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grapsandclaps · 7 years

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GRAPS AND CLAPS DOES ALLY PALLY PROGRESS

Hello again everyone and welcome to the story of Show 70 of the #100showyear which took me to the Christmas darting mecca of Alexandra Palace for Progress Wrestlings biggest show of the year - Chase The Sun.

But first of all it was the longer than usual travel down to the capital via trams, trains and tubes with the added entertainment of our group doing our best Pete Dunne impressions supposedly "Everything is mine" in a dour brummie accent.

Arriving in Wood Green before the 20 minute walk up Muswell Hill we took in a decent little pub called The Jolly Sailor or something to that effect and was greeted with very good beer prices for a London boozer - £3.60 for Coors, £4.10 for Wolf Rock and £4.60 for Blue Moon, the bar lady overheard of my liking for slices of orange in a pint of Blue Moon so out of kindness and service she sent her faithful bar assistant out to the local grocers for some oranges, low and behold a slice of orange ended up in my drink 😍.

Drinks done it was time to take the hike up to Ally Pally which on a nice day is a lovely walk to do with views of the London skyline to the left hand side of you which in the evening can be a fantastic sight to see. Arriving at Ally Pally it was time to find our seats which due to arriving an hour before the show started meant we were more to the back of row 11/12 with a central view, the set up was very much like the set up WCPW does with their seating in the aircraft hangar called Bowlers. Atmosphere wise it was much noisier than the previous years Brixton Academy show with it making it more accessible for people to mingle with their wrestling friends. The option to stand up at the back was there if you couldnt see anything from your seats which i took advantage of, but our Geoff stopped in his seat all night and seemed to like it there.

Pre show match was Chuck Mambo beating Spike Trivet in what i was told was a short affair but missable , because i had gone to get beer refreshments at the nearby bar before the main show had started.

Hop House Lager - £5, Fosters £4.80, Deuchars £4.50

Show started with a great video package to the familiar tune starter Started From The Bottom by Drake, and after the usual opening dialogue from Jim Smallman it was time to get on with the show with the visible ladders around the ring it was time to start with the Progress Tag Title Ladder Match with British Strong Style (Champions) vs CCK.

This was a fine opener with the early stages of the match based more around wrestling than using the ladders. Once the ladders came into play some cool offence was used including back suplexes on to the ladder, Kid Lykos being carried whilst on the ladder by Bate and Seven and then flung over the top rope to the Progress security below. The ending came when Brookes and Tyler Bate were fighting atop of the ladder with Bate being backbody dropped on to a raised ladder which was held on the ropes. With the prone Bate on the deck, Brooks climbed the ladder to grab the belts and your new champions - CCK to the satisfaction of the 2,500 strong crowd.

Next up it was a battle of Australia vs New Zealand with Womens Champion Toni Storm vs Dahlia Black. Again another good match here with both women having opportunities early on to take the upper hand, Toni Storm hit a piledriver on Black for a close 2 nearfall to the amazement of the crowd. The finish came when Black got crotched on the top rope and was prone to a nasty german suplex from the top by Toni who then proceeded to finish Black off with the match winning piledriver. After the match Jinny came in to attack Dahlia clamping Blacks previously injured leg in a chair and stamping on it, so it looks like it will be Dahlia vs Jinny for the near future leaving Toni Storm opponentless for the time being which is a bit strange.

Zack Sabre Jr was next for his mystery opponent challenge which was answered to a huge pop - i had goosebumps for this moment just wow by Marty Scurll returning for the first time since January where he was eliminated from the ThunderBastard Match but since being away from Progress has become a huge star thanks to his association with The Bullet Club - they are a huge cash cow. Anyways this match was another great match in the Sabre vs Scurll story lasting 20 minutes both guys going hold for hold knowing each and every step their opponent would make. Eventually Sabre Jr got the win with the bridging roll up for the 1-2-3, Scurll after the match then gave what looks like to be his farewell to Progress for good - make your own mind up on why, but Scurll is certainly someone who Progress could do with at the top end of the card once British Strong Style decamp to WWE.

Deathmatch time with perennial moaners about who is the rightful no.1 contender Jimmy Havoc vs Mark Haskins. I might be in the minority on my opinion here but even though it was a good match at times, i did feel the atmosphere went a bit flat here after following Sabre vs Scurll. It did have its moments with Haskins using The Death Valley Driver on Havoc off the stage through a table, many thumbtack spots and even Vicky Haskins getting involved passing a barb wire bat to Mark Haskins and then proceeding to walk off which was a bit head scratching, surely you stay there to help your husband lay the beatdown to Havoc. Havoc because of this took advantage winning with a barb wore assisted rainmaker for the win. Ok match but as explained bloody head scratching stuff with Vicky Haskins more the baddie in this piece than Mark Haskins. Seeing Ben and Chris at half time they uttered many a "Shit" "Crap" and "Fuck" about this match.

Back from half time it was time for a big announcement with Progress's big show in 2018 taking place at Wembley Arena, very ambitious as per ICW doing the Hydro. I think sleeping on my opinion from last night Progress will easily get 5/6k to the show but i am all of the worry that the boom of the UK scene can all come to a halt like that, hopefully it doesnt but with Progress they seem to have a great relationship with WWE at the moment so all looks rosy.

Three way Atlas action next with Champion Matt Riddle vs Walter vs Timothy Thatcher. Cracking hard hitting 3 way match with the basis of the action being Walter and Riddle hitting each other really hard with Thatcher playing the third wheel. There was one spot in this match which Progress have on their twitter timeline with a massive triple german suplex being performed - Riddle went flying nearly out of the ring, the finish came with Walter choking out Matt Riddle to get back his Atlas title which he lost in the States to Riddle. A new contender them came down to the ring to face off with Walter - it was ICW and WWE UK star Wolfgang to a decent ovation, dont get me wrong i think Wolfie is very good and provides a different challenge to the Atlas division but the WWE UK fingerprints were in the back of my head seeing this.

The 8 man no.1 contenders scramble match was next with Mark Andrews vs Damien Dunne vs Eddie Dennis vs Jack Sexsmith vs Strangler Davis vs James Drake vs Flash Morgan Webster vs Zack Gibson. Good action as you would expect with the 8 men involved, looking at the match beforehand i would have gone for a Morgan Webster or Zack Gibson win here with the probable Travis Banks win in the Main Event in hindsight but sadly i was wrong with regular no.1 contender Mark Andrews picking up the win here, don't get me wrong i think Andrews is fantastic to watch and is a great babyface but he is rivalling Mark Haskins for No.1 contender opportunities. After the match a shock heel turn here with Eddie Dennis turning in his FSU partner to the boos of the audience, i suppose FSU have done everything as a team in Progress and it brings a new side to Eddie that hasn't been seen in ages but so soon after The Riots split up this is now 2 long standing teams gone from the tag division.

Flash Morgan Webster i dont know where they go from here with him, another failed opportunity missed here for him.

Now The Main Event with Pete Dunne (Champion) facing Travis Banks for the Progress World Title. A very good main event here but one spot that did cheese me off a bit was a point where British Strong Style hit a Piledriver/Tyler Driver 97/Bitter End Trifecta and Travis kicked out at 2 which sounds as silly as it reads. That aside it was fantastic to see Travis Banks submit Pete Dunne to end the near year long reign of The Bruiserweight to a huge pop, this was the natural result that should have went down and it did. It now sets up fresh matches at the top of the card with Jimmy Havoc and Mark Andrews vs Banks but with Pete Dunne maybe gone for the moment it leaves a gap for a tosser at the top - maybe Webster/Brookes or TK Cooper when he returns but we will just have to wait and see.

Show done it was time to make the walk back down Muswell Hill to Wood Green and a stop off in the Wood Green Wetherspoons for some tea - Beef and ale pie for £6.99 and a pint for £2.18 all good quality fare. Sink it in £2.18 FOR A PINT IN LONDON!!!!

Overall a great show but with a couple of gripes as described above (The Progress Fan Forum Police Siren will be sounding haha!) but certainly betfer than Brixton last year. Was great to see a lot of the graps gang make the trip to Ally Pally and they were rewarded with a fantastic venue.

Next trip is to 53two in Manchester on Sunday for Futureshock Reloaded with the main evemt of Pete Dunne vs Soner Durson. #grapsandclaps

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