This past weekend saw Progress Wrestling’s annual Super Strong Style 16 tournament descend on its biggest go around yet, at London’s historic Alexandra Palace.
With sixteen of the very best independent wrestlers in the world right now, from WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne, to David Starr, to Zack Sabre Jr, and even the returning Kassius Ohno (Chris Hero), this was a tournament card which packed a whole lot of punch right from the get go.
I won’t recap every match we saw over the weekend (there were 24 of them after all) but I’ll hit on some big highlight moments.
With sixteen of the very best independent wrestlers in the world right now, from WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne, to David Starr, to Zack Sabre Jr, and even the returning Kassius Ohno (Chris Hero), this was a tournament card which packed a whole lot of punch right from the get go.
I won’t recap every match we saw over the weekend (there were 24 of them after all) but I’ll hit on some big highlight moments.
Day One
As Day One kicked off, we saw the first round matches, beginning with the aforementioned Pete Dunne taking on British legend Doug Williams. Its fair to say Doug’s journey in Progress of late has been tough, he’s raked up a string of losses, but he has kept fighting, and thats exactly what we saw here. In many ways this was a passing of the torch moment. One of the best of a bygone generation giving the brightest star in the next one his blessing. Doug wasn’t going to go down without a fight, and the two put on an incredible contest before Pete would finally get the better of the older statesman. If Williams’ career is winding down, this was a really nice spot on that road. Personally I’d like to see him maybe get one more title run (on which more later), but for now this was a nice moment, and a really hot way to get the crowd going.
Next up the technical wizard Zack Sabre Jr would begin his tournament against for my money the biggest shock of the tournament: Chuck Mambo. 9 months ago in this very venue Mambo had faced Spike Trivet in a pre-show match, he wasn’t even on the main card. When he got announced for Strong Style then he was considered a major underdog, even more so when the bracket came out and we saw he was facing Sabre. How could the comedy character stack up against the best in the world?
Everyone - myself included mind you - was counting Mambo out. As the two men told a story though, Chuck managing to fight out of Sabre’s submissions and mount a surprising amount of offence you could feel the crowd come alive. They began to believe that maybe Mambo could do it. In the end Sabre proved too much, but it was Chuck who was given a much deserved standing ovation. Sometimes in wrestling we make a lot out of one match, but genuinely, given the reaction he got the rest of the weekend this should be the launchpad that propels him into the next stage of his career. This was easily the match of Day One, and its one I can’t wait to revisit it on Demand Progress in the coming weeks.
After we saw David Starr make pretty easy work of TK Cooper we were treated to a debuting Angelico against Mark Andrews to close the first half. Of course the thought on everyones mind as the match went on was “Where is Eddie Dennis?” and it wouldn’t take too long to find out as he sauntered out to ringside where he has apparently bought a ticket and simply stared at him, distracting him long enough for Angelico to pick up the win. This again was top notch story telling from what is for my money the best feud in Progress today. Eddie didn’t have to touch Mark, he didn’t even have to get in the ring. Just his presence sent a message. These two are not done, and the story would continue as the weekend progressed (if you’ll excuse the pun).
Jordan Devlin and Tyler Bate put on a fantastic match to open the second half, followed up by the Grizzled Young Veterans who were given a choice of who they wanted to enter the tournament. As their would be opponent Joey Janella got bored of waiting for a response he began to beat both men down, eventually targeting Drake. Just when it looked like he was going to beat Drake though Gibson grabbed the mic, reminded him that they had never revealed who was in the match and that as of right now it would be him. The bell rings and Gibson rolls Janella up and steals a victory in about 10 seconds.
The continued descent of Flash Morgan Webster into the arms of Vicky Haskins’ stable continued as he took on Keith Lee. Having been absolutely rag dolled by the big man for most of the match their came a point where Vicky would get on the apron and distract the ref. Flash grabbed his trusty helmet and was about to knock Lee out when his conscience got the better of him. The hesitation would cost him dear as Lee got back up and flattened him to advance.
Everyone - myself included mind you - was counting Mambo out. As the two men told a story though, Chuck managing to fight out of Sabre’s submissions and mount a surprising amount of offence you could feel the crowd come alive. They began to believe that maybe Mambo could do it. In the end Sabre proved too much, but it was Chuck who was given a much deserved standing ovation. Sometimes in wrestling we make a lot out of one match, but genuinely, given the reaction he got the rest of the weekend this should be the launchpad that propels him into the next stage of his career. This was easily the match of Day One, and its one I can’t wait to revisit it on Demand Progress in the coming weeks.
