Chuck Mambo Interview (08/08/2017)

On 8th August, we got the opportunity to sit and chat with PROGRESS Wrestling's Chuck Mambo about all kinds of wrestling goodness. This is that interview. We discuss getting into PROGRESS, landmark matches, tagging with Pastor William Eaver, wishlist opponents and promotions and a whole lot more.

Across the Pond Wrestling - I wanted to start about about talking about how your weekend went? You were at Riptide against Eddie Dennis and Battle Pro against TK Cooper...

Chuck Mambo - Yeah that was mad fun. Really nice. Riptide is super cool because the guys that run it are musicians so they really want to make sure that everyone's took care of backstage. So the first time round there was crates of beer and this time there was a keg backstage. We got there at 12 or something, so we went for a swim on the beach and to all the old arcades, so that was super fun. The match with TK was really cool, we've wrestled a few times, before he went back to New Zealand... so we've got a good thing going on in the ring there. Then Battle Pro, obviously that's super cool as well because our friends run it and it's a new place to work in London, which is really nice. I've been wanting to wrestle Eddie for like four years, so I was mad nervous about that one, but it was really really fun. 

ATPW - Did you get up to anything else at the weekend? 

CM - There's these summer camps in the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, called Phoenix Wrestling, but more properly known as MinelliMania. They have these traditional old school rounds matches and they were so much fun. I had a brawl around a fun fair. 

ATPW - So let's go with the basic opener question, how did you get into wrestling? What made you become a fan of pro wrestling? 

CM - Well the earliest thing I remember for wrestling was my friend Dan came across the road and he had an Owen Hart and The Rock action figure set. I was like "These action figures are cool" and he said "Yeah, they're wrestlers". Our brother were both five years older or something, so they were kind of keeping up to date with WrestleMania X-7 and talking about Rock/Austin all the time and I was like "No, The Rock's going to win because he's the best" even though I'd never seen him but I'd seen the action figure! Then I got a Kane/Mankind double set and we were playing with them all the time and then eventually at a car boot sale I bought a wrestling video, but then I realised that Hulk Hogan wasn't on it so I cried until they gave me on with Hulk Hogan on. Which was WrestleMania IX which apparently everyone says is a bad WrestleMania but I thought it was pretty good! From there, I just started watching WWF I suppose. My friend had Sky, so I'd go over on a Friday night and watch RAW and you know there was like SmackDown and Superstars and then another one, something like AfterFlame (Afterburn?), well we'd watch about six hours of wrestling. I guess, that's it really? 

ATPW - What year was that? What was going on in WWF/E at the time? 

CM - I guess, it would've been just after WrestleMania X-7, it was sometime around then that I started watching the programming. I can't really remember any of the storylines from early on, but then the first one I remember being really excited about was Rock and Hogan and being like "This is going to be the maddest!". But then when was the triangle ladder match, because I definitely watched that. That was like WrestleMania 2000. So somewhere between (WrestleMania) 16 and 18 I started watching it! You don't remember everything from when you're that young, I would've been like five, maybe. I can't really remember too much of the storylines, but I remember being mad for Matt Hardy! 

ATPW - From watching WWF, how did you find out about there being a British wrestling scene? 

CM - When I was 15, I just googled "wrestling schools" and luckily enough there was one opening up near me...near where my Dad lived, at least. It was called Pro Evolution Wrestling and they're stilling running, they're really cool. So if anyone's in the South West and gets a chance to see Pro Evolution Wrestling it's worth checking them out. I went to train there for a bit, but I don't think I had enough focus and I could only make it if I was at my Dad's, so rather than training a couple of times a week, it was one every two weeks. So it wasn't very much and with time I ran out of money and fell out of it the first time round. Then I came to London for Uni when I was 18/19, so I spent a year doing amateur wrestling, because I didn't realise there was much going on with wrestling in London, even though PROGRESS had been going like that whole year. But then I saw a DEFEND Indy Wrestling sticker in a toilet in Shoreditch and googled that and then somehow through the powers of Facebook found out about PROGRESS. I guess because DEFEND Indy were doing their thing against Screw Indy on PROGRESS. Then PROGRESS was like half an hour away from my Uni, so I ended up being able to train five times a week and then after about six months there was the first ENDVR and I ended up on that and I got rolling from there.

ATPW - What year did you begin training at the Projo? 

CM - It would've been 2013 I think, it would've been around February, I think. 

ATPW - What was your focus when you started training? Did you have a plan? 

CM - I just wanted to be wrestling, really. Not too many years before, obviously the wrestling was still good, but the shows were all quite small and I was envisaging that PROGRESS would be like town hall and family wrestling. I really should've known the product better, I guess, but I hadn't seen any of their shows online, because I really suck at the internet. So I didn't really know what to expect, but I went to Chapter 9 and it was like holy fuck, it was so good. Everyone actually really cared about everything and it had high production values. So once I'd seen the Chapter I was like "Wow, yeah I want to be on this!". It was sick when I got to wrestle in the Garage, because that was where I saw Jimmy (Havoc) turn on Jim (Smallman) and that was a mad wrestling moment, so it was really cool to wrestle in the Garage. So then I really wanted to be on the PROGRESS shows and I guess everyone wants to wrestle for WWE one day. Then there was a Doug Williams seminar where he was like "Have a long term goal, like WrestleMania or whatever, but try and have goals along the way". So then I wrote down "After one year I want to be on the Chapters", after two years or three years I wanted to be regularly booked around the country and then after four and five I wanted to start getting around all of the top British promotions and then some of the European promotions and then after ten years I guess it'd be sick if I got to wrestle for WWE. Right now, I'm just having so much fun wrestling. I mean obviously, I want to wrestle for WWE, but if I never did I'd still be pretty happy. 

ATPW - Back to the Projo, when did you start doing character work? Because when I watch Chuck Mambo, it's the character that draws me into the wrestling. So when did you start developing that or is it something that comes natural? 

CM - It's such a lame thing to say "It's just me with the volume turned up". Jim Smallman was at the Projo one time and I was like "I don't really know what to do" and he said "Do you own a surfboard", so I said "Yeah" and he told me just to roll with that then. Then because I actually do like surfing, I felt like I didn't need to...I was watching some old WCW wrestler, not Raven when he was a surfer guy, he was called "Surfer Ray...something" and he'd come down in a wetsuit and be really loud about being like a surfer and I didn't want to be too hokey. Which I know is a little silly now, because I'm pretty hokey! I managed to just be me in the ring, which is nice. 

Then I guess the big thing over the last year or so probably, has been trying to progress from just me, who's like happy-go-lucky, having fun being in a wrestling ring to actually being a credible threat to the person I'm in the ring with and trying to actually get the win and look competitive, which I guess doesn't come quite as naturally to me, but with time I'm feeling it more. More of...not...well yeah aggression, yeah I guess aggression. 

I feel like because the character stands out in some ways on PROGRESS, it's cool to have this easy going guy, but you also need to hold your own and be competitive because why else would you be there, but you don't want to get lost in the mix being another super serious guy. So it can be a bit of a balancing act sometimes. 

