BRM Reviews PROGRESS Chapter 68: Super Strong Style 16 2018, Day 2

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews PROGRESS Chapter 68: Super Strong Style 16 2018, Day 2

Post by Big Red Machine » May 16th, '18, 13:26

PROGRESS Chapter 68: Super Strong Style 16 2018, Day 2 (5/6/2018)- Haringey, UK


SUPER STRONG STYLE 16 QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Pete Dunne vs. Zack Gibson (w/James Drake)- 6/10
Gibson cut a pre-match promo that started off good but then, as usual, went on for WAY too long. It finally ended when Dunne started to hit him with a shoe. Drake got involved for a bit but things eventually settled down and we got a nice little wrestling match with both guys’ personalities showing through.
The match ended in what I thought was a great finish. Dunne had had to deal with periodic attempts to interfere by James Drake throughout the match. Then Jimmy Havoc came out to distract- and then try to attack- Dunne, followed by his tag team partner Mark Haskins. They were disposed of without ever landing a blow on Dunne, and with Dunne wresting a steel chair away from one of them in the process. Next came out their manager and Haskins’ wife Vicky, along with “Flash” Morgan Webster. Vicky shoved Dunne (the only flaw in this, as it really should have been a DQ) so he threatened to hit her with the chair. Webster jumped in the way to protect Vicky. Meanwhile, Zack Gibson came up from behind Dunne and grabbed him so Dunne, no longer focused on the fact that he was technically still in the middle of a wrestling match, turned around and nailed him in the guy with the chair, and the referee was forced to disqualify Dunne. This succeeded in building up to an already-booked match between British Strong Style and the Havoc-Haskins faction, as well as eliminating the WWE-contracted Dunne from the tournament without him having to do a job, and doing so against a guy who fans would really, truly hate for advancing in such a cheap way, rather than getting angry at the promotion for booking it this way. Excellent.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
Havoc & Haskins beat Dunne down after the match. They hold him up and demand that “Flash” Morgan Webster hit him with the barbed wire-covered baseball bat but Webster hesitates just long enough for Tyler Bate to come out and make the save, with the still hesitant Webster barely avoiding a chairshot from Dunne as he flees.

CHUCK MAMBO vs. JORDAN DEVLIN vs. T.K. COOPER- 6.5/10
These guys had a fun three-way match, and when I say fun, I mean they really managed to make it fell “fun.” They did your usual three-way spots, but managed to do them in such a way that just seemed more fun than normal. It was a nice break from the serious atmosphere of the tournament without ever actually not taking the match seriously. Kudos to all three men for that.

CHRIS BROOKES, JOEY JANELA, & MARK ANDREWS vs. “FLASH” MORGAN WEBSTER, JIMMY HAVOC, & MARK HASKINS (w/Vicky Haskins)- 7/10
Great trios action! They’re building up to something between Havoc and Janela here, as Janela got cheated again. He told us so in a very strongly-worded post-match promo in which he challenged Jimmy Havoc to a Deathmatch tomorrow night.

SUPER STRONG STYLE 16 QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Keith Lee vs. Angelico- 7/10
They told the obvious story of Angelico having to overcome Lee’s massive size advantage, and they told it very well. Great match.

SUPER STRONG STYLE 16 QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. David Starr- 8.5/10
They had an excellent technical match in which Zack worked over the leg and Starr sold it wonderfully. They told a great story with the injured leg getting in the way of Starr’s own offense as well.

LAURA DI MATTEO, MILLIE MCKENZIE, & SIERRA LOXTON vs. THE HOUSE OF THE COUTOURE (Nina Samuels, Chakara, & Jinny)- 6.5/10
Things started off hot with Di Matteo diving onto the heels before they could even get into the ring. Di Matteo used to be known as Jinny’s personal assistant “Elizabeth,” and as you’d probably expect from Jinny, she treated her like crap, so Di Matteo has some real aggression to work out here. Actually, basically everyone had some aggression to work out here, and they all did. Lots of intensity and big suplexes and hard clotheslines throughout this one. Di Matteo gets the win, but Jinny might have hurt herself on a dive, which would be quite unfortunate seeing as how this is just her second match back after injuring her hand a few months ago.

SUPER STRONG STYLE 16 QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Kassius Ohno vs. Tyler Bate- 8/10
An awesome match, with some great psychology and tons of vicious strikes.

PROGRESS WORLD TITLE MATCH: Travis Banks(c) vs. WALTER- 6.5/10
Banks jumps the bell on WALTER, dropkicking him in the middle of his shower of streamers. This match apparently uses New Japan-style count-outs, meaning that the rule about count-outs only applies when the plot wants it to. Thus, they were on the outside forever early on without the referee trying to count them out, but once Banks got back into the ring so they could do a spot where they teased that WALTER would be counted out, the rule suddenly went into effect again. Then they were back on the outside brawling for a bit and there were no count-outs again.
WALTER clobbered Banks with a lot of strikes, while Banks’ game plan was to find ways to dump WALTER on his head, then lock in the Lion’s Clutch. Banks went for the Slice of Heaven but WALTER countered it into a Gojira Clutch.
T.K. Cooper runs in, causing WALTER to release the Gojira Clutch to go deal with him or else Cooper could cause a DQ. Cooper got booted, then press slammed onto the security guys who had run out after him but didn’t actually get into the ring to try to stop him. Banks got a nearfall off of a Slice of Heaven off this distraction but WALTER kicked out and then took over by reversing the Slice of Heaven for the second time in the match.
Stuff happened and they wound up on the outside… and lo and behold, this time the referee starts to count them out right away. WALTER got back into the ring while Banks just headed up the ramp. He paused at nine and ran back to the ring… only to snatch his PROGRESS World Title belt off of the apron and again head up the ramp to get counted out, which was a great little spot in a vacuum, but frustrating in a world title main event. WALTER cut a promo calling Banks a disgrace and powerbombed Cooper. WALTER then headed up the aisle towards Banks, who then bolted. This was a good angle for what they were trying to do, but it would have been a lot less frustrating if they could have found a way to have this not be the main event.

Despite the disappointment of the main event, this was still a pretty great show from PROGRESS, with two awesome matches and everything else being at least good. The tournament concludes tomorrow night in a show with some rather interesting match-ups, so hopefully that will be an equally good or even better show.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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