PROGRESS has announced the main event for their upcoming Chapter 77 event ‘Pumpkin Spice Progress.’
PROGRESS World Champion WALTER will defend his title against New Japan’s Zack Sabre Jr. ZSJ won the Super Strong Style 16 tournament earlier this year. When Zack took the coveted tournament trophy he opted to main event last weekend’s Wembley Arena event. Unfortunately New Japan had an unannounced show in Los Angeles (Fighting Spirit Unleashed) which meant that both he and Will Ospreay could not compete at Wembley. Now that Zack is free to challenge he is taking the first opportunity to do so in October.
WALTER defended his PROGRESS World Championship against Tyler Bate this past weekend at Wembley Arena. The Ringkampf stable member put on an instant classic with Bate that earned it’s place amongst some of the greatest matches in PROGRESS history. When the former wXw Unified World Champion faces ZSJ at the Electric Ballroom in Camden he’ll hope to find more of that magic.
PROGRESS Wrestling has announced a major change to their upcoming event in September. The ‘Hello Wembley’ show will be taking place on Sunday September 30th from the hallowed grounds of Wembley Arena in London, England and is easily the biggest show in company history…and it already appears to be creating more headaches for the PROGRESS co-owners Jim Smallman, Glen Joseph and Jon Briley than perhaps initially anticipated.
First came the news that Will Ospreay would no longer be able to compete in a long anticipated rematch against rival Jimmy Havoc. The two men are responsible for arguably the hottest angle in company history which many fans claim put PROGRESS ‘on the map’ in terms of independent wrestling. The cancellation of Ospreay’s appearance was due to an unforeseen booking conflict with New Japan Pro Wrestling; Ospreay is contractually obligated to appear on the planned United States show on September 30th for NJPW.
Once the news broke of Ospreay’s absence from PROGRESS’ biggest ever show fans questioned whether another big time performer for the company would also be missing the date in London…
Zack Sabre Jr competed in and was the eventual winner of this year’s Super Strong Style 16 tournament, outlasting the field and gaining himself a World Title shot against Travis Banks at an event of his choosing. ZSJ informed the PROGRESS fans that he would be taking the shot at Wembley but PROGRESS co-owner Glen Joseph took to Twitter to confirm that Zack would not be appearing due to his New Japan commitments and he also revealed the contingency plan for this massive event in Wembley Arena.
Joseph announced that “between Chapter 74 and Chapter 75 inclusive and the whole USA Coast to Coast Tour any wrestler that puts together 3 back-to-back consecutive singles wins in competition will qualify for the World Championship match and indeed the main event at Wembley Arena.”
It is messy situation however this does give the #CoastToCoast tour in the United States an extra shot of importance and does embody the spirit of competition that the company was built upon.
PROGRESS has announced a huge bout for their upcoming Chapter 69 show which will be taking place Sunday 20th May from the Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, England. This will be the biggest UK based show that the company has ever produced outside of their spiritual home in London.
205 Live Superstar and former PROGRESS World Champion Mark Andrews will be facing New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Zack Sabre Jr. Both men are stalwarts of the UK independent wrestling scene and have branched out in a massive way internationally but in uniquely different ways. Andrews has been a featured performer on the aforementioned WWE Network show 205 Live and has also been involved in one of the more intriguing feuds on the UK scene against his former friend and tag team partner; Eddie Dennis.
Zack Sabre Jr himself has seen a huge leap in exposure ever since his move to New Japan Pro Wrestling, his inclusion in the successful Suzuki-Gun stable alongside Japanese legend Minoru Suzuki has seen him win the New Japan Cup and go on to face Kazuchika Okada in the main event of NJPW’s Sakura Genesis PPV show.
This should be a clash of styles between two of the finest export talents that the UK scene has produced over the past decade and you can catch the action shortly after the fact on Demand PROGRESS.
