Progress Chapter 193: Las Vegas II
Date: April 16, 2026
Location: Horseshoe Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Joe Dombrowski, D’Lo Brown

We’re back in Las Vegas with the British promotion that you might have heard of before. I’ve only seen a bit from this place over the years so I’m not sure what to expect this time around. Believe it or not, the main event is for the World Title, which is a pretty safe way to go. Let’s get to it.

The opening video seems to be a standard one for the promotion rather than this show.

Subculture vs. Kuro/LJ Cleary

Kuro is a replacement for Tommy Tanner who isn’t here because…I’m guessing aliens. Cleary ties up Webster for two off la majistral and it’s off to Andrews for a change. Kuro snaps off a dropkick and faceplant to drop Andrews, who cuts him right back off. An inverted flipping backsplash gives Andrews two and it’s back to Cleary for a slam.

Cleary poses a bit and drops an elbow before sending Andrews into the corner. A dropkick into a leg trap Tombstone gets two, with Webster not getting in for the save. Andrews’ double Pele misses and everything breaks down. Clearly’s tornado DDT takes out Kuro by mistake and it’s a poisonrana/big boot combination to pin Cleary at 7:55.

Rating: C+. They had a quick but fine match with a story being told as well. The idea here was rather simple: Subculture are a regular team and know each other while Kuro and Cleary were thrown together and didn’t have the same chemistry. That’s more than I was expecting and the match wound up going pretty well. Subculture has done well almost every time I’ve seen them and that was the case again here.

Video on the Super Strong Style 16 tournament, which will have a men’s and women’s edition this year.

Simon Miller vs. Danny Jones

Miller works on a headlock to start and mocks Jones a bit. Jones gets low bridged to the floor, where he can slam the knee into the apron to take over. Back in and Jones chops him down before slapping the top of Miller’s head for some disrespect. Miller picks him up and puts him down with a belly to back suplex and the straps come down. Jones pulls him into a Falcon Arrow for two but takes WAY too long going up. Miller avoids a charge and hits a spear into the Jackhammer for the pin at 7:29.

Rating: C+. Miller is a rare case where he went from a celebrity to someone who was actually making a run out of an in-ring career. He’s not bad at all and works well as a power guy with some charisma. While I can’t imagine him getting much further than a star in Progress and similar promotions, he’s doing rather well with what he’s doing and that’s pretty impressive.

Super Strong Styles 16 First Round: Ethan Allen vs. Lio Rush

Rush is in full on Gollum mode and talks to himself in the corner at the opening bell. Allen goes after him and gets attacked in the corner but whips Rush in instead. Rush blocks a kick though and hits an enziguri to send Allen outside. That’s fine with Allen, who drops Rush hard onto the apron.

Back in and a kick to the back sets up Allen’s chinlock, with Allen punching him in the face to make it worse. Rush fights up and gets the speed going, with a flip into an enziguri dropping Allen for two more. Allen slaps on a quick rear naked choke before switching to a double arm crank. With nothing else working, Rush bites the rope to make the escape. Rush sends him outside and does his weird crawl thing, setting up a suicide dive. The Blue Thunder Bomb gives Rush the pin at 10:08.

Rating: C+. The more I see of Rush’s new character, the less necessary it seems to be. Rush is an athletic star and has a good look in the first place. This just makes him seem more goofy than anything else and that isn’t a good sign. Hopefully it doesn’t last long, though I have a bad feeling it is going to be around for the foreseeable future.

Emersyn Jayne vs. Lena Kross vs. Mercedes Martinez vs. Renee Michelle vs. Shotzi Blackheart

Jayne is “the Mother Teresa Of Workrate”. It’s a brawl to start of course and Blackheart is sent outside. She’s right back in to break up stereo delayed suplexes, followed by a dropkick to break up a Doomsday Device. We get a four way Devil’s Kiss until Martinez kicks them in the head to cut that off.

Kross gets to snap off some suplexes but Jayne takes over on Michelle. Back up and Michelle hits a dive, leaving Martinez to German superplex Jayne. Blackheart ties Martinez in the Tree Of Woe for a stomp but she’s right back with a spinebuster to Michelle. Jayne rolls Martinez up for the pin at 6:43.

