{:class=“restrict-width”}

Many Years and Counting

I guess you can say that it’s a good thing that I moved my lookback at Progress’ 10th anniversary show—from March of this year—to this week. The reason why I say that is because it coincided the week that we celebrated 20 years of Randy Orton competing in the WWE.

{:class=“restrict-width”}

One week before Raw and SmackDown turned from regular shows to two separate brands in 2002, I—along with my mom and dad—saw Randy Orton compete in a dark match prior to the Sunday Night Heat and SmackDown tapings at what’s nowadays the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia; in his dark match, he took on the late Mr. Perfect. To me, he was new to WWE coming to its now former affiliate OVW; in later years even while he was winning championships left and right on both Raw and SmackDown, I would learn that Orton is the son of “Cowboy” Bob Orton, the grandson of the late Bob Orton Sr., and the nephew of the late Barry Orton.

Orton is currently ½ of the Raw Tag Team Champions with Riddle; along with his second and current reign as Raw Tag Team Champion, he is also a ten-time WWE Champion, a four-time World Heavyweight Champion, a Triple Crown champion, a Grand Slam champion, a Money In the Bank briefcase winner, and also a former World Tag Team, SmackDown Tag Team, WWE Intercontinental, and WWE United States Champion. Not only that, he also made a name of himself for 20 years from being a member of Evolution, to being a member of Rated-RKO with Edge, to being a member of the Legacy with next generation wrestlers including Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. just to name a few, for being “The Legend Killer” by going after WWE legends and Hall of Famers, and also “The Viper” and “The Apex Predator” among other accolades in his WWE tenure.

Congratulations to Randy Orton, 20 years and counting!

Progress Chapter 131: 10th Anniversary Show!

Our first stop is London, England in the United Kingdom; on March 25, 2022, the 131st chapter of Progress took place in the same venue in London where Progress was born ten years prior, and that’s the Garage.

{:class=“restrict-width”}

It is true what Simon Miller, the ring announcer for the event, said about Progress; without founders such as Jon Briley, Jim Smallman, and Glen Robinson, “there would be no Progress.” I’m glad to have discovered it last year a month or so before the WWE Network entered the Peacock era, and—yes, I have mentioned it in this newsletter before—am still a fan of this company today.

We had a fair start to the 10th anniversary show, but like Spinal Tap in their 1984 mockumentary, the show would go to 11 courtesy of two competitors that renewed their rivalry—for one night only—ever since they met three chapters ago.

Those two competitors were Cara Noir and Ilja Dragunov. A few years ago, Cara Noir and Dragunov had a series of matches including one for the Progress World Championship that the “Black Swan” would hang onto for almost 800 days until chapter 130. Both men fought tooth and nail, even when Cara Noir was trying to not be preoccupied with losing the title to Ring of Honor World Champion Jonathan Gresham due to distractions by his current rival Spike Trivet. Cara Noir was still able to focus on his match, even before losing to the current NXT United Kingdom Champion Dragunov after countering and dodging Dragunov’s Torpedo Moscow a couple times. Was it worth renewing the rivalry between Cara Noir and Dragunov for one night only? My answer is yes…that, and it was my favorite match of the anniversary show.

We also saw three titles on the line in the second half of the Progress chapter; only one of the titles changed hands and it was the Progress Tag Team Championship. The Smokin’ Aces came into a tag team gauntlet not only as championship, but as a team that drew #1, starting things off with North West Strong members Chris Ridgeway and Luke Jacobs. The team of Charlie Sterling and Nick Riley went through the NWS members and then Lykos Gym, but were surprisingly dethroned after losing to the Sunshine Machine, prior to the 0121 coming out as the last team to both enter the gauntlet and win the belts. This gauntlet was indeed fun while it lasted, even with not only a surprise loss but a surprise win as well.

Also on the line were the Progress Women’s Championship that Gisele Shaw retained over Alex Windsor, and the Progress World Championship that Jonathan Gresham retained over Warren Banks after the champion got assistance from two people that metaphorically stabbed a knife in Banks’ back.

