PROGRESS Chapter 68: Super Strong Style 16 Review


Last year's SSS16 was a fantastic weekend of wrestling and with the talent involved, I expect nothing different here. In addition to that, they are at the Ally Pally, and they sold over 4000 tickets over the 3 days. 

Day 1

SSS16 First Round - Pete Dunne vs Doug Williams

A really good way to start off the tournament. It wasn't anything that will be remembered in a month's time but the clash of generations created its own story. Dunne won with a roll-up. ***1/2

SSS16 First Round - Zack Sabre Jr vs Chuck Mambo

I went into this with very little expectation, due to not really buying Mambo as a threat, but it ended up being a really good match. Mambo really impressed me here, in what was his best ever showing. ZSJ won with a bonkers looking dragon sleeper. ***3/4

SSS16 First Round - David Starr vs TK Cooper

This was a good match but it never really got above that level. The crowd wasn't really that invested either. Starr picked up the win with the Blackheart Buster. ***

SSS16 First Round - Mark Andrews vs Angelico

This match featured some really nice wrestling but it was held back from being anything special as it was used to continue the story of Andrews and Eddie Dennis, and I have no issues with that. Angelico picked up the win. ***1/2

SSS16 First Round - Tyler Bate vs Jordan Devlin

Tyler Bate coming out to Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel is fucking brilliant. This was a fun match. Devlin played the heel, and he did it well. Possibly because of his massive head. This was a fun match, and one that I think could be great given more of a platform. Tyler Bate picked up the win with the Tyler Driver '97. ***1/2

SSS16 First Round - Joey Janela vs Zack Gibson

This was a smoke and mirrors job as the actual match only lasted about 12 seconds. There was a ton of brawling before the bell rang, and the Grizzled Young Veterans only revealed that Gibson was the competitor at the last minute. NR

SSS16 First Round - Keith Lee vs Flash Morgan Webster

Yet another fun match. Keith Lee was doing his thing, throwing Webster around, and Webster did a really good job of playing the underdog. Webster had the opportunity to cheat to win but decided against it once again, and it cost him. ***1/2

SSS16 First Round - Chris Brookes vs Kassius Ohno

This was a very good, deserving, main event. Ohno was clearly having fun being let off the leash and he looked great. Brookes was great too, playing the underdog and getting in some really good hope spots. There was a spot where Brookes reversed a Death By Elbow into a crucifix that provided a great near fall. Ohno picked up the win in the end though. ***3/4


Day 2

SSS16 1/4 Final - Pete Dunne vs Zack Gibson

This was good but due to the screwy finish it never really got above that. It was still a good way to kick off the show though. ***

Jordan Devlin vs Chuck Mambo vs TK Cooper

The classic first round losers three-way. Devlin accomplishes the fastest face turn in wrestling history by overhead kicking a beach ball and landing on his feet. The boy has mad tekkers. This was a fun sprint. ***

Mark Haskins, Jimmy Havoc & Flash Morgan Webster vs Joey Janela, Chris Brookes & Mark Andrews

This continued the story between Webster, Havoc and Haskins, and it was also a really good match. It had a good structure and the pace was well maintained throughout. The heels won. After the match Janela called Havoc a cunt and challenged him to a death match on day 3. ***1/2

SSS16 1/4 Final - Keith Lee vs Angelico

This was another match that was fun without being anything more than that. This tournament has in no way been bad but it hasn't lived up to previous years at this point. Lee advanced to the semi-final. ***1/2

SSS16 1/4 Final - Zack Sabre Jr vs David Starr

This was easily the best match of the tournament so far. Both men are excellent wrestlers and they went all out. Sabre is making everything look ridiculously easy at the minute. ****1/4


House of Couture vs Millie McKenzie, Sierra Loxton & Laura Di Matteo

This was fine but it never really kicked it into a higher gear. Jinny's storyline of getting back on top of the PROGRESS women's game is being told well enough. McKenzie has great upside. **1/2

SSS16 1/4 Final - Tyler Bate vs Kassius Ohno

This was a really good match but I still feel like it didn't quite hit the heights it could, nay should have. Tyler is an excellent wrestler but his 2018 isn't quite on par with his 2017. He won here with a Tyler Driver. ***3/4

PROGRESS Title - Travis Banks vs WALTER

I went into this with very high hopes so I was somewhat disappointed with the countout finish. I understand why they did it though as it plays into a larger storyline. The match was really good up until that point but I can't go too high on that type of finish, especially when it ends the show. ***1/2


Day 3

Before the show they announce that Tyler Bate is injured and he won't be able to compete tonight.