Rating: C+. Take a bunch of people, put them in the ring at the same time and let them go nuts. There isn’t much else you can do for a match like this, though having five people in there rather than almost double that many is a nice relief. As usual, no one really got to stand out but there were some familiar names so at least it wasn’t a bunch of random spots from strangers.

Proteus Title: Paul Walter Hauser vs. Big Damo

Hauser (the actor) is defending and is putting up $100,000 for a bonus. In addition, Hauser has been champion for over a year but refuses to defend the title on British soil, making him a big heel for a change. Damo chases him to the floor but Hauser…slaps him, which doesn’t seem to be a good idea.

Some big forearms put Hauser down but a backsplash misses. Hauser’s rather weak chops just tick Damo off and he puts Hauser down with a single shot. A spinebuster and elbow give Damo two and he plants Hauser with a superplex. The gets pulled into the corner so Damo can crush him with a splash. Hauser gets in a low blow to retain the title at 6:48.

Rating: C. I remember Hauser winning the title last year and I’m kind of stunned to see him still holding the thing. If nothing else, making him a heel is quite the move and he did it well enough. Hauser isn’t a great worker or anything, but it’s cool to see him taking this seriously and trying something new. Not a great match, but I got what they were going for here.

Post match Hauser praises the American fans and mocks the British fans. Simon Miller, the former champion, shows up to chase Hauser back inside, where Damo gives him the Belfast Blitz. Then he does it again..and Miller goes to steal the $100,000. There’s no money in the suitcase though so Hauser gets hit in the head with the case.

Women’s Super Strong Style 16 First Round: Rhio vs. Vert Vixen

Rhio avoids a charge into the corner to start and they go out to the apron. A package piledriver doesn’t work so Rhio hits a belly to back suplex instead. Back in and Vixen takes her down for an early chinlock, followed by a choke in the corner. Rhio gets kicked out to the floor, where Vixen drops her again and poses a bit.

As usual that takes too long and Rhio is back with a dive to take over. They get back in and slug it out with Vixen getting the better of things, followed by a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Rhio’s MuscleBuster gets the same and a crossbody puts Vixen down again. A fireman’s carry backbreaker gives Rhio two but she still can’t hit the package piledriver. Vixen’s charge misses and now the package piledriver finishes for Rhio at 10:55.

Rating: B-. It’s no surprise that Rhio is on so many radars, as she checks a lot of boxes. She has the size, a nice look, and is a heck of an athlete. Having her move on is a smart idea as she seems like a favorite to win the whole tournament. Vixen is an interesting case as well, as she’s quite the star outside of AEW, which is a shame as she rarely gets a chance to do anything there.

Progress World Title: Michael Oku vs. Man Like DeReiss

Oku, with Amira, is challenging and DeReiss (with Brodie Lee Jr.) raps his way to the ring as usual. Oku dropkicks him in the corner at the bell, setting up a frog splash for two. A backdrop puts Oku down but he’s right back with something like a Sling Blade over the top. Back in and Oku grabs a snapmare but has to bail out on a top rope moonsault.

DeReiss knocks him down again though and an elbow to the face gets two. They trade shots for a double down and Lee slides in the title. DeReiss doesn’t want it that way so Amira goes after Oku. DeReiss has to save Lee from a half crab but misses Cool Runnings (450). Instead DeReiss kicks him into the corner for a very spinning Blue Thunder Bomb.

Oku escapes a leg lock and gets the half crab, with Lee teasing throwing in the towel. That’s broken up and Oku sends DeReiss outside, setting up the Fosbury Flop. Back in and DeReiss pulls a dive out of the air for a swinging Downward Spiral, setting up Cool Runnings for two. A piledriver gets two more and DeReiss Sharpshooters him to retain at 13:46.

Rating: B. This was more like it, as it came off like a main event World Title showdown between two rather talented wrestlers. You don’t get to see that very often, and it’s nice to see DeReiss being able to back up his cool entrance in the ring. Oku is slowly growing on me and his in-ring abilities are more than good enough to keep him around for a long while to come. Good main event here.

Post match Lee makes amends with Oku and Amira. DeReiss celebrates to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. As usual, Progress puts on a good show with a solid main event and enough hard work from a talented roster. It’s not a classic or anything (though the main event is worth a look) but for a show that runs just over two hours, it’s worth your time. I could go for more of Progress, as they’re always worth a look when they come stateside.

