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Progress Chapter 137: The Deadly Viper Tour—Codename: Copperhead
Again, I’m kicking things off with a belated recap.
The 137th chapter of Progress Wrestling took place at the O2 Academy in Sheffield, England in the United Kingdom; it served as the first event of the Deadly Viper Tour. Eight matches were on the card; half of them were championship matches, and the other half were exhibition matches.
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In two of the exhibition matches, we saw two Japanese pro wrestlers take part in those bouts. One was Konosuke Takeshita—whom we’ve seen recently in AEW besides DDT Pro-Wrestling—taking on rising star Leon Slater, and the other was Pro Wrestling Noah competitor Hayata who took on veteran Dean Allmark. Both Takeshita and Hayata were definitely amazing in their Progress appearances (ditto their opponents), and ended up being my favorite exhibition matches of the chapter.
As I noted, there were also four championship matches. My favorite championship match, as well as my favorite match of the chapter, goes to the three-way dance for the Progress Atlas Championship; originally scheduled to be Luke Jacobs defending the belt against Man Like Dereiss, Mark Davis—who is one half of the tag team Aussie Open—returned to Progress and was added to the bout thus making it a triple threat match. I wasn’t sure what Jacobs vs. Dereiss would be like if the last-minute addition didn’t occur, but on the other hand, this triple threat match didn’t disappoint me one bit. Not only did it show what Dereiss and Davis are capable of in singles competition besides tag team competition, but how Jacobs defies the odds when it comes to competing in other matches such as this three-way bout even with gold on the line.
Here are the match results from Sheffield…
Match #1: The Sunshine Machine defeated the Greedy Souls to retain the Progress Tag Team Championship.
TK Cooper’s left shoulder was taped. Both teams went at it seconds before the bell rang. Near the end, Danny Jones attempted to give Chuck Mambo either a powerbomb or a piledriver on the apron until Mambo blocked that attempted before he and Cooper hit Jones with the Designated Driver on the apron. Then, Cooper came back in the ring and hit Brendan White with a scissors kick for the win. After the match, the Sunshine Machine said that they were happy to have “the tools” because “the Sunshine Machine rules.” My score: 3.75/5
Match #2: Gene Munny defeated Maggot.
Munny came into the ring with the “Gene Munny Championship” belt, and had ring announcer and MC Simon Miller announce that he lives 15 minutes away from Sheffield and is the “undisputed Gene Munny champion of Gene Munny”; he ended up getting streamers afterwards.
As soon as the match began, Munny declared that he had his big boy pants off until Maggot ripped the nipple tape off of him. During the match, Munny attempted to splash Maggot in a corner but missed and hit the referee instead; the two then helped up the referee until he fell back down and decided to continue competing. A minute or so later, Maggot helped up the referee on the apron until Munny accidentally knocked him off. A female referee (whom I believe was part of NXT UK) ran in after Maggot countered a top rope maneuver that Munny attempted with a cutter for two. Later, Maggot accidentally poked the female referee in the eyes while kicking out of Munny’s pin attempt, and then pretended that he was hit by Munny’s title until Munny refused; the two wrestlers then played hot potato with the belt before throwing it to the female referee who was then ejected by the original referee used for the bout. Afterwards, Munny won with the Ainsley Lariat. My score: 3/5
Match #3: Lana Austin defeated Raven Creed and Eliza Alexander in a triple threat match.
As the match began, Raven immediately went after Lana until Eliza blindsided her; Eliza would also have Lana help her double team Raven later on. The end of the match saw Eliza hit Raven with a running knee to the face, and then Lana hit Eliza with a discus forearm before pinning Raven for the win. Post-match, Eliza beat down Lana before storming off. My score: 2/5
Match #4: Konosuke Takeshita defeated Leon Slater.
During the match, Takeshita fought Slater into the audience and hit his seated opponent with a running boot, sending him into more empty seats. Takeshita picked up the win after countering Slater’s top rope maneuver with a clothesline before hitting him with a running knee strike. After the match, Takeshita showed respect to Slater, and then the 0121 came and—after Dan Maloney helped him up—praised him both in the ring and on commentary; Slater received a standing ovation just like Takeshita did. My score: 3.5/5
Match #5: Luke Jacobs defeated Man Like Dereiss and Mark Davis in a triple threat match to retain the Progress Atlas Championship.
