday April 2nd during the WrestleCon Super show, and was hosted by PROGRESS emcee Glen Joseph, who gets a sizable reaction for merely announcing the name of the company. So, without further ado:
PROGRESS World Title: Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll (c)
There’s a sizable number of people who know of these two, even if the wider crowd (and commentary team) perhaps did not. This was actually Ospreay and Scurll’s second match of the day (sandwiching WrestleCon between their EVOLVE and WWN Supershow dates), but it didn’t show.
The announcement of the “world title” made Excalibur and comedian Marty DeRosa confused, especially when Scurll went out with the title…
Scurll and Ospreay start on the mat, trading holds as Ospreay’s see-saw kipups evened things up for him. Ospreay landed on his feet from a huracanrana, shocking a seated Scurll, whose attempt at a chicken wing was promptly met by an elbow. Scurll followed up his “just kidding” superkick by kicking Ospreay low as he went for a headstand.
Ospreay goes for a 450 Splash but ends up taking Scurll’s boots to the face, before the champion bodyslams Ospreay into the ropes. Scurll adopts a surfboard before fish-hooking the nose to inflict extra pain, before Ospreay responds with a standing sky twister press for a near fall.
Scurll tweaked at Ospreay’s fingers to avoid a short-arm clothesline – something Scurll then quickly employed – before starting the ten count punches in the corner. It then goes a little fast paced, with Ospreay turning a Scurll suplex into an Ace Crusher, but an effort to hit a second one out of the corner saw Ospreay land into a Chicken Wing, but the challenger was able to roll out and smash his skull straight into that of Scurll.
Ospreay’s corkscrew kick floored Scurll once more, before they went back to the chops, before Ospreay countered a chicken wing with an enziguiri, followed by a standing shooting star press and a Phoenix splash, which Scurll turned into a roll-up that nearly saw him retain the title.
Scurll cracks the fingers of Ospreay, but Ospreay manages to follow up with a diving moonsault press… only to return to the ring and take a Crash Landing suplex into a chicken wing, as Marty Scurll retains his (new) World championship. Not an outstanding match, but still worth going out of your way for on your Demand PROGRESS subscription – this was a great advert for PROGRESS on a wider scale.