This. Is. Progress.
Progress Wrestling is a Professional Wrestling company based in England. Founded in 2012, PROGRESS soon gained a loyal following with wrestling fans in England and beyond. While Progress initially had a policy of only occasionally bringing in wrestlers from outside the British Isles, said policy has become very relaxed as time has passed, with many famous wrestlers from around the globe appearing at the shows.
Progress was orignially run by Jim Smallman, Glen Joseph and Jon Briley. In 2020 this was reduced to just Briley, before he sold the company to the ownership of Tranmere Rovers at the start of 2022.
In 2017, Progress retired the shows that had been used to showcase their trainees and potentials (ENDVR and PTNTL) and replaced them with a new show called Freedom's Road, which featured matches with short backstage scenes of the wrestlers involved. In 2018, Freedom's Road got a second season, which focused on a group of trainees at the Projo and their matches, along with a supernatural plot of unknown intentions, and concentrated more on the stories.
Current Progress Champions are:
- Unified Progress World Champion: Spike Trivet
- Progress Atlas Champion: Luke Jacobs
- Progress Women's Champion: Kanji
- Progress Tag Team Champions: Sunshine Machine (TK Cooper and Chuck Mambo)
- Natural Progression Winner (Series 7): Luke Jacobs
- Super Strong Style 16 Winner (2022): Chris Ridgeway
In 2016 the company started a working relationship with WWE by holding qualifying matches for the Cruiserweight Classic. This grew into an agreement where UK based talent signed to WWE can still work for Progress around their NXT dates, with some restrictionnote . In 2018 WWE launched a developmental offshoot called NXT UK featuring much of the same talent, and presently booked by Progress management.
In 2020 while the company was already on a break due to the Covid-19 outbreak, a number of British wrestlers including some Progress regulars were accused of abusing partners or trainees, and the company announced a complete management overhaul to put in place people better equipped to deal with these kinds of situations. The company remained on a break until February 2021 when it returned with a run of shows filmed behind closed doors due to continued health concerns, and implemented background checks for all staff and talent working at shows.
After spending the whole of 2021 doing semi-weekly shows without an audience, the company ended the year by announcing that Progress was now under the ownership of Lee McAteer and Martyn Best, of football team Tranmere Rovers, and that the return to audience shows would be hosted by Simon Miller from WhatCulture.
Progress Wrestling contains examples of:
- Acrofatic: Dave Mastiff, his finishing move is a running back flip onto his opponent and he's one of the largest members of the roster. Since turning face he has added a suicide dive through the ropes to his arsenal of moves.
- Action Girl: Hard-hitting matches featuring a range of badass female talent frequently take place on ENDVR shows, and since 2015 have become a regular part of main chapter shows too.
- Alpha Bitch: Jinny is this, she's a fashionista who feuds with people she thinks are ugly.
- Ascended Meme: Zack Gibson, being from Liverpoolnote usually gets "Where's my car stereo?" chanted at him. At Chapter 35, he actually brought a car stereo out from under the ring to use as a weapon. After a recent show El Ligero has confirmed that he'll make Lucha Otter shirts after that was chanted at him before his match.
- Awesome Anachronistic Apparel: Jack Gallagher looks like a circus strongman wearing leopard-print trunks, and sports a magnificent moustache.
- Ax-Crazy: Jimmy Havoc since his Face–Heel Turn has viciously beaten up company co-owner (and non-wrestler) Jim Smallman, threatened to set Mark Andrews on fire to get a title match, tried to cut Will Ospreay's ear off, seemingly killed and eaten someone and tried to act on a threat to cut Ospreay's head off. As noted above, he also took to actually carrying an axe around with him towards the end of his championship run, even taking a swing at Ospreay during their final match together. His former Regression stablemate, Paul Robinson, has also proven to be this.
- Badass Longcoat: Jimmy Havoc and Marty Scurll wear these during their entrances. Big Daddy Walter has taken to wearing one that looks like an old fashioned army jacket since Ringkampf have debuted as a team in Progress.
- Badass Preacher: Pastor William Eaver, a wrestling priest whose Finishing Move is a lariat called the Clothesline From Heaven.
- Batter Up!: The London Riots (James Davis and Rob Lynch) bring a cricket bat to the ring.
- Battle Couple: The South Pacific Power Couple (TK Cooper and Dahlia Black).
- Big Bad:
- Jimmy Havoc was this during his 600 day plus reign as champion.
