Intro
Progress Wrestling is a British professional wrestling promotion that was established in 2011 by comedian Jim Smallman and events/comedy promoter Jon Briley, later to be joined in management by actor Glen Robinson. They have played host to some of the biggest names in British wrestling such as; Marty Scurll, Zack Sabre Jr, Will Osprey, Jimmy Havok, Mark Haskins, Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate and whole host of others. They have been a mainstay in the London Wrestling Scene and have also sold out shows up down the Country as well as tours across Europe, the United States and Canada.
A few weeks ago, whilst looking at an up coming card, Chapter 101, I had noticed they were offering a 14 day free trial for their streaming service DemandProgress, having seen a few of their previous chapters that they had released for free on Youtube, I decided to sign up and watch a Progress show every day for 28 days, doubling the free trail period to really get feel for the company. I chose to just concentrate on the Progress Chapters. Demand Progress does offer more than just Progress wrestling and there are other promotion shows you are able to watch such as, Smash Wrestling and Defy Wrestling in Canada, AAW pro and many more.
The question was where do I start? I looked back at YouTube to find the last show I had watched, which was the Natural Progression Series, but that was too recent to do my 28 days, then it was Chapter 82 ‘A Dukla Prague Away Kit’ (Don’t worry I will get into chapter names later), but still too early so then it was Chapter 76 ‘Hello Wembley perfect’, I felt like Goldilocks. So my Journey was ready to start Chapter 77 ‘Pumpkin Spice Progress’ through to the most recent show (as of when I started this), Chapter 102 Bang Tidy, and would include the 2019 Super Strong Style Tournament as well as their tour of Canada including Progress Vs Smash Wrestling.
I thought the best way to lay out this article, was to break into three sections, what I disliked, what I liked and finally, whether I would I recommend other wrestling fans to get a subscription.
What I disliked
Jim Smallman
To be honest one of the things that bugged me about Progress Wrestling even before I started this project, just from watching their free YouTube shows, was Jim Smallman. Jim Smallman is not just one of the owners of Progress wrestling, he also acted as host and ring announcer. Prior to starting Progress Jim worked as comedian. The issue I had with Jim was not as owner and his vision for a British wrestling company, but his hosting and ring announcing, as he took it as chance to do a comedy routine. It made the show come of as unprofessional at times, he did not even make an effort to dress well, regularly appearing in just a t-shirt, jeans and trainers whilst wearing a baseball cap. When it came to his actual comedy routine which I personally never found funny 80% of time, it was just the same routine every show he rarely had any fresh material. I also felt he took up time from the wrestlers, by spending time after each match to do his comedy routine, which often included getting the referee’s to do silly spots, he often turned a serious wrestling show into pantomime.
Pantomime wrestling
Unfortunately it was not just Jim who would turn the show into a pantomime, this actually included the referees such as Joel Allen and Marc Parry. However in the referees defence is was Jim and the fans who prompted this with chants of “Big Strong Joel” where he would have to perform a Muscle pose. For Marc “Paz” Parry, the encouraged chant was “Lucha Paz” at which point he would be expected to perform some sort of Lucha manoeuvrer from a roll, trying to jump over the ropes, as well as attempting a 619, he almost hurt himself on more than one occasion. I’m sure I am not the only one who thinks that a wrestling show, is not supposed to be about the host or the referee, unfortunately it was not just prior to matches. On too many occasions the referees were often forced participants in comedy spots during an actual match, thanks to the indie wrestling mindset of some of the performers.
Indie Comedic wrestling
Progress is in an independent wrestling show, in the fact that it is not WWE or NJPW, however it was one of the biggest promotions in the UK, rather than trying to be a serious wrestling company they allow themselves to be seen as just another indie wrestling promotion. It all to often fell into using Indie wrestling comedy spots, I have to say one of the greatest offenders for often using too many comedy spots was the godfather of British Strong Style, Trent Seven. I am not against using comedy in wrestling, when done right it can add to match or show. Trent’s style of comedy unfortunately made it look like he was not taking his match seriously. If the competitors do not make an effort to take their match seriously how are we as fans suppose to take his match seriously. This style of wrestling lets the fans know that this is just a show for entertainment, yes fans know that wrestling is fixed and/or pre planned, but its up to performers to suspend fans disbelief so we can invest our emotions, I believe this type of Pantomime wrestling makes a mockery of fans, treating them as if they are stupid.
