Progress Wrestling

History

The company was conceived by Jim Smallman and Jon Briley in 2011, who were both massive wrestling fans. Smallman is a big fan of "strong-style" wrestling, Japanese in particular, and Briley was Smallman's agent. The pair decided to put on a wrestling show in London, as not many shows were being put on in the capital itself, featuring the type of wrestling that they would both like to watch. The pair then spent seven months putting their first show together. Smallman is also a huge fan of punk music, and the pair decided to emphasize the fact that it would be a London-based promotion with a punk rock vibe. They also were keen not to be import-heavy, like other promotions, but to promote British talent. The pair eventually settled on The Garage in Islington for the venue, because of the size and also having a great reputation as a music venue. The Garage were also very supportive of what Smallman and Briley wanted to do, and the pair ran their first show on 25 March 2012.

After eleven consecutive sell out shows at the Garage, with the later shows drawing 350 fans, the promotion moved to the 700-capacity Electric Ballroom in Camden from Chapter Twelve in March 2014 for their second anniversary show where the sell outs have continued. To date, Progress has sold out all London Chapter shows at The Garage and Electric Ballroom. For Chapter 36 in September 2016, Progress staged their largest ticketed show at the Brixton Academy, to an audience of 2,400 and announced that they would return the following September. Though they have run most of their shows in London, in 2014 Progress held three shows at The Satellite Stage at the Sonisphere Festival, and in 2015 they appeared for five nights at Download Festival. In December 2015, they began running regular shows at The Ritz in Manchester. In 2017, Progress will begin to promote shows in Birmingham.

The promotion have been reluctant to use imports (wrestlers for which the UK is not their home or one of their homes). Colt Cabana was the first wrestler to be included on a show as part of the debut show, Chapter One, in a losing effort to Loco Mike Mason. Ricochet has appeared twice for the promotion, losing to El Ligero at Chapter Six and in a triple threat with Mark Haskins and Zack Sabre Jr. at Chapter Eleven. Adam Cole was the first non-European wrestler to register a win in Progress, defeating Mark Haskins at Chapter Ten. Prince Devitt also appeared twice for the promotion, defeating Zack Sabre Jr. at Chapter Thirteen and losing to Jimmy Havoc at the Progress World Cup, his final match in the UK before signing with the WWE. Other talents that have appeared include Samoa Joe, Roderick Strong and Tommaso Ciampa; though Ciampa has established himself as a Progress regular with seven Chapter show appearances.

In 2016 the company began working with other promotions. At Chapter 29 on 24 April in London, Progress hosted two qualifying matches for the WWE Cruiserweight Classic. In June, the Canada-based SMASH Wrestling had its title defended at a Progress show, ahead of three co-promoted shows between the two in Toronto in September. Progress also announced they would be running two shows in the United States in April 2017 as part of WrestleMania weekend with WWNLive.

Training school

In late 2012, Progress launched the only full-time wrestling school in London and the South East, also known as the ProJo. The school has classes for beginner and advanced level wrestlers, and has a wrestling ring permanently erected along with another ring-sized matted area. The original head trainer at the school was Jimmy Havoc, but he was replaced in November 2013 by Darrell Allen. Other trainers include Danny Garnell, James Davis, Eddie Dennis, Damon Moser, Chuck Mambo and "Wild Boar" Mike Hitchman. The school has hosted seminars by the likes of Michael Elgin, Scott Levy, Nigel McGuinness and others. In late 2013, Progress announced that the ProJo students would be putting on their own shows, which would be called ENDVR. ENDVR shows feature a mix of trainees from the ProJo, their trainers, and other professional wrestlers. The first four ENDVR shows were held at The Bedford Arms in Balham, while ENDVR:5 was held as an afternoon show before the Progress World Cup on 29 June 2014 at The Garage in Islington. Starting from ENDVR:8, the trainee shows move to The Garage on a permanent basis. The shows were later moved back to the Bedford and filmed for Freedom's Road, a new regular program for Demand PROGRESS with more of an emphasis on drama and characters.

Jimmy Havoc and Regression

To date, the most significant storyline within the company has been that of Jimmy Havoc's ascent to the championship. Havoc debuted for Progress on Chapter Two in May 2012 and went on to lose six matches without registering a victory, though became very popular with the Progress fans as an underdog babyface. At Chapter Nine in November 2013, Havoc attacked promoter Jim Smallman and aligned himself with The London Riots, turning heel in the process. Havoc would then use an open contract given to him by Smallman to defeat Progress Champion Mark Andrews (who had just wrestled both Paul Robinson and Rampage Brown in consecutive matches) to become champion and pick up his first victory in Progress.

In his first title defence at Chapter Eleven, Havoc defeated Zack Sabre Jr. with the help of his newest associate, Progress trainee "The Omega" Isaac Zercher. Havoc was joined at Chapter Thirteen by Paul Robinson, and the group later christened themselves Regression as a play on the name of the company and to symbolise their hatred of Progress Wrestling.