After we saw David Starr make pretty easy work of TK Cooper we were treated to a debuting Angelico against Mark Andrews to close the first half. Of course the thought on everyones mind as the match went on was “Where is Eddie Dennis?” and it wouldn’t take too long to find out as he sauntered out to ringside where he has apparently bought a ticket and simply stared at him, distracting him long enough for Angelico to pick up the win. This again was top notch story telling from what is for my money the best feud in Progress today. Eddie didn’t have to touch Mark, he didn’t even have to get in the ring. Just his presence sent a message. These two are not done, and the story would continue as the weekend progressed (if you’ll excuse the pun).
Jordan Devlin and Tyler Bate put on a fantastic match to open the second half, followed up by the Grizzled Young Veterans who were given a choice of who they wanted to enter the tournament. As their would be opponent Joey Janella got bored of waiting for a response he began to beat both men down, eventually targeting Drake. Just when it looked like he was going to beat Drake though Gibson grabbed the mic, reminded him that they had never revealed who was in the match and that as of right now it would be him. The bell rings and Gibson rolls Janella up and steals a victory in about 10 seconds.
The continued descent of Flash Morgan Webster into the arms of Vicky Haskins’ stable continued as he took on Keith Lee. Having been absolutely rag dolled by the big man for most of the match their came a point where Vicky would get on the apron and distract the ref. Flash grabbed his trusty helmet and was about to knock Lee out when his conscience got the better of him. The hesitation would cost him dear as Lee got back up and flattened him to advance.
Then in the main event of Day One, and the final first round match, CCK’s Chris Brookes would take on the returning Kassius Ohno from NXT. The history between the two men has been documented (a - very - young Brookes would do a lot of Ohno’s design work when he was on the indies and the two had been friends since). To see them knock ten bells out of each other exchanging kicks and punches then was particularly special. Several times Brookes looked to lock in the Octopus Stretch, but in the end it was the Knock Out Artist who would pick up the fall over his friend after a thunderous elbow to the back of the head.
He grabbed a mic and thanked Brookes for one of the hardest matches, and some of the hardest kicks he had taken in his nearly twenty year career, sending the crowd home happy after a great night of wrestling.
If these 8 matches had been it the crowd would have had its moneys worth, but no: this was just Day One, and there were two more to follow.
Day Two
The second day would kick off with Pete Dunne once again getting things underway, this time against Zack Gibson, who commented that all Pete had done lately was throw a shoe. Which of course led a fan to give Pete a shoe to throw again. Because: Wrestling. It was hilarious, and the two were just beginning to put together a nice match when Haskins Havoc and Webster interfered. They will meet Dunne and the other members of British Strong Style in a few weeks at Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse.
Dunne fought them off with a chair before any of them could lay a finger on him, but then turned round and smacked Gibson with the chair, intentionally or not is unclear, leaving referee Joel Allen with no choice but to disqualify him, meaning Gibson would advance. At this point Haskins’ crew would start the beat down proper before Tyler Bate would come down to make the save.
Dunne fought them off with a chair before any of them could lay a finger on him, but then turned round and smacked Gibson with the chair, intentionally or not is unclear, leaving referee Joel Allen with no choice but to disqualify him, meaning Gibson would advance. At this point Haskins’ crew would start the beat down proper before Tyler Bate would come down to make the save.
Having both impressed heartily on Day One Chuck Mambo and Jordan Devlin (along with T K Cooper) would meet in a triple threat match. The match itself was excellent but what this segment will be remembered for came before it. Chuck Mambo’s entrance had involved filling the arena with beach balls bouncing all over the place.
As they fell into the ring the wrestlers had been kicking or throwing them out. Then Devlin jumped up, and gave the best over head kick I have ever seen in my life to kick one sky high into the crowd. The pop was immense, and people were still talking about this hours later. It was amazing. One of those unique moments that you couldn’t possibly script because it wouldn’t work out as perfectly as it did just being in the moment.
The Vicky Haskin’s trio would come back out next to face another 3 of the eliminated SSS competitors in Chris Brookes, Andrews and Joey Janella. The former made surprisingly easy work of them, but after the match Janella said that he had come to Progress to prove himself and so far all he had done was get beaten by c**ts, and that Havoc (who he had faced off against in New York for Progress last year) was the biggest c**t of them all. He wanted to finish what they started back then, and demanded a death match for Day Three. Havoc accepted and owner Jim Smallman made the match official. This felt huge and the crowd ate it up.
