REVIEW: PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter 129 - I Choo-, Choo-, Choose You

PROGRESS Wrestling: Chapter 129 - I Choo-, Choo-, Choose You
The Electric Ballroom, London
Sunday, February 20, 2022
Reviewer: Iwan MacKenzie (@iwanmack)

Hello again everyone, it's me Iwan and back with a review of my first PROGRESS show in two years. I left my House around 13:40 and after a long wait for the bus to Bromley South, that would have been the easier route, I decided to get the train from Grove Park which ended up being a nightmare as a 17-minute journey became a 30-minute journey due to delays and red signals.

I then proceeded to have the worst thing I’ve ever eaten at Greggs when I got off at London Bridge, I brought a slice of Pizza that seemingly had all the cheese taken off - like when Mark and Jeremy get locked in the house in Peep Show and have the pizza delivered and put through the letterBox.

After some Tubes, I finally got to the Ballroom around 15:00 and found that the security guards were actually very friendly to be around - take note York Hall.

I walked in and got my usual space on the balcony with the lads, bar service was also a whole lot quicker than before - Take note York Hall.

There were around 500-600 in which surprised me considering a few days before the show still had Rows 2-3 for sale on DICE.

The show started at the earlier time of 15:30 (it used to be 16:30) which was appreciated as we could have an early finish.

Simon Miller was our host for the evening, who I have to say did a great job through the whole show. He brings his own energy to the role and feels familiar enough to the audience that they’ve taken to him straight away.

He went to introduce the first match but Malik and Kosta K, in his Del Boy Trotter Coat, interrupted and insulted Danny Black before Black made his entrance to interrupt and begin our first match.

Danny Black vs Joe Lando vs Maverick Mayhew vs Callum Newman

This was Black's live audience PROGRESS Debut, Lando's Proggy Debut, Mayhew's first match since Chapter 76: Hello Wembley (I was wearing his Wembley gear here as well) and Newman's main show debut - after being a part of a Frontline Pre-Show Match in March 2019.

This was also a rematch from WrestleCarnival's "Curtain Call" show in August 2021, as recognised by PROGRESS on their Social Media.

This was a perfect choice of opener for the show, these four have such great chemistry with one another and create some genuinely awe inspiring flips and dives with each other.

One of the early moments included Callum Newman going for the classic Homicide dive to Black and Mayhew outside before Lando followed up with a Shooting Star Press to all three on the outside.

This is a match that you could take place anywhere around the country with any combo of these four and it would be tearing the house down, can't speak highly enough of these four or this match, would definitely recommend watching it when it hits VOD.

We had Danny win this match with a Modified Emerald Flowsion on Lando. Malik then attacked Danny after the bell, which led to Lando, Newman and Mayhew making the save.

A match has since been set up for the next Ballroom show of Black/Lando/Newman/Mayhew vs Malik/Warren Banks and Lykos Gym.

Spike Trivet vs Man Like Dereiss

We had a few technical difficulties on Dereiss' Mic before his entrance but he pulled it back because he's a pro. Spike announced to the audience that they are not allowed at his party after the show, he meant work event.

This was a good match, with some nice legwork from Trivet throughout, which Dereiss sold well and generally was good for the crowd to have a more traditional babyface/heel match. Really enjoy both guys' work, both have made massive improvements over the last 18 months as well.

The only issue I have is the continuing Tory-themed chants for Spike. It's obviously good heat for him and considering the absolute shitshow that the Conservative Party has been in the last 18 months, it's obvious heat for a rich boy character. But it does feel that we've heard it all before now and he should just be mocked for being posh, but that's just my personal opinion.

We had Spike win this with a head and arm submission to get the win to many boos.

Gene Munny vs Brendan White

Brendan was a busy boy on this day as he was off to Bristol afterwards to work with Danny Jones to take on the Smokin' Aces for SWW. And all of the same day as his live audience PROGRESS debut.

I really like both guys in this match, but I did find it hard to get into it. There was nothing really wrong with the action in the ring, I just found myself struggling to get investment.

Myself and Dave Sewell did get the "Munny, Munny, Munny, he's Gene Munny in his big boi pants" song going which is set by ABBA's Money, Money, Money.

We had Gene win this match with a short arm version of Ainsley Lariat. After the match Adam Maxted made his debut and came in to attack Gene, whilst wearing an awful green and black shellsuit. He cut a promo as well, but I missed this as this was my time to use the terrible Ballroom toilets, which haven't improved whatsoever. I nearly fell over it in there due to how slippery the floor was.

Sunshine Machine (TK Cooper & Chuck Mambo) vs North West Strong (Luke Jacobs & Keinen Krishna) vs Charles Crowley & Elijah

Keinen was in here as a stand-in for Chris Ridgeway who had sustained an ankle injury and has publicly stated he's going through some mental health issues - get well soon Chris, we're all here for you.

As mentioned a few times here in the article, Keinen, Crowley and Elijah were making their live audience PROGRESS debuts.

From the offset, it was clear that Crowley was the major heel here and everyone wanted to see him take the most punishment.

The early stages of this match included one member of every team being in there for triple threat rules which didn't connect at first and did take a bit of time to get going.

The match did pick up though, when the rules were thrown out of the window and it broke down into a Scramble. There was a crazy sequence with Mambo diving onto everyone with a Crossbody outside before Elijah made his way to the stairs where Miller stands, He went to dive onto everyone as well, but TK dove off the apron and hit him with a Torpedo Auckland in mid-air.