- Marty Scurll has essentially taken over as this for the promotion, having defeated top babyface Will Ospreay to claim the Progress Championship.
- After Scurll lost the championship for the second time, and Mark Haskins was forced to vacate it due to an injury, the title would soon after come into the hands of "The Bruiserweight" Pete Dunne, who now fills the role. Honestly it could just be said that anyone who wins the Progress Championship and is a heel is this for the promotion by default.
- Big Damn Heroes: Mark Andrews returned this way, saving Will Ospreay from a post-match attack by Paul Robinson.
- Oddly enough, the London Riots. Despised heels who were forced to leave Progress after losing a match at Chapter Fifteen, they made their surprise return at Chapter Eighteen as Progress Management’s ‘insurance policy’, attacking Jimmy Havoc and Paul Robinson, finally evening up the odds against Havoc's relentless Regression stable and receiving a huge ovation, naturally turning face in the process.
- And in a smilar way as the Riots, Jimmy Havoc himself, at Chapter 36, saving Jim Smallman from Marty Scurll.
- Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Haskins played this role at Chapter 43, saving Havoc from British Strong Style. The latter was thought to have suffered a career-ending injury, so his surprise return from injury was a Tear Jerker.
- Ringkampf saved TK Cooper and Dahlia Black when British Strong Style had started to attack them after their goodbye speech, when it was revealed that the South Pacific Power Trip had been offered a tag title shot anytime and anywhere they wanted it.
- After the main event of Chapter 53, British Strong Style beat down Travis Banks and CCK, who normally filled this roll whenever BSS did something like this to Travis. Pete Dunne was about to smash Banks's head into the mat with a sledge hammer, cue "Keep It 100" and out came TK Cooper and Dahlia Black with steel chairs to chase off BSS.
- Book Ends: Jimmy Havoc's title run started with a pinfall counted by Jim Smallman and ended with a pinfall counted by Jim Smallman.
- Breakout Character:
- Jimmy Havoc. Quite a few other companies started to use him as the top heel after seeing what he was like as one in Progress.
- Will Ospreay has become popular among internet fans. Although this popularity started due to a match he had in Pro Wrestling Guerilla, many have now seen his work in Progress and have nothing but good things to say about him.
- The Bus Came Back: Mikey Whiplash didn't have any appearances on a main chapter show between Chapters 16 and 26.
- Zack Gibson didn't have any appearances between Chapters 1 and 12.
- Sebastian returned at Chapter 33 after having been absent since Chapter 22.
- Card-Carrying Villain: "The Villain" Marty Scurll; you've got to be one of these for that to be your nickname.
- Catchphrase: Jim begins every introduction he makes with "My friends..."
- Cheap Heat: Zack Gibson, he's from Liverpool, and Progress mainly do shows in London so his gimmick is that he's a Liverpool FC fan, and he's a huge heat magnet because of it. It comes across as him being a Foreign Wrestling Heel despite living and being born in the same country the promotion is active in.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Jack Sexsmith, who can't stand people who like attacking women.
- Cool Shades: Marty Scurll wears a pair during his entrances.
- The Corrupter: Nathan Cruz, who has led 2 of the 3 major power stables in the promotion, Screw Indy Wrestling and The Origin. Both consist mostly of wrestlers who were faces before and after their time in that stable.
- Country Matters: The most common chant Jimmy Havoc gets is "Jimmy, you're a cunt. Jimmy, Jimmy, you're a cunt". Paul Robinson also gets this chant, with Robbo replacing Jimmy.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: The GZRS came across as a pair of idiots more interested in getting drunk and having fun but Sebastian reached the semi finals of the Natural Progression Series (the prize being a title shot) and held his own against Zack Sabre Jr., whilst Tom Irvin pinned a former Progress Champion. Not bad.
- Crowd Chant: "THIS IS PROGRESS!" is the most common one.
- As mentioned above there's "Jimmy, you're a cunt. Jimmy, Jimmy, you're a cunt" whenever Jimmy Havoc shows up.
- "Nathan is a wank stain, Nathan is a wank stain na na na na, na na na na" for Nathan Cruz.
- "Fuck him up Jesus. Fuck him up" For William Eaver who looks like Jesus.
- "Ospreay Ospreay Ospreay Ospreay" to the tune of an England chant for Will Ospreay.
- "You Scouse Bastard" for Zack Gibson.