Roy Johnson's Wasteman Challenge - Roy Johnson vs Kassius Ohno vs Angelico vs Chris Brookes vs Jordan Devlin vs Chuck Mambo vs David Starr

There was the usual rap battle to kick things off, with new superface Jordan Devlin being the one to murder Johnson on the mic. Jim Smallman announces that this match will be for Tyler Bate's spot in the semi-final. It was a fun sprint, as expected. Ohno picked up the win and will face Zack Gibson. ***

Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Haskins vs Connor Mills & Maverick Mayhew

This was a glorified squash match, with Webster & Haskins picking up the quick win. NR

SSS16 Semi-Final - Zack Sabre Jr vs Keith Lee

This was a good hard hitting match that will probably be the last that Lee has for PROGRESS, due to his impending move to NXT. They did a very good job of using the time that they had and Sabre won with the European Clutch. ***3/4

SSS16 Semi-Final - Zack Gibson vs Kassius Ohno

This was solid, and featured some very good chain wrestling, but it was still somewhat mired in the shenanigans of the Grizzled Young Veterans. Ohno won with a stiff Death By Elbow to the back of the head. ***

Deathmatch - Joey Janela vs Jimmy Havoc

This was your run of the mill deathmatch if such a thing even exists. There was no real story build heading in so it was more about the spots. The craziest of those spots is a shoeless Havoc going for a top rope stomp, only to land in tacks. Brutal. Janela won with a brainbuster into tacks. ***

After the match Havoc rips into Jim Smallman for the way the company has changed and allowing Ospreay back after he lost a loser leaves match. This brings out Ospreay to say that Havoc has become soft. He says that he wants to face Havoc at Wembley but he wants to face Jimmy Fucking Havoc, not the watered down version. 

Jim then announces the US tour, which includes a stop in Chicago. This elicits a CM Punk chant to which Jim responds that 'we aren't 5* Wrestling and we don't have 1 million dollars of invented money'. 

Christian Michael Jakobi, head of wXw, then comes out and runs down Pete Dunne. He says that he isn't the best independent wrestler in the world, he isn't even the best in Europe. If he is who he says he is, he will face the man that they call 'Unbesiegbar', he will face Ilja Dragunov. I popped ridiculously hard for this. More so than I did for Okada vs Omega IV.

PROGRESS Women's Title - Toni Storm vs Charlie Morgan

This was decent enough but it had a couple of scrappy bits in it that kept it from being above that. It also suffered from the fact that the outcome was never in doubt due to the Storm vs Jinny match at the next chapter. ***

WALTER vs TK Cooper

This was another extended squash that furthered the story of WALTER's desire to murder the cowardly Travis Banks. After WALTER had won, Banks said that WALTER didn't deserve another title shot while he still has the Atlas Title. WALTER thought about it, handed the title to Jim Smallman and headed after Banks. NR

SSS16 Final - Kassius Ohno vs Zack Sabre Jr

While I have considered this year's tournament to be a step below that of last year, this was an excellent way to see it out. As commentary says, only in 2018 could we see a WWE contracted talent go against New Japan contracted talent in a tournament final of an independent British company. These two have wrestled a ton of times and they always deliver. While this wasn't the best match I have seen between these two, it was still a high quality main event that saw ZSJ pick up the win with the European Clutch, and continue his fantastic start to 2018. After the match Sabre said he will take his title shot at Wembley. ****1/2


Overall Thoughts

While this wasn't as good as last year's effort, something that could be said about PROGRESS in general this year, but it was still worth a watch. Sabre was excellent in the tournament, as he has been all year, and it was good to see Ohno get to cut loose a bit. I am looking forward to a number of the matches for the Wembley show, especially if that is where they do Dunne vs Dragunov. Shame it's in September.

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