ATPW - So when you made your debut in September 2013 at the first ENDVR show was that your first proper full match in front of a crowd? 

CM - I had done a few actually when I was a teenager, but real small stuff and I don't know if I'd want to watch any of them back! But that was the first time I wrestled as Chuck Mambo and I've got a match book with all my matches in and it start with that match against El Pantera Negra.

ATPW - At that time, did you feel ready for that match? 

CM - Yeah, yeah I did. I think I'd actually messaged Jon Briley, I'd been on holiday and I messaged him, "Hey man, I feel like I'm super ready for this show. If there's a spot available" and he messaged back saying "Yeah man, we're already considering you" so that was cool. Actually, quite luckily, when I went out, the match was super simple so I could just be me and enjoy it and I guess that was the first time that the character started working. Just reacting how I would react in real life works, I didn't have to worry about "Would the dead zombie react like this?" because it was just me, so that was handy to know. Yeah, I did feel really ready for that match. 

ATPW - Can you remember getting any feedback from anyone on the match afterwards?

CM - Yeah, like little bits and bobs. Mostly people said it was kind of cool, but like tricks and tweaks, like not being funny if you're in a move, because obviously you're in a move, so you should be trying to get out of the move. Stuff like that was quite helpful. Then the feedback from the second ENDVR that I did was that I needed to get some boots because I broke my heel, doing a double axe handle. The first ENDVR I was wearing just board shorts and flip flops! But I guess it's fine if you work like Matt Riddle, but it's not so fine if you're doing the dives and stuff.

ATPW - Moving onto Chapter show debut, which was in July 2014, so not too long after your PROGRESS debut, it was a triple threat with Ali Armstrong and William Eaver. I was there on that show, it was my first PROGRESS show and it had Samoa Joe, Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, Noam Dar

CM - Dude, Samoa Joe vs. Rampage Brown! 

ATPW - How did it feel to be so well received? Because the crowd were so into that match and gave all three guys a really good reception. 

CM - I remember feeling like a total rockstar! I remember thinking that we smashed it, looking back now I'm sure we'd have a much better match with we did it now, but at time I remember thinking "Yeah...this is sick!". It was mega, mega exciting. That's the cool thing about PROGRESS, it's a really big platform to have, so if you do well, then it feels really good, because you know that people are watching. The crowd is also mega supportive, so if you're trying new things, like trying to be a time-travelling surfer or you're a bit nervous, they're really supportive, as well as really rowdy. Even though they have the funny chants for the bad guys, more often than not they cheer the good guys and are on side, which is really cool. It makes it a lot more fun and then because you're having fun, it becomes a lot more fun to watch. 

ATPW - So when I was doing a little bit of research, I was looking at your cagematch profile, I noticed you worked in CZW in 2014, just after your chapter debut, so how did that come about? 

CM - Well, at the time, I didn't know that the summer was the busy time for wrestling in Britain. I really should have done, but I didn't. I think I'd just turned 21 and then I had some friends in America, who I promised I'd go out there and meet when I was 21. The tickets to America were maybe five hundred quid, so I thought "If I go for five weeks, then that will justify the price of the ticket", but I totally didn't think about how expensive it is to live for five weeks. So I ended up just bumming around the country, so poor the whole time, but it was mega fun. Just before I went Drake Younger was doing some final seminars and shows in England before he went to NXT. He was super duper nice and they were some of the best seminars I've ever been to. So inspiring and he was talking about how the business is such a gift and he was just a great guy. Then he added me on Facebook, so I was like "Hey man, if I'm in America is there anywhere good to wrestle?" and he was saying about CZW and going down to see DJ Hyde. So I trained with those guys for like two weeks, maybe two out of the five weeks that I was there and they were all super nice. They run Dojo Wars on Wednesdays, so it's like a real small show just in the training school with friends or family, more or less, and some die hards, that come to watch the matches. That was fun and then from there they were like "We need someone on this iPPV" so I said "Yeah, sweet, I can do that!". It was fun, tough crowd though. 

ATPW - Yeah, perhaps slightly different to what you were used to at PROGRESS? 

CM - Yeah, I came out and some guy was like "Who the fuck is this guy? He doesn't deserve to be here!". You know, lessons learned about how to debut. 

ATPW - Do you think it's almost as beneficial to wrestle in front of a hostile crowd as it is to wrestle in front of a supportive crowd like PROGRESS? 

CM - Yeah totally. The PROGRESS fans can be pretty forgiving about silliness and stuff. It was really helpful to learn to maybe be a bit more serious in new places. I guess, to just to work to the right audience, because I came in thinking "This is my schtick and I've got it so down" but, of course, they didn't know that, they just wanted to see CZW style stuff. Definitely a good learning experience. 

ATPW - In 2015, you began tagging up with Pastor William Eaver as Sweet Jesus. How did the tag team form and who's idea was it to put you together as a team? 

CM - I don't know who's idea it was. I guess Jon, Jim or Glen's. But when the Sumerian Death Squad (Tommy End & Michael Dante) were coming in, they need opponents and I don't know why or how, but Jon was like "Yeah, you and Pastor against the SDS!" and I was like "Ahhh shit". And then I don't know, I thought because I was "sweet" a lot and he looks kinda like Jesus, it was a cool tag name and then I think if I'm honest the tag name has taken us a lot further than anything else has! Then, it was pretty well recieved and it's quite a fun tag team to watch, with a bit of an 80's type thing, so I guess it stood out a bit. So then other promoters wanted to use us. So they put us together, I think because SDS needed opponents and we needed experience, but because it was fun it worked out for both of us.

ATPW - Not a bad tag team to step in with to get some experience!

CM - I know right! Like one of the best tag teams in the world! I guess our second matches or second or third. It was so cool. I think my nose was bleeding within a minute or two of that fight! For all of the ouch, it was a super fun experience. 

ATPW - Do you prefer tagging or multi-man matches to singles match or is it more like different shades of the same thing? 

CM - Maybe I feel more comfortable doing singles matches and I really love doing singles matches, but then when tag matches come off well then I really, really enjoy that and when multi mans come off then I really, really enjoy that. But I suppose I'm better at singles matches, so I enjoy them, because they come off better more often. Basically, any match that I get a chance to do I like doing, so I guess it's more of different shades of the fine art that we call professional wrestling. 

ATPW - So the Brixton show for PROGESS, Chapter 37, was that the biggest crowd you've performed in front of? 

CM - Yeah man, at least I think it was. I think at one night we had like 3000 at Download, but they must not have all been wrestling. But to perform in front of two and a half thousand proper, proper wrestling fans was sick! It was so cool. 

ATPW - How did you think that match went with Paul Robinson? Because that was almost a bonus match that hadn't been previously announced. 

CM - It's not even announced on the on demand. Which is kind of sad, because I had this great match against this really respected wrestler and it's not publicised anywhere. Although that's not fair to say, because Jon Briley said it was his favourite match of the year or one of his favourite matches. I'm really grateful for that match. 