Before I get to the results for Chapter 131, there were two shows—that don’t count as Progress chapters but are like (to me) side stories for some reason, kind of like how the “Star Wars” franchise as side stories such as movies about Han Solo and Darth Vader or having TV shows “The Clone Wars” and “The Mandalorian”—that took place days prior to the 10th anniversary show; those two shows were “Who Run the World?” (which is like WWE Evolution, an all female event) and “Roy Johnson’s Everything Patterned: London.”

For a quick recap of “Who Run the World?” that took place at the Dome in London (which came to Peacock and Demand Progress this past Saturday), Mercedez Blaze & Taonga defeated Charlie Morgan & Jetta, Alex Windsor defeated Holidead for a shot at the Progress Women’s Championship at the 10th Anniversary Show, Alexxis Falcon defeated Lana Austin in a no disqualification match to retain the TNT Women’s Championship, Skye Smitson defeated Laura Di Matteo, Trish Adora defeated Rhio to retain the Pan-Afrikan World Diaspora Wrestling Championship, and Gisele Shaw defeated Session Moth Martina to retain the Progress Women’s Championship. (The main event was announced on chapter 130.)

For a quick recap of “Roy Johnson’s Everything Patterned: London” that took place at the same venue (and is also available on Demand Progress), Man Like Dereiss defeated Keinen Krishna, Leon Slater and Levi Muir in a fatal four-way match; TK Cooper defeated Hari Singh; Rhio defeated Taonga; Warren Banks defeated Jody Fleisch; Alexander Roth & Roy Johnson defeated Jordan Saaed & RJ Singh and Darius Lockhart & Sugar Dunkerton in a triple threat tag team match; Gisele Shaw defeated Holidead to retain the Progress Women’s Championship; Trish Adora defeated Mercedez Blaze to retain the Pan-Afrikan World Diaspora Wrestling Championship; and Jonathan Gresham defeated Malik (w/ Kosta Konstantino) to retain the Progress World Championship.

Now to refocus on chapter 131 and take a look at the results of that event that took place at the Garage in London (P.S.: My apologies for making this week’s newsletter super lengthy, quick recaps and all)…

Match #1: Laura Di Matteo defeated Alexxis Falcon, Rhio and Skye Smitson in a fatal four-way match to win a shot at the Progress Women’s Championship.

Towards the end, Alexxis and Skye argued at ringside until Laura dove onto the two before coming back in the ring and fighting Rhio. Then, Laura would win after making Rhio submit to the Veni Vidi Vici. After the match, Skye blindsided Alexxis and beat her down including hitting her with a sleeper slam. My score: 2/5

Match #2: Charles Crowley defeated Danny Black.

Before the match started, Crowley mocked the fans for expecting someone else such as Yoshi Tatsu. Crowley won after countering a 450 splash with the Weasel’s Clutch (triangle choke-like submission) and adding a Mandible Claw to the hold, making Black submit. My score: 2/5

Match #3: Ilja Dragunov defeated Cara Noir.

Towards the end, Cara Noir countered the first Torpedo Moscow attempt with a hug, then countered the second Torpedo Moscow attempt with a Torpedo Moscow of his own. Then, Dragunov came back with two consecutive Torpedo Moscows for the win. Both men hugged afterwards, then went the lights went out and came back on, Spike Trivet appeared and choked Cara Noir with a chain before padlocking it on the top rope while it was around Cara Noir’s neck; Trivet vowed to follow the “Black Swan” around the world without being ignored and—after hitting him several times with a steel chair—vowed to show how ugly Cara Noir looked before taking his mask with him. My score: 4.5/5

Match #4: The 0121 won in a tag team gauntlet to become new Progress Tag Team Champions.

In part 1 of the gauntlet, the Smokin’ Aces eliminated Chris Ridgeway & Luke Jacobs; as Ridgeway and Jacobs went for a buzzsaw kick/piledriver combo, Nick Riley tripped Ridgeway from ringside, allowing Charlie Sterling to rollup Jacobs and pin him for the elimination.