- Other chants aimed at Gibson include the Manchester United fan chant of "Sign on, with a pen in your hand" to the tune of "You'll Never Walk Alone", and one time "Fuck The Beatles", which he seemed confused by.
- El Ligero has had "El Torito" chanted at him on occasion since becoming a member of The Origin, due to his mask resembling a bull.
- "Let's all go to Tesco's where Jinny buys her best clothes" and "Primark Princess" for Jinny .
- "Polly Polly Polly fucking Anna" and "Fuck her up Polly, fuck her up" for Pollyanna.
- Anyone wearing a topknot will be subject to the song "He's got shit hair on his head" to the tune of "The Whole World In His Hands".
- Cutting the Knot: Travis Banks told Walter that he wouldn't get a title match for the Progress Title as long as he holds the Atlas Title; Walter vacated the title and Travis ran as soon as he realized what he'd done.
- Dark Action Girl: Vicky Haskins, the manager and guiding force behind the team of Mark Haskins, Jimmy Havoc and Flash Morgan Webster.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The London Riots (James Davis and Rob Lynch), as of 2015. They pretty much exclusively wear black and their gimmick is basically a pair of street thugs. They are currently two of the most over babyfaces in the promotion.
- The Sumerian Death Squad (Tommy End and Michael Dante) too, as their gimmick is that of an Illuminati hit squad and are presented as faces too.
- Pastor William Eaver wore black robes during the entrance for his match against Marty Scurll.
- Deadpan Snarker: Jimmy Havoc, especially during the Q&A video he took part in.
- Determinator: Mark Andrews, over the course of the 2016 Super Strong Style 16 tournament, lost his quarterfinal to Chris Hero, who nearly murdered him, won a scramble match to get back into the tournament, got battered by Mikey Whiplash, managed to roll him up, then nearly got his elbow broken by Zack Gibson and finally almost beat Tommy End in the final. Outside of the quaterfinal, all of that happened on a SINGLE. DAY. That is four matches in a single day. Give the man a round of applause.
- Jack Sexsmith may not be the strongest or the biggest or the fastest member of the roster but he can take a hell of a beating with it often taking his opponents having to knock him out on the outside of the ring for a countout or forcing them to spam finishers and signature moves to put him down for the 3 count. As day two of Super Strong Style 16 2017 showed, he'll even fight you when he's injured despite only having one usable arm.
- Disco Dan: Flash Morgan Webster dresses up like a Mod (for those unfamiliar Mods have their roots in the 1960's, at least 20 years before he was born).
- Dramatic Unmask: Nathan Cruz unmasking as the mastermind behind the Faceless at Chapter Nineteen. Cruz hadn’t been seen in Progress since Chapter Twelve. If there was one person fans assumed they’d never see again in the company, it was Cruz.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: A common motivation- Jimmy Havoc practically runs on it when he's a heel, and Do Not Resuscitate formed from a mutual anger at being constantly praised by Progress management, but overlooked when it came to actually getting booked.
- Early-Bird Cameo: A lot of ENDVR talent appear as company security on the chapter shows before having matches. Some examples are Ali Armstrong, Damon Moser and Shen Woo.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- The London Riots (Jimmy Havoc's earliest allies when he turned heel) seemed to be trying to pull Jimmy Havoc off of Ospreay when he made it clear he was going to cut Ospreay's ear off.
- Jinny looked disgusted with TK Cooper and low blowed him when he punched Pollyanna in the face. Didn't stop her from taking advantage of the situation and pinning Pollyanna for the win though.
- It has been a thing recently during big multi-man matches involving Sebastian that everyone currently in the ring will leave it to avoid having to deal with him.
- Even Marty Scurll hates British Strong Style, but even British Strong Style hate Sebastian.
- Evil Former Friend:
- Jimmy Havoc to Zack Sabre Jr..
- Paul Robinson to Will Ospreay.
- Eddie Dennis and Morgan Webster are both this to Mark Andrews.
- Facial Markings:
- Jimmy Havoc has had his face painted on more than one occasion.
- Finn Bálor made a very memorable entrance at a Progress show - dressed as The Joker with full facepaint. It was as awesome as it sounds
. - Mikey Whiplash during his most recent run with Progress has being appearing with his face painted as well.
- Fat Bastard: Dave Mastiff.
