Right from the off the crowd were raring and ready to go. The pre-show battle royal got things off to a great start, with fan favourites like Chuck Mambo, TK Cooper and others being joined by a few surprises - Mad Man Manson, Ricky Shane Page, and the Inflatable Kid Lykos doll (just go with it) among them.
After some hilarious antics, it finally came down to Escaping the Midcard trio Chuck, TK and Spike Trivet, with Chuck eventually dispatching his friends to end the first match of the night with cheers of adulation. It was a really fun little opener, and got the crowd super hyped for things to come.
As the main card began, Wars played out the official Hello Wembley theme song live to get us started up on stage, before some of the loudest chants of This Is Progress ever reigned down as co-owner and ring announcer Jim Smallman marched down the ramp to For Whom The Bell Tolls.
“If I didn’t have this mic in my hand, and my Mr Showbiz brain hadn’t kicked in, I’d be crying my eyes out right now” he admits, clearly shaken by the immense swell of love from all in attendance.
The first match of the main card proper was a hard hitting brawl of an affair between PROGRESS mainstay Mark Haskins and the newest signee of NXT, Matt Riddle (himself firmly engrained in the history of PROGRESS’ Atlas Division).
The crowd was relatively split, favouring Riddle, but Haskins was certainly not without his supporters, and in the end it was the hard hitter from Malvern who would prevail, foregoing the traditional handshake, instead opting to hug Matt, and send him on his way out of the indies and off to Orlando.
Next up came the Women’s Championship match, which saw defending champion Jinny (accompanied by her House of Couture stable) take on young up and comer Mille Mckenzie, and former Women’s Champ Toni Storm.
The HoC used their usual numbers advantage tricks, climbing on the apron to distract referee Paz, before the babyfaces too were joined by some assistance, this time in the form of Candyfloss and Laura DiMatteo - on which more in a moment.
As the match progressed, Toni hit the Strong Zero piledriver to Millie on the apron of the ring, prompting Candy to rush over and check on her. I’m honestly not sure if this was kayfabe or legit but Candyfloss looked worried, and a few seconds later the match came to a conclusion.
The heel faction jumped in the ring, all facing Toni, prompting the baby faces to join them, and the stare down to ensue.
Just when it looked like all hell might break loose though, DiMatteo shocked the on looking crowd by smacking Toni in the back of the head, handing Jinny the victory in the process, and seemingly joining the House of Couture in the process.
With DiMatteo’s history with Jinny this was a massive shock but it wasn’t over there, as suddenly Jordynne Grace’s music hit and she debuted on this side of the pond for PROGRESS at last. She would clear house, and end up the last woman standing.
Shockwaves were felt throughout the entire women’s division tonight then as we now seemingly have a new contender to the crown, but also a new thorn in our good guys paws in Laura. It will be particularly interesting to see what comes next in this on going story.
Moving on from this shocker to one of the nights more seemingly inevitable - but nonetheless emotional - contests. Trent Seven would challenge for Doug Williams’ Atlas championship with the caveat that if Doug lost, his career would be over.
The two gave it their absolute all. Williams managed two Chaos Theory Suplexes, only for Trent to kick out both times, just when the fans began to think maybe, somehow, he could pull his way through.
Midway through the match, Trent tried his patented crossbody spot - which (as is the running gag), he missed, as usual. This should have been the hint we needed though, because following the second Chaos Theory, Seven got back to his feet, and finally hit the cross body pinning Doug to the mat for a count of 3.
One of the greatest professional wrestlers the UK has ever had the pleasure to give to the world, and for every person in attendance we had witnessed history, we had witnessed the end.
As Trent left the ring, gifting it to his fallen compatriot, the entire roster came to the stage, clapping and cheering just as loud as any fan.
The Honour Guard had come to take their fallen warrior home. As Williams staggered up the ramp, he stopped to shake every single hand of every wrestler on the stage, one at a time, showing them the respect they were showing him in return.
It was a truly beautiful moment, and one which really demanded this kind of stage. Someone of William’s stature wasn’t going to retire on a rainy Wednesday night in Scunthorpe (no offence to any Scunthorpians), but Wembley Arena felt just incredibly fitting. The chants of Thank You Doug eclipsed just about everything up to this point, and honestly if this had been the main event I don’t think anyone would have complained.
We were not even nearly done though as one of PROGRESS’ most brutal blood feuds was up next. Their previous match is still seen by many as the most brutal match in the promotions history, but here Paul Robinson, and PROGRESS stalwart Jimmy (F’N) Havoc looked to top themselves
Painted entirely white, but for black paint under his eyes, Jimmy and his trusty axe got to work early, literally opening the match with an Acid Rainmaker, before battering Robinson with chairs, and even a door, before turning to a collection of light tubes that the pair would basically take it in turns to smash over one another in ever more disturbing ways.
I’ll be honest: Death match wrestling has never really been my thing. I’m completely OK with people who like it (unlike some others who seem to take pleasure in mocking it as somehow “Less Than”, which clearly it isn’t), but its just not for me.
I found this hard to watch to be honest, and as the crimson masks began to adorn both mens faces and chests I was excited when finally Havoc picked up the win, sending us into our interval.
