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Nothing Much To Say

I don’t really have much of an intro this week, so why don’t we kick it off with a recap of the shows I watched this week. Okay with that?

Progress Chapter 134: No Mountain High Enough

If that title doesn’t have Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” playing in your head, I don’t know what would. (It is a nice catchy tune from before my time by the way.)

This chapter of Progress took place on May 15, 2022 at the Electric Ballroom in London, England, UK. It was—I guess you could say—a go-home chapter before Super Strong Style 16 which will take place on June 3-5. Not only will that tournament occur, but so will some title matches that were announced on this chapter.

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One of the title matches taking place will be Gisele Shaw—now officially on Impact Wrestling (good luck wishes go out to her by the way) defending the Progress Women’s Championship against Kanji who was first to get a shot at the title after winning in a Thunderbastard before Laura di Matteo did in the form of a four-way dance a few chapters later. Two more title matches were made as well as you’ll see in the results shortly.

There were a total of nine matches that took place this week, including one title match, two matches for Super Strong Style 16 spots (one of them involving Gene Munny of course), a women’s tables match, and a match for a shot at the Progress Tag Team Championship. With the exception of the last two matches that involved Munny trying to get a spot in the aforementioned tournament (even though it’s nice to see Munny finally enter the tournament per se) overshadowed by trouble that occurred throughout the two bouts, the rest of the matches were pretty good. Out of the nine matches that took place, my favorite would have to go to a four-way dance that consisted of wXw wrestlers that stole the show. The four-way dance—for a spot at the SSS16 tournament—consisted of Maggot, Bobby Gunns, Jurn Simmons and Axel Tischer. All four men gave their all in this bout, and in the end, it was the current wXw Shotgun Champion that emerged victorious. Those four competitors had a great performance, and I’m pretty sure that the wXw fanbase—as well as employees for that company such as wrestlers, commentators, crew members, etc.—would say so themselves.

Here are the Progress match results from London…

Match #1: Alexxis Falcon defeated Skye Smitson in a tables match.

Skye blindsided Alexxis at the entryway before the match started. Near the end, Skye made Alexxis submit to the sleeper until the referee—as well as the fans—reminded her (even in the form of a chant) “That’s not how you win it.” Skye, after setting up a table in a corner, then grabbed a bottle of water and sprayed Alexxis and some of the fans with it; she then placed Alexxis on the top rope and appeared to go for a superplex until Alexxis countered it with a middle rope spinebuster through the table for the win. Post-match, Skye attacked Alexxis—who was interviewed by SoCal Val—backstage. My score: 2/5

Match #2: Ricky Knight Jr. defeated Leon Slater.

Both wrestlers made their Progress debut in this match. Knight won after countering a moonsault with a piledriver from a powerslam position. Post-match, the 0121 and Jody Fleisch came into the ring and gave Slater a standing ovation before the four left together. My score: 4/5

Match #3: Raven Creed defeated Max the Impaler (w/ Lana Austin).

Raven was scheduled to face Lana until Lana used Max, who debuted on Progress just like Ricky Knight Jr. and Leon Slater did, as a substitute. During the match, Lana threw a chair into the ring for Max until Raven shoved it back into Lana. Then, near the end, Lana grabbed Raven by the ankle until Raven grabbed her by the hair and pulled her into the ring. Max charged at Raven, but they missed and ended up hitting Lana, leading to Raven rolling them up and pinning them for the win. Afterwards, Max chased Lana away before they headed to the back. My score: 2.5/5

Match #4: Spike Trivet vs. Cara Noir ended in a double disqualification.

Cara Noir came from the crowd and went after Trivet seconds before the bell rang. Both men fought into the crowd during the match and threw each other into the chairs until Trivet hit Cara Noir with a piledriver onto the hardwood floor, leading to Cara Noir returning to the ring at nine. Towards the end, Cara Noir had a sleeper/bodyscissors combo applied to Trivet until Trivet punched the referee while fighting out of the hold. Then, Trivet crotched Cara Noir before hitting him with a Birthright—and as soon as a second referee ran in—for two. Both wrestlers continued to brawl as well as physically throwing the second referee out of the ring before the original referee called for the bell and declared it a double DQ.

