Awesome / Progress Wrestling

• Jimmy Havoc’s entire run as champion. Going from someone who was absolutely beloved by the fans but unable to win a match in Progress to the most hated man in the company collecting an aggressive winning streak and doing it all believably. Havoc transformed from a lovable loser into a chilling compelling monster who loathed the fans, appearing to be completely unstoppable thanks to his power stable Regression and his habit of brutally crossing the line in order to win. His character drew a lot of new fans to Progress and his 602 day reign as champion really built up the prestige of the belt.
  • If you want to see a glimpse of that, here's a couple of promos he did during that reign. They are spine-tingling.
• Pollyanna vs Jinny in a No Disqualification Match at Chapter Nineteen: Super Strong Style 16 Night Two. The first ever women’s match on a main chapter show. The fans treated it like any other wrestling match and the two competitors did a brilliant brutal job. After the match, both wrestlers got a standing ovation, Pollyanna appearing visibly moved. It was later voted one of the Top Ten Progress Matches of 2015 by the fans.
  • Pollyanna's response to Jinny's offering her a choice between getting pinned and getting flogged with a cane: "You... hit like a bitch."
• Marty Scurll beating Will Ospreay in an absolutely brutal No Disqualification match at Chapter Twenty-Five that ended with the referee stopping the match because Scurll had handcuffed Ospreay's hands behind his back and would not stop beating Ospreay with umbrellas he had hidden under the ring.
  • Ospreay himself got one for spitting in Scurll's face, during said beating. Ospreay didn't lose his title because he tapped out or because he was pinned but because the referee was so concerned about the severity of the beating Ospreay was taking.
• Mark Andrews winning the first ever Natural Progress Series in 2013 and immediately cashing in the title shot, beating Rampage Brown for the Progress Heavyweight Championship. His title reign might have been short but it’s still a brilliant joyful moment and a huge achievement for Andrews.
  • Following that, in 2014 Mark Andrews becoming one half of the first ever Progress Tag Team Champions with Eddie Dennis, making Andrews the first ever Progress Triple Crown winner – having won the Natural Progression Series, Heavyweight title and Tag Team titles.
• Will Ospreay’s win over Jimmy Havoc in 2015 to become Progress Heavyweight Champion. Ospreay’s road to the title included winning both the first Thunderbastard match and the first Super Strong Style 16 tournament and getting destroyed at every turn by Regression. The whole feud was a perfect clash of two entirely different characters and wrestling styles, keeping fans gripped month after month. Ospreay’s eventual victory, in a brutal no DQ match, was a long time coming and the ovation he got after was immense. A Crowning Moment of Awesome for Ospreay, Havoc and Progress Wrestling itself.
• At Chapter Twenty-Two, after a win against Tommaso Ciampa in an excellent match that featured Ciampa playing up rumours of him joining the WWE while seeming to turn against the fans, Mark Haskins told Ciampa that he didn’t care where Ciampa was going ‘don’t ever come to my fucking home and try and fuck with me or these people again.’ This from the man who was once part of the Screw Indy Wrestling stable that reveled in mocking and insulting the Progress fans.
• Progress was chosen to host two of the WWE Cruiserweight Classic Qualifiers. Only TWO other companies worldwide were chosen, and Progress was one of them. This speaks volumes about how well-regarded Progress is.
• After a successful title defence at Chapter 27, Marty Scurll proclaimed himself the greatest Progress Champion ever. Spontaneously and immediately, the crowd began chanting for Jimmy Havoc. Havoc might have verbally abused fans for almost two years and taken great delight in hurting wrestlers and Jim Smallman but Havoc’s record-setting championship reign and sheer hard work and talent is still recognised by the fans as the bar that no other Progress champion has touched yet.
• Referee Joel Allan punching out El Ligero after Ligero and his Origin teammmates had knocked out two other referees and Ligero got in Joel's face too much during a match with a lot of Origin interference.
• The London Riots finally becoming tag team champions in Progress after four years with the company, already being viewed at that time as as Progress' number one tag team, and giving The Origin one of their first major losses.
• At Super Strong Style 16 in 2016, Mark Haskins collapsed from exhaustion after the first show and so was forced to withdraw from the competition. In the first match on Night 2, Mark Andrews' won Haskins' spot in the tournament and in total had five matches over the weekend, four on the second night alone. He went into the weekend not expecting to have to compete in even half that many. Andrews stepped up brilliantly, as did everyone in Progress - having to rework the tournament on very short notice and still put on a brilliant show while no doubt also worrying about their friend.
• Also from the Super Strong Style 16 2016, Chris Hero matches against Mark Andrews, Big Daddy Walter and Tommy End were all awesome.
• Chris Hero's match with Marty Scurll at Chapter 31: It was half an hour long. Half an hour. It's also the first time a wrestler who doesn't consider England to be home turf even got close to winning the title, but the crowd instantly adopts him as one of their own, and he promises to come back soon.
• Mark Haskins beating Johnny Gargano to win the Smash Wrestling Championship, after a classic of a match to thunderous applause from the Progress Crowd.
• The main event of Chapter 36. Mark Haskins, Tommy End, and Marty Scurll for the Progress World Championship. ESPECIALLY the ending, where Marty Scurll proceeded to annihilate three referees with his umbrellas because End and Haskins kicked out of his pinning attempts. Jim Smallman gets in the ring to check on them, but Scurll is about to come after him... and then Jimmy Havoc'S music hits and Havoc comes to the ring, after a year plus being gone. Havoc flips Marty the bird, drills him with a Acid-Rainmaker, and bails, which eventually allows Mark Haskins to catch Scurll in the Sharpshooter and force him to tap out.
• Chapter 41’s main event saw Jimmy Havoc vs Will Ospreay, for the first time since their brutal year-long feud and Ospreay winning the Progress title from Havoc at Chapter 20. After the match, Havoc apologised - albeit flippantly - for how he’d previously tortured Ospreay and then sincerely asked for his help against British Strong Style. Ospreay shook his hand to a huge cheer but then viciously beat down Havoc, turning Ospreay heel for the first time ever in Progress. He was unexpectedly joined by former tag team partner Paul Robinson, who gave him a barbed-wire bat to use against Havoc which Ospreay gleefully did. A brilliant shocking culmination of intricate storytelling going back years in Progress and a terrific lead in to 2017’s shows.
• The return at Chapter 43 of Mark Haskins and 'Flash' Morgan Webster to back up Jimmy Havoc against British Strong Style, along with Haskins' promo, ending with:

  Haskins: YOU WANT A WAR? YOU'VE GOT ONE!

• At Chapter 19, Smallman told Ospreay that by winning the SSS 16, he'd won a title shot. Jimmy Havoc's music predictably hit, and as he and his flunkeys went to the ring, Ospreay was seen telling Zack Sabre Jr. to get out of the ring because Havoc wasn't there for him- only for Sabre to refuse, standing back to back with Ospreay and attempting to fight Havoc off.
• Jimmy Havoc winning his Loser Leaves Town "Fans Bring The Weapons" match at Chapter 46 with (a recently Heel Turned) Will Ospreay with BARBED WIRE ACID RAINMAKERS (as in he wrapped Barbed Wire around his forearm before hitting him with it) during possibly the most insane match in Progress history, expelling him from Progress.
  • The crowd singing along with Havoc's music at the beginning of the match.
• The 2017 Super Strong Style 16 gave us several:
  • Matt Riddle knocking Trent Seven out with a single move in what is undoutably the quickest match in Progress history, running SIX! seconds.
  • On night 2, Toni Storm becoming the first Progress Women's champion with a Piledriver, after giving Jinny a piledriver on the stage!
  • And of course, Travis Banks winning the damn thing and taking his title shot at the Ally Pally.
• At Chapter 51, WALTER and Matt Riddle waged absolute war, ending with WALTER tapping out Matt Riddle.
• The completely unexpected return of Dahlia and TK pulling a Big Damn Heroes at Chapter 53. British Strong Style looked like they'd seen a ghost, and the crowd popped even louder than they did for Jimmy Havoc's return.
• Chris Roberts having enough of British Strong Style's shit at the beginning of Pete Dunne Vs Travis Banks at Chase The Sun and threatening to use one of their sledge hammers against them and actually getting Tyler Bate and Trent Seven to back off.
• The completely unexpected ending to the Mark Haskins/Jimmy Havoc feud: they turned heel and teamed up with Mark's wife Vicky.
• WALTER Vs Timothy Thatcher, just everything about it.
• Chuck Mambo taking a level in badass and having an absolute banger of a match with Zack Sabre Jr at SSS 16 2018. He didn't win the match, but when you go from plucky comic relief to giving Zack Sabre Jr a serious fight, you've won on a whole other sphere.
  • Chuck Mambo now has a match for the Progress Title as well.
• For Chuck Mambo during his title match against Travis Banks just how much it took to put him down, Chris Roberts getting knocked out, 3 chair shots to the head, Chris Roberts getting pulled out the ring and multiple attempts by TK Cooper to interfere in the match, in all it took more for Banks to put Mambo down then it did for him to beat say Keith Lee or Matt Riddle due to him having to cheat so much to put him down.
• Vicky Haskins getting in the ring and beating up Flash Morgan Webster after Webster hit Mark with his helmet.
• Elizabeth turning on Jinny, running off her former employer and declaring that she would no longer go by the name Jinny gave her, instead going by her real name, Laura Di Matteo.

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