Arguably the biggest Independent wrestling company in the United Kingdom PROGRESS has crowned the winner of their highly prestigious Super Strong Style 16 tournament. The 2018 iteration of the tournament took place over three days at the world famous Alexandra Palace in London, England and featured some of the biggest names in Indie wrestling.
New Japan Pro Wrestling star and member of the Suzuki-Gun stable Zack Sabre Jr defeated NXT’s Kassius Ohno in the final of the tournament and elected to take his World Title shot at PROGRESS’ upcoming mega event in Wembley Arena.
Current reigning PROGRESS World Champion Travis Banks successfully defended his title on day 2 of the weekender against ATLAS Champion and WWE linked star WALTER. Whether Travis is able to make it to PROGRESS’ biggest ever show in Wembley as the Champion will be tested as WALTER vacated his ATLAS division belt to chase the more coveted PROGRESS World belt.
Irish and UK based promotion Over The Top (OTT) Wrestling has announced the main event for their stacked Scrappermania IV card that takes place on May 12th from the National Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
The OTT Heavyweight Champion and member of the WWE United Kingdom roster Jordan Devlin will be putting his title on the line against New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Zack Sabre Jr. Whilst ZSJ is predominately known for this appearances across the UK scene his recent run in NJPW and bout for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship has pushed him into another tier of superstar, garnering him worldwide acclaim. Devlin, who was trained in Ireland by mentor and former WWE Universal Champion Finn Balor was one of the featured stars in the WWE United Kingdom Championship tournament. He is expected to return to the roster when the WWE returns to the UK in December this year.
Here’s the announced matches for May 12th:
Jeff Cobb vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Keith Lee vs. Minoru Suzuki
Matt Riddle vs. Will Ospreay
Charlie Sterling & Zack Gibson (c) vs. The Angel Cruzers (Angel Cruz & B. Cool)
British born New Japan star Zack Sabre Jr today beat Hiroshi Tanahashi to become the first ever UK born winner of the New Japan Cup and the first Gaijin to win the illustrious trophy in 12 years.
ZSJ will now go on to challenge IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada in the main event of the upcoming Sakura Genesis event, he becomes the first British born challenger to the title since William/Steven Regal back in April 1995.
Several stars and colleagues of Sabre’s from the UK wrestling scene were quick to offer their congratulations to the man being touted as the ‘best technical wrestler in the world.’ Check out some of the tweets below which feature comments from PROGRESS, Rev Pro, ICW, IPW:UK and OTT stars:
Following the New Japan Cup finals, we now know what the main event of Sakura Genesis will be.
Earlier today (March 21), the New Japan Cup finals took place. The two men fighting for the trophy and a title shot of their choosing were Hiroshi Tanahashi and Zack Sabre Jr. Going into the bout, they were 1-1 against each other. Sabre Jr. broke the tie by submitting NJPW’s “Ace” and becoming the second foreign New Japan Cup winner.
Sabre Jr. said he was going after Kazuchika Okada’s IWGP Heavyweight title. This is a fresh challenge for Okada as he hasn’t competed against Sabre Jr. yet. Sabre Jr. has beaten a bevy of top-level NJPW talent on his way to a title opportunity.
The first man Sabre Jr. got past in the New Japan Cup was Tetsuya Naito. Sabre Jr. submitted Naito, who appears to be on his way to an Intercontinental title clash with Suzuki-Gun leader Minoru Suzuki. The submission specialist then put away Kota Ibushi, followed by SANADA in the same fashion.
The fact that Sabre Jr. submitted Tanahashi means that he put away two former IWGP Heavyweight champions in just one tournament. We’ll find out if he can end Okada’s historic reign on April 1.
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Zack Sabre Jr. fought through some stiff competition to make it to the finals, which took place inside Ao-re Nagaoka in Niigata, Japan. Going into the finals, many fans were on the fence. Would Tanahashi renew his rivalry with Kazuchika Okada or potentially get revenge on Minoru Suzuki? Would Sabre Jr. pose a new threat to the IWGP Heavyweight champion?
