What am I doing here? For a change of pace I booted up Triller+ to watch PROGRESS Wrestling’s latest offering, heading oop north (which is still down south to me but I digress…) to Manchester for a bit of wrestling.

I will be very transparent here, I’ve dipped in and out of PROGRESS historically with the last show being when I caught the majority of being ‘Chapter 170: Wrestling Never Sleeps’ off the back of ‘All In’ weekend, watching Tom Campbell valiantly make his way through match announcements. Even then I could only manage the first half due to grown up Monday commitments and then time to revisit just never arrived.

But now I’m sat, comfortable, taking advantage of my free trial after watching ‘Fear & Loathing XIV’, Triller+ was reloaded and ready to go. I’ve been seeing more and more PROGRESS Wrestling float into my eyeline recently with Emersyn Jayne causing a ruckus down that there London way, along with their ongoing affiliation with World Wide Wrestling League on this side of the border.

Simon Miller made his way out to the ring as the host for the evening and had a little chat about winning the Proteus Championship.

PROGRESS Tag Team Championships – Smokin’ Aces (Charlie Sterling & Nick Riley) defeated Subculture (Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews) by pinfall to retain the PROGRESS Tag Team Championships.

Nick Riley felt the wrath of Subculture’s silky smooth tag team manoeuvres early on. Charlie Sterling tried to use a power game but found himself discombobulated by Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews’ agility.

Smokin’ Aces had difficulty stringing together some momentum in the opening exchanges with Subculture using any space to nip in some offense, following all the rules of dodgeball. Riley managed to grab the leg of Webster which gave enough of a distraction for Charlie Sterling to land a kick to the side of the head to return the status quo and pace to Sterling and Riley as they used quick tags to retain the advantage.

Andrews finally got the tag and was fired up to take down both members of Smokin’ Aces, assisting Webster with a Falcon Arrow to Sterling for a very near fall.

Riley tripped Andrews off the apron as the champions just hit move after move after move to Flash Morgan Webster who somehow got a shoulder up. Webster continued to fight back to bring Andrews back into the action with a 2.99 count following an assisted Blue Thunder Bomb to Nick Riley.

Mark Andrews went up top for a Shooting Star Press but the wriggling Nick Riley made Andrews second guess the turnbuckle he was going to fly from, the re-evaluation allowed Riley to kick the referee into the ropes to crotch Andrews on the turnbuckle and for Charlie Sterling to return for a neckbreaker/cutter combo to retain.

A fast paced opener, which you expect when Subculture is involved. Smokin’ Aces were hard hitting in response and managed to neutralise the high flying offense for the most part either via strength or with nefarious tactics. A nice back and forth match as both teams had very natural chemistry together.

Myles Kayman defeated Connor Mills by pinfall.

Kayman pushed Mills around before the bell, showing immediate disrespect to his opponent as he threw his jacket into the face of Connor Mills. Mills was relentless, grabbing a limb, picking apart joints with a nasty looking toe hold before tying the legs of Myles Kayman to leave him prone for a hard slap across the face.

Myles found his chance and took control, bullying Connor Mills, gathering confidence and wearing him down with slams and chinlocks, kicking his legs to add additional pressure.

Connor Mills challenged Kayman to slap him and returned with a massive forearm and flying kick that sent Myles Kayman inside out, but a Ki-Krusher could only garner a two count. The battle continued with Kayman springing off the ropes with a flying uppercut and pop-up powerbomb for another close fall.

As the momentum flipped back and forth, Myles Kayman managed to hook the arms of Connor Mills and plant him with a facebuster for the win.

This was fine, I didn’t see much by way of character from Connor Mills outside of “does kicks and that”, which is okay when you have a charismatic opponent like a Myles Kayman, to pull a Scottish wrestling reference, his look and intensity reminds me to Ryan Richards up here. Some nice moves in a fairly even contest but I didn’t find myself gravitating to Connor Mills.

Mothdog (Gene Munny & Session Moth Martina) w/Will Kroos defeated Sam Bailey & Skye Smitson by pinfall.