Back in the ring and all three teams had time to show off their big offensive moves, but it was Sunshine Machine in the end picking up the win with Captain Midnight's Revenge on Crowley for the pinfall.

One thing I do need to mention, which was a concern going into the interval, was the crowd felt very odd. A majority weren't reacting to what was going on and any chants or claps proved hard to keep up for very long.

Interval time now, which meant going over the road for my traditional Interval KFC. Now here's a tip for free, you'll get your food quicker if you just go to the counter and speak to a human being about what you want for your meal rather than arsing around with the self-service machine.

Twister Wrap consumed before heading back in, I met Maverick Mayhew, Danny Black, Man Like Dereiss and Sunshine Machine before the second half kicked back in.

Jonathan Gresham vs Dean Allmark - Pure Rules for the Ring of Honor World Championship

Loud duelling chants here for both men before introductions, with "Oh, Jonathan Gresham!…Dean!" being sung around the Ballroom. This was the liveliest it got all night.

This was the match that sold me on coming to the show, as I've been a big fan of both guys for a very long time and was excited to see them finally clash.

Happy to say that this did not disappoint, loads of cracking grappling, some brilliant reversals and kept up a real pace between moves as well.

My only complaint is that I wanted more of this match, I could have easily watched another 10-15 minutes and not got bored.

Gresham won here when he reversed Deano's Sunset Flip into a pinfall - similar to the Hart/Bulldog finish from SummerSlam 1992. Gresham cut a promo afterwards, putting over Deano and what he's done for the Scene.

Kanji vs Session Moth Martina vs Charlie Morgan vs Lana Austin vs Skye Smitson vs Mercedez Blaze vs Taonga - ThunderBastard Match

Charlie Morgan and Martina started off this match as they battled over an invisible lasso, as Martina wanted to invite Charlie into her ways and she duly did as Charlie got on the Sesh (there were chants).

Next in was Lana Austin who was cosplaying as Alexxis Falcon, which was very funny but unfortunately was lost on a lot of the audience who may not be aware of the feud that Falcon and Austin are currently in. She had her wig snatched and was then rolled-up by Martina to be eliminated straight away.

Smitson was in next, who I had been told is a babyface in PROGRESS butthe crowd wasn't sure how to react to her when she came out. Then came the returning Kanji in her first match in front of fans since October 2019 when she faced Emi Sakura, and I was at that match!

Mercedez Blaze soon followed, she got teamed by all the babyfaces, before Taonga made her entrance last and her and Mercedez, who are an Alliance in PROGRESS, went to work to try and thin the field. We got "Let’s go Taonga chants" but I’m not a fan of people cheering the Heels.

Charlie Morgan was able to eliminate both Blaze and Taonga in quick succession, the heels didn’t take this well and started to wipe out the rest of the participants. This included the PROGRESS ‘Spot of Doom’ - which consists of throwing someone through the chairs - which, as a spot, needs to die, it’s too overused here.

They throw Charlie and Martina through chairs, throw Smitson into a wall and take out Kanji on the stage. All four women eventually make their way back to the ring and this is where the match suffered as the crowd did not react to these four being the last ones in the match or about the attack they'd suffered.

We had Smitson eliminate Martina and Charlie back to back to some boos as her and Kanji were left as the last two. It was Kanji who emerged as the victor with a School-Girl on Smitson.

I struggled through this match, despite liking all the participants here. I've never really been a big fan of the ThunderBastard Match and the crowd not reacting to giving any of these women a chance really affected my enjoyment of the match. I will say that I do like this Blaze and Taonga duo and will be interested to see where they go next.

Cara Noir vs SW3RVE The Realest - PROGRESS World Championship

SW3RVE is the new name for the former Issiah Scott, or as we all know him Shane Strickland. Another side note, Cara Noir is also now the longest reigning PROGRESS World Champion of all-time since winning the belt in January 2020.

It was about 80-20 in favour of SW3RVE here, with a couple of lads in the balcony shouting "Who's house? SW3RVE's house". In response I started chanting "SW3RVE's house! In the middle of our street", set to Our House by Madness.

This started off tentatively but developed into a real cracker and my choice for match of the night. Even though Cara was great here in his selling and offence, this really was the SW3RVE show. He gave such a matured performance as a wrestler in his systematic breakdown of Cara's key offence and really wanted that title.

The high spots made sense but this engrossed people with what was happening in the ring. We had Noir win with a Roll-Up, an absolute banger that is worth seeking out.

We had Jonathan Gresham out after to stare down Noir and set up the Title vs Title Match for next month's show.

So, my overall thoughts on the show are that it was fine. It's unfair to compare this version of PROGRESS to the previous ten years of history and what they were because you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

As a wrestling promotion in London though, it's entertaining enough and finished early enough for people to get home early as well. I think the biggest problem the promotion has right now is getting people invested in the new talents.

I'm not sure what the percentage of people is who watched the empty arena tapings, compared to those just attending live events, but I think PROGRESS have introduced a lot of new people and need to get them familiar with audience. Maybe using some interviews on YouTube could help establish the roster’s personalities and what they want to win, not too dissimilar from what RevPro do. But time will tell.

From this show, I'd definitely recommend seeing the opener and main event, Gresham/Deano was a lot of fun as well.

Thank you all for Reading

Iwan Mackenzie

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