Event: Progress Chapter 103: Beer Snake City
Venue: Electric Ballroom, Camden, London
Submitted by: Steve Harris
Scotty Davis and Eddie Kingston over The Workhorsemen (JD Drake and Anthony Henry)
Originally a tag team title defense by Davis and Jordan Devlin, but Devlin has picked up an injury and was replaced by Kingston to a big reaction. Great chain wrestling between Davis and Henry to begin, then the big guys came in for power spots and a chop exchange. Davis was cut off for a long time until Kingston got the tag and ran riot on the Workhorsemen. The match broke down into a four-way brawl until Drake missed a moonsault allowing Davis to hit Henry with a roundhouse kick and pin him for the win. Kingston was not interested in shaking any hands after the bell.
Gisele Shaw over Chakara
Chakara began this match as the heel, but Shaw used every trick in the book to turn this crowd and by the end, they were firmly behind Chakara. Shaw took the majority of the match apart from brief Chakara comebacks and won by submission with her deep armbar.
Anti Fun Police (Chief Deputy Dunne and Los Federales Santos Jr) and WALTER over More Than Hype (LJ Cleary, Darren Kearney, and Nathan Martin)
WALTER was drafted into the team with AFP when Travis Banks picked up an injury. WALTER was brilliant as the straight man with no interest in AFP’s comedy spots, he wanted to murder the Irish trio, and murder them he did. He dominated them on his own and Dunne got the pin after he and Santos hit the Fun Stopper.
Progress Proteus Championship
Paul Robinson over Kyle Fletcher to retain
Defended under knock out or tap out rules while Robinson is champion, this was a fight with both men going for the KO. Robinson buried Fletcher under steel chairs on the floor to no avail, went for a dive but was caught in mid-air and suplexed onto the pile of chairs. Robinson got a choke but Fletcher climbed to the second rope with Robinson on his back to fall off and break free. Robinson cornered Fletcher and hit him with a flurry of punches until the referee stopped the match. This was an unpopular result as Fletcher did not seem finished, and he let his feelings known on the subject, as did the audience. Robinson got a microphone and defended the decision before criticizing the fickle fans that can’t decide whether they support him or not.
Millie McKenzie over Toni Storm
This was originally a tag team match with Storm and Jinny against the Medusa Complex, but Charli Evans was forced out with an injury so her partner McKenzie faced Storm in a singles contest. Evans came out to the stage, distracting Storm and allowing McKenzie to attack from behind to start the match. The two were having a decent back and forth match but once Storm looked to be gaining the advantage Evans ran down and attacked Storm, apparently not injured after all. McKenzie hit a spear and pinned her. Jinny ran in to chase the heels off and shared an awkward handshake with her long time rival Storm.
Ilja Dragunov over Malik
A Chapter debut for Malik after impressing at last year’s Natural Progression Series. The story here was Dragunov’s growing frustration that Malik was a tougher opponent than he thought. He hit knee drops and sentons from the top for near falls as well as a brutal dropkick. With Malik in the corner, Dragunov went for coast to coast but was speared out of the air by Malik. The comeback was cut off by a series of knee strikes before Dragunov hit Torpedo Moscow to finally put Malik away. As Dragunov saluted Malik he was attacked by Eddie Kingston. Kingston cut an impassioned promo burying LAX, NXT, AEW and especially NXT UK. He called Dragunov an actor, promised to teach him a lesson and then go for the champion. Kingston was great as always.
Progress World Championship
Cara Noir over Mark Andrews to retain
Eddie Dennis ruined Noir’s theatrical entrance by kicking him, and Noir totally lost it, chasing both Dennis and Andrews around the ring and beating on Andrews. Once the match started Dennis constantly interfered and caused a distraction until the referee caught him removing a turnbuckle and finally ejected him. The match then settled into a proper main event with Andrews getting a near fall following a shooting star press and Cara hitting an Ushigoroshi from the top rope and countering another shooting star press with a vicious looking knee to Andrews’ head. Dennis returned to ringside for more shenanigans and from this point, we had roll-ups with the tights, a ref bump, visionary tap outs, belt shots, and low blows. Andrews hit the Stundog Millionnaire and as Cara kicked out he spun back into the choke for the tap out win. This was really overbooked for me but Noir is a very popular champion and his victory against the odds was well received.