In the end, it was Sabre Jr. who emerged as the New Japan Cup 2018 winner. He was able to submit Tanahashi just over the 34-minute mark. After the match, Sabre Jr. said he’s going after Okada’s gold at Sakura Genesis on April 1.
Check out the rest of the results below:
Singles Match: Shota Umino def. Tetsuhiro Yagi
Singles Match: Taichi def. Tomoyuki Oka
Six-Man Tag Team Match: Bad Luck Fale, Tanga Loa, & Yujiro Takahashi def. Togi Makabe, Michael Elgin, & Toa Henare
Tag Team Match: Killer Elite Squad def. Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano
Tag Team Match: Juice Robinson & David Finlay def. Hiroki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi
Eight-Man Tag Team Match: Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi, & Bushi def. Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado, & Takashi Iizuka
Tag Team Match: Kazuchika Okada & Chuckie T. def. Kota Ibushi & Chase Owens
New Japan Cup Finals Match: Zack Sabre Jr. def. Hiroshi Tanahashi
PROGRESS has announced the latest names for their upcoming WrestleMania weekend show on April 6th from the Pontchartrain Convention Center in New Orleans.
205 Live Superstar Mark Andrews, NXT and inaugural WWE United Kingdom Champion Tyler Bate, New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Zack Sabre Jr and WWE United Kingdom Superstar Trent Seven will be joining the already stacked lineup. This will be the only opportunity that fans have to see Trent, Tyler and Mark at an independent show on that weekend.
Also announced for the show are Jimmy Havoc, Mark Haskins, WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne, Jeff Cobb and loads more.
Revolution Pro Wrestling has announced the first match for their WrestleMania weekend show at WrestleCon in New Orleans.
The Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship will be on the line when Zack Sabre Jr defends against Tomohiro Ishii. Not only is this a bout to determine who can be regarded as the best performer in Rev Pro, but it is also a bout that pits Suzuki-Gun against the CHAOS faction, two of New Japan’s most highly regarded stables.
It is expected that more names will be announced for the show as we draw closer to that magic weekend in April, there are already confirmations that Minoru Suzuki and Will Ospreay will be in NOLA for WrestleMania weekend so expect their featured bouts to be announced shortly.
April 6th, 4pm – TOMOHIRO ISHII gets his reward for fine form in RevPro when he goes one on one with ZACK SABRE JR for the Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship
PROGRESS has been lining up their 63rd Chapter event on Sunday and the currently announced card is nothing short of a barnburner. An incredible dream bout between Former WWE United Kingdom Champion Tyler Bate and Suzuki-Gun stable member Zack Sabre Jr sits alongside the following matches:
PROGRESS Tag Team Title Match – Grizzled Young Veterans (c) vs Mark Haskins and Jimmy Havoc
PROGRESS World Title Match – Travis Banks (c) vs Chris Brookes vs TK Cooper
WALTER vs Mark Davis
The show will be taking place inside Manchester’s O2 Ritz and will likely be available to view on demand by next weekend.
DEFIANT Wrestling has released their seventh weekly programme for free on their YouTube channel. The ongoing series features some of the very best talent from the UK scene and beyond and this week’s show is no different.
This episode features an outstanding main event between Zack Sabre Jr and Mike Bailey for the DEFIANT Internet Title as well as Millie Mckenzie and Xia Brookside facing off to decide the new #1 contender to Kay Lee Ray’s Defiant Women’s Title.
The 5-star bout between Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom show was monumental for a number of reasons. Y2J’s unexpected return to Japan and his performance shocked many in the industry and showed that his claims to being the ‘Alpha’ of professional wrestling aren’t wildly off the mark.
It appears that Jericho will now be in NJPW for a stretch, his attack on Tetsuya Naito at the New Year Dash show will eventually lead to a bout between the two…but who else in the New Japan ranks would we like to see the ‘Ayatollah of Rock n Rolla’ face?