The group lost its first members at Chapter Fifteen, as the four members of the group (not including Zercher) took on Progress Tag Team champions Eddie Dennis and Mark Andrews, Will Ospreay and Noam Dar in a titles vs. careers match. Ospreay pinned James Davis of The London Riots, meaning that The London Riots were gone from Progress.

Havoc eventually lost the title at Chapter Twenty to Will Ospreay in a no disqualification match. At Chapter Twenty-One, Havoc and Robinson were placed in a number one contenders no disqualification match against each other. After they both failed to convince Zercher to turn on the other, the two engaged in a bloody contest with Robinson emerging victorious, seemingly signalling the end of Regression.

Progress World Championship

Unlike conventional wrestling championships which are generally represented by a championship belt, the Progress championship was initially represented by a large staff with an eagle head piece. At Chapter Sixteen, the staff was replaced by a more traditional title belt. The title has been defended in the United States at the WrestleCon Supershow in Dallas, Texas, and subsequently defended in Italy on April 30, 2016 and Ireland on July 16, 2016.

As of March 27, 2017.

Combined reigns

As of March 27, 2017.

Progress Tag Team Championship

It was announced at Chapter Nine that beginning in November 2013 there would begin a series of matches to determine the first Progress Tag Team champions. The champions were crowned at Chapter Twelve, the second anniversary show, in March 2014. As with the Progress Championship not being a conventional championship belt, the Progress Tag Team Championship is represented by a shield with the Progress eagle on the front. The shield splits into two, one for each championship holder. The Tag Team Shields were Replaced with Traditional Title Belts with The Front Plates based on the Halves of the Tag Shields

As of March 27, 2017.

Combined reigns

As of March 27, 2017.

Atlas Championship

The Atlas Championship is exclusively for wrestlers over 205 pounds in weight—the cruiserweight weight limit. Rampage Brown was the first champion after winning a tournament. As of March 27, 2017.

Progress Women's Championship

It was announced on April 24, 2016 that Natural Progression Series IV would crown the first Progress Women's Champion. The tournament got underway in October 2016, with the champion expected to be crowned at some point in early 2017.

Natural Progression Series

Beginning with Chapter Four: The Ballad of El Ligero, Progress launched the Natural Progression Series, with the intention of showcasing up-and-coming British talent. The winner earns a match for the Progress World Championship at any time, the Natural Progression Series trophy and is allowed to install an eliminated wrestler in that year's tournament into the next Natural Progression Series. This last rule did not count for NPSIII as the following tournament was all-female.

Series I

At the conclusion of the first Natural Progression Series final, the winner Mark Andrews decided to install Will Ospreay into the next tournament.

Series II

The winner Morgan Webster decided to install Pastor William Eaver into the next tournament. Morgan Webster lost his championship opportunity to Zack Gibson.

Series IV

Natural Progression Series IV will crown the first Progress Women's Champion, with its first match at Chapter Thirty-Eight: When Men Throw Men At Men. According to co-owner Jon Briley, there is to be six first round matches.

First Round

Second Round

Super Strong Style 16

The Super Strong Style 16 is an annual Spring Bank Holiday weekend knock-out tournament with competitors from around the world. The winner of the tournament receives a Progress Championship match.

2017 (Chapter 49)

For the first time, 2017's tournament will take place over three days; running from Saturday 27th May to Monday 29th.

Progress World Cup

The Progress World Cup was held in June 2014 at The Garage in Islington, with 8 members of the Progress roster representing individual countries. The winner of this one-day tournament would be given a title shot against the Progress Champion.

At the conclusion of the tournament final, Jim Smallman approached Rampage Brown, the tournament runner-up, and said that if Brown left the Screw Indy Wrestling faction, he would let him face Samoa Joe at Chapter 14. Brown accepted the offer, and was installed as Joe's opponent at the promotion's Thunderbastard show in July.

Tag Team Championship tournament

Starting at Chapter Ten, Progress held a tournament to crown their inaugural tag team champions. Four semi final matches were held, with the winners set to face off in a four-way match for the Championship at Chapter Twelve.

Group stage

Media review and industry response

Patrick Lennon, wrestling journalist for the Daily Star, has attended and reviewed Progress shows such as the acclaimed Chapter Seven: Every Saint Has a Past, Every Sinner Has a Future.

Carrie Dunn, founder and main contributor of wrestling blog "The Only Way is Suplex", published the book Spandex, Screw Jobs & Cheap Pops: Inside the Business of British Pro Wrestling. Progress Wrestling features frequently in the book including opening a chapter regarding London based wrestling promotions.

Roster

Progress talents are freelance competitors, meaning they appear for multiple promotions worldwide, as well as performing for Progress. The following are talents who have appeared on the most recent three Chapter shows.

Correct up to Chapter 46

Notable guests and alumni