In part 2 of the gauntlet, the Smokin’ Aces eliminated Lykos Gym by disqualification; after Kid Lykos—who paid homage to Hallowicked—pulled Riley from the apron, the referee caught Kid Lykos II hitting Sterling with a baking tray to cause the DQ, leading to Sterling hitting Lykos Gym with their own tray.

In part 3 of the gauntlet, the Sunshine Machine eliminated the Smokin’ Aces after Chuck Mambo and TK Cooper hit Sterling with Captain Midnight’s Revenge (an assisted Death Valley Driver); both teams showed sportsmanship afterwards. In the final part of the gauntlet, the 0121 defeated the Sunshine Machine to win the belts; both teams fought at ringside and into the venue’s bar in the beginning until—in the end—Man Like Dereiss hit Cooper with a middle rope Canadian destroyer, Maloney hit Cooper with the Drilla (piledriver), and Dereiss hit Cooper with a 450 for the win. Jody Fleisch came out and celebrated with the 0121 afterwards. My score: 3.5/5

Match #5: Gisele Shaw defeated Alex Windsor to retain the Progress Women’s Championship

…after making her submit to a Fujiwara armbar even after fighting and rolling her away from the ropes. My score: 3.25/5

Main event: Jonathan Gresham defeated Warren Banks to retain the Progress World Championship.

During the match, both men fought at ringside until Gresham threw Banks into the fans’ chairs several times before burying him with chairs so he couldn’t come back into the ring; fans helped Banks back in the ring before the count of ten was made. Near the end, Banks hit Gresham with the Bullet Vehicle and thought he won before realizing that Gresham’s foot was on the bottom rope; Lykos Gym came out to protest until Gresham crotched Banks—behind the referee’s back—for two.

Banks fought back, then hit Gresham with the Gut Check (or “Lumbar Check” as Cedric Alexander calls it) until Kid Lykos II pulled the referee out of the ring; then, behind the referee’s back, Gresham hit Banks with Lykos Gym’s baking tray and pinned him for the win before celebrating with the team. Post-match, the fans surrounded the ring and gave Banks especially while chanting “Warren, Warren, Warren [f-bombing] Banks” several times. My score: 2.75/5

ICW Fight Club

We stay in the United Kingdom, but this time, we jump to April 2022. Also, we head to the GPWA in Glasgow, Scotland for ICW Fight Club.

The four-on-four buildup for ICW Barred II is looking pretty good, especially this week. Three matches related to the Manifesto vs. Daz Black’s team at the event would take place on three episodes of Fight Club; one of them took place this week, and it was Leyton Buzzard against Grant McIvor. Black wasn’t in attendance for this week’s episode because he was ambushed by Dylan Thorn backstage at a family-friendly pro wrestling show in Scotland; as a result, Black was ruled out of action until Barred because of those attacks.

So far, we saw Black’s team take the lead 1-0 after Buzzard defeated McIvor in the ring. On next week’s episode, Luke Kyro takes on Eddie Castle; I think Jack Jester will be action in the third match against either Thorn or ADM since Black was injured outside ICW.

From four-on-four to three-on-three, a new match was made for ICW Barred II, and it was Thatcher’s Cabinet against the team of Ravie Davie, Lou King Sharp & Krieger. This match was made ever since the Cabinet had an ongoing rivalry with Sharp and Krieger, including putting Krieger out of action months ago. Davie would become the next thorn in the side of the Cabinet before he started teaming up with Sharp and Krieger. When the match was announced, I was pretty sure that it would end up the rivalry between the Cabinet and Sharp & Krieger—even with Davie added to the mix—until they announced stipulations which you’ll see in the results shortly.

The storylines building up to ICW Barred II were good. As for the matches, it started off with an opener that would make a magic 8-ball say “Outlook not so good”, and was followed by three matches that were borderline good, and then had a main event that ended the round of matches for this week on a high note.