Results
Subculture b. Kuro/LJ Cleary – Big boot/poisonrana combination to Cleary
Simon Miller b. Danny Jones – Jackhammer
Lio Rush b. Ethan Allen – Blue Thunder Bomb
Emersyn Jayne b. Lena Kross, Mercedes Martinez, Renee Michelle and Shotzi Blackheart – Rollup to Martinez
Paul Walter Hauser b. Big Damo – Low blow
Rhio b. Vert Vixen – Package piledriver
Man Like DeReiss b. Michael Oku – Sharpshooter

 

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Progress Chapter 179: Las Vegas
Date: April 18, 2025
Location: Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Jack Farmer, Rich Bocchini, Veda Scott

We’re back to Progress again as they are invading Wrestlemania Weekend for at least the second year in a row. This is the British promotion which has been around for quite a good while but might not be as great as it once was. I had a good time at least year’s show though and hopefully they can replicate that here. Let’s get to it.

Note that I do not follow Progress so I apologize in advance for any plot or character points I might miss.

Opening sequence.

Lykos Gym vs. Boisterous Behavior

That would be Kid Lykos/Kid Lykos II vs. Leon Slater/Man Like DeReiss as commentary spends the introductions talking about how tired both the wrestlers/commentary teams are. Lykos II takes Slater into the corner to start but gets grabbed by the throat for his efforts. That’s broken up and Lykos comes in for his brainbuster. I know this because he shouts BRAINBUSTER, with commentary implying that it never works when he shouts like that.

DeReiss comes in and runs Lykos over to get him into the corner, meaning choking can ensue. The chinlock goes on and DeReiss puts Lykos down for two more. Lykos gets in a jawbreaker but gets pulled into something like a powerbomb. Instead of planting him though, DeReiss brings in Slater for a stomp and then just drops Lykos. Weird move. Anyway, Lykos flips over Slater out of the corner and rolls over to bring in Lykos II. Everything breaks down and Slater gives Lykos II a Lethal Combination.

Lykos II Is right back with Lo Mein Pain for two and a double kick in the corner rocks Slater again. DeReiss has to spear Lykos II into the cover for the save (that looked good) and everyone is down for a bit. DeReiss breaks up the double brainbuster and Behavior hit stereo running kicks in the corner. Lykos II gets his knees up to block DeReiss’ 450 and the super brainbuster brings Slater down in a big crash. Lykos II’s brainbuster finishes Slater at 11:23.

Rating: B-. Perfectly nice start to the show here with the Gym being a good example of what happens around here. I’m not sure I get the appeal of either Lykos but they had a nice match here, with Boisterous Behavior being solid opponents. As usual, a tag match is a good way to open a show and it worked well here.

WXW Unified World Title: 1 Called Manders vs. Marcus Mathers vs. Tate Mayfairs

Manders is defending. Mayfairs and Manders stare each other down so Mathers grabs a headlock on the Manders, which doesn’t go that well. A neckbreaker drops Manders and he rolls outside, leaving Mayfairs to take over on Mathers. Back in and Manders chops away at Mayfairs before planting Mathers as well.

Manders’ elbows miss though and he falls out to the floor, with Mathers Blue Thunder Bombing Mayfairs for two. Mayfairs drops Manders again and hits a top rope elbow for two, with Mathers making the save. Mathers cutters Mayfairs and flip dives onto Manders on the floor. Back in and Manders blasts Mathers with the lariat to retain at 8:22.

Rating: B-. Better stuff here with Manders getting to do his power stuff and fighting off the other two. Manders isn’t someone who does anything groundbreaking but he does the old cowboy style well enough that it’s rather effective. Mathers and Mayfairs were fine challengers here and all three interacted well enough.

Mike D. Vecchio vs. Kuro

Kuro knocks him to the floor to start and hits an early suicide dive before knocking Vecchio into the crowd. They go inside for some running boots to Vecchio in the corner but Vecchio kicks him down. Vecchio goes outside and catches a running flip dive (dang) for a powerbomb onto the apron. A hard forearm to the back has Kuro in more trouble, followed by a running big boot back inside. Vecchio throws him down again and hits a gutwrench helicopter bomb for the win at 7:14.

Rating: C. I’ve only seen a bit of Vecchio but his look alone is going to get him some shots. Hopefully he can get the experience and in-ring skills to back it up because that could make him quite the prospect. It was just a step above a squash, but I can go for seeing a possible star on the bigger stage.