As they fell into the ring the wrestlers had been kicking or throwing them out. Then Devlin jumped up, and gave the best over head kick I have ever seen in my life to kick one sky high into the crowd. The pop was immense, and people were still talking about this hours later. It was amazing. One of those unique moments that you couldn’t possibly script because it wouldn’t work out as perfectly as it did just being in the moment.
The Vicky Haskin’s trio would come back out next to face another 3 of the eliminated SSS competitors in Chris Brookes, Andrews and Joey Janella. The former made surprisingly easy work of them, but after the match Janella said that he had come to Progress to prove himself and so far all he had done was get beaten by c**ts, and that Havoc (who he had faced off against in New York for Progress last year) was the biggest c**t of them all. He wanted to finish what they started back then, and demanded a death match for Day Three. Havoc accepted and owner Jim Smallman made the match official. This felt huge and the crowd ate it up.
Keith Lee would show once again just how dominant he could be as he put away Angelico - who himself had a great showing, nearly getting Lee up for his Crucifix Buckle Bomb, but dropping him after a step or two and allowing Lee to get the win to advance to Day Three’s semi finals.
The start of the second half though was for me the highlight of the entire tournament. David Starr, my gun to head pick to win it all going in would take on Zack Sabre Jr in a quarter final match which will go down for the ages. Every move one had the other had a counter for. Starr tried to go hard against Sabre’s technical style. I literally lost count of how many Han Stansen’s he hit as the match went on, but incredibly both men kept getting up. It was an actual clinic of a wrestling match, the kind trainees should have to watch as required viewing. In the end it was the boy from Sheppey who would prove the victor, but honestly the real winner with this was the fans in attendance, who were just lapping it up.
The night finished with two David Vs Goliath stories as first Tyler Bate went against Ohno, telling the story that Bate couldnt get Ohno up, no matter how strong he was, until finally he got the dead lift German suplex off and then his patented airplane spin. The crowd exploded when the latter occured and came to their feet, where they would remain as he hit a thunderous Tyler Driver 97 to secure his own semi final place.
Then came a main event more than 9 months in the making as the Progress World Championship would be defended by Travis Banks against the Atlas Champion Walter. A fantastic hype video package told the crowd all they needed to know - these were the two most dominating men in Progress, both undefeated since Chase the Sun back at Alexandra Palace last September, and that something was about to give.
Rather predictably given the difference in size Walter manhandled the champion. The crowd, tired of Travis’s constant Terminator antics were squarely on the side of the Austrian as chants of “Walter’s our champion” and “Walter’s gonna kill you” rang across the arena. An interfering T K Cooper (dressed in full Roman Reigns flack jacket) got knocked out for his troubles but it was then that Travis enacted his awful master plan. As champion and challenger battled on the outside Walter eventually slid back in to break his own countout. Trav though decided that was it. He picked up his title, and he walked away, before Walter had a chance to go after him and senior official Chris Roberts counted the ten to count Banks out.
Walter had won, but had failed to pick up the title. He called Travis a disgrace and power bombed TK in the middle of the ring before storming out clearly fuming, to close off the wrestling portion of Day two.
Walter had won, but had failed to pick up the title. He called Travis a disgrace and power bombed TK in the middle of the ring before storming out clearly fuming, to close off the wrestling portion of Day two.
I say the wrestling portion because there was still more to come. Across town at the Dome in Tufnell Park, Mark Andrews’ band Junior were the official Day Two afterparty. They put on a great gig but just as they began the encore none other than Eddie Dennis appeared, attacking the MC before security could drag him out. Mark was incensed, and took to twitter soon after to say simply “Eddie, be at Alexandra Palace tomorrow.” After months of build up, Mark had finally snapped. Which leads us nicely on to…
Day Three
The final day of Super Strong Style 16 began where the second day let off. Jim Smallman played a video of the events of the night previous and Mandrews stormed the ring, saying that when Eddie attacked him, or other wrestlers, that was fine - they could defend themselves, but this was an innocent bystander. Enough was enough, and he was finally accepting Eddie’s constant challenges for a match once he was healed from injury. He said he would accept as long as Eddie promised that until that day he has to leave Mark and his friends alone.
Eddie jumped at the chance but had his own condition: he gets to pick the stipulation for the match. The two gave a brutal stare down and it was clear the match was set for Eddie’s return in a few months time.