ATPW - What was it liked to see all those beach balls?! 

CM - It was a wicked cool thing to see, especially from the entrance. I was really cool with everything the whole day, I felt sweet and then just as Paul went out, I kind of couldn't feel my legs and I was like "Ah shit!". I'm not sure if it was because I warmed up too much or if it was just nerves. But then when the "Hey Ho Mambo" bit happened and I heard all the crowd be onside with it then I was like "This is just going to be fun" and then I think came out of the wrong part of the stage because I got confused. But then I came out and I saw all the beach balls and I thought "Ahhh, this is super fun, this is the funnest". Then the match was wicked! It was definitely one of my favourite matches I've ever had. It hurt like fuck, it hurt so bad, but it was really, really fun. 

It was a real simple one, because the characters are so obvious and the stories are so easy that it didn't need any build up. I'm really flattered that they gave me that chance. It was sweet. The funnest. 

ATPW - You've done some stuff with PROGRESS' Freedom's Road show, what's that like to take part in? 

CM - Really fun, I think one of the coolest things about it, other than the fact that they seemed to have stopped saying "No" to ideas, is that the crowd know that don't know everything that they'll know by the time that it's on the on demand. So the first time that I was time travelling, I don't think that anyone knew that I had a time-travelling surfboard, so I had to try and let them know throughout the segment. But I feel that must be the same with lots of the other storylines, the fans get to enjoy wicked good wrestling and some of the fucking coolest matches have been on there like James Davis vs. Timothy Thatcher or Rob Lynch vs. Matt Riddle or TK Cooper vs. Riddle or Donavon Dijak vs. Kyle Ashmore, so the wrestling is definitely still sweet, but then the fans also have to be like "What's going on? I guess we'll have to wait and it will actually make sense the next time we watch it!", which is fun. Then from a wrestling perspective, it's just super duper fun. I get to do all these silly stories and funny promos. I really love it. 

I'm slowly getting my head around working cameras, but I still get way too excitable about the audience and the fans. But yeah, it has been really good practice, learning to do that! 

ATPW - To round up the PROGRESS chat, how do you feel about your position in PROGRESS at the moment? With that being still your main promotion or home base at the moment. 

CM - Yeah man, I psyched with being involved in such a big company. I never really know what's going on with their expansion or whatever, but I'm psyched to be involved. I would like to be on more regularly than I am, but I guess everyone would like to be on more regularly than they are. I'm happy to be there. I'd like to work my way up into a cool storyline or a series of matches, because I've not actually had many singles matches on PROGRESS chapters. The ones I've had have been sweet, I've got to wrestle Damian Dunne, I've got to wrestle Paul Robinson, I got to wrestle Bubblegum and then on the Freedom's Road's I got to wrestle Ashmore and Roy Johnson and loads of great people. Obviously, you always want to work more and get better and sell more merch. 

ATPW - If you had to choose one of your matches to show someone who had never seen you wrestle before, what would you choose to win them over? 

CM - Usually, I would use either the Paul Robinson match or the Bubblegum match, because I feel they are two of the best matches that I've had and because those two are such classic bad guys it shows up my character really well and their character and they're still competitive, exciting wrestling matches. Also if you're showing someone who doesn't like wrestling and there's really big crowd, then they think it's a bit cooler than a show in leisure centre or something like that. Not knocking shows in leisure centre's though, because there's been some cracking show's in leisure centres!

ATPW - Outside of PROGRESS, where have you had the most fun wrestling?

CM - The most fun? Well, the Phoenix holiday camps that I talked about are really, really fun. On Sunday, it was me and Maverick Mayhew against Pastor and Steve Minelli and it was just so much fun, because it's really all about getting the kids on board. So that's really cool. At All Star, I was a baddie. I think I'd been wrestling for about a year when they took me on as a baddie and that's super duper fun, because I never get to shout at people and stuff. That was really fun. And not that I've done a lot actually wrestling for them, but I've been along on the Fight Club: Pro Dream Tag Team Invitational tour and I did a dark match there. I really really like the way that everyone on the team is super duper nice and everyone feels respected and they just want everyone to go out there and be the best that they can be. Which obviously...is the case in any wrestling company, but that was just a super nice environment. Then maybe the funnest place of all is definitely Attack!...maybe, definitely. Well, they are all super fun, but Attack! is mad fun.

ATPW - Yeah, definitely. I think at the Attack! show, and with FCP as well, you can tell that everyone in the building is having a really really good time! 

CM - Yeah, I think more and more it seems to be the case at all of the wrestling shows because from what I can tell when I'm there, everyone is having a really good time at PROGRESS, everyone's having a really good time at Fight Club and Attack! Then even some of the smaller shows that you go to, where sometimes the crowd are quite hard to get involved, because sometimes if the lights are on and if you're in a Rugby club and there's like a 100 people, maybe it doesn't feel so much that you're watch a sweet wrestling show, but then once the shows have started, because so many British guys are becoming "names" ourselves, it's easy to get excited and to realise that you're watching a sweet wrestling show. Even if you're in a lights on venue with a really low ceiling! 

ATPW - One of my favourite venues is actually the Frog & Fiddle in Cheltenham that Attack! run!

CM - Ahh man, it's the best, right? 

ATPW - It's the perfect size for a small, intimate show. It's not a leisure centre with 100 people in, it's this tiny room with 100 people squeezed in! 

CM - Yeah, that's super true. It's atmospheric and kind of quirky, I can't rememeber when it was, I guess it was the time it was CCK & Shay against Team Defend and someone was like "We've just watched the WWE UK Champion tear it up in front of 80 people in a barn". It's fucking mad, isn't it? It's so cool. That's such a great venue. 

ATPW - What do you think goes into a good wrestling match? 

CM - Ah, yeah, I guess you could call it a philosophy. My philosophy on this has kind of changed a lot lately and I guess for the better. I used to try to follow that traditional thing of "You've gotta have a goodie and you've gotta have a baddie" and "less is more", but now I try to think about how the fans are going to feel and react and making sure that the fans have a great time. I think sometimes it's like "Wrestling is this and this and this" but really if the fans are having a sweet time, then that's all that really matters, isn't it? I try to just think about what's going to give the fans the funnest time. 

ATPW - Who's been your biggest influence in coming to that point of view? 

CM - One time I was talking to Pete Dunne and Eddie Dennis as well, he was talking about not worrying about your moves or anything and thinking about how to take the audience through the right level of excitement...I'm trying not to say journey because it sounds so cheesy. I guess, Pete Dunne and Eddie, but obviously they've got a little more to it than that simplified version. And then like Jimmy (Havoc) has been really influential as well, on making everything mean stuff, rather than just running a spot because it's cool. Trying to get the maximum out of it for the fans as well as just because you think it's sweet. 

ATPW - Is there anywhere in the UK or anywhere that you'd like to wrestle more? I'd love to see you in FCP and Attack! more often. 