- Flipping the Bird: During Chapter Twenty-Four, El Ligero threw his cape at co-owner Jon Briley during The Origin’s entrance. Jon responded by silently flipping him off.
- Whenever Paul Robinson enters, the majority of the crowd will do this.
- Jimmy Havoc did this a lot as well.
- Frequently-Broken Unbreakable Vow: Jim's "no imports" rulenote .
- This is relaxed every year for Super Strong Style 16, which features about an even mix of Brits and American or Mexican Indy stars.
- The very first show had Colt Cabana on it.
- Chapter 31 was the first super egregious example, with the main event being Marty Scurll vs Chris Hero.
- The rule was completely smashed in half with the Atlas division in 2017, with the title being traded back and forth between American Matt Riddle, and German Walter. Just for good measure the title was defended against Tim Thatcher, also an American.
- The World Championship is held by Travis Banks, and the Women's Championship was first held by Toni Storm, both New Zealanders, but at least both are actually living in the UK.
- From Nobody to Nightmare:
- Jimmy Havoc started out as a Face who lost almost every match. After a match with his career on the line, he turned heel and became a monster, winning the Progress Championship and having the longest title reign in the company's history.
- Nathan Cruz as the leader of Screw Indy Wrestling subverted this by just being a prick, not a monster. Marty Scurll subverts it by being a main eventer before becoming the top heel. Pete Dunne, however, went from midcard tag team guy who couldn't get a win, to Progress World Champion in the space of 6 months.
- Genre Roulette: Freedom's Road's second season started as a slice-of-life show about a group of wrestlers training, but then added in a weird supernatural subplot about there being some kind of portal to something under the ring. Then it became a drama focusing on whether the dojo would stay in Darrell Allen's hands or go to Spike Trivet, and then near the end of the final episode, it became survival horror, as a group of people with mouse-masks emerged from the portal and started attacking the wrestlers in the middle of match. Cue several minutes of the wrestlers scrambling to hide and survive as the mouse-men tried (and in one case succeeded) to kill them.
- Good Is Not Nice: Jimmy Havoc, just because he's a face now doesn't mean he's lost his sadistic edge, in his most recent hardcore matches, he's taking to using barbed wire quite a bit and got quite creative with some of the weapons provided by the fans for his Fans Bring The Weapons match against Will Ospreay, such as slicing the skin in between his fingers with records and squeezing lemon juice into cuts.
- Genre Savvy: Will Ospreay on two occasions has brought protection into matches, first when during a match with Paul Robinson, who had been avoiding having to fight him by getting himself disqualified from matches by kicking him in the groin by wearing a cup for the match. Another time was when he was wrestling Jimmy Havoc in a Fans Bring The Weapons Match, he countered Jimmy's liking for barbed wire by wearing a protective vest underneath his ring gear.
- Hate Sink: Everything about The Origin screams this:
- Both Nathan Cruz and Zack Gibson are prone to long, annoying promos.
- Their theme is a mellow power ballad with a good minute of intro before they even come out. Depending on how many matches they're in and could win, it plays up to 4 times a show.
- Throughout their second tag title reign, they kept winning matches in increasingly frustrating ways, show after show.
- At Thunderbastard 2016, Zack Gibson eliminated about 5 faces just by avoiding everyone and locking in his submission move when they were down.
- When he was champion, Jimmy Havoc and his minions were universally loathed.
- Spike Trivet's entire gimmick is calculated to make everyone hate him- he's a rich, privileged, stuck up Tory who's very good at insulting people.
- The Host: Owner Jim Smallman acts as this, as he opens shows by welcoming fans and getting them hyped up, acts as the ring announcer and is the most prominent authority figure present at each show.
- I'm a Humanitarian: In one promo video, Jimmy Havoc is seen cannibalising a body, in gruesome detail.
- Improbable Weapon User: Paul Robinson has used credit cards (in an attempt to give Will Ospreay a Glasgow Grin) and a bible (to hit William Eaver with). He also busted Jimmy Havoc open with a frying pan.
- The GZRS used a Slip And Slide.
- Sha Samuels uses his suspenders and scarf to choke people.
- Intended Audience Reaction: Jimmy Havoc and Travis Banks's reigns as champion have featured intentionally cheap finishes to title defenses against popular faces, in an effort to make the one where they lose all the more satisfying.