No Barriers
One thing I truly hated most about progress wrestling is there is no separation between performers and fans, there are no barriers anywhere to protect the fans from the wrestlers and vice versa. I have two issues with this, the first is as I just stated there is no protection for the fans, like a lot of modern wrestling a good portion of the match ends up taking place outside of the ring, fans are constantly up routed from their seats, so a competitor can be thrown in to the seats. The other issue is the live events take place in two parts, like a theatre show, as they cannot have members of the audience getting up as they please, as this would put them and the competitors in possible danger, in fact whilst talking about drinks the front row audience typically have place their drinks on the floor, this could cause issues for the performers as drinks may be spilt causing certain areas to become hazardous, all of which could be avoided with barriers. One of there performers had to be suspended recently due to causing an injury to a member of the audience, I believe they were suspended for 3 live events, I believe suspending the wrestler was unfair and just away of the owners avoiding responsibility, if they cared about fan safety they should put barriers up.
No Replays
All the shows on the Demand Progress Channel and all the chapters are pre-recorded and edited, the shows usually go up on the website a week after the live show, so why do they not have action replays. The show does not have a multitude of cameras like some of the bigger companies so are more limited in the all different angle shots, but still does not excuse the fact that they have no replays. Many of the matches are full of fast paced action and crazy spots its difficult to catch everything as you are watching, some spots are just so amazing that you want to see them again and its really annoying that they do not highlight these great moves, I am forever having skip back a little just to watch something again. I think I get what they are trying to do with how the show is edited and shot, they are trying to make the viewer feel as if they were their watching live, but I feel this is the wrong approach. I want to see replays of amazing spots I would also like to see the highlights of the match afterwards, Progress Wrestling and British wrestling as whole have amazing technical prowess, and there is just so much incredible action, the performers deserve to have a highlight reel after the match, have some slow motion shots, add in some edited comments for a break down of the Match after the show.
Silly Show Names
I was kind of torn on where to put this on my list as something I liked or something I disliked, and in the end it unfortunately has landed in the dislike. I just feel again that some of the names that are given to the shows are just far too silly, honestly it comes down to how can you take them seriously as wrestling company, if their events name sounds like joke. I will admit there are one or two show names that I did find quite funny one being, “The Show We Cannot Call Progresstlemaina, for legal reasons” or “Very Very Very, Breaky Breaky Breaky, Bishi Bishi” named after a famous line from a Japanese commentator, but many just don’t make any sense in the wrestling world, such as “Sex Robots Will Eventually Be Capable Of Murder”, “Remove Child Before Ironing”, “Pumpkin Spice PROGRESS” “Bourbon Is Also A Biscuit” “Don't Touch Me... Don't... Don't Touch Me” and many others.
What I liked
Incredible Matches
One thing progress does really well is put on incredible matches, nearly every show you will see a match that is close to being considered a 5 star match, in fact there will at least be 2 matches that would definetly be four star matches. There are a couple of reasons why Progress are able to pull this off, they are not overly booked and/or produced by anyone else other than the performers and the performers are given the freedom to express themselves. Progress does not run a weekly a TV show, so every event feels like PPV and as such you get PPV quality matches every time you watch.
