PROGRESS Co-Founder Jim Smallman To Leave Company At The End Of The Year

With all the progress PROGRESS has been making over the course of the past few years, co-founder Jim Smallman announced yesterday that he will be leaving the promotion at the end of the year after the Chapter 100 show on December 30. Full video and transcription below:

“So seven and a half years ago when we started PROGRESS Wrestling if you’d have said to me ‘Hey Jim, you’re going 300 tickets for your first show, I wouldn’t have believed you. I definitely wouldn’t have believed all the other crazy stuff that’s happened over those seven and a half years. Me getting to ring announce in the ECW Arena, us doing tours of America and Australia and Germany and next week we’re going to Canada. I wouldn’t have believed you if you said, ‘Hey, you’re going to pack out the Electric Ballroom every single month and you’re going to do shows at Brixton Academy, Alexander Palace and Wembley Arena. That’s all amazing stuff. On top of that, I’ve gotten to work with some of the best professional wrestlers in the world. A lot of these guys have become my friends as well and I feel incredibly lucky to have been part of them and also I’ve had so many amazing helpers along the way and on top of that, even better, I’ve gotten to interact with hundreds of wrestling fans around the world, both in person and on social media and that will always mean the world to me. And I’ve gotten to do all this with my two best friends and it’s been an amazing experience.

“Now on December the 30th of this year, it’s Chapter 100. The 100th PROGRESS Chapter, something after Chapter 1, we never thought we’d actually get to and  here it comes on December the 30th. Now, this is an incredibly important Chapter to me because after thinking about it long and hard, for both myself and for my family, it will be my last PROGRESS Chapter. I’ll be leaving the company, I’ll no longer be ring announcing, I’ll no longer be a part of the behind-the-scenes team. Instead I’ll be leaving it solely to John & Glenn, who will continue to smash it out of the park every single show. The best part about all this is, the next time after December the 30th if I go back to a PROGRESS show, I’ll be down in the best possible position as a fan. I’ll also enjoy some of the best shows independent wrestling will ever brought. But until then, I’m still around so in Canada next week and beyond I’m still going to be ring announcing and we can have a good time and apparently at Chapter 100 I’m allowed to do some mental stuff. So thanks everybody, see you soon.”

(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone)