Progress Ch.88 SSS16 Day 2 Thoughts

Chapter 88: Super Strong Style 16 - Day 2 Show date: 5th May 2019

Aerostar vs Daga -OH MAN! What a FUN opening match! They were surprisingly a little awkward at the start of the match but they find their groove and Aerostar is AMAZING and Daga is very good, of course, and they have a really fun little match. Nothing out of this world but a LOT of fun! 2.75 stars!

Kyle Fletcher vs Jordan Devlin - SSS16 Quarter-Final -WOW! This was a really fun match. It could have been a SUPER match but there was a LOT of sloppiness, especially from Fletcher. He went for a springboard moonsault early and was not going to make the full rotation in a scary moment. Devlin caught him, stopped his dangerous trajectory and guided him down safely in a suplex fashion but they both sold it as if Fletcher hit the moonsault. 2 minutes later, Fletcher is out of the ring, Devlin goes for a moonsault off the top. Kyle is out of position, just like he was for Daga's dive in Day 1, but instead of Devlin splatting dangerously like Daga did, Jordan was able to save himself from disaster. Later in the match they tried for an epic series of reversals & counter reversals of the tombstone piledriver and so many times it was Fletcher again messing up during this chain sequence. I'm not saying Fletcher is crap, but I think he was not ready for these high profile singles matches. Not at all. Anyways, that stuff aside, the idea of the back & forth match they went for here was exciting but execution, as noted, left a lot to be desired. Ah well, fun anyways! 2.5 stars!

Ilja Dragunov vs Trevor Lee - SSS16 Quarter-Final -OMG! We get a long pre-match promo from Trevor Lee doing his big league WWE star schtick and trying to tell Dragunov that they should go easy on each other since they both work in the WWE system (Lee in NXT, Dragunov in NXT UK) and then he tricks the ref and low blows Ilja to try and steal the quick win. But it doesn't go down like that. Dragunov survives, and VERY QUICKLY destroys Lee with like 2-3 moves and IT'S OVER in moments! Dragunov advances! Fun but not much to this! 1.5 stars.

Jinny w/ Laura di Matteo vs Session Moth Martina - winner goes into Day 3's women's title match -OMG! So much fun! Martina may lack perfect execution & smoothness in the ring but she has so much charisma and is so gosh darned fun! You just can't help but fall under the spell of her antics. Jinny has really good submission game and great kicks from all I've seen of her from the MYC, NXT UK and here in Progress. These two worked really well here and put together a simple but very fun match. Martina defeats Jinny, a first for Martina, and we get a big moment for Martina and a farewell for Jinny. Good stuff! 2.5 stars!

Do Not Resuscitate vs Haskins, Havoc, Andrews and Ligero - No DQ tag team match -Wow! At times this was a TON of fun, and the Eddie Dennis-Mark Andrews reunion moment was pretty fantastic, but there was also just a lot of just pointless things happening in this match. It was just a lot of brawling & spots with minimal selling at times, with no direction other than ACTION & VIOLENCE IS HAPPENING THEY ALL HATE EACH OTHER! There are better ways to show the hate with in ring story than executed here but it was a bunch of violent fun and had some cool moments. Fun stuff! 2.5 Stars!

Kyle O'Reilly vs Paul Robinson - SSS16 Quarter-Final -WOWZA! This was REALLY GOOD! It started off a little odd, O'Reilly was kind of playing around & hokey and bossing around the little angry man, Robinson. But it turned into a HELLUVA match! Both men worked over each other's knees, used cool submissions, cool strike sequences, built up a heck of an in-ring story & struggle to a dramatic conclusion! I love when a match wins you over and this one certainly did going from kind of goofy to good! O'Reilly wins to face Devlin in the semi-finals! Good good match! 3 stars!

Postmatch Jimmy Havoc comes out and says he wants to wrestle his last match in Progress against Robinson to decide which one is the better man for sure. It will be a death match of course. OMG. Havoc-Robinson Death Match on Night 3!! Yowza!

David Starr vs Travis Banks - SSS16 Quarter-Final -OMG!!! This was pretty DAMNED GOOD! Heated! Stiff! Action packed! These two have history & bad blood and it showed as they tore into each other! The match ended in a double pin but Jim Smallman says "Nope! Carry on!" So then the intensity goes up MULTIPLE TIMES! EVEN STIFFER AND HARDER HITTING! Banks's mouth is busted wide open! THEY CAN'T STOP FIGHTING THROUGH THE CROWD! SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR BY STARR! GERMAN SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR BY BANKS! BOTH MEN ARE COUNTED OUT??!!! AIEEEEEE! And then... RIP EACH OTHER INTO LITTLE BITTY PIECES BRAWLING BETWEEN THEM! All the Progress crew can't keep them apart until Jim says  WE AIN'T HAVING IT! You either reign it in or your BOTH out of the SSS16 tournament! But if you can go to the back and calm down... One of the semi-finals tomorrow? NOW A TRIPLE THREAT MATCH!!! HOLY MOLY!!! FANTASTIC PRO WRESTLING! I LOVED this! 3.5 stars!!

Chris Ridgeway, Darby Allin & Lucky Kid vs Artemis Spencer, Chris Brookes & DJZ -WOW!! This was RIDICULOUSLY fun!! Basically a spot fest sprint but WHAT A FUN ONE! Everyone got to shine in this action packed lucha rules trios match. So many cool spots including a SKATEBOARD ASSISTED DOUBLE FOOT STOMP by Allin on Artemis Spencer! Super fun! 2.5 stars!

WALTER vs Trent Seven - World and Atlas titles unification match -WOAH! This was a good match! It was maybe a little hard to buy into Trent Seven being at times on equal terms with Walter but that aside they had a STIFF, brutally stiff, hard hitting match that saw Seven up against it but fighting back constantly and seemingly slowly chopping down the big man with the bigger weapons. The finish was great from a story telling point of view. The ref takes a bump, Walter goes to grab both belts and use them as weapons. Seven gets ahold of one of the belts, the ref is coming to. Walter tosses his belt aside and goes to the waking ref and points out Seven w/ the belt in his hands. The crowd FURIOUS as the ref scolds Seven, Trent doing all he can to assure the ref it is not what it seems. The ref takes the belt, Trent turns around.. SNEAK ATTACK BIG BOOT AND THEN REAR NAKED CHOKE! Seven is fading but close to the ropes. His arm drops twice, but stays up the 3rd time, he tries to fight, he gets a foot to the ropes but the ref doesn't see it and.. STOPS THE MATCH! The crowd now BEYOND FURIOUS! Walter kicks Seven's foot off the ropes before the ref can see it and with an angry crowd throwing middle fingers up at him, the ring general from Germany is crowned the 1st ever Unified World Champion of Progress! Great scenes post match with Seven being helped to the back, seemingly near death and Walter holding the belts in the air, rubbing his cheap win in the faces of the fans while the commentators wax poetic that the Progress World Title is almost like the one ring from Tolkien's LOTR mythos. Fantastic stuff! Great pro wrestling even if not the best match action wise. 3 stars!

Overall: WOW! This was a great show! Good & fun matches all up and down and the SSS16 tournament really heated up and I can't wait to see how it all concludes! The main event had a compelling story and with Walter turning "corrupted" by the Progress world title, you begin to look for who will be positioned to dethrone him. Good stuff! Can't wait for more!