Next up was Roy Johnson’s Wasteman Challenge, featuring most of the guys who had been eliminated from the tournament up to this point. After Chuck Mambo, and Devlin in particular got some big pops for their rhymes, Jim made the crowd aware that as Tyler Bate was unable to continue in the tournament because of an injury sustained during his Day Two match, this challenge would now instantly become a scramble match for his spot in the semi finals, and to ring the bell. All the men in the match made it clear how huge an opportunity this was and started knocking the hell out of each other, but in the end Ohno would lay waste to everyone with his swinging elbows. A highlight in particular to watch for on Demand Progress is the moment he catches Devlin in mid air with one as Jordan was coming of the top rope. It was brutal to watch but fantastic. Suddenly the big man was back in the tournament.
Eddie jumped at the chance but had his own condition: he gets to pick the stipulation for the match. The two gave a brutal stare down and it was clear the match was set for Eddie’s return in a few months time.
Next up was Roy Johnson’s Wasteman Challenge, featuring most of the guys who had been eliminated from the tournament up to this point. After Chuck Mambo, and Devlin in particular got some big pops for their rhymes, Jim made the crowd aware that as Tyler Bate was unable to continue in the tournament because of an injury sustained during his Day Two match, this challenge would now instantly become a scramble match for his spot in the semi finals, and to ring the bell. All the men in the match made it clear how huge an opportunity this was and started knocking the hell out of each other, but in the end Ohno would lay waste to everyone with his swinging elbows. A highlight in particular to watch for on Demand Progress is the moment he catches Devlin in mid air with one as Jordan was coming of the top rope. It was brutal to watch but fantastic. Suddenly the big man was back in the tournament.
The semis would see ZSJ take on Keith Lee and then Ohno Vs Gibson. The former was a brilliant display of Sabres fortitude to get up from everything Lee would throw at him, before finally bridging a pin fall to get three against the big man. The latter was more akin to a PRO wrestling match than the technical side we got in the first semi. The match became about Gibson’s partner James Drake trying again and again to interfere, before finally getting caught by Joel Allen and ejected, leading to Gibson taking an elbow to the back of the head while he was distracted for the loss. Both matches were very different, but they showcased how many great styles of wrestling there are, and ever 3 days in this crowd were buying into every minute.
The first half of Day Three would end with the Death Match which we had had announced earlier in the weekend. Now I’m not going to slate this match, I’m just going to say Death Matches aren’t my thing. I don’t like them very much. I completely get there are people who love them (and clearly the crowd were getting a lot out of it, so I’m not going to slate it). It just wasn’t my cup of tea.
What came after the match though got probably the pop of the entire weekend it was so out of left field. Jimmy, having lost the match began to cut a promo on Progess and Jim Smallman. He said that he and Haskins had joined forces because after the last Ally Pally show when they had put their lives on the line in a death match they hadn’t been booked on the next show.
They were frustrated with their clear lack of direction and took it out on David Starr and Jack Sexsmith who they thought unworthy of the spot. Nice to begin with to finally have that answer as to why the team came together, but it was when he then started going after Will Ospreay and how he had returned from his Loser Leaves Town stipulation so easily that he got really dark. He said that in the years since their feud Will had become a megastar and Jimmy had simply become more and more broken down. Maybe, he said, it was time to….
They were frustrated with their clear lack of direction and took it out on David Starr and Jack Sexsmith who they thought unworthy of the spot. Nice to begin with to finally have that answer as to why the team came together, but it was when he then started going after Will Ospreay and how he had returned from his Loser Leaves Town stipulation so easily that he got really dark. He said that in the years since their feud Will had become a megastar and Jimmy had simply become more and more broken down. Maybe, he said, it was time to….
Before he could finish the sentence though the Aerial Assassin himself’s music hit and he walked down the ramp, Jimmy’s old axe in hand, to a thunderous reception from the Ally Pally crowd.
He said he had watched from afar but that Jimmy didn't get to decide when he was done. Will had that power. He had always had that power because their story had been engrained together since the very beginning. He was fed up of watching some bloke called James stumble through Progress. He wanted the bastard who nearly decapitated him with an axe. He wanted Jimmy F***ing Havoc. He wanted him at Wembley Arena on September the 30th. The promo was absolutely on fire, and one of the best I have ever seen Ospreay deliver. Jimmy accepted, before throwing himself not just once but like five or six times back bumping onto a collection of thumbtacks on the floor from the death match to show that he had snapped and that Jimmy Havoc was finally back. The ovation was like very little you could imagine, especially as this crowd had been chanting and screaming for nearly three solid days at this point.