After Jacobs picked up a two count after hitting Dereiss with the Burning Lariat, Dereiss ducked the second lariat attempt and hit him with a cutter until Davis went after the two. Near the end, Davis sent Jacobs in the corner until Jacobs popped up with a Burning Lariat for two before Davis put him in an ankle lock; Jacobs got out of the hold before putting Davis in a sleeper which was then broken by Dereiss who hit the two with the Four Fiddy. Dereiss then hit Jacobs with a powerbomb for two, and then hit Davis with a tope at ringside before coming back in where he missed with the Four Fiddy, allowing Jacobs to win with the Burning Lariat. My score: 4.25/5
Match #6: Hayata defeated Dean Allmark.
Hayata came to the ring with the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship belt. After Allmark hit Hayata with the Ruby Cutter and the Clash Driver for a near fall, Hayata hit him with a handspring elbow and an implant DDT; Hayata then won with the Headache running hurricanrana. Post-match, Hayata showed respect to Allmark, and Allmark gave him a handshake and raised the winner’s arm. My score: 4/5
Match #7: Laura di Matteo defeated Kanji by disqualification; Kanji is still the Progress Women’s Champion.
Before the match started, Laura offered Kanji a handshake, but instead slapped the champion. After Laura got out of Kanji’s triangle choke with a rollup for two and Kanji fought out of Laura’s Veni Vidi Vici attempt, Laura brought in a steel chair until Kanji rolled her up for two. Laura choked down the champion and then put her arm in the chair; she attempted to stop the chair closed onto Kanji’s arm until Kanji moved out of the way. Kanji attempted to get her arm free until the chair hit Laura, causing the referee to declare Laura the winner via DQ. Afterwards, Kanji argued with the referee until both she and Laura brawled before the crew people separated the two. My score: 2/5
Main event: Big Damo defeated Chris Ridgeway to become the new Progress World Champion.
During the match, Damo fought Ridgeway in the crowd, and then hit his seated opponent with a clothesline; he then had him sit on a fan’s lap before the fans (including one Ridgeway sat on) moved out of the way for Damo’s cannonball through the chairs. Ridgeway worked on Damo’s left leg later on even before sitting on a chair and using Damo as a footrest (just like he did to both Warren Banks and Dean Allmark in previous chapters). After Damo hit Ridgeway with the Belfast Blitz (Vader bomb) for two, Ridgeway dodged the second Belfast Blitz attempt and sent him into the post before hitting him with a sliding knee for two followed by hitting him with the Coup de Grace twice for two and then—after some slaps and a stomp—a brainbuster for another two. Towards the end, Ridgeway hit Damo with a running punt, but missed on the second punt before Damo hit him with the Wasteland (ala Wade Barrett), a senton and the second Belfast Blitz for two; Damo then hit him with a shotgun dropkick, some clubbing blows to the back and then the third Belfast Blitz—to the back—for the win.
After the match, Damo said that he made a to-do list for his pro wrestling career despite winning a title not being one of them, then told the ring crew to “bring the [f-bombing] beers in”; some cans of beer were thrown in and Damo drank some to celebrate his win. My score: 4/5
ICW Whit’s Occurrin’?!
Belated recaps aside, we’re staying in the United Kingdom, but this time, we’re heading to the Y Plas Nightclub in Cardiff, Wales for ICW Whit’s Occurrin’?! Whit’s Occurrin’?! took place on September 3, 2022, the same night that Clash At the Castle took place in Cardiff; unlike Clash At the Castle which took place at 6PM in the United Kingdom, this ICW event took place at midnight.
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There were eight matches that took place that night; four of them were championship matches, and the other four were exhibition matches including an Insane Rules match (which saw a returning ICW regular post-match). For the exhibition matches, I enjoyed the match between Andy Wild and BT Gunn; it was definitely great to see both ICW veterans clash in the ring, from Wild showing that he was focused—after Jason Reed decided to collaborate with Coach Trip as we’ve seen lately on Fight Club—to Gunn coming close to cementing his heel turn even after putting his King of Insanity match with Leyton Buzzard in the rearview. In the end, it was the “Dad Bod God” that defeated ICW’s King of Insanity…which of course had the non-winner pissed off afterwards.
As for the championship matches, one of them became my favorite match of Whit’s Occurrin’?!; it was the ladder match for the ICW Zero-G Championship, between Daz Black and Luke Kyro, that started off the event with a bang. The back-to-back ladder matches that Black had in two separate events were indeed spectacular, and to me, this ladder match was as good as the last one he had at Shug’s Hoose Party 7. Both he and Kyro gave their all in this match, and in the end, it was Black who retained the title. Here are the match results from Cardiff…
Match #1: Daz Black defeated Luke Kyro in a ladder match to retain the ICW Zero-G Championship.
The match was originally scheduled to be a regular one-on-one match until—before the match started—Black pointed out that his belt was hanging from the ceiling, thus making it a ladder match. Several spots in this bout included Kyro jumping from one ladder to another and hitting Black with a sunset flip powerbomb, Black nailing a Spanish fly from both ladders, Kyro bridging a ladder from a corner to another ladder and hitting Black with the Kyroscope onto the bridging ladder, and Black hitting Kyro with a frog splash from the top of a ladder. The end of the match saw Black knocked Kyro off the ladder, climbing up both ladders, and grabbing the title for thew in. My score: 4.5/5
Match #2: Andy Wild defeated BT Gunn.
As the match began, Gunn offered Wild a handshake, but suckered him with a kick to the gut. After exchanging maneuvers such as Wild’s cutter (that countered a midair maneuver that Gunn went for), Gunn’s TMNT flatliner, Wild’s double underhook backbreaker, and Gunn’s bicycle kick, Gunn climbed to the top rope until Wild threw him off and hit him with a cutter from the middle rope; Wild would then win with the Dad Bomb. Post-match, Gunn hit Wild with a super kick and a roundhouse kick before leaving. My score: 4/5
Match #3: The Greedy Souls defeated LJ Cleary & Martin Steers.
This was Steers’ ICW debut. After Steers hit Brendan White with a springboard cutter and a shooting star press—while Cleary took down Danny Jones at ringside—for two, the Greedy Souls came back and White catapulted Steers into White who hit him with a spinning uranage for the win. My score: 2/5
Match #4: “Jackie Polo” defeated Jack Jester in an Insane Rules match.
DCT wore a singlet that had the Union Jack plastered all over it. A small “Big Shiny” (that Jester brandished in the beginning), a few oranges that “Polo” juggled earlier, a staple gun, a flyer for Whit’s Occurrin’?!, Big Shiny wrapped with barbed wire, a chair, and a polo mallet came into play in this match. (A crutch was also pulled out from under the ring, but wasn’t used as a weapon for some reason.) During the match, “Polo” talked to Billy Kirkwood—who was on commentary with ring announcer Simon Cassidy—while fighting Jester until Jester fought back. Also, “Polo” got busted open after Jester stapled the flyer to his forehead. Towards the end, Jester attempted to hit “Polo” with a steel chair until “Polo” beat him down with the mallet for the win. After the match, “Polo” beat down Jester with the mallet some more until all of the sudden, Sha Samuels ran in and attacked “Polo” out of the ring! Then, Samuels said that he wasn’t missing the biggest weekend in British wrestling, telling the “mugs” to “wait ‘til you see me now” before reuniting with Jester as the Kinky Party. My score: 3.5/5
Match #5: Molly Spartan defeated Moxie Malone to retain the ICW Women’s Championship.
Moxie went for a sleeper/bodyscissors combo (that she has used to win matches recently) until Molly powered out of the attempt before winning with a spear. My score: 3/5
Match #6: Glasgow Grindhouse defeated Kings of the North in a Cardiff Street Fight to become the new ICW Tag Team Champions.
Both teams fought before the bell rang, and then fought into the crowd and the venue’s bar; some beer was spat into the faces of Bonesaw and Damien Corvin during the brawl, and there was also a spot where Lou King Sharp dove onto the Kings of the North from the counter. As the action was brought back into the ring, Sharp and Krieger brought a table into the ring until Bonesaw knocked Sharp off the top rope before Corvin put him through a table with a uranage for two. Towards the end, Corvin attempted to hit Krieger with a knockout punch, but missed and hit Bonesaw, leading to the Glasgow Grindhouse hitting him with a dropkick/Black Hole Slam combo for two; then, after Corvin spat in the face of Krieger, Krieger hit him with a powerbomb before Sharp picked up the win with the Tadpole Splash. My score: 2.75/5
Match #7: Leyton Buzzard defeated Craig Anthony.
This was a rematch from the episode of Fight Club prior to Whit’s Occurrin’?! During the match, Anthony clotheslined Buzzard into the audience, and then hit him with a top rope crossbody in the crowd. After Anthony hit Buzzard with a top rope powerslam for two, Buzzard countered a springboard maneuver with the Buzzkiller and then won with the X Marks the Spot. Both men showed respect to each other afterwards. My score: 3.5/5
Main event: Kez Evans defeated Grado to retain the ICW World Heavyweight Championship.
