Chapter One set the tone and the story, with Nathan Cruz as the promotion’s inaugural champion and the guy to beat. Now on to Chapter Two, where the seeds of the long term begin to be planted.
Back at The Garage. The Card:
Lion Kid vs Stixx
Wild Boar Mike Hitchman vs Mark Andrews
Noam Dar vs Darrell Allen
Jimmy Havoc vs Danny Garnell
London Riots vs Velocity Vipers
RJ Singh vs Greg Burridge vs El Ligero
Nathan Cruz vs Marty Scurll in a Two Out of Three Falls Match for the Progress Championship
1. How Far It’s Come
This isn’t about a match, but it is about something said by Jim Smallman, the ring announcer/co-owner/master of ceremonies for Progress. He spoke about how he attended Wrestlemania that year (2012 would’ve been Wrestlemania 28) and found it a bit dull compared to the crowd here at the event as well as saying that he’d have to pay Vince McMahon a dollar for every “Yes!” chant. Just jokes, but fast forward to 2018 and Progress has gotten a lot bigger and they have been in bed with WWE a lot. They were one of the two indie promotions to host qualifying matches for WWE’s first United Kingdom Tournament, they work the Wrestlemania Axxess show and even hosted one of Pete Dunne’s defenses of the WWE United Kingdom Championship against Jack Gallagher (Chapter 60, if you’re wondering). Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad the promotion has grown, and this is admittedly my very anti-corporation side coming out, but I do side-eye someone that claims themselves punk rock while being in league with the biggest game in town.
2. Nice Draco Malfoy
I have to give a nod to the match between Mark Andrews and “Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman. Andrews (the “Nice Draco Malfoy” for his floppy bleach blonde hair and him being the babyface in this match) is a high flyer who really showed his underdog chops by, to putting it in the most simplest of terms: getting the ever loving piss beaten out of him. Whether it’s body slams, smashed into the turnbuckles or the massive amounts of strikes he takes, Andrews will not quit. Even in victory, he manages to get it by the skin of his teeth and even then, he gets attacked by Xander Cooper right after. It goes a long way to establish Andrews as sympathetic and will serve greatly for him in the long term.
3. Jimmy Havoc
We can’t talk about Progress without talking about Jimmy Fucking Havoc.
Chapter Two sees his debut in the promotion after an extensive internet campaign against Danny Garnell, his trainer. Havoc was known for his Deathmatches, but with Progress comes a desire to turn over a new leaf (despite the ref confiscating a spoon from him). He has to abide by the rules so he can show Progress and the world that he is a good wrestler. Like the match between Marty Scurll and Zack Sabre Jr. last Chapter, this match combines great technical wrestling, comedy and emotion of two who know each other so well. Havoc easily endears himself to the crowd with some high flying techniques (such as leaping over the top rope onto Garnell and then immediately taking a swing from a fan’s drink) and cheeky attitude. Although Havoc doesn’t pick up the win, this is still a match of respect between the two and shows the crowd he can hang, as shown by the crowd’s chants of “One More Chance!” for Jimmy to be at Chapter Three.
One small thing: Crowd, do not shout “We Miss Benoit!” when someone puts in the crossface… I’m saying to a crowd from a six year old show…
…
…Move on!
4. Riots and Vipers
So. I won’t lie when I say there’s something very Tug-Your-Collar-Nervously at the idea of a British tag team calling themselves the London Riots in 2012. At least James Davis and Rob Lynch acknowledge it in their promo beforehand as they take on the team of Alex Esmail and Will Ospreay. It’s two big guys versus two smaller guys and it is pure destruction. Esmail and Ospreay try -just try– to use their speed to their advantage, but it is so one-sided to the point that Esmail is carried away with an injury, leaving the London Riots against a very fired up and very angry Ospreay. It is at this point we get to see the vestiges of another wrestler. The high speed, high flying wrestler that fights like hell against the Riots, only to be defeated. But even after the Riots cutting a taunting promo after the match, we know this is just the beginning for the wrestler that would be known all over the world as the Aerial Assassin.
Continued below5. Two-For-Two
Two Out of Three Falls matches can be tricky. You can run the risk of making everything before the first two falls feel like stalling until the match gets to the “real” pin/submission. If you can properly pace the match with interesting spots, it goes a long way. The main event match between Marty Scurll and Nathan Cruz for the Progress Championship does a pretty good job of that. It starts emotionally with a spitting contents between the two devolves into a series of loud, vicious chops to each others chests. Other spots include Scurll taking a massive dive to the outside and landing about four rows deep into the crowd, Scurll managing to land a giant double knee from the top rope which eventually lands him the first pin, Scurll spraying someone’s beer into Cruz’s face, Cruz throwing Scurll through a door into a stairwell and some of the fans themselves helping Scurll get into the ring to avoid a count out.
Cruz does play up the dastardly, cheap tactics in the match. On top of things like eye rakes and using the ropes to help his pin attempts, he constantly drags Scurll out to get an easy count-out point, to a degree that Cruz delivers a Fireman’s Carry Slam on Scurll onto the sound booth, but Scurll still manages to get back in! Cruz finally manages to score his first pin by delivering a Tombstone Piledriver to Scurll, tying the wrestlers. This is when we see Cruz get more desperate, demanding the ref call the bell when Marty is taking a long time to get back on his feet, in a daze. But Marty won’t go down so easy.
At this point, Cruz is not going to be stopped, managing to simultaneously distract the ref and deliver a low blow to Scurll. But even after a German Suplex, Scurll won’t go down. Cruz finally pulls the ref into the way of a dropkick before he goes out to get a steel chair. But before he can use it on Scurll, El Ligero comes out and grabs the chair from Cruz. Ligero attempts to superkick Cruz, who dodges, letting Scurll take the hit. That’s all Cruz needs to get his second pinfall and retain the Progress Championship.
The match went about thirty minutes, but it never felt like it dragged. Cruz and Scurll kept a quick, but steady pace with an ending that not only fit well with both characters, but has set up a new thread with El Ligero’s interference. All in all, Chapter Two saw the introduction of wrestlers such as Jimmy Havoc, Will Ospreay, Mark Andrews, the London Riots and they, alongside Scurll, Cruz, e.t.c. will be the seeds sown to grow over the coming years.