Here are three feuds we’d like to see for “The Alpha” Chris Jericho in New Japan:
Hiroshi Tanahashi
An icon of the Japanese wrestling scene, Hiroshi Tanahashi would be an ideal opponent for the reinvigorated Jericho. The two men have grown to define the styles that they represent, Tanahashi has sat atop the NJPW Heavyweight division and was a vital ingredient in the eventual rise of Kazuchika Okada, their feud defined the spirit of New Japan and brought a lot of expectant eyes to the product.
Jericho himself has graced the main event of Wrestlemania cards and is to many the definition of what an American pro wrestler should aspire to, a bout between these two stalwarts would be very different to that of the Alpha/Omega match and would be an excellent opportunity to see how the two could work at this stage in their respective careers.
Kota Ibushi
Kota Ibushi is an enigma. Longtime fans of New Japan would agree that right now he should be in the main event scene and should be arguably one of the biggest stars on the planet…the issue is Kota simply refuses to stay in one place for any length of time, he also seems to like setting himself on fire.
That being said a bout between the ‘Golden Star’ and Y2J has blockbuster written all over it. The dynamically wild style of Ibushi clearly works with a more traditional ‘American heel’ persona, he proved this against Cody at Wrestle Kingdom, but imagine what he could achieve being paired off with one of the greatest (and despicable!) minds in the game?
2018 could end up being the year that Ibushi finally hits the heights that he is capable of and a feud with Jericho just before an opportunity to face longtime rival Kenny Omega at next year’s Wrestle Kingdom could be the ideal way to get him there.
Zack Sabre Jr
Many people would’ve put Kazuchika Okada on their list…but realistically Jericho probably won’t be going near the IWGP Championship during his run. That leads to our next pick in Zack Sabre Jr.
Sabre Jr is one of the most underrated stars from the recent explosion of popularity in the UK scene, fellow stars Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate and Will Ospreay are far more widely recognised even though ZSJ has performed in EVOLVE, New Japan and the WWE Cruiserweight Classic.
From a stylistic standpoint Jericho should mesh extremely well with the unique Sabre, this bout could be worked almost exclusively on the mat and Y2J’s penchant for embarrassing his opponents at their own game would hopefully lead to a submission-fest akin to some of Y2J’s early WWE and WCW work.
Discussion: Who would you like to see Jericho face in New Japan? Let us know in the comments.
Irish promotion Over The Top (OTT) Wrestling has announced two bouts for their ‘Homecoming’ event which takes place on February 3rd from Dublin, Ireland.
The first sees British Strong Style member and WWE UK Superstar Tyler Bate taking on Zack Sabre Jr. This will be the second time that these two men face off in 2018 following their Rev Pro ‘High Stakes’ tag team match in January.
The second will see a clash of international standouts Keith Lee and ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey. Lee has been making a huge mark on the British scene throughout 2017, his bouts in the headline slot of PROGRESS’ recent Chapter events have seen his stock rise exponentially. Mike Bailey will be looking to once again cement his name on the world stage with this bout, he has been quietly stealing shows across the UK region recently and this match is expected to be another barn burner.
Revolution Pro Wrestling has announced a potential match of the year candidate for their upcoming ‘High Stakes’ event on January 20th. Zack Sabre Jr and Minoru Suzuki (representing SUZUKI-GUN) will be taking on the team of Trent Seven & Tyler Bate. This NJPW vs WWE UK bout for the Rev Pro British Tag Team Championship will headline one of the biggest events in Rev Pro’s year.
As well as pitting 3 of the most technically gifted UK performers around the presence of Japanese legend Suzuki will lend a strong style edge to the bout, this is certainly not one to be missed if you are a UK fan and can make it to York Hall on January 20th. Tickets are available to purchase via the tweet below.