After Evans missed on a Claymore attempt (while mocking Drew McIntyre), Grado hit him with a Death Valley driver for two; Grado then went for the Sweet Shin Music, but missed and hit referee Thomas Kearins. Then, Evans hit Grado with a low blow followed by the Kez Dispenser for a near fall after Sean McLaughlin ran in to make the count; this led to Evans punching the referee and then grabbing a steel chair before Grado booted him for two after Mark Dallas took over as a referee. Evans hit Grado with brass knuckles and coerced Dallas to perform the pin count before pinning the challenger for two, and then Grado paid homage to Road Dogg while fighting back until Evans incapacitated him with the Blood Clot Clutch for the win. Afterwards, Evans put Dallas in the Blood Clot Clutch until Jack Jester ran in and fought the champion. Then, “Jackie Polo” ran in and he and Evans beat down Jester until Sha Samuels ran in; the Kinky Party and Grado fought “Polo” out of the ring before triple teaming on Evans. My score: 2.75/5
NXT
Now, we head to Orlando, Florida in the United States for an episode of NXT.
Halloween Havoc is coming on October 22, and this time, it won’t be in the form of a special episode of NXT; it will be in the form of a “TakeOver” event (even though “TakeOver” hasn’t been revived yet for the brand’s premium live events per se).
A match was already made for Halloween Havoc this week; it will be a ladder match for the NXT North American Championship which was vacated this week. Kicking off this week’s episode, Shawn Michaels had Solo Sikoa—who won the title last week—relinquish the belt in order to have him focus on his run on SmackDown. (Sikoa, by the way, defended the title against Madcap Moss on SmackDown days after winning it on NXT.) As soon as the title was handed to Michaels, he announced that there would be a ladder match—involving five competitors—for the belt at Halloween Havoc. Carmelo Hayes was automatically inserted into the match despite being accused of attempting to “outsmart the system”, and some qualifying matches were made including one that took place this week. I was surprised that Sikoa would be stripped of the title, and honestly, I was pretty sure that he was going to kill two birds with one stone by competing on both NXT and SmackDown just like Raw superstar Dolph Ziggler did when he defeated Bron Breakker for the NXT Championship early this year. On the other hand, I think this is done to have him focus on being in the Bloodline with Roman Reigns, the Usos, Sami Zayn and Paul Heyman now that he’s on SmackDown.
Just like the Progress chapter I reviewed and ICW Whit’s Occurrin’?!, this episode of NXT also had eight matches (I wonder if eight was the magic number for me this week…lol…); both the opener and closer were my favorite matches.
The opener was part 2 of the best-of-three series between Axiom and Nathan Frazer. To me, it was as good as their first match, but even better. This match had great back and forth action between the two as well as high flying moments in and out of the ring, and in the end, it was Frazer that tied it up 1-1. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what the two have in store for their third and final bout of that series.
The main event match, that I also enjoyed as I noted, was for a shot at the NXT Championship between Tyler Bate and JD McDonagh. It’s not the first time that we’ve seen the two NXT UK alumni in action; remember their match at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II in January of 2020? Long story short, it was as good as their Blackpool II match, even if we nowadays see McDonagh’s character showing a dark and disturbing side where everybody’s pain—including his own—is his pleasure. I was pretty sure we were going to see Breakker vs. Bate II at a later date (including the aforementioned Halloween Havoc), but McDonagh proved us wrong by picking up the win; this means that we’ll see Breakker vs. McDonagh II in the future…or are we?
Here are the NXT results (including the reason why I said “or are we?”) from Orlando…
Match #1: Nathan Frazer defeated Axiom.
This was match #2 in their best-of-three series, with Axiom coming into the match with the 1-0 lead. After Axiom was unable to make Frazer submit to the LeBell Lock (P.S.: RIP Gene LeBell whom we’ve lost last month), he climbed to the top rope until Frazer popped up and hit him with a superplex followed by an elevated corkscrew neckbreaker; Frazer then won with a phoenix splash. Both Frazer and Axiom are now tied 1-1. My score: 4.5/5
Match #2: Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne defeated Tatum Paxley & Ivy Nile in almost four minutes.
Ivy cleaned house towards the end until Gigi and Jacy came back and Gigi held Ivy for a big boot from Jacy for the win; Ivy is no longer undefeated on the NXT brand. My score: 1/5
Match #3: The Dyad (w/ Joe Gacy) defeated Edris Enofé & Malik Blade.