Afterwards, the fight spilled to ringside as Trivet hit Cara Noir—who went for a tope suicida—with a chair. Trivet would bury Cara Noir with some chairs as well as throw one chair at a crew member and then bust open another crew member—by biting his face—until Cara Noir came back. The ring crew, Simon Miller, and Hustle Malone separated the two, and another crew member was thrown into the ring until Cara Noir dropkicked him out of the way before diving onto Trivet from over the top rope. Then, as soon as the two wrestlers were separated again, and Claire checked on her partner Cara Noir, Trivet challenged him to an “I Quit” match for SSS16 weekend; Cara Noir nodded “yes”, accepting the match. My score: 2.75/5

Match #5: Maggot defeated Bobby Gunns, Jurn Simmons and Axel Tischer in a four-way dance to qualify for the Super Strong Style 16 tournament.

Gunns teased smoking a cigarette, referencing his past character “King of Smoke Style”, during his entrance. After Tischer hit Gunns with a cactus clothesline, Maggot hit Simmons with a cutter for the win. My score: 4.25/5

Match #6: Luke Jacobs defeated Roy Johnson to retain the Progress Atlas Championship.

During the beginning of the match, Jacobs charged at Johnson at ringside until Johnson responded with a pounce into the chairs. Jacobs would later on hit Johnson with a Death Valley Driver through the chairs. Jacobs won after hitting Johnson with the Burning Lariat. Afterwards, Axel Tischer came into the ring and challenged Jacobs for the title at SSS16 weekend; Jacobs vowed to “slap up” Tischer just like he did to Big Damo and a few others, accepting the challenge. My score: 2.5/5

Match #7: The Sunshine Machine vs. The Smokin’ Aces for a shot at the Progress Tag Team Championship ended in a draw twice.

The first draw occurred after TK Cooper laid on top of Nick Riley similar to how Axel Tischer defeated Jurn Simmons in their first encounter on an episode of wXw We Love Wrestling (with the exception that Tischer was declared the winner on that episode); both of their shoulders were on the mat. Afterwards, Charlie Sterling and Chuck Mambo argued over who was victorious, and then asked for five more minutes. Five minutes later, the match still ended in a draw. Then, the 0121 came into the ring and said that they could take on any team anywhere, Sterling noted that the 0121 didn’t beat the Smokin’ Aces for the titles, and Mambo suggested that the three teams should fight for the belts in a ladder match at SSS16 weekend; all three teams liked the idea before shaking hands and having brief moments of staring daggers at one another. My score: 3.75/5

Match #8: Gene Munny defeated Jonathan Gresham (w/ Lykos Gym) in a non-title match by disqualification; if Munny won, he would qualify for the Super Strong 16 tournament.

Lykos Gym blindsided Munny during the in-ring introductions until ring announcer Simon Miller was informed that if there were any shenanigans (especially anything that causes a DQ), Gresham would be stripped of the Progress World Championship. After Gresham playing dirty a few times, Gresham had his first low blow attempt blocked even as soon as Lykos Gym—who was sent to the back before the match began—arrived to help him. Then, Gresham hit Munny with the low blow until it was revealed that Munny was wearing a jockstrap; while the referee was getting rid of the jockstrap, Munny hit Gresham with a low blow of his own for two. Then, while the referee had his hands full with Gresham, Kid Lykos II handed Kid Lykos the Progress World Championship belt, and Lykos hit Munny with it in front of the referee; Munny won by DQ, and Gresham was stripped of the title.