- It's All About Me: Mikey Whiplash was angry that people kept getting title shots before him. He claimed that he deserved a title match because he beat a champion (Jimmy Havoc) in a non title match at a show at Download festival and never got a follow up match, whilst Tommy End did when he proved he could beat the champion (Marty Scurll).
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Will Ospreay turned heel by attacking the now face Jimmy Havoc after their match at Unboxing Live, and considering everything Jimmy has done to him and Progress, it is understandable for Ospreay to refuse to forgive him and be angry that Jimmy was pretty much welcomed back with open arms.
- Jimmy also had a point when he pointed out that for all Ospreay's melodrama in demanding to make their match a Loser Leaves Progress match, which he then lost, he came back six months later when Jim asked him to, so he was already on pretty shaky ground.
- Kid Hero: Progress has had quite a few of these.
- Will Ospreay was the top babyface in the promotion for a large portion of time. He's around 22/23 years old.
- Tyler Bate. Jim Smallman made it a point after his debut to say that he was only 18 years old whilst praising his skills.
- Noam Dar was born the same year as Ospreay.
- Knight of Cerebus: Jimmy Havoc became this when he turned heel. Before that, most of the heels were just assholes. Havoc was Ax-Crazy as described before. When he threatened to set Mark Andrews on fire for a title match someone from the crowd shouted out "you're a psychopath".
- Large Ham: The GZRS, Marty Scurll, Jimmy Havoc and Jack Sexsmith.
- Light Is Not Good:
- Jimmy Havoc often wears white.
- Marty Scurll wore a white fur coat for his title match against Pastor William Eaver.
- Lonely at the Top: Travis Banks's title run has seen two tag partners of his that he considered good friends (TK Cooper and Chris Brookes) challenging him for the Progress Title and both of them being tempted to cheat to win the title off of him before getting distracted by Banks's other friend/tag partner leading to a brawl between Cooper and Brookes. It initially looked like Banks was trying to break it up before he soon joined in the fight.
- Loophole Abuse: Flash Morgan Webster used a loophole to ditch Mark Haskins as his tag team partner for the Thunderbastard match at Wembley and replace him with Mike Hitchman, as explained here.
- Loser Leaves Town: Will Ospreay lost a Fans Bring The Weapons Match to arch enemy Jimmy Havoc at Chapter 46, which Ospreay himself made a Loser Leaves Progress match. Also averted as he then wrestled at Chapter 60, without explanation, and has wrestled for the company since. Fans just decided the explanation was that the agreement was never in writing, both of them just decided it mid match, though Jimmy later called Ospreay out for returning.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Jack Sexsmith's gimmick. He debuted on the main roster being accompanied to the ring by a gimp and uses a song called "I Touch Myself" as entrance music.
- Malevolent Masked Men: Jimmy Havoc sometimes uses these as part of his entrance. Jimmy himself wears a mask that covers his mouth, resembling a surgeon's mask covered in spikes.
- During Mikey Whiplash's entrance he comes out in a gray devil mask and takes it off whilst he's on the stage.
- The Faceless, up until they unmasked and revealed themselves as The Origin. El Ligero still qualifies in The Origin however, as he is a...
- Masked Luchador: El Ligero.
- Eddie Dennis has donned a Rey Mysterio mask during a match at least once and called himself Eddie Mysterio Jr. Played for Laughs, obviously.
- Metal Scream: Part of Jimmy Havoc's current theme, "Psychotic Euphoric".
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: The London Riots on The Origin - "Three of the most talented wrestlers in England, and Dave Mastiff".
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Would you seriously want to mess with a man with a name like "The Bastard" Dave Mastiff? Or a team known as the Sumerian Death Squad?
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Jimmy Havoc turning heel could be blamed on Jim Smallman. Smallman made Havoc compete in a hardcore match against James Davis, after Havoc made it clear that he wants no part of that style anymore and had been told by Nigel McGuinness, that "if you can hang with Zack Sabre Jr. you can hang with anyone". To convince Havoc to do the match, Smallman gave him a contract for any match he wanted at any time. Havoc, bitter that someone he considered a friend had in Havoc's own words "shortened my fucking life", he attacked Smallman with a chair at the next show and would eventually challenge the new champion Mark Andrews to a match and get it by threatening to set Andrew on fire. Havoc won the championship and started his two year long reign as champion.
- Noble Demon: Pete Dunne of all people having no issue giving the Progress World Championship belt to Travis Banks after losing it to him.