This match was made after Enofé and Blade poked fun of the Schism for failing to have Cameron Grimes as a member of the team, leading to the two fighting the Dyad in the parking lot. Before the match started, the Schism talked about last week being the end of those that were “on the fence” on joining them, and that they brought it onto themselves without admitting that the road to peace and inclusivity can be scary; Gacy then accused Cameron Grimes of not joining them and facing the wrath of the Schism until Enofé and Blade ran in and fought Jagger Reid and Rip Fowler out of the ring. The Dyad won after hitting Enofé with an assisted Canadian destroyer followed by the Ticket To Mayhem. My score: 3.5/5
Match #4: Cora Jade defeated Wendy Choo in four minutes.
After Wendy hit Cora with a German suplex, Cora sent Wendy face first into the turnbuckles before winning with a double underhook DDT. After the match, Lash Legend ran in and kicked Wendy down. My score: 2/5
Match #5: Andre Chase & Bodhi Hayward (w/ Thea Hail) defeated Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams in four minutes.
Before the match started, Hayes and Williams demanded they wanted those that played Solo Sikoa’s theme song, refereed Hayes vs. Sikoa, and the timekeeper fired, with Hayes still declaring himself “the A-champion.” Then, Chase U came into the ring, and Chase called it—regardless of how many times Hayes and Williams didn’t want to hear it—a “teachable moment” before fighting the two out of the ring. Chase cleaned house until Williams came back with a bicycle kick before knocking Hayward off the apron. Then, Hayes came in and went for a springboard maneuver until Chase countered with a rollup for the win. My score: 1.5/5
Match #6: Von Wagner (w/ Mr. Stone) defeated Sanga in almost three minutes.
After Sanga fought Wagner out of the ring, Mr. Stone distracted Sanga, leading to Wagner sending him into a post and steel steps before deadlifting him and winning with a Death Valley bomb. My score: 0.5/5
Match #7: Oro Mensah defeated Grayson Waller to qualify for the NXT North American Championship ladder match at Halloween Havoc.
Mensah is not a WWE newcomer; he’s actually NXT UK alum Oliver Carter. Plus, Mensah’s entrance had stanchions and velvet rope at the entryway, looking like the entrance to a nightclub. Near the end, Waller went for his through-the-ropes cutter finisher until he saw Apollo Crews—red eye and all—appear with bloody tear coming down his cheek. This led to Mensah hitting Waller with a tope before winning with a running heel kick in the corner. My score: 1.5/5
Main event: JD McDonagh defeated Tyler Bate to become the #1 contender for the NXT Championship.
Bron Breakker, who brought Connor’s Cure patient Landon “The Conqueror” Chase to the arena, joined Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett on commentary. During the match, Bate fought McDonagh out of the ring before hitting him with a tope into the announce table; McDonagh ended up smiling as if he enjoyed being attacked afterwards. After blocking Bate’s Bop and Bang, McDonagh hit him with a Spanish fly until Bate hit him with the Bop and Bang while on his back. Then, towards the end, Bate went for the Tyler Driver ’97 off the top rope until McDonagh powered out of the attempt and hit him with a Spanish fly before winning with the Devlin Side (now renamed “Devil Inside”…and I don’t think it has anything to do with INXS). After the match, Breakker and McDonagh met face to face in the ring until all of the sudden, Ilja Dragunov—back from an ankle injury—came in and stood in the ring with the two! My score: 4.5/5
NXT: LVL UP
Staying in Orlando, we wrap things up with NXT: LVL UP.
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This week’s episode was fairly better than last week’s episode match wise. There was one match—out of the three that were shown—that I thought was better than the rest; that match that I enjoyed was the main event bout between Andre Chase and hearing impaired up-and-comer Myles Borne. Even though Borne has yet to pick up a win after what was his seventh match this week, you could tell that he can still give rising stars such as Chase a run for their money in his matches. Not only did Borne do well, but so did Chase himself who ended up—like on this week’s episode of NXT—picking up the win.
Here are the NXT: LVL UP results from Orlando…
Match #1: Dante Chen defeated Bryson Montana with a hard double chop to the chest.
My score: 1.5/5
Match #2: Indi Hartwell defeated Valentina Feroz in four and a half minutes.
After Valentina made a comeback with a dropkick and a crossbody, she went for a wheelbarrow maneuver until Indi blocked it and won with a spinebuster. My score: 1.5/5
Main event: Andre Chase (w/ Bodhi Hayward and Thea Hail) defeated Myles Borne.
Borne worked on one of Chase’s arms briefly until Chase came back with a side Russian leg sweep, the Chase U stomps and a top rope crossbody for the win. Both men shook hands afterwards. My score: 2/5
Next time…
The currently usual three—ICW, NXT and NXT: LVL UP—and a belated recap or two.
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