You could certainly make a case for the anticipation being the hardest part of any Progress show — Chapter 21 Marking Out Follow Sep 8, 2015 · 7 min read

This piece was written by Antony Lusmore. Find him on Twitter as VilinskiKonjic

You could certainly make a case for the anticipation being the hardest part of any Progress show. However long you spend in the queue as the clock ticks closer to 2PM, or the time spent in the building itself just waiting for the first notes of the Imperial March to break loose.

For me, however, the toughest part of the Progress experience will always be the comedown; that sinking feeling on the train home of how long it’s going to be until it all begins again. But here I am, home at 1 in the morning, and it hasn’t hit yet. There’s been no comedown, no sinking and nothing at all to burst the Progress bubble. Perhaps it’s that recent successes have led to Progress packing their schedule out a bit — it’s amazing what difference a fortnight can make, and October 18th feels like no time compared to the two month wait between Chapter shows that fans have previously had to endure. Perhaps, though, it’s simply that as the latest chapter drew to a close, those in attendance had been a part of one of the London promotion’s finest shows. An emotional rollercoaster the likes of which even Progress fans rarely experience. This was something truly special and with everything there has been to digest, there’s simply no room for a comedown.

Surprise me like one of your French girls

Even Smallman’s typical opening speech came with a special surprise inside this time around. Stormtroopers that accompanied the promotion’s co-owner to the ring revealed themselves as the GZRS in disguise; a sure-fire way to whip some of the best wrestling fans in the world into a frenzy from the word go. This is the atmosphere of a record-breaking sell-out show, starting as it meant to go on.

To say it delivered would be the understatement of the year.

Riots v Origin

The seeds for the evening’s opening contest had been sown back in June, a clash during Download Festival boiling over at The Sit Down Gun. Riots vs. Origin was a battle for supremacy that was bound to happen sooner or later however, and there could never be any doubt that chaos was going to ensue. It’s not a tag team match in Progress unless things break down at some point, and in no time at all you’d be forgiven for thinking tornado rules were in effect.

It’s hard to blame referee Chris Roberts in all this; you can’t envy a man put between teams that come to the ring wielding a cricket bat against a noose. The match also serves as a stark reminder that the front three rows of a Progress crowd are never safe from being dragged into the action, and a brutal powerbomb to El Ligero is the ultimate wakeup call. Luckily the Progress faithful have become well versed in obeying a yell of “MOVE!”, saving anyone other than the “shit El Torito” from major harm.

Gentleman Jack is Back

Relative newcomer Jack Gallagher is building up a fine reputation right now, in a fashion hardly dissimilar from Zack Sabre Jr. in past years. He is, with this in mind, the perfect man to share a ring with ProJo graduate and huge fan favourite Pastor William Eaver. Since the show the Pastor has garnered something of a Wreddit following for his awesome new t-shirt which was debuted as he entered here. The witty pastiche of already well-known designs is something that Progress has always done so well, and that’s something that looks set to continue. Here, however, it’s a win-win situation for both combatants. The Pastor is already so well-loved in the promotion that has built him from the ground up, and even before his Progress debut, Jack Gallagher had grown into the kind of wrestler who everyone can benefit from working with. It’s the same alignment of stars that occurred when Gallagher met Mark Haskins in his first Ballroom visit, and it clearly works wonders again here. Progress might well have a new frequent flyer in their midst.

None of the many chants as the Pastor and the Gentleman collide come with a hint of malice. There are two fan favourites here now, and what ensues is a fantastic showcase, both of wrestling ability and crowd engagement. Two matches in, and there really is nothing to fault. Such is the defining characteristic of a Progress Wrestling show. The crowd for match three between Gibson and Dennis are decidedly more partisan, well in Dennis’s corner and as vocal as ever against Gibson. Of course, you’d be hard pressed to find a single person who doesn’t respect Gibson’s fantastic ability, especially after his matches with Zack Sabre Jr. and Morgan Webster on recent chapters. But just like with Bubblegum — who at Chapter 20 was met with many congratulations at the merch table after a number of great performances this year — when they’re in the ring competing, the crowd has its own part to play.

Violence breeds violence

Of course, while nowhere does crowd atmosphere quite like Progress, no-one does surprises like Progress either, and the surprise emergence of Jimmy Havoc’s Regression stable as we prepare for the interval leads to scenes the likes of which are rarely witnessed in the Electric Ballroom. Havoc has fought deathmatch contests in Progress before, and El Ligero’s No Disqualification match with Michael Gilbert was a pretty intense affair, but few wars will linger as freshly in the memory as the impromptu and very bloody affair between Jimmy Havoc and Paul Robinson. What, if anything, is next for Regression remains to be seen, but with so much left in the ring by the time the fight ended, you could be sure that two of Progress Wrestling’s most villainous figures had won the crowd’s respect. Let it never be said that things are predictable at a Progress show.

The nature of Regression’s implosion leads to the ring canvas needing to be changed for the show’s second half. Yeah, all that and we’re only half way through. The return of Kris Travis is as emotional as you’d expect, and both he and “The Villain” Marty Scurll are clearly overcome by the occasion as the match begins. Scurll is a master at working a crowd, and Travis hangs with him every step of the way. Even after the match, when everything fucking changes, both men have all 700 fans eating out the palms of their hands. It’s fantastic storytelling throughout, and it certainly doesn’t seem like the two men are done with each other yet. There are a lot of things to say about what goes down before Scurll and Travis finally make their separate departures, but it’s easier just to urge you to watch it all for yourself as soon as you possibly can.

Next is the matter of an open challenge issued The Sumerian Death Squad allowing anyone, regardless of who, to have a crack at them for the Tag Team Titles. There is something of a juxtaposition between Progress and fellow London promotion Revolution Pro, in that the former will only rely on imported talent very sparingly. Matches like Styles-Liger, Okada-Aries and the Young Bucks vs. ICMG won’t happen in Progress, but that only makes the reception even more explosive when the company digs deep. So when former import Roderick Strong answers the Death Squad’s challenge, the reaction is almost nuclear. When he introduces his best friend and partner (baybay), you can kiss that “almost” goodbye. As with the previous match, there is so fucking much to say about the Sumerian Death Squad’s all-out war with Roderick Strong and Adam Cole. But there’s not enough space to do it here without turning this into a dissertation. It’s already pretty tough to get all the words in. Just, you see that link below? Use it.

The champ vs the worthy

The main event clash between Ospreay and Haskins is admittedly one that we have seen in Progress rather recently, but you would’ve been hard-pressed to have found a single person in the building who minded. A lot has changed for both wrestlers in just the one and a half chapters to have passed since they last faced off, and there is a far greater big fight feel on this occasion. Another beauty of Progress is how quickly a wrestler can hit the main event; there are no mid-carders or enhancement talent in Progress Wrestling, there are simply the champions and dozens of other people who want their titles. It doesn’t take long at all to build a contender, but right now there is perhaps no-one more deserving of the first shot at Will Ospreay’s reign. Haskins has fought the likes of CIMA and BxB Hulk in Dragon Gate, AJ Styles and Davey Richards in RPW and held Southside’s top title for almost eighteen months. In Progress however, his talent has won him a lot of love from the crowd but little in the way of major opportunities. His climb up the rankings has been a gradual one, but with Ospreay and Haskins taking the main event slot here, we finally get the suggestion that his time in the spotlight may have arrived. With what happens in the match itself, there can be no questioning the fact that he deserves it.