What's in the box? The best Chrismas wrestling
My last wrestling show of 2016 was PROGESS’ last of the year too, for the first time a show was held between Christmas and New Year and was titled Unboxing Live! as no matches or even wrestlers were announced before the show, every contest a complete surprise to fans in attendance. That’s also a first for PROGRESS. The show was held a couple of hours later than usual so we had lunch at a German sausage place Anthony was eager to try out - delicious food, especially good crispy chips - before we went to queue in the freezing cold. Thankfully, the doors opened very promptly and they got us in remarkably quickly; very unusual. Clearly they knew how bitter the cold was!
The show opened with a terrific intergender contest; F.S.U (Eddie Dennis & Mark Andrews) and Nixon Newell vs. the South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper, Travis Banks & Dahlia Black). The two tag teams have been clashing recently in PROGRESS and as Travis works a lot with F.S.U elsewhere, there’s great chemistry between the teams. Great to see Nixon facing off with the guys as well as the girls - in other companies she’s known for fighting men as often as she fights women - and especially fun to see her wrestling Travis as they’re a real life couple. This made the highlight moment of the match even funnier; Dahlia tried to slap Eddie so he grabbed her and threatened to kiss her, so TK grabbed Nixon and threatened the same...and yes, then Mark grabbed Travis and threatened to kiss him, dumbfounding everyone else in the ring lol. Travis and Mark started shouting at each other, trying to goad the other into actually following through on the threat, until TK and Nixon dropkicked them both into a kiss, to a huge reaction. Especially well done were the pair’s stunned bashful reactions afterwards, especially Travis who definitely looked like he enjoyed it, after which the two shared a quick handshake and exited the ring. Such a funny moment.
Anthony and I were utterly thrilled to finally see Scottish wrestler Kay Lee Ray wrestle live. She’s one of the best in the UK, male or female, and has worked in America and extensively in Japan as well as helping build the Scottish wrestling scene. It was her Camden debut and she and Toni Storm knocked it out of the park, producing a great tough wrestling match that got great appreciation from the crowd.
The next tag team match might have been my fave of the whole evening - three way match for the vacant tag team titles - British Strong Style (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) vs. The London Riots (James Davis & Rob Lynch) vs...Marty Scurll entered to a huge ovation, despite having been the nastiest villain in the company for over a year. But PROGRESS really needs more top level fan favourite characters right now and he was using his Ring of Honor music (he signed there recently) and was acting more like lovable arse Marty than the nasty vicious character he’d been in PROGRESS since Chapter 21. He wheeled out a storage crate - prompting a ‘what’s in the box?’ chant - and opened it to reveal Zack Sabre Jr. The pair were a hugely acclaimed tag team early in their careers, named The Leaders of the New School, and it was their old entrance theme that hit as soon as Zack popped up, prompting the biggest happy reaction of the night. I love the pair together; they have fantastic chemistry, Marty becomes sillier, as does Zack, and it’s clear what good friends they are.
It was such a terrific match, three very different styles working so well together. There was one scary moment where James dove over the top rope onto two of the others on the outside and something went wrong as he landed head first; it looked super awful. Trent of course got chopped to bits and there was wonderful choruses sung by fans of ‘Armbars and Chicken Wings’ for Zack and Marty (the names of their finishing moves). Literally three of the best teams in the UK slugging it out. Wonderful moments of comedy - Tyler locked Rob into a submission move, James then tried to lock one onto Tyler while shouting ‘I don’t know any submission moves!...Oh wait, headlock!’ and everyone adding a submission move onto the growing pile of twisted bodies until Trent couldn’t work out where he could slap one on so just started hitting everyone instead one by one. Plus Tyler as a young hotheaded villain who keeps getting into it with the crowd, having to be held back by Trent is such a great contrast to him as a gentlemanly fan favourite. He’s clearly having a whale of a time as such a different character. And the wrestling of course was just wonderful.