CM - I'd really like to get into ICW still and I'm doing some holiday camps with RevPro, but obviously RevPro are a wicked place to get to wrestle because they've got wicked show. So I suppose ICW and RevPro are two of the biggies. Pretty much anywhere that there's work I'd be happy to work, because I just want to be wrestling as much as I can really. It's getting quite busy now. I'd really like to get more involved with more summer camps, I'm doing a couple, but if anyone wants me on a summer camp that would be sweet. The main two I'd like to be super regular on, other than PROGRESS, are Attack! and Fight Club and then if I could get anything with ICW or RevPro I feel like I'd feel like I was properly on top of the British scene. The big five. Oh shit, OTT would be sweet as well. That would be awesome. 

ATPW - You mentioned earlier that you'd been waiting four years to work with Eddie Dennis, is there anyone else on the scene that you'd like to work with more often? 

CM - The two other big names on my "To wrestle list" at the moment are Zack Gibson and Rampage Brown. I think it'd be really funny with the size difference between me and Rampage. I'd love to wrestle Zack Gibson, we've had bits and bobs with a four way at Manchester, but to have a one on one with Zack Gibson would be awesome. I am actually a pretty good technical wrestler, I don't get to showcase that too often, but I am actually pretty alright at the old grappling. It would be an awesome opportunity, if that every came out I would grab it! 

ATPW - Do you still watch wrestling as a fan? 

CM - Yeah man, loads. For a little while early on while I was training, because lots of people will be like "You've gotta do this" or "You've gotta do this" and then you watch RAW and you're like "But they're not doing this, does that mean they're bad?". But then I realise that everything's different and there's not "got to" and "got to not". So I just try to watch things and to think about what I like and what I don't like and to think about why it works, but for the most part when I watch wrestling I'm just enjoying it. 

ATPW - What have you been checking out of the last couple of months? 

CM - I've been trying to get my head around Japanese wrestling a little bit more, because I've got to confess, I've not seen as much as I probably should have. So I've been really enjoying Zack Sabre Jr. stuff in Japan. Also just some more WWE, I do really like NXT, I went through a phase of watching that way more than SmackDown and stuff, but I do try to keep up with SmackDown and RAW. Then just live shows and old British stuff, like Billy Robinson, Fit Finlay, all the classic. Quite a lot of Tiger Mask and Dynamite Kid as well. 

As well, I've been making more use of the PROGRESS on Demand thing, like rewatching Riddle vs. Jeff Cobb, which was fucking insane match. Then old stuff with Jimmy Havoc and then obviously the British Strong Style matches because they're so fun.

ATPW - Do you ever go back and watch your own stuff? 

CM - You know what, sometimes I fairly hate watching my own matches. There's times where I'm quite happy to watch them, like the Paul Robinson match. If I'm sending it to someone and it starts playing, I can be like "I could watch this for a bit!", but for the most part I try to watch it with another wrestler or with a non-wrestler and see what their opinions of things are and to see what they react to. Quite often, wrestlers react quite differently to not wrestlers, so I find it's pretty helpful to watch things with people who are not wrestlers and see what they go for. 

I was watching a match back with Jon Briley and JD from the London Riots and Darrell Allen. I had this spot and I still think it's pretty sick, where I catch a clothesline into a Gory special and the guy escapes and I switch another clothesline into a reverse gory special, which is my favourite submission of all time and JD gave me a little wink and a nod, Darrell gave me a wink and a nod and Jon just had a blank face. But obviously he's looking at it from the angle of what you can promote and stuff like that. Everyone's picking up on different things, which is handy.

ATPW - Do you have any short term or long term goals in wrestling at the moment? 

CM - I guess my long term goal is to be able to make a good living out of professional wrestling. I never really want to be rich, but I'd really like to have enough money, to where that I could give a good amount away and still have a roof over my head. It would be sick to do that, ideally with the WWE, but however I do that. You look at the Young Bucks, I'm not saying I'm as good as the Young Bucks right now, but one day it would be sweet to be. My short term goals, going back to the Doug Williams timeline of goals, I want to get more regular on more of the big shows, like Fight Club and Attack! and PROGRESS around England, to debut in other places around Europe. So I had the show which was half PROGRESS and half wXw, so hopefully that goes in the right direction. Then me and Pastor and Jody Fliesch are going to Celtic Championship Wrestling sometime this month and later on in the year as well. Fingers crossed I can get something with OTT and there's this company Bull Fight Pro in Italy that I've been talking to. I just want to get around and wrestle as many places as possible at the moment. 

ATPW - It's crazy to think how many places there are for guys to work in the UK and into Europe at the moment and learn different styles and work different crowds, compared to when I started getting into BritWres about five years ago. 

CM - Yeah, you can still do traditional rounds matches at Premier or the Phoenix camps or you can do the holiday Butlins things and family shows. You can do the strong style, the super exciting athletic wrestling and you can go so many places. 

ATPW - I think it's brilliant for the fans and the wrestlers, that there's a place for everyone to gravitate towards. Whether they like comedy wrestling, the modern indy style, lucha...

CM - Oh dude, I totally forgot to mention how much I'd like to work for Lucha Forever, which was dumb. Mega mega shows. Another thing that's been cool is that I've had a couple of chances to work for Fight! Nation on Fite TV, getting used to working a wrestling show on a TV show and I'm really grateful to Billy Wood for that. Hopefully I get the opportunity to do more of that and get more experience with that. 

ATPW - Just to close things off, where can people catch you next and where can they find you online? 

CM - I'm going to be at the UnProffesional Wrestling show in Hackney on the 20th August. If you want to follow me on the line you can go to Facebook.com/chuckmambo, twitter.com/chuckmambo or Instagram.com/chuck_mambo, that's the one with the most picture and you can get merch from mambomerch.bigcartel.com. All of the newest stuff is earth positive, so it's got ten percent of the normal carbon footprint and they regulate their own factories to make sure that no ones being exploited and there's free association of labour and working hours are kept to reasonable standards. Pretty good merch to buy! It's bright colours!

Also, another thing that if people would like to follow it it would be awesome, on Twitter there's an organisation called Help for Refugee Children and they always need donations. Because at the French border in Calais and Dunkirk, the camps have gone and some people did get re-homed, but some of the re-homing was so bad that some people decided to go back to the camps more or less. There's a lot of people living on the streets and the last time I went there was this big national park where people are living in makeshift tents in the park. It's a bad way. Help for Refugee Children run nice activities with the kids and stuff and they're friends with all the families so if the families do get over, they can put them in touch with the right legal support and make sure that their rights are respected and they get everything they're supposed to get and that they have friends. It's a really super cool charity to support, if has the money, which I know is hard to come by. 

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A massive thanks to Chuck Mambo for taking the time to speak to us. It was a pleasure to spend an hour with Chuck and I hope that comes across in what you've just read. 