Afterwards, Lykos revealed that he and Lykos II don’t care about Gresham (who stormed off in disgust as soon as Lykos talked about his actions), CCK, or Chris Brookes, but about the title and then mocked on how Munny won; Munny refused to win in that fashion, and then challenged one of the “wolfy [f-bombing] pricks” to a match with his SSS16 spot on the line. My score: 1/5

Main event: Gene Munny defeated Kid Lykos (w/ Kid Lykos II);

Once again, if Munny won, he would qualify for the Super Strong Style 16 tournament. Near the end, Lykos II hit Munny with a baking tray behind the referee’s back until Munny rebounded with two Ainsley Lariats to Lykos. Then, Lykos II distracted the referee as Munny pinned his opponent until Gresham came and fought Lykos II before Munny won after hitting Lykos with the DDD. No score.

ICW Fight Club

Staying in the United Kingdom as well as the month of May 2022, we head to the GPWA in Glasgow, Scotland for an episode of ICW Fight Club.

With the aftermath of ICW Barred II still lingering after the last episode, we had two title matches that took place this week.

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One of the title matches ended up being my favorite match of the episode, and it was for the ICW Zero-G Championship between Dylan Thorn and Martin Kirby. Thorn, both with and without the rest of the Manifesto in tow, definitely proves to be a fighting champion and he showed it when he went toe-to-toe with—whom Billy Kirkwood called “The Comeback King” because of a win streak he was building—the veteran Martin Kirby; it even showed Thorn put an end to Kirby’s win streak, even though Kirby has been making a good comeback as of late. Thorn is so far doing a great job as a champion in ICW, as is Kirby during his comeback trail regardless of the result he received. What would happen after the match has me drooling metaphorically even though ICW Shug’s Hoose Party will take place in late July per se.

The other title match that took place was a Fans Bring the Weapons match, with the ICW World Heavyweight Championship on the line. I originally thought it was going to have fans at ringside with weapons of their choosing in their hands, but it turns out that the weapons that the fans brought to the show were under the ring the entire time. Other than that, it was still a decent match between Kez Evans—who retained the title—and “The Outlaw” Stevie James who you can tell, post-match standing ovation and all, is still not giving up on going for gold after that loss. I was pretty sure that BT Gunn—after seeing his actions in the last episode—would interfere in the near end of this match even as soon as the first referee was knocked out of the ring, but he didn’t show up this week after he lost in a tag team main event and may be focusing on something else instead of—or besides—the aforementioned belt.

Here are the match results from Glasgow…

Match #1: Kasey (w/ Molly Spartan) defeated Melissa Fierce in four minutes.

This was Melissa’s ICW debut. Kasey won with the Off With Her Head (running punt). Afterwards, Molly talked about working backstage before becoming a pro wrestler and winning the ICW Women’s Championship, and then said that she knows her place and wants every “man, woman and child” to know their place. My score: 1/5

Match #2: Dylan Thorn (w/ ADM, Grant McIvor and Eddie Castle) defeated Martin Kirby to retain the ICW Zero-G Championship.

Towards the end, Kirby had Thorn in a front chancery until the rest of the Manifesto got on the apron, leading to Thorn recovering and blindsiding the challenger. Then, Kirby came back and fought off McIvor while going after the champion until Thorn came back with a top rope blockbuster before winning with the Crown of Thorns. Afterwards, ADM blamed the fans for being “fickle” and said that he and the rest of the Manifesto cared less about their opinions while praising Thorn. Then, Daz Black appeared and challenged Thorn for the Zero-G title one more time at ICW Shug’s Hoose Party 7; Thorn upped the ante by making it a ladder match, which Black would then accept. My score: 3.5/5

Match #3: Reece & Rogan defeated the Meat Wagon

After hitting Anderson Daniels with the Yorkshire Reckoning (3D) and then hitting Troy Ryan with a double chokeslam. My score: 1/5

Main event: Kez Evans defeated “The Outlaw” Stevie James to retain the ICW World Heavyweight Championship in a Fans Bring the Weapons match.