Incredible Talent
Another reason they are able to put on quality matches is the talent they have at their disposal, and this has been true from the very start, boasting some of the very best British talent with competitors such as; Jimmy Havoc, Will Osprey, Marty Scurll, Zack Sabre Jr, Noam Dar, Mark Andrews and Eddie Dennis just to name a few. As some of these guys began to make names for themselves and headed off for pastures new over the pond, new talents began to crop and make their marks in the business, talents such as; Trent Seven, Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne, Zack Gibson and Mark Haskins. Again these stars helped to bring about NXT UK and moved on, progress was ready with the next set of stars this time introducing some of best talents from across the world, like Jordan Devlin, Walter and Ringkampf, Ilja Draganov, Travis Banks and Aussie Open. By this time they were also attracting top US independent stars such as Timothy Thatcher, Matt Riddle, David Star and many others. They also have a close working relationship with the WWE, which allows them the use of certain talents, which most independent wrestling companies do not have. I haven't even mentioned the incredible female talent that have walked through the progress doors such as Toni Storm, Jinny, Millie McKenzie, Jordan Grace and newcomers Giselle Shaw as well Charli Evans, progress always have an incredible women's match on every card.
Young British Talent
Progress have done an incredible job bringing in the best young British Talent in the forever revolving door that is Progress, every time stars leave to work for companies such as NJPW, WWE and others, Progress are ready with the next crop of rising British talents. Cara Noir, Scotty Davis, Spike Trivet, the OJMO and many other young hungry British talents are ready to step into the main event scene. One of the best events Progress run on a yearly basis is the Natural Progression series which show cases some of the very best young Talent on the UK independent scene. It truly is one of the best things about Progress Wrestling as a company, they had one major edict from the very start and that was the British Wrestling Talent came first. They had become tired of seeing American and other International talent, just because they had name recognition, headline British shows they even opened there own wrestling school to help train the future, many of today's top stars got there start thanks to incredible work progress did for British talent.
The Fans
British wrestling fans are incredible, every country has good wrestling fans, each with the own unique charms, but the great charm about a British Wrestling crowd is just how lively they are, with chants and songs, cheers and boos. British wrestling crowds rarely go quiet, with different songs and chants for the favourites and even the ones they don’t like, and when a the crowd does go quiet its to pay respect to the performers in the ring, usually when the match starts to slow down, and performer is exquisitely performing true technical wrestling. It’s also the respect they show the performers whether they are a fan favourite or not, the British crowds are just so grateful to see good wrestling shows always given a round of applause to all competitors at the end of each match. When big international stars do come over from abroad they are always greeted with rapturous applause welcoming them in and at the end of their match, they greeted with the chants of “Please Come Back” and of course when they do they get the obligatory “Welcome Back” chant. At progress they are life long fans and the ones that try to go to every show are known as the ‘Progress Ultras’ and as mean as that sounds they are friendliest bunch around, welcoming of any one new to the shows, they even have their chant for the newbies “It’s your round”, they live by the one and only rule of Progress Wrestling, sing what you want, chant what you want and have a good time but “Don’t be a dick!!”
No more Jim Smallman
Jim Smallman has now stopped hosting and ring announcing as of January 2020, this job has been passed down to progress commentator Matt Richards, who is better at the hosting and ring announcing, he also makes more of an effort to dress smarter.
Do I recommend Progress
It may seem that I do not like progress, I spent much more of this article on what I disliked compared to what I did like, but let me assure you that small section of likes far outweighs all the negative things that I personally do not like. The main thing you want to see when watching wrestling is the best talent putting on incredible matches. I would 100% recommend picking up a Demand Progress subscription, plus its always good to support independent wrestlers, do not watch free downloads, it’s a dick move and kills independent wrestling companies. On top of the great Progress chapter shows you also get other independent shows from across the globe, to watch and enjoy, such AAW, Defy, Smash Wrestling and many other great shows. The 14 day free trial is still available, and with people having to self isolate currently why not pick up the free trial and give it a go, just for any clarification I have kept my subscription. With the recent issues around the globe now is the time more than any other to help out Independent wrestling companies who may struggle to keep the doors open with so many shows having to be cancelled. This also the best time to take advantage of free subscription to watch as much wrestling as you can, since we have been on lock down I decided to go back to very beginning Chapter 1 and work my way through.
Andrew More
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