All the best, 

James xoxo

Event Review: PROGRESS Chapter 36: We're Gonna Need a Bigger Room...Again (Tommy End v Mark Haskins v Marty Scurll)

It wasn't just the biggest show in company history, it was the biggest show England had seen since Big Daddy and his pals loomed large. It featured some of the best wrestlers in the country across the card and three of the very best in the entire world in the main event. Chapter 36 had a hell of a lot to live up as over 2000 PROGRESS Ultras descended upon the O2 Academy Brixton in the hope of being a part of something special. Now usually at this point, I'd tease that the show could end up being a disappointment, but this is PROGRESS and the real question here was, just how special would this show be? Let's find out, lads and lasses. 

Marty Scurll. Tommy End. Mark Haskins. Just looking at those names all in the same line should send a shiver down any die-hard wrestling fan's spine and if it doesn't...go away. These three men put on a real display, fitting of the main event slot and whilst most of the talk will be about the finish, it would be almost irresponsible not to begin by talking about the marvelous work that all three did to build towards it and the clever booking that steadily unfolded across over a half hour. After a tense start, displaying the lengthy history that all three share and an number of early pin attempts, each one of the trio was given ample time to shine. Haskins and End looked great when beating the shit out of The Villain, whilst equally upping their game when coming up against each other in a number of pacy and violent strike and grapple sequences. 

Whilst I've always preferred triple threats with two heels, despite some obvious examples on the other side of the coin, they just tend to produce the best opportunities for story-telling. However, I'm just gonna throw that line of thought out of the window, because this contest produced some of the richest narratives that one could hope for, whilst also being incredibly simple at the same time. Everyone wants the belt, everyone that isn't Marty really doesn't like Marty, Marty will do absolutely anything to walk out with the belt. This meant that every move hit on Scurll was extremely satisfying, because he's just so damn good at being a dick and with Haskins and End being some of the hardest hitting wrestlers in Europe you've got yourself a magic combination. The build of near falls for both challengers, the escalation of Scurll's chicanery, every agonising submission, the dramatic sequence on the apron that would lead to End and Scurll suplexing Haskins through a table and a lot more all came together to create a compelling, dynamic, convincing work of art, with an electric Brixton crowd adding a big scoop of whipped cream on the sweet, sweet pie that was this match. 

So, I should probably speak about the finish at some point, because if the crowd were electric to begin with things were about to become...ultra electric (yeah)! The narrative of Scurll being a man possessed trying to keep hold of his prize came to a thrilling climax as he took out every referee in the building after being unable to put End away with multiple Gotch-style piledriver attempts. As the crowd poured scorn on Scurll, The Villain ended up face to face with one third of PROGRESS' owners, Jim Smallman, when the familiar stab of former PROGRESS Champion Jimmy Havoc's music hit for the first time in over a year and Havoc nailed Scurll with a precise Acid Rain Maker, with a knowing nod to former arch rival Smallman. It was a marvelous moment that got the reaction it deserved, whilst setting up a now mouth-watering potential clash between The Villain and perhaps the only man in company history who could out Villain the Villain. This being PROGRESS, I'm sure we'll get to hear from Havoc in due course, to fully explain his involvement.

One of my favourite things about this match, was that the fall didn't come directly after Havoc's interference, because it easily could have felt like Havoc handing the belt to someone, which wouldn't have been the best way to start off a new technico champion. Luckily, after Havoc left, there was one last sprint of action with Scurll and Haskins grappling for just enough the right amount of time before Scurll found himself locked deep within the Sharpshooter. It was so very satisfying to see Haskins finally win the belt after coming supremely close on a number of occasions and do so in convincing form, finally getting a man who has terrorised him for months to submit. This match really did have a little bit of everything, transitioning from a strong wrestling three way into a more sports entertainment style with the angle in the final third, before finishing off with a wonderfully cathartic finish. If you like your wrestling to tell a story, then you'll love this match. 

I was almost tempted to do a similar opening for this match as I did for the last, as it really does have the same kind of feel. Two of the best, in a match type that when done well encourages great wrestling and story-telling, whilst also having a strong back-story and lead-in...there wasn't really a way this could go wrong. Honestly, having seen the previous two matches between the pair in May and December 2015, this was pretty much exactly what I wanted to see from ZSJ and Ciampa here. The duo have a tonne of chemistry in the ring, working holds as well as anyone, slick and crisp in every move and transition, that almost half an hour of wrestling seemed to pass by in a flash. Their previous matches have presented an interesting twist on the old cliche of technical wrestler vs physical brawler, because both men able to raise their game to meet the other in either category and the 2/3 falls gimmick allowed them to get into this even more than before. 

In the first two falls, ZSJ worked Ciampa's arm pretty extensively, with The Psycho Killer doing a stunning sell job, both when in the holds and when later on the offense. This worked nicely as a foundation, whilst also presenting a through thread to follow throughout the match, with the crowd popping anytime ZSJ went near Ciampa's hurt wing. There were also a plethora of pin falls, each made more convincing by the gimmick and the sheer smoothness of the pair's work. I lost track of the number of stunning sequences that the Cruiserweight Classic alumni put on here, but each would culminate with one of the other gaining a near fall, as the crowd got further sucked in. Slotted into this was ZSJ taking the opportunity to lock in a triangle choke with Ciampa fighting out and nailing a make-shift Project Ciampa, threading the two stories together well. This portion of the match would end with some more silky action, climaxing with both men managing to keep each others shoulders pinned to the mat, resulting in the match going to 1-1. I'm still undecided on this as a "finish" here, as part of me feels like it was trying to be a bit too clever, however the result did mean that the final fall would come out as the distinctive victory after both men had proved to be evenly matched. 

The final fall was an eight minute sprint that saw both men going all out to outdo his opponent, with a number of strong potential finishes and a riled up audience. The pair showed an impressive ability to switch gears in a match that could have easily have peaked too early, as ZSJ brought a renewed focus on Ciampa's arm following a wonderful back and forth submission sequence, whilst the former ROH World Television Champion dipped into his bag of tricks, including hitting a Pedigree for two and an Avalanche Project Ciampa. With both men becoming increasingly frustrated the match broke down in to a number of nasty slaps and strikes, somehow finding another place to take the contest, before ZSJ was able to get the win with Hurrah!... Octopus Hold. When all was said and done and Ciampa gave his last bow in an independent wrestling ring, Brixton had been treated to an incredibly technical, incredibly physical, strong-style epic!  

Topping the undercard was a sprawling encounter, that saw The Origin's Dave Mastiff, El Ligero, Nathan Cruz and Zack Gibson take on some of their biggest rivals in Damon Moser, Jack Gallagher and FSU's Eddie Dennis & Mark Andrews. However, the group's biggest rival of all has always been the fans and this was typified with the reaction that all the foursome and especially Gibson received as they attempted to cut their traditional pre-match promo. This included the crowd throwing so much toilet paper into the ring that I was expected a shit load of Andrex puppies to come flying down the aisle to reclaim it. It was an incredible sight, that made fun of the villainous group, with The Origin absolutely reveling in the reaction they were getting. The babyfaces did a great job of encouraging the crowd to keep going, controlling them well, adding to the brilliant work that Gibson was doing on the microphone, exaggerating ever syllable to get the best reaction, whilst Mastiff was making toilet roll angels. 