{:class=“restrict-width”}

That main event was a non-title match between Kez Evans and “The Outlaw” Stevie James. James has been fully focused ever since parting ways with Krobar of the Purge and—this week—was looking to become next in line like BT Gunn to fight Evans for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship. It was a pretty good main event, regardless of the ending where Evans got himself disqualified; not only did that match show Evans being devious while trying to take more than one easy way out heading into his Barred II match with BT Gunn, but also how James is building his own path as a singles competitor nowadays.

Here are the match results from Glasgow…

Match #1: Charles Vyce & Mr. Ian Skinner (w/ Thatcher Wright) defeated Lou King Sharp & Krieger (w/ Ravie Davie) in three and a half minutes.

Davie cheered for Sharp and Krieger on a microphone throughout the match. Sharp dove onto Thatcher’s Cabinet, then got thrown into them by Krieger—from the ring—before the match began. Near the end, Wright got ejected after stopping the referee’s pin count, then Vyce and Skinner crotched their opponents from behind before Vyce grabbed Sharp’s kendo stick and hit him with it before pinning him for the win. Post-match, Davie blamed the Cabinet for not fighting fair, then proposed a six-man match at Barred II. Wright agreed before both he and Davie announced what would happen if one of the teams won. If the Cabinet won, Davie, Sharp and Krieger would join under Wright’s leadership; if Davie’s team won, all three members of the Cabinet would compete under stipulations of Davie’s choosing. No score.

Match #2: Leyton Buzzard defeated Grant McIvor (w/ ADM and Eddie Castle);

…after McIvor missed on a Swanton Bomb attempt, Buzzard won with a Rock Bottom. My score: 2.5/5

Match #3: Dylan Thorn (w/ ADM and Grant McIvor) defeated Saqib Ali (w/ Chris Toal) to retain the ICW Zero-G Championship.

Toal came to the ring disguised as ADM, but instead of the Manifesto logo, a man’s crotch was drawn on one of his hands. After Thorn hit Ali with a top rope blockbuster, he won with a Seth Rollins curb stomp. My score: 2.5/5

Match #4: Lana Austin defeated Anastasia with a discus forearm;

this match was made after Anastasia told Lana to go to the back of the queue after Lana vowed to set her sights on the ICW Women’s Championship. My score: 2.5/5

Main event: “The Outlaw” Stevie James defeated Kez Evans in a non-title match by disqualification.

Evans put James in the Blood Clot Clutch, and James grabbed the bottom rope for the break, but refused to free his opponent which then led to James winning by DQ; post-match, Evans attacked James with a steel chair until BT Gunn chased him out of the ring. My score: 3.5/5

NXT

Now, we head to Orlando, Florida in the United States for this week’s episode of NXT.

NXT Spring Breakin’ is not the only event we’re counting down to. We learned that in two weeks, the first ever NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament will take place as well. I personally like the idea of having female breakout wrestlers take part of a tournament besides the Dusty Rhodes Women’s Tag Team Championship. I’m curious to see what up-and-comers we’ll see in the tournament besides those we have seen on NXT: LVL UP as well as recently on select episodes of NXT. So far, announced for the tournament are Arianna Grace (the daughter of Anthony Carelli, best known as Santino Marella in the WWE), Kiana James, Sloane Jacobs (best known as the Notorious Mimi in the independent circuit and select AEW appearances), and Lash Legend.

Back to Spring Breakin’, matches have been made for this event this week besides last week. Last week, we learned that Bron Breakker will defend the NXT Championship against Joe Gacy, and Cameron Grimes will defend the NXT North American Championship against Solo Sikoa and Carmelo Hayes in a triple threat match; this week, three more matches have been made. One is a tag team match between Lash Legend & SmackDown’s Natalya and Nikkita Lyons & Cora Jade; this match was made after Lash declared that she’s not done with Nikkita “by a long shot” while Natalya still has the NXT Women’s roster put on notice.

Another match made will be Nathan Frazer’s first match on American soil; this week, his first match was supposed to be against Guru Raaj until Grayson Waller stopped the match from taking place before declaring NXT his show.

