Cero Reviews PROGRESS Chapter 49: Super Strong Style 16, Day 1

[cero2k]

PROGRESS Chapter 49: Super Strong Style 16, Day 1
May 27th, 2017
The Electric Ballroom, Camden, Eng

Jim Smallman Intro - Day 1: Relaxed. Smallman mentioned about the PROGRESS fans at the Manchester bombing. Which ISIS would follow that ONE SIMPLE RULE. DON'T BE A DICK!

SSS16 First Round Match
Nathan Cruz vs "Mr Athletic" Jeff Cobb - 6.5/10
Big ovation for Cobb in his debut. Cobb can completely dominate Cruz in a clean fight, but Cruz is sneaky, and thus he manages to get tons of offense in via cheats. Good opener and showing for Cobb, Cruz gave him a good fight. Cobb wins with the Tour of the Islands.

SSS16 First Round Match
Mark Haskins vs 'Flash' Morgan Webster - 7.5/10
Some months back these guys came back from injury together and now they have to fight each other. Match was well balanced between the two of them, except one of them actually focused working the other's known injury, that one being Haskins, who worked Webster's ankle.

Post-match - They teased problems between Webster and Haskins because the latter took advantage of the ankle and Webster felt like he was trying to re-injure him.

SSS16 First Round Match
Jimmy Havoc vs Travis Banks - 9/10
Havoc's new song is actually pretty good, just not something people ca sing along with. This match had a really short fuse, it started hot and within minutes, it exploded after a chair spot where they threaten each other with chairs, not hitting each other, but throwing them, where Travis punched his away, Havoc headbutted his off.

After that, they proceed to have an awesome match, beating each other up with everything they had, all inside the ring. We saw havoc pull off moves from the reserve set and Banks answer with some of the heaviest kicks he has. Finish saw Banks go all American Dragon on Havoc, ending with a Kiwi Kruser. The favorite to win the whole thing starts strong!

SSS16 First Round Match
Zack Sabre Jr vs David Starr - 9.5/10
David Starr close to stealing the "Mr Too Many Nicknames" gimmick from Sugar Dunkerton. TONS of rasslin' and a knife edge chop that would make Roddy fringe. And then, David Starr made the mistake to mock Sabre, and the price of using your own dick to hit Sabre, is getting your arm completely dismantled. Sabre is so awesome when you piss him off.

This HAS to be the hardest hitting match of the night, these guys beat the shit off each other, you have to believe that all those chops really got to Sabre. Holy Fuck that finish, and I thought Havoc/Banks had been awesome! Go watch this! David Starr just got himself a roster spot.

SSS16 First Round Match
Zack Gibson vs Jack Sexsmith - 7/10
Sexsmith's new song is a WHOLE lot better, but unfortunately, a lot less associated with this gimmick. Sexsmith was received by tons of LGBT flags in the crowd, he looked touched (emotionally). Gibson cut a promo on Sexsmith before the match, saying last time he defeated him outside the ring because he doesn't belong inside one, blah blah, so you now Sexsmith is gonna (not properly) fuck him.

Match was 80% of Gibson dominance over Sexsmith, who had some hope spots here and there, some of those comebacks quite great actually, but he eventually brought out his condom for that stupid submission. There was an awesome Foot Stomp Meteora that look scary, but only gave Sexsmith a two count. At one point Sexsmith was going to lose via countout and the fans carried him inside the ring, that should count as fucking interference! The predictable roll up win took so much to come that it felt underwhelming when it did.

SSS16 First Round Match
Tyler Bate vs Pastor William Eaver - 6.5/10
Bate getting tons of "Where's your belt" chants. Not much to write, Bate dominated Eaver over a really short match, Bate didn't even break a sweat by the time he put Eaver down for the pin. My sudden suspicion that Bate is winning to try and capitalize on WWE pushing Bate and Dunn, just became real.

SSS16 First Round Match
Flamita vs Mark Andrews - 8.5/10
Great face vs face match, both high flyers and quick style guys. They're playing out that Flamita is not just a lucha libre expert, but his time in Dragon Gate also gives him a Japanese edge over Mark Andrews. Flamita had most of the upper hand, but the match was quite balanced in terms of offense. Really close near fall when Flamita connected the Muscle Buster into Cobebreaker, followed by not just a Frog Splash, but 450 too. Finish saw Flamita survive a Slumdog Millionaire and connect a standing Spanish Fly for the upset win. Surprised Andrews is gone in the first round, but he HAS lost tons of times to Dunn already anyway.

SSS16 First Round Match
"King Of Bros" Matt Riddle vs Trent Seven - SQUASH!
Seven cut a promo on Riddle pretty much saying that this wouldn't go as their Orlando match and that he was now rich for sucking Hunter's dick all day and shit. He says that he couldn't cut it in NXT or UFC because of his pot lifestyle, he calls him pussy and lights a fire under Riddle. Bell rings, knee to the face, 1-2-3. Crowd goes crazy. 3 second match.

"...and your winner of the match, via virtue of knocking Trent Seven THE FUCK OUT MATT RIDDLE!!

Post-show - Pete and Tyler come and pick up Seven, they looked pissed.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Just an amazing show, top to bottom the wrestling was top notch, well, that bottom was ballsy doing a squash like that in the main event, but the fans loved it. This was BOLA levels of quality when it comes to first round matches, that tend to be predictable. Tomorrow we get Travis Banks vs Flamita, Zack Sabre vs Jack Sexsmith, Tyler Bate vs Mark Haskins, and Jeff Cobb vs Matt Riddle.