The match was a lorra lorra fun, as everyone brawled around the large room, featuring some great spots, including Andrews hitting a moonsault off a high barricade. As much as the issues between the teams felt serious, the tone of the match often verged towards the comedic with the performance skills of the likes of Ligero and Mastiff, helping to get the mood of the action spot on. The babyfaces would often get the better of their rivals, with a wonderful spot seeing Gallagher ties all of the opposite team (except Mastiff) in knots, whilst he, Dennis and Andrews basked in the glory. The contest also featured one of the best false finishes of the night, as after Ligero had pushed referee Joel too far, he took a Stunner from the ref, followed up by a beautiful Next Stop Driver from Dennis, assisted by a Shooting Star Press from Andrews, only for Gibson making the save just in time. The finish was a fitting end to Gallagher's time on the independents as he and the man he's faced more than anyone else in his career, Gibson, put together some lovely wrestling, for what was perhaps the final time. Of course, with this being The Origin the finish would have to include shenanigans as Mastiff nailed Gallagher with a car stereo, allowing Gibson to hit a spinning brainbuster for the win and keep The Origin together as a group. As much it would have been perfectly fitting to have broken up the Origin here, with various other feel good moments on the show, it makes sense to continue to build four of the promotions hottest heels, plus giving Gibson the pin on Gallagher on his way out the door gives Liverpool's Number One even more ammunition to fire at the crowd at future shows.

The biggest contest on the first half of the show was the Tag Team title bout, that saw British Strong Style (Pete Dunne & Trent Seven) go over The London Riots (James Davis & Rob Lynch) to pick up their first titles in PROGRESS. This was a very good, action packed tag bout, that rarely took time for a breath, featuring some quality spots and a perhaps surprising sprinkling of comedy. This was a style that suited all four men well, as they used spots like all four sitting on chairs outside the ring and trading brutal forearms and focused on Dunne's obsession with biting opponents, building to a bite-fest between all four. These sorts of sequences could have felt jarring with some of the more serious action, but in the context of the story, that didn't have a whole lot of prior build, made it feel more like both teams were trying to one up the other. 

I found it interesting that there was no notable face in peril and hot tag sequence, or at least a very short one, with both teams mostly just trading big moves and near falls. There was one section in particular, that featured biting, forearms, German suplexes and Powerbombs that really highlighted this as the four men rotated the momentum with no one holding it for long. This was arguably the best-booked match of the evening, as after proving they could go toe to toe with the Tag Team Champions, Dunne and Seven took the easy way out as following a ref bump, Seven drove the handle of London Riots' cricket bat straight into the already hurt eye of Lynch and finished things off with a piledriver combined with a running punt kick from Dunne. British Strong Style have risen quickly after only forming as a team at Chapter 33, but they are also one of the most interesting heel teams in recent memory, with plenty of depth to their act. As good a bout as this was, I feel the best is still to come from Pete Dunne and Trent Seven in PROGRESS! 

Joe Coffey and Rampage Brown could walk into pretty much any company in the country and end up in the main event, however their clash in the Final of the Atlas Championship tournament opened the show as the pair had a belting heavyweight tussle. I'll be honest and say that I haven't been overly enamoured by the "big lads" division heading into the show, with the tournament having a couple of issues, but this match was exactly what the division should be about. Coffey and Brown went right at it, keeping things fairly open throughout the bout, but giving both men ample time to look their best. The duo traded big blows throughout with the action spilling to the outside early on where Coffey hit a snap scoop powerslam, that really set the tone for how things would pan out. 

The match was full of impressive moments and well worked sequences, that got over the idea that Coffey and Brown were evenly matches, whilst also setting up the duos finishes, with a sequence where Coffey would struggle out of a piledriver attempt particularly standing out. After tonnes of tit for tat fighting that included chops and headbutts and a wonderful suplex sequence, it was Brown who weathered the storm, kicking out of a Discus Lariat, before nailing an avalanche samoan drop and a piledriver, which would be followed up by another following Coffey's resilient kick out to become the first Atlas Champion. Just like the tournament itself had been, putting these two at the start of the show was a brave choice by PROGRESS, but it paid off well, with the pace and make up of the contest getting the crowd even hotter for the rest of the show. A re-match is surely a must!

The lone women's match was a relatively low-key trios match, that still provided some strong action in an energetic ten minutes. With a tournament to crown the first Women's Champion supposedly just around the corner, Jinny, Dahlia Black and Alex Windsor went over Nixon Newell, Laura Di Matteo and Pollyanna in a match that was structured perfectly and got the most out of everyone involved. Pollyanna worked well as the face in peril as arguably the most over babyface, whilst TK Cooper's involvement at ringside and some wonderful rudo work by Jinny and Black got great reactions. Things would break down shortly after the hot tag, rolling along at break neck speed as everyone rotated in and out of the ring hitting big moves. The standout here would have to be Jinny's version of the Styles Clash which got a massive pop. The finish tied everything up neatly, as Cooper would end up hitting girlfriend Black in the face after Pollyanna ducked, then get kicked in the dick by Newell, before a busy busy finish saw Jinny able to put long-time rival LDM away with her Face Lift Finish. 

The second half would feature a bonus match, after Paul Robinson returned after a four month hiatus and his demand for a match was answered by Chuck Mambo, who was, perhaps surprisingly, having his first one on one match on a Chapter show. This was a simple bout done well, as Robinson had plenty of heat and Mambo is a popular persona. Structure wise this was plain, with a face shine, strong heat sequence, short comeback including a nice blockbuster, a decent near fall for Mambo, before Robinson collected the W with a nasty curb stomp. It was short, sweet, but effective, with both men working hard to maximise the time they were given, whilst also taking time to make sure the crowd were back up to their usual levels after the interval. Part of the enjoyment here was that both hadn't been seen all that often recently, and so their work seemed fresh and exciting, however they definitely both staked a claim to deserving more time on the product with their performances. 

Unfortunately, Pastor William Eaver and Sebastian's No Disqualification match ended within seconds after Sebastian was legitimately knocked out by a lariat and had to be taken out of the ring on a stretcher after being seen to by paramedics. This was handled well by everyone involved, including a respectful crowd. Hopefully, we get to see this match sometime soon, but more importantly I'd like to wish Sebastian a swift return to health following the accident. 

Finally... 

ATPW Scale Rating - 8.16/10 

Man, what a show. Seriously, this was the first event I've given above a "Superb" rating on the ATPW Scale. Top to bottom, each match outdid itself in it's position on the card and there was barely a moment where the crowd wasn't totally into the action and with 2400 in attendance the atmosphere made things extra special. The main event was my match of the night, because I love dramatic narrative wrestling, but you really could have picked any of the top half of the show. I could go on and on here, but if you've read the rest of the review and haven't seen this show yet, you'll know exactly what I'm going to tell you, go now, demandprogress.pivotshare.com.

