Author: Gareth Slade

Hello and welcome back to the latest edition of The PROGRESS Prerogative. This is the column that takes a retrospective look at each of PROGRESS wrestling’s shows (Chapters) in turn. This week we arrive at Chapter 33, Malice in Wonderland. The show that will feature the fallout from Pastor William Eaver successfully cashing in NPS to win the PROGRESS Championship from Marty Scurll. We also have a titanic tag team title match and Roy Johnson’s Wasteman Challenge to look forward to. The recaps are going to slightly abbreviated this week due to Birthdays and sorting out self-isolation etc. so let’s…

The RIPTIDE RETROspective has returned once again, this time taking a look at December’s show entitled Combat Panto. Expect plenty of Christmas themed shenanigans at this show mainly centered around the titular Combat Panto match. We will also get our first glimpse at what Spike Trivet Era of Misery entails for the rest of the roster. In the show’s main event, David Starr replaces Chris Ridgeway against Jordon Breaks to determine who will get the shot at Spike Trivet at the next show in March 2020. Without any further ado let’s get to it. RIPTIDE Wrestling: Combat Panto. 6th December…

Welcome back to the second, and final, part of an epic chat with PROGRESS booker/ring announcer Matt Richards. If you haven’t read that first part I would recommend that you do so before reading this. You can do so here. There we covered Matt Richard’s early days in the business as a wrestler and announcer, as well as the impetus that he brings to PROGRESS’s refocussing of what makes it such a special company. This time around we’ll be diving into some of the bigger questions around the BritWres scene of 2020. Most prominently – Is BritWres dead? Important to note…

Oi oiiiiiii! Welcome back to the PROGRESS Prerogative, the weekly column which reviews each PROGRESS Chapter in ascending numerical order. Today we have arrived at PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter 32, which has another tremendous headline match. Tommy End – you might know him as Aleister Black these days – challenges Marty Scurll for the PROGRESS Championship. This is 5000 To 1. By virtue of his victory at Super Strong Style 16, End gets his second shot at Scurll in the last few months of 2016. Their previous match ended by disqualification when Mikey Whiplash stuck his face-painted nose in where it…

Welcome to the RIPTIDE Retrospective, wherein we arrive at the show three of the group’s Brighton Spirit Show Three Weekender. We shall see who comes out on top of the tag team tournament that crowns the Spirit champions. We will bear witness to ETM exploding as Chuck Mambo and TK Cooper face off once more. And we will feast our eyes on a rematch from show one as Chakara and Big Swole settle their score once and for all. Let’s dig in, shall we? RIPTIDE Wrestling: Brighton Spirit Show Three Weekender Show Three 5th October 2019. Brighthelm Centre, Brighton, UK.…

RIPTIDE’s first show(s) of the year is nearly upon us. March 14th sees the Pride of Brighton tournament take place in the afternoon followed by The Storm in the evening. It’s been a long wait since Combat Panto took place in December, so it’s a delight to get a double helping of Rippy to belatedly ring in the new year. Let’s take a look at the matches – Brighton Championship Jordon Breaks vs Spike Trivet (c) Spike Trivet has a rather stiff challenge on his hands as he defends the Brighton Championship against Jordon Breaks. Local lad Breaks has earned…

Welcome to part one of a two-part interview with PROGRESS ring announcer/booker Matt Richards. Matt is somebody who has worn many hats in the wrestling business. Initially working as a wrestler, at a young age he decided that his passion for the art needed a new focus. On his Tuesday Night Jaw podcast, Richards told the tale of how he worked on the door collecting tickets, on merchandise stands, ring crew, everything to find his place in the system. The Manchester-based Futureshock would be the company in which he would make his name as a wrestling announcer. Rising in prominence,…

The PROGRESS Prerogative is back yet again on our epic journey through each and every PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter. This week sees us examining Chapter 31, the first show following Tommy End’s big win of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament. Whilst End isn’t on this show we do have the conclusion of an issue set up at that show as Marty Scurll defends the PROGRESS title against Chris Hero. If the prospect of that match doesn’t whet your appetite then nothing will. Let’s get cracking with the show. This is all hail the new puritans. PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter 31 All…

Aloha, and welcome back to the PROGRESS Prerogative! This is the weekly column that takes a look back at each PROGRESS Chapter, in turn, to see how they hold up. This week we’re reviewing Day 2 of the PROGRESS Super Strong Style 16 (SSS16) tournament from 2016. There has been a ten-man elimination match added as the show opener between all the losing wrestlers from Day 1. That’s due to Mark Haskins being unable to compete due to dehydration from the previous day. I assume this was a shoot, and so this was the right course of action to take.…

PROGRESS present Chapter 103, Beer Snake City at the Electric Ballroom on February 23rd. We’re starting to get a good feel for this new era of PROGRESS after the events of Chapter 101 and 102. With Matt Richards slotted into the mix behind the scenes and inside the ring, we’ve seen a change. Although due to extenuating circumstances, we have a new champion, a focus on bringing established names in from elsewhere, and the resumption of long term storytelling. That last facet is something that has been on the backburner for a while in PROGRESS, despite the Regression arc being…