PROGRESS Wrestling is set to make its Welsh debut this Sunday at the Tramshed in Cardiff.
The nation’s recent discovery of electricity has made it possible for the London promotion to hold its first show west of the border (I can make this joke because I am Welsh), and PROGRESS looks to make an impact with the four championship matches that headline Chapter 102.
Ilja Dragunov vs. Mark Andrews
After a shockingly quick loss at Chapter 101, Mark Andrews has a chance to seek retribution against Ilja Dragunov on home turf. After Eddie Dennis was forced to vacate the PROGRESS Unified World Championship, Andrews celebrated as he thought he was to be handed the title. His negligence saw him dining on a sizzling Torpedo Moscow from Dragunov and took an embarrassing loss in eight seconds.
We’ve seen Andrews’ willingness to channel more aggression and take bigger risks to achieve his goals, however, so perhaps the chip on his shoulder is what he needs to defeat the Moscovite. As the last person to be eliminated in the four-way title match at Chapter 101, I’m sure Dragunov won’t make it easy for Andrews.
PROGRESS Proteus Championship: Paul Robinson (c) vs. Danny Jones
Reigning Proteus Champion Paul Robinson is set to make his sixth title defence this weekend against Danny Jones. Jones has been nowhere to be seen in PROGRESS since the pre-show battle royal at Wembley Arena due to his excursions to Japan, therefore it will be interesting to see his growth as a performer when he returns to the PROGRESS ring.
With Robinson’s knockout or submission stipulation, this is a match that I could easily see being settled outside Tony’s Fish & Chip Bar on Chippy Lane. There has been nothing to suggest that Robinson’s reign could be in jeopardy as he’s only gone from strength to strength in his dominant inaugural title reign, defeating the likes of Timothy Thatcher and Chris Ridgeway at Chapters 98 and 99 respectively. Either way, this match presents a great opportunity for Jones to shine and become a regular part of the PROGRESS roster.
PROGRESS Women’s World Championship: Jinny (c) vs. Dani Luna vs. Gisele Shaw
After a quick dispatch of Mercedez Blaze at Chapter 101, PROGRESS Champion Jinny aims to continue towards her quest of making the women’s division the focal point of the promotion by defeating rising stars Dani Luna and Gisele Shaw.
Though Shaw might be a relatively unfamiliar face to the PROGRESS Ultras, she had a very impressive showcase back at Chapter 93 where she came up short to Dani Luna in a four-way match with Jody Threat and Yuu. Her acrobatic style will give Jinny a new challenge and the unpredictability of multi-person matches will force the champion into a corner. Can Jinny continue being the face of the women’s division or will Shaw or Luna put an early stop to her second title reign?
Chris Ridgeway vs. Elijah
After coming up short against Paul Robinson at Chapter 99, Chris Ridgeway has a chance to make things right by defeating the debuting Elijah. Elijah has been tearing it up around the South Wales scene recently and now finds himself in a match with one of the hardest hitters in his weight class. With Ridgeway’s current priority being his commitments with NOAH in Japan, can Elijah make a name for himself by winning his debut match on home turf?
PROGRESS Tag Team Championship: Jordan Devlin & Scotty Davis vs. The Anti-Fun Police
Days after winning the NXT Cruiserweight Championship at Worlds Collide, Jordan Devlin is set to defend the PROGRESS tag titles for the third time alongside the incredibly gifted Scotty Davis. Ever since losing my voice drunkenly cheering for Davis at the Natural Progression Tournament, I’ve loved everything Davis has done in PROGRESS thus far, from two incredible tag title matches to his sick burns (did I say that right?) in the Wasteman Challenge at Unboxing, Davis has shown himself to be one of the most dynamic and versatile wrestlers on the European scene.
The Anti-Fun Police will be a somewhat different hurdle to the Grizzled Young Veterans and Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch, however. Santos’ finger gun is still yet to be confiscated and might send the Irishmen packing back to Dublin with nothing but a purple belt and imaginary gunshot wounds.
PROGRESS Unified World Championship: Cara Noir (c) vs. Chris Brookes
Chris Brookes is the first to challenge Cara Noir for his newly-won championship, and it comes after a rather controversial build. After badmouthing PROGRESS management on a Schadenfreude Twitch stream for not giving him a big send-off before jetting off to Japan, Glen Joseph fired back at Brookes over Twitter, claiming that he “bent over backwards” to get him booked in the first place.
As anyone familiar with BritWres Twitter would expect, it didn’t take long for this to become the front and centre topic of discussion. This led to Joseph giving Brookes a World Title opportunity at Chapter 102, his first since PROGRESS’ tour of Germany in the summer of 2018. Can Brookes finally go all the way and win the PROGRESS World Championship?
PROGRESS’ Welsh debut looks to be a solid showing that shines a spotlight at some local talent as well as the established names that lay the foundation for PROGRESS.
Tickets for Chapter 102 are still available via PROGRESS Wrestling’s new ticket provider, DICE.
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You can find the author of this article on @DeiOwen. Thanks for reading!