Screw Indy Wrestling added a new member to their ranks last chapter in the form of Rampage Brown, who is coming after the Progress Champion El Ligero tonight. On top of that, has the London Riots luck finally run out in the scenario that Jim Smallman has booked for them in their last contracted match? We’re going to find out tonight!
The card:
Stixx vs Mark Haskins
Lord Jonathan Windsor vs Mark Andrews
Danny Garnell vs Rob Lynch
Jimmy Havoc vs James Davis
Darrell Allen vs Doug Williams vs Eddie Dennis
Hunter Brothers vs Project Ego
El Ligero vs Rampage Brown
0. Supplemental Material
So, normally I wouldn’t do this, basically linking to promos and stuff outside of what happens at the shows. But I have to make an acception for this week in regards to two of the matches happening on this card. Last time, Progress co-owner Jim Smallman told the London Riots that he has had it with the London Riots throwing their weight around and would have something special for their last contracted match here at Chapter Eight. That something special was to split them up: Rob Lynch would face Danny Garnell in a Last Man Standing match and James Davis would face Jimmy Havoc in a Hardcore Match.
The latter is of importance here, as shown here, where Havoc confronts Smallman about it: he wants to be done with Hardcore wrestling and if he’s going to go through with this, Smallman has to give him something in return: a contract for a match, any opponent, any time, any stipulation for Havoc, to which Smallman agrees. I won’t spoil anything beyond Chapter Eight, but I ask you to remember this. It’s going to be important.
1. Mark Haskins
This is a Chapter where, not unlike when I first watched Chapter One with Marty Scurll and Zack Sabre Jr., it’s so weird to watch in 2018. This Chapter saw the singles debut of the third member of Screw Indie Wrestling, Mark Haskins. His opening match here with Stixx, the story being the “I’m a Professional Wrestler and am above this Indie Shit” Haskins vs the Defender of the Indies Stixx is a simple one, even if the match itself is just okay. The match did allow us to glimpse at the technical proficiency Haskins has as he would become a major staple in Progress even to the modern day.
2. The Do Just Love Andrews, Don’t They?
We have reached the first of two semi-final matches in the Natural Progression Series between Mark Andrews and Lord Jonathan Windsor and the crowd is firmly behind Andrews in this as the match starts very grapple-based. Which I find to be good, it shows that Andrews isn’t just high flying flippy shit, but he’s very well rounded. The match got more high-speed as it progressed (even if I was up-and-down with the fans demanding Andrews “Fucking Flip!” when he was on the turnbuckle).
It’s because of the great matches he’s been having and his general fire that I do consider Andrews the first major babyface in Progress. Every match has been building him up more and more, throwing him up against adversity (even with the sidestep that came with Ospreay challenging for his spot) and that climb to the top is reaching the apex here with his victory, which will have him go on to Chapter 10 to face whoever wins the other semi-final match: Paul Robinson or, Mark’s tag team partner, Eddie Dennis. But that’s for next week.
3. Last Man Standing
The Last Man Standing match between Garnell and Lynch actually came with an interesting quirk: no weapons are allowed. It has the combination of taking an asset from Lynch (as for Davis, Jimmy Havoc is already out at the beginning of this match with a chair to make sure Davis doesn’t interfere) and it requires the combatants to be a bit more creative. It’s also, funny enough, a match between two competitors that are technically undefeated in Progress so far.
One could consider this match a prototypical match for Progress’ eventual Atlas Division, their superheavyweight title. To put it in the simplest way, it’s two big dudes beating the shit out of each other in an ultra stiff fashion. German suplexes, massive clotheslines, body slams and headshots galore between the two. There was one real icky German delivered from Garnell to Lynch that made me wince, especially after what happened to Hiromu Takashahi last Saturday in San Francisco. The match concludes with Garnell hitting a tornado DDT followed by a dangling DDT from the top rope that resulted in Lynch failing to make the ten count in a match that was enhanced by its limitations.
Continued belowAs for the other London Riots match…
4. Okay, This Was a Bit Much
…Alright, look… if it hasn’t become apparent: I’m a pretty big Jimmy Havoc fan. As such, I’ve seen a great deal of his matches in Progress and I’ve also seen him do some heinous shit to people and have seen heinous shit done to him in turn. I’ve seen him slice the webbing between Pete Dunne’s fingers and then pour whiskey on to the cuts. I’ve seen him deliver Acid Rainmakers with barbed wire wrapped around his arm. I’ve seen him fall barefoot onto piles of thumb tacks. I’ve seen him have his face curb stomped into light tubes.
So, please appreciate when I say this: this match made me wince. Why? Three words: Unprotected Chair Headshots.
I’m just going to spoil it: Havoc loses this match and he loses badly. Like, there’s no fiery endurance and determination here. He’s at the end of his rope with this lose. It’s a very important part of the story being told (there’s a reason I dedicate time to it each Chapter. The payoff is coming), and I am sorta-kinda recommending you don’t watch it. This is especially coming off the interaction between Havoc and Nigel McGuinness last Chapter it makes me question why do I like hardcore matches? Like, I feel when the story calls for them they work and I guess that also applies here, but this one really did come close to my personal threshold.
5. The Unlikely Challenger?
Having achieved number one contendership in a rather unorthodox way last Chapter, Rampage Brown faces El Ligero for the Progress Championship. It really does feel like a bit of a filler challenge, because there’s kind of very little story built into it. And it’s not a bad match, even if it comes just behind the Last Man Standing match. So, imagine the shock when Rampage wins, ending Ligero’s reign 245 days (weirdly enough, the same amount of days Nathan Cruz held it). But I think I understand why:
I’ve said before, Progress has a bit of trouble booking Champions that are good guys. As of writing, there have been twelve different wrestlers that have held the Progress Championship and the thing the three most memorable champions had in common was they were arrogant dickheads (and in the case of the Big One: psychotic, but we’ll get to that later) and it gave everyone a target. El Ligero is a fantastic wrestler and his matches as champ weren’t bad, but it did feel like the storytelling kind of ground down a bit. Spoilers, Rampage isn’t going to hold the title long, but he will provide a good focal point.
All in all, Chapter Eight was a bit of a mixed bag, especially compared to the very good Chapter Seven. The main event and Last Man Standing match were the major standouts in a good way, whereas the the hardcore match was a standout in a not-so-good way. With that having been said, we have the conclusion to the Natural Progression Series in Chapters Nine and Ten… and I highly recommend you stick around for them, because they’re going to change a lot of things around Progress…