Following an attack on LA Taylor shown before the second match, Skye Smitson introduced her new tag team partner for the evening, Sam Bailey.

“You’re just friends. We’re family. Bloods thicker than that. We’re thick as shit” – Gene Munny.

Session Moth tried her flirtatious charm offensive on Sam Bailey but he was having none of it, cranking on a wristlock to disable Martina who escaped with a catch-as-catch… slap to the face to tag in Gene Munny.

Skye Smitson hoisted Munny on her shoulders to throw him back for an impressive Samoan Drop to get Sam Bailey back into the ring, who hit a second rope springboard Whisper In The Wind which looked fantastic.

Mothdog used the number one nephew Will Kroos to their advantage as Martina and Gene Munny showed off their unique tag team dynamic which consisted of luck, miscommunication, and actual successful moves.

LA Taylor ran out to stop Will Kroos getting involved further and the image of Taylor and Kroos standing face to face was great. Taylor tried to revive Smitson but had to watch Martina hit a second rope Codebreaker to Bailey, who turned around to feel an Ainsley Lariat to wrap up the match.

A really entertaining bout, Session Moth Martina and Gene Munny are masters at weaving comedic elements into matches so that it doesn’t totally overshadow moments but actually enhances them. Will Kroos is a great addition for this dysfunctional trio. Smitson and Bailey provided excellent reactions to the tomfoolery, and I want to see LA Taylor slam Will Kroos badly.

Cara Noir defeated Charli Evans by pinfall.

The stare off between Noir and Evans was marked perfectly with the contrast in looks. Cara Noir in his trademark black swan, with Charli Evans as the bride in white and gold. Evans showed no fear as the bell rang, taking it straight to Cara Noir with forearms.

Evans refused a handshake as they continued to exchange hits as there was little give from the other. The pace became methodical, each chipping away at each other with chops and kicks with an increase in frustration as the playing field was even.

Cara Noir found his groove, setting the flow of the match to his pace, trapping Evans in a grotesque modified abdominal stretch. Evans rolled out and put the boots to the face of Noir as both dug deep to continue to survive.

As the adrenaline hit, Evans launched Noir overhead with a belly to belly, Noir with a rebounding German suplex as they met in the middle of the ring to exchange kicks. Charli Evans went back to the ankle lock to take advantage of the bootless Cara Noir, which helped her escape from a sleeper hold.

Charli Evans went back to the foot but felt a headbutt from Cara Noir who crushed Evans to the mat with a package piledriver for the win.

A highly competitive contest. Two incredible wrestlers creating art in the ring. Charli Evans offered her hand after the match to beautifully call back to the opening offering from Cara Noir which was accepted.

Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II) defeated Kieron Lacey & Mark Trew by pinfall.

Mark Trew got a back rake in nice and early as it didn’t take long for a crowded tussle in the middle of the ring between the four. Lacey and Trew used their re-imagining of the rules to cut corners to keep on top by cutting the ring and making quick tags to beat down Kid Lykos II.

Lykos II managed to find his way to his corner with the original Lykos running wild, flying over the ropes with a corkscrew splash to knock Lacey and Trew down but his BRAINBUSTAH attempt was denied with Mark Trew and Kieron Lacey using the numbers to hit a number of double team moves with the pinfall only being denied by a lunging Kid Lykos II.

As the match broke down with all four men flying with sentons and headbutts, with blink and you’ll miss it action. Lykos Gym finished the job with a suplex lift into a phoenix splash combination.

Connor Mills appeared on the ramp as Nico Angelo jumped Lykos Gym from behind to spark a sea of red shirts getting battered by Mills and Angelo, leaving Lykos II laying with a hooked Michinoku Driver while Kid Lykos could only watch while trapped in an ankle lock by Connor Mills.

A brisk match that kept a high tempo, a very simple story told with Lacey and Trew cutting off the ring to stop Kid Lykos getting involved with multiple trips off the apron but once Lykos Gym got cooking it was too much for the young team.

The post match attack was enhanced by seeing Connor Mills earlier in the night suffer a loss along with a video on screen with Angelo and Mills having a catch up. The seeds were planted and immediately paid off.