Evans slightly limped to the ring, showing the effects of his match with BT Gunn at ICW Barred II. A sign that reads “[F-bomb] YOU KEZ”, a motorcycle helmet, a staple gun (that was inside the helmet), two bags of Legos and army men, a steel chair, a bowl, a grater, and a kitchen sink were used in this match. (A broken pool cue—that I mistook for either skewers or drumsticks at first—and a ukulele were also brought to the matchup, but weren’t used as weapons for some reason.)

Towards the end, Evans was accidentally whipped into the referee by James, and then Evans crotched his opponent before hitting him with the Kez Dispenser before realizing that the referee was nowhere to be found. Then, he wrapped the chair around James’ neck and climbed to the top rope until James recovered and hit him with the chair before—as soon as the second referee came in—hitting Evans with an Edgecution DDT; James scored the win until the first referee, that was knocked out, noticed that Evans’ foot was under the bottom rope which then led to restarting the match. Seconds into the restart, Evans took out brass knuckles, struck James with them, and pinned him to retain the title. After Evans left, James received a standing ovation from the fans. **My score: 2.75/5 **

NXT

Staying in the month of May 2022, but this time heading to Orlando, Florida in the United States, it’s time for an episode of NXT.

It was the last episode before NXT In Your House which takes place this Saturday on Peacock (and the WWE Network for those of you living outside the United States). Not only was one more match made for IYH, but there were antes upped in two matches including the recently made match.

That match which became the last addition to the NXT event is a six-man tag team match between Legado del Fantasma members Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde & Cruz del Toro and the trio of Tony D’Angelo, Stacks & Two Dimes. This match was made after an “earlier today” segment showed both teams meeting on Escobar’s yacht, and both teams agreed on a stipulation that was put in this six-man tag bout; the losing team would automatically join the winner team, whether it’s D’Angelo and his cohorts joining Legado del Fantasma or the other way around which is Escobar and his team joining D’Angelo’s team. This is definitely a good heel team vs. heel team rivalry, and I don’t know if this six-man tag bout becomes the last chapter or if there’s going to be another chapter when one team is absorbed into another, but I love seeing two stables collide when it comes to rivalries in pro wrestling especially this one.

As noted weeks ago, Roderick Strong put the Creed Brothers in a tag team match—for IYH—against Pretty Deadly for the NXT Tag Team Championship that Kit Wilson and Elton Prince are currently holding. After helping out Strong and Damon Kemp in a non-title match against the champions Pretty Deadly (as you’ll see in the results shortly) early in the night, Strong was livid about the result—ironically wanting to take the disqualification victory instead of help from Brutus and Julius—and said that if the Creed Brothers lost at IYH, they would be out of Diamond Mine. Aside from the upcoming tag team championship match, Strong does do a pretty good angry captain character—reminding me of Robert Dreissker who recently became an angry captain after the cage match loss in wXw—ever since he took over the leadership role as soon as Malcolm Bivens was not only kicked out of the team but released from WWE.

(Speaking of Bivens, congratulations and good luck wishes go out to him—now going by his real name Stokely Hathaway—for joining All Elite Wrestling! Congrats and good luck to Athena, the former Ember Moon, for joining AEW as well!)

Last week, Wendy Choo, Kayden Carter and Katana Chance challenged all three members of Toxic Attraction for the championships that Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne currently hold; Kayden & Katana are going after Gigi & Jacy for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship, and Wendy is going after Mandy for the NXT Women’s Championship. The matches were made official in a women’s championship summit this week that was hosted by Wade Barrett. As soon as the contract was signed for the championship matches, what usually happens in contract signings and summits happened…a brawl of course. The fight ended with the challengers fighting Gigi and Jacy out of the ring, and then taking down Mandy before Wendy put her through the table with an elbow drop from the top rope. I’m looking forward to those championship matches, especially Kayden & Katana taking on Gigi & Jacy for the tag team belts mainly because I would love to see Kayden & Katana win gold especially on NXT; not only have they come close to winning something prestigious during their time on NXT in both the black-and-gold and multicolored eras, but it has been—as the Beatles would call—a “long and winding road” when it comes to closing in on gold.