The third match made will have two more SmackDown wrestlers that were best known as War Machine in Ring of Honor and then War Raiders on NXT (as well as Rowe and Hanson before joining WWE’s main roster); it will involve the team of Erik and Ivar, the Viking Raiders. This week, they competed in a tag team match after Roderick Strong of Diamond Mine revealed that he was sick and tired of seeing the team—especially the Creed Brothers—struggle and wanting to see them get ready for anybody; by “anybody”, it also includes the Viking Raiders whom Strong suggested that Brutus and Julius should fight at Spring Breakin’.

Onto the storylines, Tony D’Angelo is closing in on cementing his babyface status now that Legado del Fantasma—especially the leader Santos Escobar—is feuding with him ever since he became “The Don of NXT” after his victory of Tommaso Ciampa (or Ciampa as he’s simply known as nowadays on Raw) at NXT Stand & Deliver.

After hell broke loose near the end of his match against Von Wagner (that I’ll get to shortly as well as in the results), D’Angelo suggested that he and Escobar should have a sit-down meeting even after introducing us to his “goombas”, Troy “Two Dimes” Donovan and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo (f.k.a. Channing Lauren). I got a feeling that the sit-down meeting will turn into a match next week, just like the episode of the KO Show turned into Kevin Owens vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin at WrestleMania this year.

Another storyline that came into play involved the upcoming NXT Championship match between Breakker and Gacy. Gacy, with his cloaked colleagues in tow, tried to convince the fans that Breakker would be unable to compete at Spring Breakin’ after he made the champion take “a leap of faith” by pushing him off the stage on last week’s episode. Then, Breakker’s father Rick Steiner came into the ring and told Gacy that Breakker will compete, and Gacy’s cloaked colleagues got on the apron until Breakker ran in and fought a handful of the cloaked men while rescuing his father (who was held by two of the men) until Gacy took him down with a handspring clothesline.

Then, the cloaked men got out of the ring and lined up from the entryway to the ring before handing Gacy—from one person to another—the NXT Championship. It’s good to see Gacy add an eerie and sinister side to his current peacemaker-like character especially during his feud with the NXT Champion, and also adding his cloaked colleagues to—who appear to be filling in for Harland who was released three days after this episode aired (on a lighter note, belated congratulations to Harland for getting married!) to the mix.

Even though handful of matches—not counting the cancelled Nathan Frazer vs. Guru Raaj—ranged between fair and below fair, there were two pretty good matches. One of them was the non-title main event between Roxanne Perez and Mandy Rose; Roxanne recently got a quick push by feuding with Toxic Attraction, and she did very well in her match with the NXT Women’s Champion before Mandy emerged victorious. Plus, Toxic Attraction is still proving to be a dominant trio by not only winning gold but also—like Natalya has lately—putting the women’s division on notice.

{:class=“restrict-width”}

The other match I liked was my favorite match of the episode, and it was the aforementioned bout between Tony D’Angelo and Von Wagner; Xyon Quinn was originally scheduled to be D’Angelo’s opponent, but was absent for some reason. Either way, it was still a great matchup that built both D’Angelo’s and Wagner’s characters as tough guys, even if you threw in Legado del Fantasma as well as D’Angelo’s “goombas” near the end of the match. I doubt that those two will have a rematch in the future (unless I’m proven wrong in a future episode), but it was still a decent battle nonetheless.

Here are the NXT match results from Orlando…

Match #1: Nikkita Lyons defeated Lash Legend with a jumping heel kick; this was a rematch from three weeks ago.

My score: 2/5

Match #2: Von Wagner (w/ Mr. Stone) defeated Tony D’Angelo.

Towards the end, after Wagner threw D’Angelo out of the ring, Joaquin Wilde and Cruz del Toro appeared on the apron until Troy Donovan and Channing Lorenzo pulled them off; then, Santos Escobar—behind the referee’s back—appeared and hit D’Angelo in the back of one of his knees with what looked like a lead pipe. As D’Angelo crawled back into the ring, Wagner won with a big boot. My score: 4/5

(NOTE: For those of you wondering, Mr. Stone is the same person as Robert Stone.)

