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(Image: CALCUS)

Brit company PROGRESS Wrestling are this week hosting a grappling tournament featuring stars from eight different nations gunning for the crown.

The tournament will see the stars represent each of the eight groups which make up the first stage of the World Cup 2018.

And England’s representative Chuck Mambo is hopeful he can bring home the PROGRESS World Cup at The Dome in Tufnell Park on Wedsneday.

The 25-year-old told Daily Star Online: “It is mad flattering to be chosen the represent England given that we have basically the greatest wrestling scene in the world right now.”

And even though he is representing the Three Lions, he admits he has “no idea about football” and added “but I guess England are gonna win the football World Cup”.

Mambo is PROGRESS born and bred, having been trained at the promotion’s school in London while he was studying at university.

Known for his surfer-dude style, high energy in-ring action, and beach ball filled entrance, the wrestler is a popular star on the UK scene.

From Newquay, Cornwall, the 6ft 3in, 196lb Mambo is ready to take his career to the next level with a win at the Wrestling World Cup.

PROGRESS Wrestling is one of the biggest promotions in the UK, running events around the country while mainly being based on of London.

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Mambo said: “In all honesty I have no idea how they choose me, I just heard I had a big night coming up at the World Cup.

“Then when I was at Super Strong Style 16 [PROGRESS show on May 5/6/7] I just saw my face on the big screen, and that is how I found out.”

He added: “I never cared about the World Cup, but with wrestling, as it is such a wicked scene and you see any British wrestler you are like ‘oh sick, he is flying the flag for English wrestling’.

“You feel so proud because it is like a community. So while I don’t really get it with football, I totally get it with wrestling.”

He will be in for a tough challenge however as he faces The Russian Nightmare Ruslan in the first round of the tournament.

And then if he outlasts him, Mambo will face a gauntlet featuring Germany’s own Bad Bones John Klinger, Japanese star Naoki Tanizaki and Fantastic David Francisco from Portugal.

And also facing him down will be Australian star Adam Brooks, Icelandic wildman Einar Ironside, and The Predator Slayer from Switzerland Oliver Carter.

The last winner of the PROGRESS World Cup back in 2014 was Noam Dar, who went on to be signed by WWE.

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Mambo added his wrestling journey started as a youth before he got “distracted by surfing and being a teenager” before picking up the sport when he moved to London.

He said: “I saw a ‘Defend Indie Wrestling’ sticker in a toilet in Shoreditch, and that led me to finding the PROGRESS Facebook page and I saw their training school was like half an hour from where I was studying.”

PROGRESS Wrestling is on the forefront of a newly revived UK wrestling scene, with an explosion of promotions and talent.

British wrestling is set to enter a boom with both ITV and the WWE looking at setting up televised promotions.

And then the WWE will return to the UK next week for the second ever WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament, this time out of the Royal Albert Hall on June 18 and 19.

Mambo said: “I think the reason the UK scene is booming so hard right now is first and foremost because the British wrestling community, and the wrestling community as a whole in my experience, is so supportive of each other.

“I was at Super Strong Style 16 with 15 of the best wrestlers in the world, and after every match these guys are giving me feedback and helpful tips and advice.

“I think that.ethos and approach everyone is taking has been really responsible for such a big boom.

“Everyone is getting so sick.”

He added: “PROGRESS starting in 2012 seems to have been like a real burst of rocket fuel for the scene.

“Their production values and stacking cards with British talent and not rely on imports, just gives it that level of sheer wow.”

Mambo also praised the work of wrestlers like Jody Fleisch, Doug Williams and Jonny Storm for helping to lay the groundwork of the current UK boom.

And named promotions Fight Club Pro and ATTACK! as examples people “just seriously grafting” and seeing “what scene could be rather than what it is when it was struggling”.

Daily Star Online previously spoke to Brit wrestling sensation Zack Sabre Jr. about the bright future of UK wrestling and PROGRESS.