- Non-Indicative Name: The Anti Fun Police are so Comically Serious in their attempts to stop the fun, it eventually made them into faces due to crowd popularity.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Jack Sexsmith. Sitting in the front row at a show he's booked for is basically asking to be groped at this point.
- Obvious Rule Patch: Chapter 31's match between Pollyanna and Dahlia Black had the stipulation that if anyone interfered, both women would be fired (meant to dissuade both Jack Sexsmith and TK Cooper, who'd frequently interfered with previous matches). However, when Jinny attempted to interfere to get her two biggest enemies fired, Jim stepped in and changed the stipulation so that anyone interfering would get fired alongside both women.
- Odd Friendship: Pastor William Eaver and Chuck Mambo, as Eaver is a serious priest and Mambo is a smiling surfer dude. They’ve proven to be a successful and popular tag team though, known as Sweet Jesus.
- The team of Jack Sexsmith and Bodyguy Roy Johnson who team together as The Shirtlifters are this as well.
- Papa Wolf: As Mikey Whiplash learned, insult Mark Haskins' family and he will make you tap out.
- Parasol of Pain: Marty Scurll's weapon of choice. He brings one to the ring and if he's having trouble winning the match cleanly, he will resort to hitting his opponent with it.
- Taken to an extreme at Chapter Twenty-Five where Marty had at least 8 umbrellas hidden underneath the ring to beat Will Ospreay with.
- Parts Unknown: Flash Morgan Webster is billed as being from "A Town Called Malice".
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Paul Robinson. There's no getting around the fact that the man is TINY. However, he's also a former kickboxing champion and not only defeated Jimmy Havoc in a BRUTAL hardcore match to become number one contender to the Progress Championship, he dominated champion Will Ospreay for a good portion of the subsequent title match and only lost due to a roll-up pin.
- Mike Hitchman is also one of the smaller members of the roster. That didn't stop him from beating Stixx with a Package Piledriver.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Eddie Dennis, although he's more than capable of holding his own in a fight.
- Power Stable: Progress has had a few.
- Screw Indy Wrestling: Nathan Cruz, Mark Haskins and Rampage Brown originally, later the members were Mark Haskins, Sha Samuels and Martin Stone
- Regression: Jimmy Havoc, James Davis, Rob Lynch, The Omega Isaac Zercher and Paul Robinson
- The Faceless, who after unmasking are currently known as The Origin: Nathan Cruz, El Ligero, Zack Gibson and Dave Mastiff.
- Promotional Consideration: Since 2015, wrestling-themed clothing brand SPLX has sponsored the inaugural Super Strong Style 16 tournament. Several wrestlers who’ve wrestled for Progress are SPLX-sponsored athletes – Zack Sabre Jr., Dave Mastiff, Adam Cole and Prince Devitt.
- Punny Name: Pastor William Eaver. Bill Eaver.
- Put on a Bus: The GZRS haven't appeared since Chapter 22.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Jim Smallman and Glen Joseph are this. Jim also doubles as The Host, as mentioned above.
- Red Baron: There are several examples
- "The Bastard" Dave Mastiff
- "The Aerial Assassin" Will Ospreay
- "White Lighting" Mark Andrews
- "The Wild Boar" Mike Hitchman
- "The Star Attraction" Mark Haskins
- "The Villain" Marty Scurll who had previously been using "Party" Marty Scurll
- "The Mexican Sensation" El Ligero
- "Liverpool's Number 1" Zack Gibson
- "The Eastend Butcher" Sha Samuels
- "The Pride Of Wales" Eddie Dennis
- "The Extraordinary Gentleman" Jack Gallagher
- Referee Mark Parry is exclusively referred to as Paz.
- Retired Badass:
- RJ Singh, currently a commentator, used to be a wrestler and will leave the table to get involved if people need to be pulled apart after a match.
- Dahlia Black in 2018, finding more passion to help the company as a commentator than as a wrestler.
- Rule #1: As stated by co-owner Jim Smallman and the fans in attendance at the start of every show - 'Don't be a dick!' Also, if it's your first Progress show 'It's your round.'
- Running Gag:
- When greeting co-owner Glenn Joseph, fans use jazz hands, due to Glenn’s musical theatre work.
- There was a raffle at Chapter Sixteen, which The Faceless used to attack F.S.U. Ever since, whenever an important announcement is hinted at, expect someone to ask if it’s a raffle.