Match #3: Nathan Frazer vs. Guru Raaj never took place.

As soon as Frazer was coming to the ring, Grayson Waller attacked Raaj out of the ring, then told Frazer to stay back because NXT was his show. Waller then turned his attention to Andre Chase & Bodhi Hayward who were with Chase University fans in the audience and taunted them; then, as Chase and Hayward left the crowd and approached the ring, Frazer attacked Waller out of the ring. No score.

Match #4: Kayden Carter & Katana Chance defeated Yulisa Leon & Valentina Feroz.

Katana Chance is the new name for Kacy Catanzaro. The team of Kayden and Katana won after hitting Valentina with a Russian leg sweep/450 combo. My score: 1.5/5

Match #5: Joaquin Wilde, Cruz del Toro & Elektra Lopez defeated Josh Briggs & Fallon Henley;

Brooks Jensen was scheduled to team with Briggs and Fallon, but was attacked backstage by Von Wagner (revealed by Mr. Stone during the match) after Jensen was distracted by seeing Sofia Cromwell while preparing for this match. Near the end, Fallon and Elektra fought out of the arena while the Briggs was trying not to be outnumbered by Wilde and Cruz; Wilde and Cruz picked up the win after hitting Briggs with a running enzuigiri/leg sweep combo. My score: 1/5

Match #6: Solo Sikoa defeated Trick Williams (w/ Carmelo Hayes).

Cameron Grimes joined Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett on commentary. Sikoa, whose left shoulder was covered with Kinesio tape, won after hitting Williams with a top rope splash. After the match, Grimes came into the ring and had words with Sikoa until Hayes shoved Sikoa out of the way. Then, Sikoa attempted to hit Hayes with a superkick, but missed and hit Grimes. Match #7: The Viking Raiders defeated Edris Enofé & Malik Blade after Erik and Ivar hit Blade with a double chokeslam. Both teams shook hands afterwards. My score: 1.5/5

Main event: Mandy Rose (w/ Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne) defeated Roxanne Perez in a non-title match.

During the match, Mandy pointed at Roxanne while taunting her for wanting to be a future NXT Women’s Champion until Roxanne bit her finger; Mandy’s finger, and the rest of her hand, would be worked on afterwards. Mandy won after hitting Roxanne with a pump knee. Post-match, Wendy Choo appeared and shooed Toxic Attraction out of the ring by attempting to spray them with super soakers, then pressed a button, causing a net to fall from the ceiling and onto Toxic Attraction. Then, Wendy and Roxanne chased Toxic Attraction to the back while spraying them with silly string. My score: 3.5/5

NXT UK

Now, we return to London, England, and this time, it’s the BT Sports Studios for an episode of NXT UK.

NXT is not the only WWE brand that is counting down to a special event or two. NXT UK is counting down to episode 200 which takes place in two weeks.

One of the matches taking place will be—now that the contract has been signed for it this week—Ilja Dragunov and Jordan Devlin fighting for the NXT United Kingdom Championship one last time. The reason why I added “one last time” is because of this stipulation that was added to the title bout; the loser of this match will leave NXT UK forever. Both Dragunov and Devlin agreed on that stipulation as they argued prior to signing the contract in front of the fans (as well as returning NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint and his assistant Sid Scala) for that match. The contract signing would then end with the champion and challenger brawling, and Dragunov attempting to hit Devlin with the Torpedo Moscow through the table (used for the signing) before Devlin used Scala as a shield; Devlin would then come right back before hitting Dragunov with the Devlin Side through the table.

This could be a good title match to watch, even with the stipulation that has upped the antes for both the champion Dragunov and the challenger Devlin. Plus, the “loser leaves” matches are usually nailbiters to me when it comes to wondering if someone heroic or villainous leaves the company as soon as the smoke clears.