Words and Images - James Marston 
Image Source - Facebook.com 

All images are the property of their respective owners

Live Review: PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter 20: Thunderbastard - Beyond Thunderbastard

Just under nine weeks removed from Chapter 19: Super Strong Style 16 Tournament Edition, Progress Wrestling was back at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London, England to present Chapter 20: Thunderbastard - Beyond Thunderbastard. With the hated Jimmy Havoc putting his title up against Super Strong Style 16 Winner, Will Ospreay, as well Bubblegum, Damon Moser, Eddie Dennis, El Ligero, Flash Morgan Webster, Kyle Ashmore, Mark Haskins, Marty Scurll, Mike Hitchman, Nathan Cruz, Rampage Brown, The Sumerian Death Squad, The Hunter Brothers, Tom Irvin and more in action, this show was always going to be amazing...wasn't it? 

It's one of the best introduction in the country and always add an extra level of hype to the show. As soon as The Imperial Death March begins and straight through into Jim Smallman's opening monologue, the anticipation grows to an almost unbearable level. Smallman was once again impeccable at working with the crowd, he clearly knows his audience and being a professional comedian probably helps a little as well. This time we also got the introduction of a brand new commentary team, with Progress recording commentary live for the very first time as Glen Robinson and RJ Singh took their place at the top of the ramp.

One Fall Match

Noam Dar

vs.

Pastor William Eaver

This worked nicely as the opening bout, with the pair going back and forth, with big strikes and a number of pinfall combinations. With the pair both getting loud support from the Camden crowd, the Electric Ballroom was rocking from the very start, as the pair put together a solid encounter. From the laugh out loud moment where Dar refused to pray for Eaver because he's Jewish, to the hard-hitting action that filled the majority of the bout. A Champage Super Knee Bar from Dar, pretty much out of nowhere, worked as close call, with Eaver selling the knee after the hold making me very happy. Perhaps surprisingly, Eaver was able to pick up the win with his Clothesline From Heaven.

I would have liked this one to have gone a little longer, although with Dar having to jet off to Glasgow for ICW's Shug's House Party 2, it's understandable why this one went short. After the bout, Dar seemed to be saying goodbye to the crowd, placing a Chapter One t-shirt over the top rope and waving as he left the ring. An interesting development that has yet to be fully explained, I'm not sure if many in the crowd knew exactly how to react. If this was Dar's last match for a while in Progress, then it's a shame that his scheduled bout with Dave Mastiff didn't happen here, as it would have been sweet to see the end of that particular storyline.


Winner - Pastor William Eaver via pinfall in 7 minutes, 45 seconds

One Fall Four Way Match

Flash Morgan Webster

vs.

Bubblegum

vs. 

"The Wild Boar" Mike Hitchman

vs.

Kyle Ashmore

This was lightning quick, pro wrestling thrill ride, from start to finish. Mike Hitchamn, Bubblegum, Morgan Webster and Kyle Ashmore went hammer and tongs for almost fifteen minutes, producing some, stand-up silly action. There was multiple dives to the outside, a terrific four-way strike sequences, a reverse rana from Webster and a package piledriver variant of the Meltzer Driver from Hitchman and Ashmore. Whilst a few slips on the ropes hurt the pacing of certain spots, every time the performer was able to recover without too much effort.

Whilst it was Webster who was able to pick up the victory with a 450 splash onto Hitchman as he attempted to pin Bubblegum, it was the later who stood out as the star of the match, for me. In only his second appearance for PROGRESS, Bubblegum has been able to garner a decent amount of heat, winding up the Camden faithful with his Manchester City loving, nutsack grabbing ways. Everything Bubblegum did looked lovely, his strikes in particular have become some of the best in the country  and he worked nicely as a foil for the other three men in the bout, whilst still able to remain looking like a star. With PROGRESS heading to Manchester in December, I'd expect him to play a major part on that show.


Winner - "Flash" Morgan Webster via pinfall (on Bubblegum) in 13 minutes, 12 seconds 

Natural Progression Series Quarter Final One Fall Match

Sebastian

with Tom Irvin

vs.

"Number One" Damien Dunne

I was in, what would seem, a rather unique situation during this match. Unlike most of the crowd, I am very familiar with Damian Dunne, from my trips to promotions like Kamikaze Pro, Fight Club: Pro and Shropshire Wrestling Alliance, and this was my first opportunity to see Sebastian in a match. On the other hand, the PROGRESS faithful were very much aware of Sebastian and his GZRS's partner Tom Irvin, showering them with love throughout the match, whilst Dunne was met with a mixture of mild heat and utter indifference from the outset. Dunne did a decent job of getting the crowd into his stuff, but they never seemed to completely warm to him.

The match itself was a decent encounter, which really heated up in the closing stages. Sebastian continued his Damian Dunne facts over from Twitter in the match, all of which were genuinely funny, although a fan's attempt to follow up with the gimmick didn't hit the spot (especially when resorting to just repeating facts from Sebastian). The highlight of the bout was a tremendous false finish, that saw Dunne able to take advantage of the GZRS confusion at being unable to find a table (after a Dudley Boyz tribute) hitting a springboard double knee facebreaker for two, with the crowd seemingly convinced that Dunne had the match there. 


Winner - Sebastian via pinfall in 8 minutes, 58 seconds.


Before the Tag Team Championship bout could get underway, Jim Smallman revealed that the Tag shield's had been "confisticated" by customs as the Sumerian Death Squad entered the country. 

One Fall Tag Team Match for the Progress Tag Team Championships

The Sumerian Death Squad (C)

vs.

The Hunter Brothers

Just as you'd expect from two of the finest tag team's in Europe, this was a silly, silly tag team match. Some of the most ridiculous near falls and false finishes that one could every hope to see, with both teams experience together and opposite each other (they've previously clashed in WXW, Southside and Fight Club: Pro) shining through for the entire bout. With the four men pacing everything down to a tee, allowing a slower opening to set the foundation for the blistering pace of the final five minutes or so, which saw all four getting involved, the crowd was whipped into an absolute frenzy by the finish of the bout, with it being difficult to not get caught up in action.

Similar to the experience with Damien Dunne earlier in the show, it was strange to see The Hunter Brothers not be one of the most over acts on the card, with the crowd solidly behind Michael Dante and Tommy End from the very start of the match. As the pair have only made a handful of appearances in PROGRESS before (all their previous Chapter appearances ending in a loss), it was clear that the fans hadn't quite warmed to the brother's from Tipton. This match seemed to change things, with the pair receiving a standing ovation for their considerable efforts in the bout. I hope there's more opportunities down the line for The Hunters as they clearly have a lot to offer an expanded PROGRESS tag division.


Winners - Sumerian Death Squad via pinfall in 13 minutes, 48 seconds.


Following the bout, Jim Smallman would lead us into the intermission bringing the first half to a close. During the interval, Jim's wife Stacy bravely had her head shaved for MacMillan Cancer Care, you can donate at the following link https://www.justgiving.com/mrs-smallman/ With the 2nd half intro being kept nice and short, there as one hilarious moment involving the crowd chanting "Jim "The Barber" Beefcake" (in reference to the headshaving) and Jim's quick reply regarding Hulk Hogan.

