We went to Progress and Rev Pro. We chat here. Ross was unavailable and I've edited his memories in as and where they seem relevant. Also I am rubbish at editing and hungover so you know. It is what it is.
JCH - Right Guys- Can anyone remember anything????? I turned up about half four as had to drive back from a wedding in Somerset the night before. When I got there Mambo was midway through a promo. What had I missed?
ROSS - I was the only nerd who made the pre-show. It was excellent and well worth catching it when posted on Facebook. Think the lads were watching Pete eat his chips like Keith on a lunch break
PETE - Well if neither of you can get us started I can at least pop in with “Meanwhile at the Cockpit...”
JCH - You guys were at the pub first?
PETE - That is true! Ok so I met up with Daniel, Mike and Shafi at Spoons and Shafi kindly bought me a drink. Spoons were having a mare in getting people their food and drink. It took ages for my chips to come. Mania weekend was the talk of the town. Then moved on over to the Mixer and watched a bit of the football until Mike realised it was time to go in. They’d offered to wait for me to finish my drink which was nice but I told them to head on in and kept drinking. Then I moseyed on down to the Cockpit for RevPro
JCH - Excellent. So Dan did any of the rest of DNR speak before Mambo?
DANIEL - Spike told us all to hush as per the norm. Got booed to within an inch of his life
Went on about opportunities. Was keeping my wits about me incase mambo and me had another face off
PETE - You get well into it!
DANIEL - Haha yeah just a tad
JCH - Fantastic. Chuck told us off for treating him like a mate and Dom for buying him beers.
Said he was a World Cup winner and had to watch matches like a fan.
PETE - That’s right. He’s above rabble like you.
JCH - Challenged the old guard - FSU, Havoc and Haskins to a match at SSS16 night 2
PETE - This is all before the first match?
JCH - Yeah
DANIEL - Yup. First thing that happened. Good ol Eddie Dennis then came out and said some bits
JCH - Yeah he was excellent. Referencing his relationship with Mambo and that he was injured and wouldn’t make it. but Haskins, Havoc and that little blond twat would all be there
And he had a replacement who’d been at Progress since chapter 1
DANIEL - I chuckled when he said that
JCH - And Ligero attacked them from behind. Smashed them with a chair and said he’d learnt how to speak. He’ll be bringing his jeans
DANIEL - He's proper Leeds ain't he!
JCH - Big time. Then at 4.50pm the first match started . David Starr vs Connor Mills in a SSS16 Qualifier
DANIEL - Was it 4:50?! Bloody hell. Think I was a few ciders deep by that point
JCH - I heard someone comment on it. Yeah I was still alright here as the first couple of pints were an effort following the wedding. Pete was anything happening at the cockpit at this time Thanks Pete. Starr v Mills. THis was hard as hell. They were smacking the shit out of each other
ROSS - The opener was a banger, my second favourite match of the night. Davey was fucking MEAN. Mills cut from the mouth fighting back was a great image. His run of losses at the Ballroom continue...
PETE - Sorry my bad. One of my housemates was drunk and is ranting about shit
DANIEL - For a match that I didn't have high expectations for, it was fantastic. Starr is a great wrestler and so is mills. Bit weird seeing mills without mayhew though
PETE - Cockpit opened with a contenders match pitting Gabriel Kidd against Brendan White, I think? They’re both quite technically adept, it was fine enough.
JCH - Yeah I really like Mills and Starr is one of the absolute best. He has such variety. Really big fan of his. Mills took an absolutely huge Han Stansen or whatever it was called
PETE - Haha we will get to that later! David Starr was dishing those out all day...
JCH - Starr took the victory and a place in SSS16 with I think a Powerbomb on to the knee? I can’t quite remember
DANIEL - Yeah think you're right
PETE - That’s his new finisher
JCH - Yep. It was probably that then. Dom was worried that he has too many finishers
I don’t think you can ever have too many finishers
PETE - I agree
DANIEL - I'm with you on that
PETE - So MICHAEL OKU who looks a lot like the OJMO came out at the Cockpit
In tears. He’s been left off the new RevPro contenders division
JCH - What a man
PETE -Calls out Andy Quildan. Andy tells him he’s now a member of the RevPro main roster
And he’s going one on one with da Un...disputed British Cruiserweight champion David Starr tonight! Seriously for a split sec it was like a 2000s Smackdown
JCH - What a moment for the great one! Very happy for him
PETE - They should have played MacMilitant to really set the mood. The words were exactly the same. What’s up next back in Camden?
JCH - You will never guess what the second match was?
