PROGRESS WWNLive Experience
March 31, 2017
Orlando, FL
1. Zack Sabre Jr. def. Jimmy Havoc. I always appreciate seeing how different crowds react to stars. ZSJ was clearly the favorite here, while just a few hours later at Rev Pro he was booed in the main event against Pentagon. Finally seeing Havoc perform live was something special; if US fans don’t know his name yet, they will soon. These two are on a different level.
2. James Drake def. Rockstar Spud. Spud got one of the best reactions of the night, and Drake played a good heel for him to fire up against time and time again. Every time I see him outside of Impact Wrestling I remember how good Spud is, and how easy it is to react to what he does in the ring, and I cannot fathom why he hasn’t been a bigger, more consistent part of that brand over the years.
3. Jinny def. Toni Storm. Admittedly I’m still working my way through the first half of the PROGRESS shows on-demand, so this was an introduction of sorts to these two women. But there was a clear heel and a clear babyface and they put on a good match, so it was easy to follow and I really want to see more from both of them.
4. Travis Banks & TK Cooper (South Pacific Power Trip) def. Sami Callihan & Shane Strickland. This was the match that really made me realize how cool this event is. I kind of just paused and realized I was watching my friend, Sami Callihan, one of the best talents in the world right now, wrestling on a PROGRESS show, in the United States, during WrestleMania week. Wrestling is so cool. These four rocked the house, probably the best of the first four matches and one of the better matches I saw on Friday. They went surprisingly long, and just beat the hell out of each other; I’m not overly familiar with the SPPT but I will absolutely be going back and watching all their matches I can find when I get home next week.
5. Matt Riddle def. Trent Seven to retain the PROGRESS Atlas Championship. During his introduction Seven asked to “make this quick” because he had to go to WWE Axxess, which got the appropriate amount of light-hearted boos. Another great match, coming just hours after Riddle faced Dan Severn at Joey Janela’s Spring Break. It should really tell you have excellent this guy is that he’s working top tier names like Trent Seven in awesome matches, but then also putting on highly entertaining bouts with DAN SEVERN in 2017.
6. Tyler Bate def. Mark Andrews to retain the WWE UK Championship. Very cool seeing the WWE UK Championship defended on a PROGRESS show, during WrestleMania week of all places. Like Spud, I have no idea how Impact Wrestling didn’t properly capitalize on the talent of Mark Andrews.
7. Pete Dunne def. Mark Haskins to retain the PROGRESS Championship. One of the highlights of my entire week so far. When I booked my trip for WrestleMania week one of my end goals was to see Pete Dunne wrestle live. He retains every bit of the charisma and character you saw in the UK Tournament during every performance. The guy is a future mega star. Haskins is just unbelievably talented as well, and it might have been a struggle to top some of the bouts on this card, but they put on a clinic.
NOTES
– Seeing a PROGRESS show in the United States was a no-brainer. There wasn’t a single match on the card, and every match ranged from very good to great. In fact I don’t think I’ve seen a single wrestler give anything less than 100% this entire week, and I would just like to say thank you for the amount of work and effort being put in for the benefit of the fans. People paid a lot of money to be here this week, and to see their favorite stars in action, and thus far not a single person I’ve seen has come close to disappointing.
– Jim Smallman told me I had to put his name in my review so it came up in his tracker. So here you go Jim. Your show didn’t suck after all. I’m glad we got to have that post-show embrace. In all seriousness, thank you for all you do for the fans and for PROGRESS. Your announcing out in the ring adds such a unique and amazing element to every show, and there’s a very good chance I wouldn’t have fallen in love with PROGRESS if you hadn’t been there yelling at me on every show.
– I’m terrible at estimating crowds, but I would say there was between 1,100 and 1,300 people in attendance. Obviously it drew fantastically, in the same building as all the WWN shows this week. Easily double or triple what Rev Pro did in the Wrestlecon building just a few hours later. It wasn’t quite sold-out, as there were probably 100 chairs left at the very type of the arena seats and scattered around on the floor, but it was damn close.
– I assumed Zack Sabre was kicking off the show because he had two other matches to work within 3-4 hours and had to sprint over to Rev Pro, but he ended up hanging out throughout the show and for quite awhile afterwards talking to fans and selling merch. I know it’s mentioned here a lot, because we see him for AAW shows in Chicago pretty frequently, but he really is the nicest individual in wrestling.
– I had the pleasure of finally meeting Mrs. Bro and hanging out with the Riddles for the second half of the show. They’ll be at our party this Sunday during WrestleMania, so if you’re hanging out at home for the PPV make sure you tune into the live stream and say hello.
– After the show I helped sell some merch with the Riddles, and said hello to nearly everyone who worked the event. It’s also scary introducing yourself to wrestlers you’ve never met because you just don’t know what they’re like in person, but EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. that I have talked to this weekend has been incredibly nice, hospitable, and just a downright pleasure to interact with. The motto of PROGRESS, which is simple just “don’t be a dick” holds true for its performers as well.
– Despite not being on the card (he lost a Loser Leaves PROGRESS match last weekend) Will Ospreay was hanging around, watching the show and interacting with some fans near the merch area. Always nice to see Will.
A big thank you to PROGRESS Wrestling for having me out at the show. I look forward to finishing up my run through Demand Progress online, and I will absolutely make my way across the pond to see a show in person one day soon. Thanks for what you do, you’re one of the best promotions in the world today, and I’m overjoyed to have finally seen that live and in person.