The most mad ‘match’ of the evening has to go to Roy Johnson’s Wasteman Challenge - Roy challenges anyone to rap battle with him, always hilarious and sometimes turn into matches. The person who answered this time? Mad Man Manson. I’m not sure I can adequately explain him. He retired a couple of years back, he’s Irish and an incredible character, says whatever the hell he wants and is possibly one of the funniest people ever to come out of British wrestling. He’s not a great wrestler and would never claim to be, he was pure comedy who was loved wherever he went. It was a HUGE surprise to get him back in PROGRESS. Anthony ended up on camera as he jumped up and shook Manson’s hand as Manson made his way down the aisle, Manson responded by stealing his glasses and returning them a few steps later.
Needless to say, Manson did not rap but after a hilarious monologue that had everyone in stitches (including accusing Jim Smallman of starting a race war) and even got Roy to laugh when he should have been stoically unimpressed, asked Roy to show him how which Roy did with great stinging style with great references to Manson’s previous PROGRESS appearances. Manson then had ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’ played so everyone could sing along, tried to dance with Roy who had none of it though poor referee Paz got dragged into some very dubious dancing before Manson struggled to get out of the ring, even with a stony-faced Roy’s assistance. I honestly can’t do it justice. It certainly was an experience and it had everyone in gales of laughter.
PROGRESS Champion Pete Dunne was in action, delighting in sounding off against the crowd on the mic for the first time ever at PROGRESS. He, Tyler and Trent (and many other UK talents, including Mark Andrews and Roy Johnson) have recently been announced as being part of the WWE UK Tournament that’s being filmed this coming weekend, which will lead into a UK-based television product. Of course some of the guys could be signed to go and work with WWE in America which could mean we’ll lose all three guys, who currently hold PROGRESS titles! I expect they will all be signed over there as they’re at the top of their game. Anyway, he claimed he was taking the PROGRESS title with him but that night had to face Fabian Aichner; an Italian wrestler who did a Manchester show last year and was part of WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic. He’s ridiculously physically talented but hasn’t yet found the right character to make it all click together. It was amazing to see him live, especially when he leapt up and balanced on the top rope before somersaulting off to land on Pete on the outside. Insane! I look forward to seeing how he develops as he continues working all over the world and making the most of his post-WWE publicity.
The main event was suitably epic - Jimmy Havoc vs. Will Ospreay, for the first time since their Chapter 20 match where Will finally won the title from Jimmy who has spent the previous year practically attempting to murder him (yes, really. He tried to cut off Will’s ear at one point and there was another situation involving an axe). Their rivalry built PROGRESS as a must-watch company and brought so many fans to the product, and now they were facing each other again. It featured great touches like Will looking around with a frown as most of the crowd cheered for Jimmy and also Will going after Jimmy’s leg - the one that was so badly injured earlier last year he didn’t wrestle again until November 2016. It was another great intense match from the pair which Jimmy managed to win, despite taking a hell of a beating. Afterwards, he apologised to Will for how brutal he’d been previously, albeit it in a typically flippant way (literally saying ‘soz’), admitting he deserved how Will had thrashed him during the just-finished match and that he needed help against three guys in the back (British Strong Style). He and Will built this company, he continued, so imagine what they could do together.
The crowd were hugely enthusiastic at this prospect, encouraging Will to accept Jimmy’s hand, which Will did and Jimmy responding by mouthing ‘thank you’ with a genuine smile on his face. And then, everything changed - Will booted him in the balls, beating down Jimmy with utter viciousness as the furious shocked crowd booed and shouted for him to stop. Will dragged Jimmy up to the entrance stage, where Paul Robinson emerged from the back to hand Will a barb-wire bat to use, which he did with great glee. To underline what an astonishing moment this is and just how Dark Side Will has gone - he and Paul were tag team partners in PROGRESS as the Swords of Essex, until Paul abandoned him during a match and joined Jimmy Havoc’s monstrous Regression stable. It was a hugely shocking betrayal and Will has been bitter enemies with Paul ever since. But he’s willing to forgive that, if it means he has all the help he needs in making Jimmy suffer as Jimmy made him suffer for so long.
Now, Will’s actions make sense - he was brutalised for months on end, ganged up on, never winning against Jimmy until he finally got numbers on his side and the title. He hasn’t won a match in PROGRESS since his return in 2016 and his frustration has been visibly simmering - he’s started to become more cutthroat in the ring and even cheating to try and gain victory. His pure babyface persona has been tarnishing as he got obsessed with getting victory. There’s always been some who’ve booed him in PROGRESS because his gymnastic style isn’t everyone’s preference and there are those who find his fan favourite persona incredibly boring. I disagree as it was the perfect counterpoint to Jimmy’s utter darkness. Of course Will snapped after a match where fans were cheering for Jimmy Havoc - the man who was vile to the fan community for two years, whose aim was to completely destroy PROGRESS, who shockingly attacked and beat down company co-owner Jim Smallman. The fans are cheering for him now? After everything Will faced and overcame to beat that monster? And they were booing Will? Well, screw the fans. Playing by the rules wasn’t getting Will any victories any more anyway.
It’s a different kind of villainous turn to Jimmy’s infamous one at Chapter 9 in that it’s been a slow-burn but like Jimmy’s it makes complete sense. So many fans at the show were acting like Will was being horrifying and unreasonable by reacting so brutally to Jimmy. Anthony and I and the bloke next to me weren’t surprised at all, though PROGRESS did include Paul in Will’s turn so that there is reason to boo him now. Anyone choosing to make a deal with that devil is not someone to support. Will has clearly spiralling into a dark kind of madness, it’s been timed beautifully - over a year has passed since they last faced each other, that’s how long it’s been building. It blows the door wide open for 2017’s stories - who will stand with Jimmy against both British Strong Style, and the reformed Swords of Essex? He burned every bridge when he tried to kill PROGRESS. But I think the London Riots will be recruited - they want the Tag Team titles back - and I think Zack Sabre Jr is a fair shout too, possibly Marty as well. It’s going to be wonderful to witness.
There were lots of wrestlers selling their merchandise in the intermission, as none could sell any before the show due to everyone’s presence being a surprise. So lots of wrestlers used the ring to sell stuff - hanging their shirts up on the ropes etc - while those that could fit were behind the usual lobby tables. I got chats with Mark and Eddie, and a hug from Mark which is always nice. They were in good spirits and made me smile as they always do. Rob Lynch was selling Riots photos, no shirts surprisingly, James was probably getting medical attention. I wasn’t sure about talking to Rob as he usually looks like he’d rather be anywhere else then hawking merch. But Anthony pointed out I was wearing a London Riots shirt so Rob had no excuse not to talk to me, so I went over to say hi and he even offered a hug, which surprised me, and was very smiley and chatty. Anthony joked afterwards about how much beer Rob must have drunk to get into that state of mind lol.
Happily Trent was selling merchandise in the lobby - since turning villain he hasn’t done so but maybe Christmas made the difference. He grabbed us both for quick hugs. We chatted to him more after the show where he marvelled again at what a difference a year has made to both his life and career - he’s now a full time wrestler, he’s achieved so much like wrestling in the main event of the biggest British wrestling show for 40 years (ICW’s Hydro show) and he’ll be wrestling for WWE this year. It was so lovely to see him; hopefully it won’t be the last PROGRESS show he’s out for merchandise selling. His tag team partner Tyler was hilarious, shouting ‘I hate you!’ to any fan that mouthed off at him. Also Trent kept shouting that Roy Johnson was selling his merchandise for free which made everyone laugh apart from Roy lol.
I also took the last of my peppermint bark and Oreo cheesecake bites, for snacks for us and parcels for co-owners Jim and Jon, who were sweetly surprised but grateful. For the first time, we ate our dinner in the venue; having snuck sandwiches in. It greatly amused the people in the row in front of us as we sat there before the show eating them. The reason we did this is because the show stated late and was going to finish much later than usual, meaning we’d be so starving by the time we got back to Waterloo. We grabbed a snack there anyway but knew we’d need more beforehand which worked out well for us. Also, a nice note to end on, PROGRESS asked for donations for the Camden food bank - the fans brought enough to fill four shopping trolleys.