PROGRESS Chapter 48: Bang The Drum 5/14/2017 Review

PROGRESS Chapter 48: Bang The Drum 5/14/2017

This week I am reviewing the latest PROGRESS show, Bang The Drum. This is the final stop before this upcoming weekend (5/27/2017-5/29/2017) where PROGRESS will be holding Chapter 49: Super Strong Style 16, a three day tournament. The names vary from Jack Sexsmith, Jeff Cobb, Travis Banks, Flamita and even David Starr. However until then, this is the FINAL pitstop before that event and there are still TWO Super Strong Style 16 qualifiers. Lets jump into it.

Super Strong Style 16 Qualifier- James Drake vs Flash Morgan Webster:

Kicking off the show Flash wasted no time as he attacked James during his entrance. It was nice to see Flash have an agressive side and take the fight to James, someone who’s been on a rampage since he debuted. The match was a good opener, Drake really working over Websters jaw for the brutal forearm he does. However, Flash became the FIRST person to defeat Drake and the crowd went nuts. Morgan is now in SSS16 and the first person to defeat James Drake. Good opener, very short.

Rating: ** 1/2

Session Moth Martinez vs Jinny:

Oh boy, this was a shit show. For one, I HATE Jinny, and I rarely say I hate a wrestler. She is just soooo shitty considering she was trained by Jimmy Havoc. However I can ramble on another day as Session Moth isnt the best either. Her presentation seems sloppy as she looks like a heavy set Liv Morgan mixed with ODB and GZRS. This match was boring, slow and was realistically a beer refill for the fans. Jinny won and I couldn’t give a single fuck. I just PRAY either Jinny nor Laura win the Womens Belt during Super Strong Style 16 Weekends Night 2 in the triple threat involving Toni Storm. And if either women does, I pray the person to take it off them is Kay Lee Ray after she wins the contender ship that weekend as well.

Rating: DUD

London Riots vs Sweet Jesus:

This match was an odd one. The London Riots were once the most dominate tag team in PROGRESS but now they’re just here and no one cares. Sweet Jesus was over, the crowd somewhat split. The tag division at the moment is a little dull after the departure of South Pacific Power Couple & Ringkampf so this was a way to somewhat establish a contender in a way. Sweet Jesus surprisingly won, giving Eaver a little push towards his Super Strong Style 16 match.  Nothing special, fun little match

Rating: **

Travis Banks vs Trent Seven:

This was Travis’ first match without TK or Dahlia. The crowd was really behind him and Travis and Trent went to war. These two tore it down, ending the first half of the show,  giving the show something wild and fun compared to the previous matches. Really fun match between two great wrestlers, Trent being a perfect heel to the uber baby face of Travis.

Rating: ***

Super Strong Style 16 Qualifier- Nathan Cruz vs Spud:

I have to say, its been a while since I have heard Nathans theme and it sucks. The change of theme for Spud was a bummer because Livin on a Pray was so over with the crowd but Lines in the Sand is a good second pick. Spud had some good offense and was in control for a majority of the match. Cruz got control and completely squashed him. No opinion can be further said on this really.

Rating: ** 3/4

Tyler Bate vs Matt Riddle:

This was a non title match as the (former) WWE UK Champion Tyler Bate faced the ATLAS Champion, Matt Riddle. Riddle joined the list of people this show alongside Spud and Sweet Jesus. The match had a slow start that left me bored but they picked up quickly. Still not a Riddle fan at all, don’t care for the guy. I had some Vanilla Snickers Ice Cream and that was better than 3/4 of this match. The last five minutes is when it picked up and the ending of Trent Seven running in to help Tyler Bate was good, leading to a DQ finish because hey, if Riddle loses cleanly he might quit like with AIW.

Rating: ***

PROGRESS World Title Match- Pete Dunne (c) vs Mark Andrews vs Mark Haskins:

Joining Riddle/Sweet Jesus/Spud with new music is Haskins, not digging the new theme. Out came Andrews still with the Junior music which is splendid, Dunne coming out to a fuck ton of “Petah!” yells and boos as well as “Peter your a cunt.” chants, the usual. The match was balls to the walls, a scary spot with Mark shooting star into no one after Dunne pulled out Haskins. However the sequences of submissions and then British Strong Style coming out only for Dunne to hit a Bitter End on Andrews on top of Haskins followed by a pedigree was a nice finish. However the post match was ballistic. Riddle ran out and went after Tyler but they took him down ASAP. Dunne cut a promo and out comes CCK! Chris Brookes and Kid Lykos cleared out British Strong Style and I was going ape shit. I love Brookes and he finally got his break into PROGRESS.

Rating: ****

Final Thoughts:

Good show by PROGRESS. The first half was lack luster, very boring at most. However Banks/Seven kicked it up a notch and got the rest of the show going. The ending was by far the best part, getting me to go crazy.

Overall Rating: *** 3/4