PROGRESS co-founder Jim Stallman recently spoke with talkSPORT to discuss last week’s event which drew nearly 2,500 fans to south London and was one of the biggest shows mounted in Britain for decades. Below are some interview highlights:
On PROGRESS’ relationship with WWE:
“It all came from a phone call from William Regal,” explained Jim, keen to emphasise how the association between PROGRESS and WWE is “tiny”.
“[NXT on screen manager and talent scout] Regal is a friend – he spends most of his time bullying me about Phil Collins – but he is a friend and someone I’ve worked with a lot during his excellent stand up tours over here and I get on really well with him, regardless of what he’ll tell you.
“When WWE comes calling and goes ‘we like what you do’, that’s an amazing pat on the back. And then when they offer an opportunity that offers more eyes on our product, obviously we’re going to go: ‘Absolutely, yes!’”
On losing talents like Tommaso Ciampa, Tommy End and Jack Gallagher to WWE:
“We always expect to lose people. We fully expect them to get snapped up by other companies that are bigger than us and we say goodbye with a shake of the hand. Anyone that goes on the bigger things, like Will or Jack Gallagher, we’re just delighted for them because that is what they wanted. That’s why they worked so hard for us.
“All that means is that there is going to be another generation of wrestlers who’ve seen them do it and recognise to get where they are is to work really hard for us.
“So hopefully that means there will always be a conveyor belt of really, really talented and really, really enthusiastic wrestlers who want to work for us and be part of our product and get noticed. We’ve always got to be prepared for that.
On the success of the WWE CWC:
“We’ve been very lucky in that they seemed pleased with the CWC matches we put on for them.
“The whole thing worked out really well for us and because the CWC did so well, it was great to be one of the companies in on the ground floor, like EVOLVE and Rev Pro. It helps us in the eyes of someone who doesn’t know that much about wrestling, it is a little bit of validation because WWE has gone: ‘These guys are cool.’
“I love our company and I’m very proud of PROGRESS’ product – but we’re very different to WWE. If we can attract more fans through the tiniest of associations with WWE, that is tremendous.”
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