Outside the storyline that was the hot topic of this week’s episode of NXT UK, there were three matches that weren’t really lengthy, looking as if they belonged to an episode of NXT: LVL UP instead of this episode of NXT UK.

{:class=“restrict-width”}

Despite that, my favorite of the three matches would go to the opening tag team match between Symbiosis members Primate & Tyson T-Bone and the team of Wild Boar and—from Subculture—Mark Andrews. Both teams showed good chemistry, especially a furious Wild Boar collaborating with Andrews—who recently returned—and picking up the win. Not only did the match show Andrews befriend Wild Boar once again ever since Wild Boar got kicked out of Symbiosis last year, but also showed that Wild Boar still has all three members of the team—including the leader Eddie Dennis whom he has targeted as of late ever since returning to action.

Oh, and yes, we got the first taste—of 2022—of what Van Halen would call the “best of both worlds”, seeing competitors from NXT and NXT UK colliding in the current home of NXT UK in the form of Von Wagner vs. Saxon Huxley.

Here are the NXT UK match results from London…

Match #1: Mark Andrews & Wild Boar defeated Tyson T-Bone & Primate (w/ Eddie Dennis).

All four men brawled before the match started, especially Wild Boar who would shoo Dennis away while going after the rest of Symbiosis. The team of Andrews and Wild Boar won after Andrews hit T-Bone with the Fall To Pieces (shooting star press). Post-match, Wild Boar chased Dennis to the back; Dennis would then encounter Scala in the hallway before Scala put him in a Dog Collar match against Wild Boar—who continued to chase him backstage—for a future episode. My score: 2/5

Match #2: Xia Brookside (w/ Eliza Alexander) defeated Angel Hayze.

After Xia kicked out of Angel’s rollup, Angel knocked Eliza—who distracted her—off the apron before Xia rolled her up for the win. Afterwards, Xia and Eliza beat down Angel until Amale ran in and chased them out. My score: 1/5

Main event: Von Wagner defeated Saxon Huxley in four minutes with a Death Valley Driver;

Post-match, Wagner told the NXT UK his catchphrase “This is Von Wagner’s world, and you’re living in it.” My score: 1.5/5

NXT: LVL UP

Finally, we return to Orlando for an episode of NXT: LVL UP.

This time, I went back to liking two of three matches that occurred this week, and they were fairly better than the main event in my opinion. One match was Damon Kemp—whom we’ll soon see on NXT UK—taking on Dante Chen, and the other was Arianna Grace taking on a returning Amari Miller. Seeing Kemp and Arianna pick up wins this week is a good way to push the two wrestlers because of what they’ll have in store in the future; not only will we see Kemp on NXT UK as I mentioned just now, but also—as I also mentioned earlier—Arianna taking part of the first ever NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament.

I thought that the David and Goliath-like main event dragged for six minutes, but it was still fun while it lasted even with Nigel McGuinness—on commentary—comparing it to Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania III as soon as the match was over.

Here are the NXT: LVL UP match results from Orlando…

Match #1: Damon Kemp defeated Dante Chen with a powerslam.

My score: 2/5

Match #2: Arianna Grace defeated Amari Miller after countering a cutter with a rollup; both women shook hands afterwards.

My score: 2/5

Main event: Andre Chase (w/ Bodhi Hayward) defeated Quincy Elliott with a bodyslam;

Chase struggled with picking up Elliott during the match, but after wearing down his opponent near the end, he was finally able to lift him up and slam him for the win. My score: 1.5/5

Next time…

Besides my four shows, Progress Chapter 132.

But that’s not the only lookback I’m doing for the next newsletter.

I’m also taking a look back at wXw Inner Circle, an event that took place prior to this year’s 16 Carat Gold.

For my newsletters as well as any articles that are on the Wrestling With Johners website, the website is wrestlingwithjohners.com/articles

For just my newsletters along on the WWJ website, it is wrestlingwithjohners.com/authors/pro-darin/

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment! I’ll see you next time!

(Photos shown in the newsletter are from WWE, Progress and ICW.)