Onto the matches, we had a pretty good non-title tag team opener, a not-too-bad second match, and an excellent non-title main event (which was my favorite by the way); the rest of the matches were too short lived in my opinion, as if those that created matches for this episode were either worried about time constraints or were only focused more on the storylines than the bouts, kind of like the episode of NXT UK—from a few weeks ago—where it had three short matches followed by a contract signing that was somewhat longer than all three matches combined.

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As I just mentioned, the best match of the episode would have to go to the non-title main event between NXT North American Champion Cameron Grimes and NXT newcomer—and former NXT UK wrestler—Nathan Frazer. Not only was it a good way to get Grimes ready for his title match against Carmelo Hayes at In Your House as well as his promised title match against Solo Sikoa after the event, but it also gives Frazer a push when it comes to fighting top names—as well as give them a run for their money in both title and non-title matches—just like during his time in NXT UK.

Here are the NXT match results from Orlando…

Match #1: Pretty Deadly defeated Roderick Strong & Damon Kemp in a non-title match.

Near the end, Kit Wilson and Elton Prince attempted to use the NXT Tag Team Championship belts as weapons until the Creed Brothers ran in and saved Strong and Kemp, with Julius taking the bullet from one of the tag team champions. After Strong rolled up one of the champions for two, he was peeved after seeing Brutus and Julius at ringside until Pretty Deadly hit him with the Spilled Milk for the win. My score: 3.75/5

Match #2: Cora Jade defeated Elektra Lopez with a top rope senton.

My score: 2/5

Match #3: Wes Lee defeated Xyon Quinn in three and a half minutes;

Quinn threw Lee into a corner and went for a charging forearm until Lee rolled him up for the win. My score: 1.5/5

Match #4: Solo Sikoa defeated Duke Hudson in four and a half minutes with a top rope splash.

My score: 1.5/5

Match #5: Grayson Waller defeated Josh Briggs (w/ Brooks Jensen and Fallon Henley) in three and a half minutes.

Before the match started, Waller said that he wanted a one-on-one match, coercing Jensen and Fallon to leave. Near the end, Mr. Stone and Sofia Cromwell appeared, and Von Wagner got on the apron until Briggs booted him off; this led to Waller defeating Briggs with a through-the-rope cutter. Afterwards, Wagner attacked Briggs and went after him with a steel chair until Jensen returned and chased Wagner away. My score: 1/5

Match #6: Ivy Nile defeated Kiana James in three and a half minutes;

This match was made after Kiana told Ivy—who ended up getting ticked off—that the Creed Brothers had a 12% chance of winning at In Your House and staying in Diamond Mine. Ivy won after hitting Kiana with an elevated powerslam. After the match, Pretty Deadly appeared wearing Diamond Mine t-shirts like tied-ups tank tops, asking Ivy what she’ll do when Diamond Mine closes until the Creed Brothers came from the crowd and attacked the tag team champions; Brutus and Julius then stood in the ring, raising the NXT Tag Team Championship belts. My score: 1/5

Main event: Cameron Grimes defeated Nathan Frazer in a non-title match.

Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams joined Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett on commentary. Grimes won after hitting Frazer with the Cave In. Afterwards, Williams and Hayes attempted to sneak attack Grimes until Grimes—as if he had eyes in the back of his head—threw them out of the ring. My score: 4.75/5

NXT UK

We return to the United Kingdom, but this time, we head to the BT Sports Studios—on the month of June 2022—for an episode of NXT UK.

Seeing both NXT and NXT UK collide continued this week; not only did we kick things off with Von Wagner taking on Sam Gradwell as well as learn that Ivy Nile will fight Meiko Satomura for the NXT UK Women’s Championship come next week, but there is also a tag team match taking place with an NXT wrestler teaming up with Gallus member Wolfgang taking on Noam Dar and Sha Samuels. This tag team match was made after Wolfgang approached Kemp—who lost to Samuels last week—and asked to be his tag team partner, looking to even the odds when it comes to going after the team of Dar and Samuels. Not only will it show Kemp continue to get his feet wet when it comes to competing with the NXT UK roster, but also have Wolfgang—like Mark Coffey—focus on other things with Joe Coffey taking a hiatus from competing. So far, we have seen Mark Coffey in action last week, and I’m curious to see how Wolfgang will do—with Joe away for now—when he starts things off with teaming with Kemp in the aforementioned tag team bout with Dar and Samuels.