The second half would see Toni Storm first see of Charlie Morgan in convincing fashion to retain her Women's Championship and set up the match nearly a year in the making as she will finally go on to face Jinny at Victoria Warehouse for the title.
Next up Walter would look to pick up a measure of retribution over the Kiwi Buzzsaw after the events of Day Two as he effectively ate up his little poodle T K Cooper and spat out the carcass. This was an annihilation. Once again though it was what happened in the after math that will be remembered. Travis cut a promo saying it was unfair that Walter could claim to be in two weight classes and that as long as he holds the Atlas title he would not get another World championship match.
To which Walter said: Ok then, and handed Jim his Atlas title before chasing Travis out of the arena. Its amazing to see that Walter will clearly not be done with Travis until he gets his hands on him for that belt, and even more interesting that this is the way they choose to get the Atlas belt off Walter. It frees him up to take that world title spot without having to lose and thus break some of the mystique.
I also hope, to refer all the way back to the first match Day One, that the fatal four way match at Victoria Warehouse between Joseph Conners, Rob Lynch, Rampage and Doug Williams will now be for the vacant Atlas belt and that Doug Williams might get one more run to close out his career.
All of which brings us nicely to the Grand Final of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament for 2018. Who would join Ospreay, Tommy End and Travis Banks as the fourth winner? In the end there could be only one. The first British born winner of the New Japan Cup would also finally get the demon of his back. He had been so close to touching this moment on a couple of occasions over the years that in many way this year simply had to belong to: Zack Sabre Jr.
As he celebrated, he called his title shot the only way a boy from Kent can: “Wembley, Innit” and with that the confetti fell form the rafters, and the streamers filled the ring.
As Jim tearfully thanked everyone in attendance for making the entire weekend as special as it was, it was hard to believe this was it. One of the best weekends of wrestling probably ever, had come to an end. The family that we had all become over several days were returning to our lives outisde the world of Progress.
But to misquote a great film: We’ll always have Ally Pally.
We will always have the memories of what we all shared together. We laughed, we cried, we made new friends and rekindled old ones. We all lived our best lives and cheered our hearts out because we were united. No matter how bleak the world outside, for one weekend 1500 people in North London were united in euphoria and bliss.
If that isn’t Progress, I don’t know what is. Lets do it again some time yeah?
Next up Walter would look to pick up a measure of retribution over the Kiwi Buzzsaw after the events of Day Two as he effectively ate up his little poodle T K Cooper and spat out the carcass. This was an annihilation. Once again though it was what happened in the after math that will be remembered. Travis cut a promo saying it was unfair that Walter could claim to be in two weight classes and that as long as he holds the Atlas title he would not get another World championship match.
To which Walter said: Ok then, and handed Jim his Atlas title before chasing Travis out of the arena. Its amazing to see that Walter will clearly not be done with Travis until he gets his hands on him for that belt, and even more interesting that this is the way they choose to get the Atlas belt off Walter. It frees him up to take that world title spot without having to lose and thus break some of the mystique.
I also hope, to refer all the way back to the first match Day One, that the fatal four way match at Victoria Warehouse between Joseph Conners, Rob Lynch, Rampage and Doug Williams will now be for the vacant Atlas belt and that Doug Williams might get one more run to close out his career.
All of which brings us nicely to the Grand Final of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament for 2018. Who would join Ospreay, Tommy End and Travis Banks as the fourth winner? In the end there could be only one. The first British born winner of the New Japan Cup would also finally get the demon of his back. He had been so close to touching this moment on a couple of occasions over the years that in many way this year simply had to belong to: Zack Sabre Jr.
As he celebrated, he called his title shot the only way a boy from Kent can: “Wembley, Innit” and with that the confetti fell form the rafters, and the streamers filled the ring.
As Jim tearfully thanked everyone in attendance for making the entire weekend as special as it was, it was hard to believe this was it. One of the best weekends of wrestling probably ever, had come to an end. The family that we had all become over several days were returning to our lives outisde the world of Progress.
But to misquote a great film: We’ll always have Ally Pally.
We will always have the memories of what we all shared together. We laughed, we cried, we made new friends and rekindled old ones. We all lived our best lives and cheered our hearts out because we were united. No matter how bleak the world outside, for one weekend 1500 people in North London were united in euphoria and bliss.
If that isn’t Progress, I don’t know what is. Lets do it again some time yeah?