One note would be (and we will touch on this more as the night goes on), I get the feeling these matches - the women’s one as mentioned possibly excluded - must already have been running over, as we still have 4 matches to get to, and we were over half way through the allotted time for the show (which was meant to conclude at 8:30).
We returned from the break to the announcement that Super Strong Style 16 weekend will once again return to Ally Pally next May, and then former SSS16 winner and PROGRESS Champion Travis Banks came down to say that despite being injured right now he was declaring himself right now for the tournament.
The second half of the announcement (Travis’s half) really should have been cut in retrospect and moved to the next Chapter, because with the time constraints being what they were, a long promo segment really didn't help, but thats one of those hindsight being 20-20 things, and I know they wanted to make the SSS announcement feel big by getting a competitor in there early.
As the action resumed, we were treated to the first ever Tag Team Thunderbastard match, with Flamita and Bandido defending against 7 other teams. This was super fast paced, and with action all over the place.
One slight sour spot came as Mills and Mayhew’s elimination came during an entrance, so most of the crowd (myself included) were facing the tron, and suddenly heard Jim announce the elimination. I still don’t know who got them even now, so will have to watch back on the On Demand service next week.
Otherwise this was a really fun match, with all the teams gelling nicely, and giving us some huge spots. In the end it was Aussie Open, Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis, who would see off the Grizzled Young Veterans last to pick up the gold. Fletcher in particular looked incredibly emotional at the win, visibly sobbing in the ring as he held his belt above his head. The pair have come an incredibly long way since coming together as a team a little over a year ago, and to see them getting their just desserts was lovely.
Next we would be joined by CMJ - again cutting a promo which in retrospect should have been left on the script editing room floor - to hype our next contest, the biggest super-card match in European wrestling; Unbesiegbar Ilya Dragunov vs The Bruiserweight Pete Dunne. The two men held the fans in the palms of their hands for what felt like one of the longer matches of the night (especially singles wise).
Every false finish felt big, and the match built from a slow start through to a crashing and almighty crescendo at its finale. For what was clearly a home crowd for Dunne, the reception was more split than it could have been, and the longer the match went, the more duelling chants could be heard ringing out throughout the arena.
In the end though it was the Bruiserweight who would make his opponent tap out, finally ending the bitter rivalry which began all those months ago at Super Strong Style 16.
Speaking of bitter rivalries, next came what for me was the hardest match to watch all night. I’ve already mentioned: I’m not a fan of death match wrestling at the best of times, but this was something else.
Mark Andrews and Eddie Dennis, who have been locked in a bitter rivalry for more than a full calendar year, would finally do battle in a TLC match. As the match wore on though it became clear there was a problem. By my count 5 different table spots were attempted. Not one table broke. The fans were practically pleading with the wrestlers to stop trying. Use the ladders, use the chairs, but every time we saw raw flesh bounce off a table because it wasn’t snapping, it made it really hard to watch.
It could be said of course in many ways with how brutal this feud promised to be, this accidental level of brutality fit nicely, but honestly we come to see simulated combat not to watch two guys really get hurt but to entertain us with the SIMULATION of pain.
In the end, a Next Stop Driver from the very top of a ladder was enough to FINALLY send both men crashing through a table, and Eddie climbed the ladder to retrieve his contract.
I mentioned earlier that the show promised to be finished by 8:30PM. As Eddie stood atop the ladder I looked at my watch and saw it was already 8:24. Clearly, unless our main event went 6 minutes, this was not finishing on time.
Looking around, you could see clusters of people leaving, realising they had trains to catch and the like. This was perhaps the ONE detractor from an otherwise excellent night - some people were going to miss out on the main event because the show was clearly running not just over but WAY over.
For those of us who did stay though we were treated to what was for my money the match of the night. Big man WALTER would defend his PROGRESS Championship against the Big Strong Boi Tyler Bate. While both were ostensibly faces in the match, it seemed like WALTER was working perhaps the more heel leaning of the two, really battering into Tyler.
The young lad from Dudley gave as good as he got though, and a few massive feats of strength - dead lift german suplexing the Austrian, and getting him up for Bate’s patented helicopter spin come to mind in particular - gave fans hope.
After what was a very long night the crowd could have sat on their hands in this one, they could have shown the exhaustion that could be setting it, but to their credit this was the loudest they were all night.
Near fall after near fall, I heard more than one fan around me say “I don’t know who’s gonna win this!” on several occasions.
At one point Tyler hit Tyler Driver 97, and the entire arena came to its feet to count the 1,2….we all shouted 3, but no, at 2 and 99 100ths WALTER kicked out, and the place came unglued.
In the end, a thunderous piledriver would put Bate down, and WALTER would retain the title he won back in July.
It was clear throughout the evening that we were witnessing history. Real history. From the epic main event, to Doug’s retirement, to the first ever Tag Thunderbastard, this big show more than lived up to its hype. The energy of the crowd, and of every competitor who stepped through the curtain, was palpable. It was a real I Was There kind of night. A landmark in the history of wrestling that we will remember moving forward. I am so proud of not just Jim, Jon and Glen, but of everyone who worked so tirelessly to make this show, and more importantly this wrestling scene, possible.
We started from the bottom. Now: We’re here.