Emersyn Jayne defeated Natalie Sykes by pinfall.

Jayne overpowered Sykes in the early going with shoulder blocks, but a missed moonsault from Emersyn sent Natalie Sykes feral, hitting a cutter for a near fall. It didn’t take long for Jayne to collect her bearings, launching a dropkick to send Natalie Sykes into the corner.

Emersyn hit the Shadowfax German suplex before finishing the match with packaged Kryptonite Krunch variant to wrap up a quick win.

Sub-5 minutes for this one, Natalie Sykes managed to get a little bit of character in but the majority was a Emersyn Jayne showcase.

After the match referee Sandy Beeches handed over an envelope which contained a golden ticket which harkened back to an earlier promo video from Lana Austin saying that someone would receive it for a match against her in London. Again, I like these kind of quick payoffs for the live audience.

MothDog returned before the main event to interrupt Simon Miller. After some words exchanged, Miller thwarted an attempted a sneak attack from Gene Munny but that damn dirty dawg ran into a spear before Miller took a live poll to organise a fatal four way for ‘Vendetta 2’ where he would take on Munny, Martina, and Will Kroos with the Proteus title on the line.

Boisterous Behaviour (Leon Slater & Man Like DeReiss) defeated Young Guns (Ethan Allen & Luke Jacobs) by pinfall.

Ethan Allen struck first before the bell towards Man Like DeReiss as the brawl immediately went to the outside. The chaos continued with rows of seats emptied to allow for more carnage. Leon Slater flew over the top turnbuckle to take out Allen which quite rightly got a “Holy Shit” chant.

The match officially began with Boisterous Behaviour in charge, DeReiss and Slater were aggressive, keeping Ethan Allen in their corner. The typical trope is the babyface being isolated but after the pre-match attack and the overwhelming love for DeReiss and Slater, the crowd just wanted to see Allen getting battered, with Boisterous Behaviour happy to oblige.

Luke Jacobs eventually got the tag in to run wild, getting the suplexes in to applause. Jacobs took control, beating down Man Like DeReiss and antagonising Leon Slater as he stood on the apron. The chops DeReiss endured were loud and sharp with Jacobs and Allen exchanging quick tags to isolate Man Like DeReiss.

Once Leon Slater got back involved, the pace quickened as the swell of support grew for Boisterous Behaviour but that didn’t stop Jacobs and Allen using some high impact and effective tandem offense for DeReiss to barely kick out of.

The action continued thick and fast, counters, throws, kicks, lariats, just a mile a minute as the match continued. All four men found themselves laid out before the adrenaline hit and the quartet rose from the dead at the count of 9 to carry on the back and forth swing of momentum.

The referee found himself in the path of a flying Leon Slater as Allen brought the PROGRESS World Championship into the picture. After a heistation from Slater, DeReiss grabbed the belt to smash Jacobs which allowed Leon Slater to land the 450 Swanton for the victory.

An absolutely epic main event than never let up, with so many chapters throughout. The interactions between Leon Slater and Luke Jacobs were highly charged and intense as they landed heavy blow after heavy blow which paid into the conclusion Slater being the one to obtain the pin over the PROGRESS World Champion.

An entertaining show to watch from PROGRESS Wrestling. There was nothing by way of bad matches, with PROGRESS being a pro wrestling first promotion it makes the likes of MothDog properly stand out. There was plenty of top quality and professional wrestling. Cara Noir and Charli Evans provided a great story driven match that escalated nicely. The tag team matches were fantastic. I mentioned that I liked the payoffs, with PROGRESS flitting between Manchester and London semi-regularly there’s nothing worse than hard selling an event that isn’t happening in that town. The Mills-Angelo advancement, Lana Austin’s Golden Ticket, and bringing Simon Miller into the action as opposed to “just a ring announcer” gave the paying audience plenty to be excited about. The main event was excellent, Leon Slater is an absolute star.

Replay of the event is available on Triller+, and you can get a 7 day free trial for new subscribers, jump on it.