Cero Reviews PROGRESS Chapter 58: Live Your Best Life

[cero2k]

PROGRESS Chapter 58: Live Your Best Life
November 26, 2017
Electric Ballroom, Camden, Eng

Jim Smallman Intro - No new stuff, just messing around with the new crowd. Don't Be A Dick!

PROGRESS World Championship Match
"The Kiwi-Buzzsaw" Travis Banks (C) vs "King of Bros" Matt Riddle - 9/10
Wow, way to start the show hot. Match started like a friendly mat wrestling competition, but then they started chopping each other, and they they started kicking each other, and by this point, both men were like fuck you, i'm gonna throw you four rows into the crowd. They kept kicking and chopping all the rest of the match until they were getting close to finishing off their opponent and they started pulling out the big guns, getting some near falls on the way. Aside from the chest trauma, Riddle was also going for Travis' ankle and the head, but even after hitting everything he did on chapter 52 to win, Banks would keep kicking out from Riddle's offense. Finish came via submission with the Lion's Clutch after Riddle had kicked out of the Kiwi Driver twice.

Great match, but the finisher spamming at the end did get a bit annoying.

Jimmy Havoc & Mark Haskins w/Vicky Haskins vs Connor Mills & Maveric Mayhew - Squash.
During M&M's intro, fans were chanting "Please don't die", which I figured was a given. This should had been for better or worse, a squash match, but M&M had enough hope spots that I wouldn't call it as such, kuddos to these kids, but they need to learn when to give up. The match was technically a babyface in peril spot that never ended, it just went straight to the finish when the hot tag got his ass kicked when he tried to come in. Fuck it, i'm calling it a squash. H&H killed M&M.

Eddie Dennis vs Jack Sexsmith - 7/10
I know they won't job out Sexsmith, but Eddie Dennis NEEDS this to be a squash if he is being built to fight Banks eventually. Match started with Eddie jumping Sexsmith and kicking his ass for a while, trying to go for the countout win, but Sexsmith made the count. This eventually went like any other Sexsmith match with him not giving up, and then making a comeback kicking his opponents ass, up until he brings out his condom and sticks it in Dennis' mouth, and as Sexsmith is about to win, he gets killed again and the fans appreciate his efforts. His matches are getting boring. Good wrestling performance tho.

Finish was ref stopping the match after Dennis kept punishing him and not going for the clear pin (he broke his own pin twice).

Post-match - Dennis kept killing Sexsmith until Travis Banks came out and chased Dennis away. Dennis grabs the mic and challenges Banks for a PROGRESS title match, he is pissed that he has never been given a title shot since Chapter 6 when he debuted.

Black vs Jinny Build Up Video - Fuckin' A! This was awesome, great promo by Black.

No DQ, PROGRESS Women's No. 1 Contendership Match
Dahlia Black vs Jinny - 9/10
It finally comes to this, Jinny has been trying to destroy Black's leg for months, and Black finally has a chance on payback. Jinny made her "Jinny Havoc" entrance wielding a barbwire wrapped chair, she seriously makes a psychiatric hospital mouth mask look fashionable.

These two came out for a brawl and within minutes, Black put Jinny through the announcers table with a great looking powerbomb. They brought the fight back to the ring, tossed each other into the rows of chairs, Jinny hit an amazing kendo stick shot on Black while Black was doing a freaking moonsault! They brought out thumbtacks and sticks, but the end came when Jinny hit two Style Clashes on Black, one onto a steel chair. This was pretty brutal for two girls that rarely get hardcore. It's almost impossible to beat the stuff that Shirai/Bito/Storm/Iwatani did in Stardom this year, but this surely was a late women's MOTYC, it may have slightly edged out the Chapter 49 3-way match.

Some dude practices for his wedding - Some fan is getting married and is entering with the Ringkampf entrance theme, so he got to practice and Thatcher came out to join him.

Davis's Atlas Championship Match On The Line
Strangler Davis vs Timothy Thatcher - No rating, great angle.
An extra drunk fan almost got in a fight with Davis during his intro, they actually pushed each other. They start the fight, but no more than a minute in as Davis getting the upper hand, we start to hear a song that no one can't recognize. As to a huge surprise, out comes Rob Lynch! The distraction serves Thatcher that rolls up Davis for the win, meanwhile Lynch is advancing to the ring.

Post-match - Lynch and Davis get in a brawl and pull-apart. Even Paul Robinson (now an agent) came out to break the fight apart. Davis runs away as soon as he can.

I wasn't a big fan of Thatcher winning the tittle shot like this, it doesn't fit his persona, but neither men should be losing at this point if Thatcher is going for the title and the Riots are to battle.

Post-brawl - Thatcher tells WALTER that when he's ready, he'll take his title shot, but for now, since Ringkampf is all about the sacred mat and he didn't get to do much of it, Thatcher makes an open challenge to see if there's anyone out there willing to fight. Out comes...

Timothy Thatcher vs Chris Ridgeway - 7/10
Ridgeway, the unconfirmed son of Prince Devitt and CM Punk, making his PROGRESS Chapter debut. This was just an overall great back and forward match with Thatcher focusing on submission wrestling and Ridgeway on striking offense (he has great looking kicks). Thatcher won with a Fujiwara Armbar in somewhat a short match, but great considering the time if got.

Joseph Connors vs Flash Morgan Webster - 6/10
I'm kinda surprised that they had British Adam Cole go against Webster, I figured they would just have him go over Seven before finally fighting Dunne, but I'm glad he'll get some dominant wins before mixing it up with BSS. Some cool looking moves, but this match was dull as the real Adam Cole was when he debuted. It was one of those matches where you knew who was winning and you kinda just had to sit through the process of getting there. At some point it seemed like Webster had been injured, ref and Smallman talked to him, but soon after Connors came back and attacked him, he hit a bunch of elbows, hit his finisher, and won cleanly. Zero reaction by the fans.

I thought for a second that we were getting a second ref stopping, but we didn't.

PROGRESS Women's Championship Match
Toni Storm (C) vs Alex Windsor - 8/10
This started off with some really unsafe looking spots, but they were all to build Storm getting her back hurt, which Windsor worked on throughout the match. Storm took a lot of punishment, but slowly started to make a comeback and wear down Windsor, focusing on the head/neck area. Finish saw Storm hit a sick looking piledriver for the pin. Really good match, methodical and it told a good story, some stuff felt underwhelming considering the matches we have already seen today, but overall a solid story told inside the ring.

PROGRESS Tag Team Championship Match
CCK (C) vs Grizzled Young Veterans - 5.5/10
GYV finally get their tag title shot that they surely earned a long time ago. As usual, Gibson cut his soon to be recognized best opening promo before the match, but this one lasted way longer than usual as Gibson started walking around the ballroom. Once they started fighting, GYV worked on Brookes' arm for a while, and instead of hot tagging Lykos, he made his own comeback as Kid Lykos got injured during the match. At one point in the match, Gibson and Drake created a contraption of chairs under the ramp and intended to throw Brookes into it, but Brookes fought them off and threw Gibson into it and nailed Drake with a trashcan. Back in the ring, Gibson locked in an arm submission on Brookes, and to the surprise of Gibson and Drake, Brookes tapped out.

Didn't like this match, I hated that it had to be a handicap pretty much for GYV to win the titles, I hated the finish with Gibson looking surprised the submission worked. Another underwhelming title run for CCK in PROGRESS, so hopefully they wait out a bit before putting the titles on them again. I do wonder if they called an audible for this one.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Great show with a weak ending.