Zack Sabre Jr recently faced Chuck Taylor in a ‘no ring, falls count anywhere’ match in a Brooklyn bar. The Tender Trap bar played host to one of the most unique bouts in recent times and saw one of the world’s most technically gifted wrestlers in ZSJ perform about as far outside his wheelhouse as is possible.
Check it out below and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
PROGRESS’ biggest show of the year happens this Sunday at Alexandra Palace in London. Chapter 55 – Chase the Sun will take place in front of a sold out crowd and is set to be one of the most monumental in company history.
The latest announcement for the show is that New Japan Pro Wrestling star Zack Sabre Jr will be issuing an open challenge for the event. The speculation regarding his opponent has been rife however there is one name that has been cropping up more frequently than others….’The Villain’ Marty Scurll. Marty has been noticeably absent from PROGRESS these last few months and a return would be more than welcomed for the former PROGRESS World Champion.
FloSlam has announced that EVOLVE 58 will be available to view for free on their streaming service for one week only.
The pay per view took place during Wrestlemania weekend and featured an incredibly stacked card. You can check out the full event here.
Here is the full breakdown of matches from the event:
EVOLVE Tag Team Title Match
Drew Galloway & Johnny Gargano (w/Kota Ibushi) (c) vs. The Premier Athlete Brand (Anthony Nese & Caleb Konley) (w/Andrea & SoCal Val)
EVOLVE Title Match
Timothy Thatcher (c) vs. Matt Riddle
Singles Match
Fred Yehi vs. Marty Scurll
Singles Match
Ethan Page vs. Sami Callihan
Singles Match
Ricochet vs. TJ Perkins
Singles Match
Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Tag Team Match
Catch Point (Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams) (w/TJP) vs. Heroes Eventually Die (Chris Hero & Tommy End)
Zack Sabre Jr. recently spoke with NJPW’s official website about various topics including not signing with WWE, competing in the G1 Climax, his travel schedule and more. Here are some of the highlights:
Competing in the G1 Climax tournament:
“When it comes to the G1, you’re talking about probably the highest quality tournament that I’ve been in. But for four or five years now, I’ve not had any time off. There have been some weeks where I’d wrestle in three countries, in that same week! I’ll have three international flights coming up next week, all within four days. So being in Japan for one month has almost been like a rest for me!”
Not signing with WWE:
“It would be like asking a musician, ‘Why didn’t you sign with the biggest record label?’ I’m just concerned with being the best professional wrestler I can be. …It was really just a personal choice. This is my path.”
In the late 90s, the old NWO faction would release “paid advertisements” on Nitro. Bullet Club is now doing the same in NJPW.
The faction has been the focal point of NJPW’s marketing strategy for their July 1st and 2nd shows in L.A, and have now released the following video:
Bullet Club at NJPW G1 L.A Special
Somewhat surprisingly, Cody will receive an IWGP heavyweight title shot on night 1 of the 2-night event. At Dominion, Cody defeated Michael Elgin in what turned out to be a pretty important match.
The rest of the announced lineup so far:
NJPW July 1st 2017 Lineup
the Briscoes, Will Ospreay, & Roppongi Vice (CHAOS) vs. Bad Luck Fale, the Young Bucks, Yujiro Takahashi & Marty Scurll (Bullet Club)
Jushin Liger, Volador Jr., Dragon Lee & Titan vs. Sanada, Evil, Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi (Los Ingobernables)
IWGP U.S Championship Tournament (1st Round)
Jay Lethal vs. Hangman Page (Bullet Club)
IWGP U.S Championship Tournament (1st Round)
Juice Robinson vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kushida, Jay White & David Finlay vs. Billy Gunn, Yoshi Tatsu, Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
New Japan will be heading to Long Beach, California on July 1st/2nd for the sold out G1 Climax Specials.
The two day event will be the first of its kind for New Japan and will be feature a tournament to crown the first ever IWGP United States Champion. Jay Lethal of ROH and Hangman Page of the Bullet Club have already been announced for the tournament and the remaining participants are set to be named in the coming weeks.