PETE - Womens...
JCH - Correct. Nina Samuels vs Kasey Owens with a spot in the title match on the line
ROSS - Shafi was not a fan of the women's match, but I thought they won the crowd over by the end. Apart from Shafi.
PETE - I’d say RevPro are better but they have a permanent spot 3 instead, if they even make it on the card. It’s much the same and it’s so very, very lazy. Is there much to say?
JCH - I enjoyed the match. I prefer heel Nina as a character, but she has good range and does face well as well
DANIEL - Yeah. She sells rather well but I do prefer heel nina
JCH - She seems like she would be a very good actor. I wonder if she has any background in that
PETE - That’s cool. We had Kurtis Chapman vs Sha Samuels. Kurtis’ house has recently burned down and to commemorate the occasion Andy booked Kurtis to come out with Dan Magee, Sha outsmarting the faces and getting Dan ejected, then winning clean.
JCH - The finish to this match was fucking brilliant by the way
PETE - RevPro sending the fans home happy!
JCH - Nina caught Kasey, I think, springboarding off the ropes, then hoisted her up for the sort of GTS finisher she uses!
PETE - That’s good
DANIEL - Yeah was very fluid
JCH - Yes was a good match. I was wearing a Sha Samuels shirt at Progress, was at the wrong show! Well I wasn’t as this was bloody brilliant
PETE - I was thinking about taking my Progress scarf to the Cockpit
Just to flex on Andy. I’m gonna get the match order wrong I think from here
We had the Velocities (Aussie babyfaces) vs NIC (Northern Irish guys, kinda heelish)
The heels won. It was a match.
JCH - Delaney and Carter?
PETE - It was originally meant to be White Wolf in there but Carlos Romo couldn’t make it
JCH - I like those dudes
PETE - Yeah, them
JCH - We had LAX vs CCK. And the opening Shot Round
DANIEL - Oh man I was pumped for this
JCH - Which was controversial
PETE - I was gutted I was missing this when I heard about it. But it ended up being a comedy match?
DANIEL - Haha we'll get to that. Ermmmmm. It was for the first half but the overall match was pretty good. The finish was poor though
JCH - Yes it had a strange start. Not too dissimilar to the CCK v Aussie Open RevPro shenanigans
ROSS - CCK v LAX had a bit too much comedy and a flat finish to call it a banger
but when in full flow you can see how they have had them in the past
PETE - I’m done with CCK comedy. Do you remember that Aussie Open match at RevPro in February? Lol Jinx
JCH - They did it a bit different, and the second half was better. Jon Gresham is really really good
PETE - That match fucking sucked. I know Dunkzilla is a friend of the group so I mean this with love when I say What the fuck where you thinking?
DANIEL - Gresham is great.
JCH - Pretty split crowd which was a theme of the evening
PETE - Was it a hot crowd?
DANIEL - I, personally, was just hyped to see LAX. I rate them very highly. Lucky to get a cheeky pic with them before the main match
JCH - Yeah I was looking forward to seeing them as well Dan. It was very hot for main event. Not much difference to usual for the rest
PETE - Nice
JCH - In my opinion anyway. Dan may think differently. The match had quite a bit of Lykos interference and finished on a count out
DANIEL - No I'm with you on that. Crowd was very loud. Yeah that count out. Urgh
JCH - There were some bloody great sequences though. When they turned it on it was so click
slick
PETE - We had Josh Bodom vs A-Kid at this point. A-Kid is so unbelievably good at selling
Bodom has never sold a thing in his life. But it was really fun. Bodom is so funny in his taunting of the crowd. A-Kid won. Then Sha and Bodom jumped him. This is setting up a street fight at the Cockpit in a month
DANIEL - Poetry in motion
PETE - With Dan Magee
JCH - Did you see Tony Khan Pete?
PETE - No. Someone said he was there. Presumably protecting his investment
Which we will get to
JCH - Yeah our mate was sat next to him. So half time we went to the mixer. Watched some footy and Simon did the Mixer minute and Ross has written a little write up about that I will add in...
PETE - Nice. Thank you Supreme Leader. I’m just gonna power through with my matches cause I need to go eat. MICHAEL OKU vs David Starr. So ‘Let’s go Michael’ is not as catchy a chant as O...J...MO! But this was very solid. He got him in the Crab and fucked up Starr’s leg. Then he went all Edson Barboza on Starr with leg kicks until Starr killed him with a Lariat. Last thirty seconds were great!
JCH - Excellent. Sorry I was trying to copy and paste Ross’ comments but I am shit at Macs
PETE - Starr spat on him afterwards. Not cricket, Dave.