Before the action of the Thunderbastard match could get underway, Smallman's fellow PROGRESS founder Glen Robinson had something to say. Unfortunately, it wasn't happy news as Glen announced that PROGRESS' first trainee graduate, Ali Armstrong, would no longer be competing due to two consecutive injuries. We'd like to wish Armstrong all the best going forward, he'll be missed at PROGRESS and around the country. Of course, this wouldn't be pro wrestling if someone didn't come out to interrupt, and that someone was The Origin's Nathan Cruz, who got some decent heat for his comments about Armstrong. It was Robinson whoever who had the last laugh, with a fiery reply, before making Cruz the first entrant in the Thunderbastard match.

Thunderbastard Match

Tom Irvin

vs.

Eddie Dennis

vs.

Marty Scurll

vs.

Mark Haskins

vs.

Rampage Brown

vs.

El Ligero

vs. 

Damon Moser

vs. 

Nathan Cruz

PROGRESS' Thunderbastard match is at it's core, a Royal Rumble match, but with wrestlers being eliminated via pinfall, submission and disqualification, instead of being chucked over the top rope. A well-structured bout, that told a solid story throughout. This match was all about The Origin continuing to cause trouble for the rest of the PROGRESS roster, with Nathan Cruz and El Ligero working together throughout. This included eliminating their former stablemate Damon Moser from the match, after Ligero joined the pair in the match. The pop when Ligero was eliminated with a small package, from none other than The GZRS' Tom Irvin was huge. Cruz almost immediately eliminating Irvin had almost as strong a reaction in the opposite direction. A match between the two teams at some point in the future would have the Ballroom rocking for sure.

Whilst the story of the bout was strong, the spots and moves placed over the top of it added a little sizzle to the steak. Marty Scurll's trio of suicide dives, a lovely Samoan Drop/Northern Light's suplex from Eddie Dennis and a fantastic tower of doom spot. Dennis and Rampage Brown also brought it, in a great sequence of moves, with the two big men looking on form throughout the match, it was almost a shame to see the pair eliminated when they were. The Pride of Wales elimination directly after being able to joust Brown from the match was particularly disappointing, but seeing as this came at the hands of Cruz, it's safe to say that that was the reaction that was being looked for.

With the final two coming down to Marty Scurll and Mark Haskins (following a quality exchange that saw Nathan Cruz eliminated by Scurll), the crowd was split pretty much down the middle. The closing action between the two was focused on Scurll attempting to lock in his Cross Face Chicken Wing, with the move being incredibly over with the PROGRESS crowd. After three or four attempts at the move, Scurll finally seemed to have the match won, only for Haskins to roll over and manage to grab the pinfall victory, ending a solid exchange between the two. With Haskins announced he'd be after a title shot at Chapter 21: You Know We Don't Like to Use the Sit Down Gun in September, PROGRESS now has a fresh face in the title picture, with the former TNA man recieving his very first show at the promotions ultimate prize.


Winner - Mark Haskins in 24 minutes, 23 seconds.


It was main event time...but before Jimmy Havoc and Will Ospreay got to rip each other apart over the PROGRESS Championship, a special promo package aired on the Ballroom's screen. I was going to write a little about it...but I think it's better watched than talked about...so here it is.

One Fall No Disqualifcation Match for the PROGRESS Championship

Jimmy Havoc (C)

vs.

"The Aerial Assassin" Will Ospreay

If you're not WWE (and sometimes even if you are) big match feel can be a hard thing to get. It's an intangible thing, isn't it? But christ, you know when it's present. It takes a lot of hard work and effort to get, and if you've watched the promo video above you'll see that everyone involved putting together this match has worked incredibly hard for the past twelve months to tell a story that has captivated the fan base of the promotion. Add to that, two incredible entrances and you had a crowd at fever pitch from before the bell had even rung, and despite already watching over two hours of wrestling and cueing for hours before hand, and many travelling from all over the country, the crowd was more than ready to join in with the performers in giving it their all throughout.

The No Disqualification gimmick worked superbly, with it being a style that Jimmy Havoc is perhaps best known for throughout the United Kingdom and elsewhere and also for playing a big part in Havoc's storyline progression over the last two years. However, this wasn't violence for the sake of it, every weapon shot and every table crash, felt like it had a purpose, and an edge behind it, that is often not there. Tables, singapore canes, steel chairs, thumbtacks all got involved, as well as Ospreay repeatedly sending Havoc into the seating area. The brutality throughout was exactly what the feud deserved.

There was also a number of different story elements that came into play throughout the bout, with a handful of nice call-backs to previous events under the PROGRESS banner. Jimmy Havoc taking out not one but two referees stands out as the biggest of these, as he was seemingly intent on having Jim Smallman count the pinfall in the match. There was also the involvement of Havoc's Regression cohorts, Paul Robinson and Isaac Zercher, who caused problems for Ospreay in the later portion of the match, with a nice distraction spot with Zercher coming down the entrance way, whilst Robinson was entering through a side door. 

Once all was said and done this match was about the superb near falls, and the electric reaction that they received from the crowd. Both men had their opportunities to have the contest won, and there were maybe three or four occassions when the majority of the people in attendance (including myself) felt that either Havoc or Ospreay had managed to pull out the victory. Two acid rainmakers from Havoc and a 450 splash and Red Arrow from Ospreay stand out in particular, with Ospreay's kick outs being just that little bit extra special. 

If the reaction to some of the near falls was impressive, the reaction to the finish was like something I've never experienced before. When Smallman's hand hit the mat for the third time, following a 630 Senton from Ospreay, (almost) everyone in the building erupted. There was people grabbing random stranger in sheer joy, people falling down stairs and just a straight-up outpour of emotion, like none I've ever seen at wrestling event before. It was crazy. With the babyface roster spilling out onto the stage to congratulate Ospreay in his title victory, we had a fitting end to a superbly brutal, brilliantly dramatic title match, that will be remembered by those in attendance for a very long time.


WINNER AND NEW PROGRESS CHAMPION - Will Ospreay via Pinfall in 26 minutes, 7 seconds.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 7.37

PROGRESS has built a reputation as one of the best promotions in the United Kingdom and Europe, and continues to prove exactly why that reputation is deserved with every show they put on. Ospreay and Havoc, as well as anyone else involved in scuplting that storyline over the last year and beyond, deserves full credit for producing a fabulous main event and some of the best crowd reactions around today. The Thunderbastard match and the tag team title bout also provided strong slices of pro wrestling, both offering a different change of pace to the rest of the show. Throw in a strong undercard, with the Four Way bout standing out as the pick of the pack, and you've got the makings of fantastic show. 

With just six week's separating this show and Chapter 21: You Know We Don't Like To Use the Sit Down Gun and their first venture of Manchester looming around the corner, PROGRESS is expanding quicker than it has ever done before. If the quality continues to be this strong, they won't have a problem at all.

You can find out more about PROGRESS on their website here, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.