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The best match of the episode goes to the triple threat tag team match for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship between Moustache Mountain, Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter and Die Familie members Teoman & Rohan Raja. It was a great showing of the three teams, and in the end, it ended with Smith & Carter finally winning the metaphoric brass ring in the form of the tag team titles. I definitely figured that Smith and Carter would finally win the gold after clashing with Tyler Bate and Trent Seven in both title and non-title bouts several times, even with Teoman and Raja added to the mix; I look forward to seeing what Smith and Carter have for their NXT Tag Team Championship reign.

Here are the NXT UK match results from London…

Match #1: Von Wagner defeated Sam Gradwell.

Near the end, Wagner attempted to throw Gradwell into the audience—like he did to Ikemen Jiro on NXT weeks ago—until Gradwell got down before putting him in a sleeper hold; Wagner fought out of the sleeper hold and won with a Death Valley Driver. My score: 2.5/5

Match #2: Stevie Turner defeated Angel Hayze in four minutes with a Side Effect (now known as the Mass Effect).

My score: 0.5/5

Main event: Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter defeated Moustache Mountain and Teoman & Rohan Raja in a triple threat tag team match to become the new NXT UK Tag Team Champions.

During the match, Carter paid homage to Booker T by hitting Teoman with a scissors kick before performing a Spinaroonie. Near the end, Raja handed Teoman one of the tag team titles, and Teoman was unable to hit any of his opponents with it as he was taken down. Then, Trent Seven took the belt and attempted to use it as a weapon until Tyler Bate stopped him; this led to Carter hitting Bate with a tope suicida while Smith rolled up Seven for the win. Post-match, Seven read Bate the riot act before walking away and telling him “It’s over.” My score: 4.25/5

NXT: LVL UP

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

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Unless I’m wrong after skimming through each issue that I wrote like a college student cramming for a test or exam, I don’t think I have ever given an NXT: LVL UP match higher than a 3 out of 5 until this week. This week, a match that I gave higher than a 3 would go to the tag team main event between Edris Enofé & Malik Blade and Javier Bernal & Dante Chen. There was a good amount of tag team chemistry from the four wrestlers, especially Bernal and Chen who never teamed up until this week’s episode of NXT: LVL UP. In the end, it was Enofé and Blade picking up another win, showing NXT’s tag team division what they’re made of. Aside from being silly when it came to fantasizing about Toxic Attraction in the past as well as dealing with Tony D’Angelo’s “goombas” Stacks and Two Dimes last week, Enofé and Blade are indeed a pretty good tag team especially when it comes to seeing them compete in the ring; I’m pretty sure I have said this in the past, but I look forward to seeing the two wrestlers compete like this more often. Here are the NXT: LVL UP match results from Orlando…

Match #1: Fallon Henley defeated Brooklyn Barlow in four minutes after hitting her with a basement running enzuigiri.

My score: 1/5

Match #2: Tatum Paxley defeated Sloane Jacobs with an electric chair turned into a spinning powerbomb.

My score: 2.5/5

Main event: Edris Enofé & Malik Blade defeated Javier Bernal & Dante Chen after hitting Chen with an assisted neckbreaker.

All four men shook hands afterwards. My score: 3.5/5

Next time…

WWE has two premium live events (or “pay-per-view” events if you’re old school like me) this weekend. The first one taking place will be NXT In Your House, and the second one taking place is Hell In A Cell.

Not only that as well as my four usual shows, but I will also look back at wXw We Love Wrestling 30.

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.)