ROSS - Half time was a shambles thanks to the good mixer being full of angry football fans and racists. Simon swore a lot and accidentally got befriended by someone on the police register
Dom got a dressing down from this lad
James ran away to escape the aggro
PETE - What the fuck
DANIEL - Good ol mixer ey. Yeah Chelsea played previously against Cardiff so a few of them were in there watching the tottenham game
PETE - I had a relaxing playing card themed beer. The Queen of Diamonds, which is an IPA
Talked some New Japan and UFC with my friend Tom. RevPro half time much more civilised
JCH - Basically Simon mentioned Millwall in the Mixer minute so this bloke came and started talking to him. Dom tried to continue the minute and the bloke kicked off that he hadn’t given Dom permission to film him. Started trying to grab Dom’s phon. I was like. Lets go back guys
PETE - Conor McGregor has come to the Mixer
DANIEL - Oh yeah I forgot that happened! I was stood there like "errrrrm"
PETE - The Bad Mixer
DANIEL - He started saying "I don't give you permission to film"
JCH - Yeah was madness. Eventually he left
PETE - After half time we had AJ Istria vs MK McKinnan. I was kinda bored to be honest
These current crop of Aussies aren’t Dunzilla and Kyle. MK won
JCH - Good good. We had TK vs Angelico. By this point I am drunk
DANIEL - Yeah I was hammered
JCH - Simon and Dan did kindly buy the shots from the countout
DANIEL - Because I started doing angelicos arm thingy
JCH - Even though they technically didn’t lose
PETE - Haha you guys must have been sinking those drinks
DANIEL - Don't think there was a time where I didn't have a drink in my hand
ROSS - TK doesnt come out to keep it 100. BULLSHIT. He used some of his more insane aerial moves here and picked up the win tho. G'warn Teeks
JCH - This was a match where theme musics had both been altered. Which was a shame
PETE - Ok I have two matches left so I’m just gonna blitz these and peace out
ELP vs PAC. So I have not been huge on PAC in the ring and he wasn’t super impressive here but he is the world’s greatest holiday camp heel. He just bullied this one child in the crowd who was a fan of ELP and made him cry. Eventually PAC kicked ELP in the nuts and choked him unconscious with the Rings of Saturn
DANIEL - Still never seen PAC wrestle :(
PETE - Then David Starr came out and put a ladder on top of ELP and kinda buried him tbh
I fucking hope ELP wins because if he doesn’t he’s the biggest geek now.
JCH - TK hit this springboard flippy thing that he did at IWL on Thursday as well. It’s quality
PETE - You aren’t missing much tbh.
DANIEL - Good ol TK
JCH - NIWA interfered and TK got the win with a Phoenix Splash I think
PETE - That’s cool. One of my favourite moves
JCH - Nice to see TK getting some momentum
DANIEL - Agreed
JCH - Then Trent came out for a sit down interview with Daniel Radcliffe
PETE - Our main event was ZSJ vs James Mason. Technically this was fucking amazing
Mason is so good on the mat, he was mostly outwrestling Zack. Zack eventually gets the European Clutch and gets the fuck outta there but this was great. However there was less than zero chance Mason was winning. And the show just had so many heel wins or heels standing tall
So it was a massive downer show in that regard
JCH - Talking about how Walter disrespected the Atlas title by just giving it up
PETE - To be fair Zack did not heel it up, I think he respects Mason to the nth degree
DANIEL - Sounds it. Yeah think I missed most of what he said. Too busy peeing/buying more drinks
PETE - Daniel Radcliffe, lol
JCH - It was decent I think, calling him an absent champion. Hopefully the crowd will be fully behind Trent at SSS16. I think he’s winning.