- El Ligero obnoxiously throwing his cape at commentator RJ Singh, usually hitting Singh in the face.
- Zack Gibson delivering the exact same promo before each of his matches. Every time, the crowd boo incredibly loudly to try and prevent him from even speaking.
- Sadist Teacher: Darrell Allen is the head trainer at the Projo and wrestles on the ENDVR shows, where he feuds with his students and has beaten them with chairs.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The Omega Isaac Zercher's reaction to Jimmy Havoc and Paul Robinson trying to get him to side with either of them during the hardcore match between Havoc and Robinson at Chapter Twenty-One. He hasn't been seen in Progress since.
- Shout-Out: Most of the Chapter show names are a reference to songs or TV shows.
- Chapter Twenty-Two: Trust, Encouragement, Reward, Loyalty...Satisfaction was named after a quote from British mockumentary series The Office (UK) and opened with a hilarious video skit based on a scene from the show which can be viewed here.
- Chapter 55, held at Alexandra Palace, was named "Chase the Sun" after the Planet Funk song used as bumper music for the PDC World Darts Championship held at the same venue.
- Will Ospreay's Red Baron and entrance attire is one to Assassin's Creed.
- Flash Morgan Webster being billed from "A Town Called Malice" which is a song by The Jam.
- Several of the official Progress merchandise designs. There have been homages to The Ramones, Jägermeister, and Star Wars.
- Pollyanna’s entrance theme is a dubstep remix of the Game of Thrones title music and at Chapter Twenty-Nine an Iron Throne was brought out on stage for her to use as part of her entrance. She also often wrestles in outfits that seem to be inspired by Mortal Kombat.
- One of Nathan Cruz's entrance jackets has a design on the chest and shoulders resembling the Green Ranger's gold shield, this is probably intentional as in an interview he said he was a Power Rangers fan.
- Chapter Twenty-Two: Trust, Encouragement, Reward, Loyalty...Satisfaction was named after a quote from British mockumentary series The Office (UK) and opened with a hilarious video skit based on a scene from the show which can be viewed here
- Spiteful Spit: Spike Trivet does this from a champagne bottle he drinks on the way to the ring. In his debut he spat it at the audience, but after fans on the official Facebook group objected to it he switched to his opponents, who he could actually get prior permission from.
- Surfer Dude: Chuck Mambo. Beach balls are even thrown around the crowd while he makes his entrance.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The William Eaver and Sebastian situation was solved by Chuck Mambo, who had done some research on the law and revealed that the statue of limitations for Sebastian's accusation of assault had passed, and if anything, Sebastian would get in trouble with the police as well for blackmail.
- Jimmy Havoc's Q & A: let the fans ask a guy they almost universally hate questions, and what do you get? A bunch of references and insults, with the occasional actual question sprinkled in.
- Theme Tune: To signal the start of every main chapter show, the Imperial March from Star Wars is played, followed by ‘Started from the Bottom’ by Drake and finally ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’ by Metallica which is host Jim Smallman’s theme. All three songs are greeted enthusiastically by the crowd and have all become songs heavily associated with the company.
- Too Dumb to Live: Trent Seven called Matt Riddle a pussy, among other things. Riddle knocked him out and won the match in six seconds.
- Spike Trivet spat wine on Primate, who proceeded to lariat the fuck out of him.
- Tournament Arc: The Natural Progression Series which is a tournament done throughout the year to showcase new talents and The annual Super Strong Style 16 both act as this.
- Villain Song: Jimmy Havoc used 'I Hope You Suffer' by AFI as entrance music (before having to switch because of copyright reasons), and it fits his entire character so well that it might as well have been made for him.
- The Voiceless: According to Jim Smallman, co-owner Jon Briley is this, backed up by him being always seen but almost never heard at shows. He is very talkative on Twitter and Facebook though.
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Zack Sabre Jr. has the Union Jack on his trunks and wears a Union Jack jacket to the ring. Marty Scurll wore identical Union Jack trunks early on in his Progress career; he and Sabre Jr were a tag team at the time.
- Flash Morgan Webster used to wear a Union Jack coat as part of his entrance.
- Travis Banks wears a bandana with the New Zealand flag on it as part of his entrance.
- Would Hit a Girl: TK Cooper has interfered in Dahlia Black (his tag partner and girlfriend)'s matches by getting in the ring whilst she distracts the referee and punching the women she was wrestling in the face.