NJPW has however announced the full roster of talent that will be making their way to the United States for the tapings. ROH, CMLL, Bullet Club and New Japan roster members will all be on hand to perform on arguably the most important event in New Japan history as it kicks off their attempt at building a US territory.
PROGRESS has announced some of the names for this year’s Super Strong Style 16 tournament. The tournament is held annually and is one of the few times that PROGRESS heavily features ‘imported’ performers from the United States, Japan and beyond. The 2016 tournament featured the likes of Chris Hero, WALTER, Mark Andrews and new WWE NXT signee Aleister Black who eventually went on to win the tournament.
The winner of the tournament becomes the number 1 contender to the PROGRESS Championship, likely getting their title shot at the September Super Show against Pete Dunne. The SSS16 takes place this year on May 27th, 28th and 29th.
The names currently announced for the tournament are:
WWE UK Champion Tyler Bate
EVOLVE Champion and NJPW star Zack Sabre Jr
Zack Gibson
Dragon Gate’s Flamita
Jimmy Havoc
Lucha Underground’s Jeff Cobb
Jack Sexsmith
Pastor William Eaver
Travis Banks
WWE UK Star Trent Seven
Never seen a PROGRESS show before? Check out their on demand service for only $7.49 per month and get access to every Chapter show, Freedom’s Road taping and select PPV events from Canada’s SMASH Promotion.
A number of UK Independent promotions will be making their way to Orlando next week as part of the non-WWE Wrestlemania weekend festivities.
Top UK promotion Revolution Pro will be hosting an event at the WrestleCon convention at 4pm on March 31st. Tickets for the event are available to purchase here: www.wrestlecon.com/buy-tickets/
Rev Pro are renowned for producing some of the biggest Supercards in the UK with a heavy New Japan Pro Wrestling influence. Their WrestleCon show is no different and features some big NJPW stars as well as Lucha Underground, Ring of Honor and EVOLVE performers.
Here is the current confirmed card for the event:
Zack Sabre Jr vs Penta El Zero M
King Ricochet vs Marty Scurll
Jay White vs Sami Callihan
Rey Fenix vs Will Ospreay
Shane Strickland & Ryan Smile vs Unbreakable F’N Machines
UK Superindie IPW:UK have announced that they will be returning to the Casino Rooms in Rochester, Kent on Easter Monday (April 17th) and that several Lucha Underground stars will be on the card.
Two matches have already been announced for the show; ‘The Villain’ Marty Scurll will be taking on Angelico and Big Grizzly will be facing Jack Evans.
Also announced for the show are Rey Fenix, Pentagon, Jimmy Havoc, Zack Sabre Jr and The London Riots. Tickets for the event are available to purchase through the IPW:UK Website.
It has not been confirmed whether the show will be available to view through FloSlam but keep an eye on the UK section of the site as we will post any updates as and when IPW:UK confirms.
Here are the results from PWG’s latest event Nice Boys (Don’t Play Rock N’ Roll) from the world famous American Legion Post 335 in Reseda, California:
Brian Cage b. Keith Lee & Sami Callihan – Cage won the bout after hitting a Falcon Arrow on Keith Lee
Chosen Bros (Jeff Cobb and Matt Riddle) b. Jake and Dave Crist – Riddle took the win for his team after making Crist tap out to the Bromission
Lio Rush b. Trevor Lee – Rush won the match with a small package counter
Shane Strickland b. Dezmond Xavier – Strickland won the match after hitting a Cuerno Killer
Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?) b. PWG World Champion Zack Sabre Jr. and Marty Scurll – Trent? Won the match for his team after hitting Sabre Jr with a Cradle Piledriver. After the match Sabre and Scurll powerbombed Chuck into chairs
PWG Tag Team Title Match – Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero M b. The Young Bucks and Ricochet & Matt Sydal – Fenix and Penta are the new PWG Tag Team Champions after hitting a Cradle Piledriver in to a Destroyer on Ricochet.