DANIEL - I think so too
JCH - Then we came to the Main Event of the Evening. Double pints were in hand and the crowd was hot. Duelling chants at the start. Everyone in jeans
DANIEL - This was the icing on an already very good cake
JCH - It was just stupid, stupidly good
ROSS - The main was fucking amazing. So many moments that made us all turn away, scream or squirm. A feel good win for the Aussies. Lovely. A welcome change to the recent endings of Ballroom shows where someone is injured or the heels win. SHOT ROUND HAD TECHNICALITIES
DANIEL - One of the best matches I've witnessed live
JCH - Everyone in this match is great, but Will Ospreay could be the best in the world
DANIEL - Oh Will is brilliant. Does he even have any flaws
JCH - He’s such a good heel. He has great facial expressions
DANIEL - Him and Paul are so easy to hate
PETE - He’s not great at Twitter
JCH - Yeah. Robbo also incredible heel work
DANIEL - Robbo channeled his inner racist mixer pub man. Except he doesn't mind being filmed
JCH - Haha
PETE - We should find a new pub if that place is full of racists
JCH - During the match About 4 times I had to walk away from the action due to some spots
Ospreay pushed off the ladder and turning it into a springbaord Oscutter was outstanding
DANIEL - That powerbomb through the table jumping through the ladder. Oh my that oscutter
JCH - Davis piledriving Robbo off a ladder through another ladder
DANIEL - Incredible. And Kyle spearing Robbo off the title. Or was that ospreay
JCH - Ospreay yeah
DANIEL - I was incredibly drunk at this point. I just saw jeans
JCH - Kyle was set up for a curb stomp on a chair and Davis put his head in the way
DANIEL - Shades of Jeff and edge. Oh yeah! Can't wait to watch it back on demand
JCH - And we couldn’t even see half of it that was in the crowd. There were dual 450s through tables I could see half of. Just realised we forgot to mention Lucky Kid vs Tristan Archer
Who seemed to be booed just because he was French
ROSS - Lucky Kid is really good and Shafi was perplexed by Archer's puffy nipples
DANIEL - Tristan Archer looked exactly like a wwe wrestler I can't remember the name of. It'll come to mine in a minute
JCH - Rene Dupree
DANIEL - More current. Fabian Aichner. That's it. Maybe it's just me
JCH - I can see that a bit. The match was fine. Sort of got overshadowed by the main
DANIEL - Yeah. Lucky Kid is solid
JCH - So I think the piledriver through the ladder took out Robbo and then Ospreay got fidget spinnered off a ladder through a table
DANIEL - Yup. So much destruction
JCH - Then Davis got the belt down before Fletcher just, as Fletcher had trouble undoing it which meant Ross lost shot round not me
DANIEL - Was a crazy pop when Kyle and Davis got up the ladder to grab those belts. Was a great way to end the feud
JCH - Oh, I just remembered Kyle’s armbands. He had them in the style of the Tag titles. They were awesome
DANIEL - Aussie open will be tag champs for a long time I reckon. Don't they hold belts in WXW as well?
JCH - Yeah. Great match. Great moment. Great pop. I think they recently won the WXW belts yeah
DANIEL - Big things for them recently. Good on them.
JCH - Yes, They are a great team. Will Ospreay is now done with Progress and what a way to go out,
DANIEL - Yep. He put a rather emotional post up. That's now bate, dunne and ospreay officially left in the last year
JCH - Yes, times are changing. After the show we went to the Mixer and made wrestling fruit and veg puns for about 45 minutes. Were joined by a guy called Wes. Nice bloke
Making friends at wrestling. What a winning day!
DANIEL - Only way is up. Ah yes the fruit and veg puns
JCH - Kazuchika Okara, Rowdy Maris Piper, Jordynne Grape, Chuck Mango some of the highlights
DANIEL - Chuck Mango was Simon's one. Quality
JCH - That was mine!
DANIEL - I was too drunk to think of anything genius. See. I was that drunk I forgot it was your pun
JCH - Hahaha. Then Simon was sick on the floor. We weren’t in the Mixer at all. It was the Black Heart
ROSS - Black Heart was excellent until Simon spewed and I took that as my cue to leave
DANIEL - I missed that. Was chatting to TK about various things
JCH - TK came to meet Dom and big Damon Moser turned up as well
PETE - Poor Simon. I really like the Black Heart
JCH - And then I woke up on my sofa using the sofa cushion as a blanket and not having answered the door to the Uber Eats Mcdonalds man 5 hours earlier
PETE - Good lord James
DANIEL - I reckon we'll be allowed back don't you worry. I woke up at 6:30am thinking it was Sunday and then realised why would I have an alarm on a Sunday
JCH - Hahahaha
PETE - TBF I get massive bedspin when I drink too much. I had a pretty recent show where I slept on my floor with my duvet over me after hurling in my toilet
DANIEL - That sounds horrible. I don't remember falling asleep either. Standard progress
PETE - After you hurl it’s not so bad
JCH - Haha. All in all a good time was had and we can’t remember much
DANIEL - Very. Solid card with great mates and far too many ciders
PETE - Fair enough, RevPro was more enjoyable thinking back on it today. Yesterday I was just really bummed out with almost entirely heel finishes
ROSS - PROGRESS continues to be my favourite day of the month. I pencil promise to make all three days in May
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