Respect is shown post match.

Women’s Title: Vert Vixen vs. Rhio vs. Nina Samuels

Samuels is defending. Rhio wastes no time in running Vixen over for two, with Samuels hiding on the floor. They all head outside with Rhio taking over, setting up an Irish Curse to Vixen back inside. Samuels makes the save and tries to team up with Vixen, earning herself a headlock. Vixen knocks her down for two but Rhio is in for some standing switches.

Samuels knocks Vixen to the floor before sending both of them into the corner for the running knees to the back. With Vixen in trouble, Rhio is back in with a double dropkick to both of them to take over. A fisherman’s neckbreaker puts Vixen down and Samuels gets dropped as well. Vixen is back up to knock Rhio down and the Blue Thunder Bomb gets two on Samuels.

The Game Over brainbuster gives Vixen two on Samuels with Rhio making another save. Samuels rolls Rhio up for two, even with a handful of trunks. Rhio package piledrives Samuels but Vixen pulls the referee out at two. Vixen posts Rhio but Samuels pulls her down by the hair. A powerbomb spun into a knee to the face lets Samuels retain the title at 11:44.

Rating: B-. Rhio and Vixen felt like the big grudge here and it felt like a feud that could have some legs. At the same time you had Samuels, who was in over her head but was smart enough to come in and steal some shots here and there. Having Samuels win clean in the end was a surprise, but they made it work here.

Post match Rhio package piledrives Vixen to leave her laying. That sounds rematchish.

Proteus Title: Paul Walter Hauser vs. Adam Priest vs. Charles Crowley vs. Effy vs. Simon Miller

Miller is defending and this is one fall to a finish. Hauser is better known as an Emmy Award winning actor who happens to be a huge wrestling fan. Hold on though as Crowley grabs his helmet and reaches in to pull out…a fist to punch a bunch of people. Miller knocks Crowley outside but gets caught by Effy’s atomic drop.

Effy ties Priest up in the ropes with something like a Tarantula but Crowley makes the save with a discus forearm. Hauser is up with a running flip dive off the apron, leaving Miller to hit a suicide dive onto the pile. Back in and Crowley hits a springboard cutter for two on Miller but Hauser comes in for the save. A Russian legsweep drops Effy and a middle rope headbutt gets two. Hold on though as Effy goes after Hauser’s nipples but they don’t seem to feel pain.

Effy knocks him down and hits some running seated sentons, only for a third to hit raised knees. Back in and Priest piledrives Hauser for two but Crowley clears Priest out again. Effy gives Crowley and Miller a double noggin knocker before a legdrop gets two on Miller. Back up and Miller’s spear hits Effy but Crowley comes in to mist Miller down. Hauser is up with a pop up Samoan drop to Crowley, only for Priest to hit Hauser with a chair. Priest loads up something but Hauser hits a hammerlock Downward Spiral onto the chair to pin Priest for the title at 8:48.

Rating: C+. Well. Why not? Hauser is someone who has clearly found something he loves in wrestling and is putting in the effort to turn this into something. It’s not like he’s headlining Wrestlemania or anything and this might get Progress some much needed attention. He basically won the title on a fluke and will get to hold it until they’re ready for a big deal to take it from him. It’s a nice little headline and that’s all it needed to be.

Hauser is stunned as he gets the title and poses for a bit.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Cara Noir

Somehow, I have never actually seen a Noir match. Suzuki gets the MURDER GRANDPA chant and kicks at the legs a bit before going after an armbar. Noir spins out of a headscissors and gets up so they can slowly trade chops. Suzuki pulls him down into a Fujiwara armbar and twists the fingers around.

That’s broken up and they go to the apron to slug it out, only for Suzuki to pull him into another armbar. They go outside where Noir’s arm is sent into the post, meaning it’s time for more finger twisting. Another slugout goes to Suzuki and it’s time for a seated armbar back inside. Suzuki switches over to a half crab, followed by a quickly broken ankle lock.

Noir kicks away, including a sliding kick to the face, only for Suzuki to kick him down again. They chop and forearm it out again until one big forearm puts Noir down. Back up and Noir hits an enziguri into a rear naked choke…and Suzuki flips him forward, with Noir landing ON HIS HEAD. Suzuki grabs a choke and finishes with the Gotch style piledriver at 13:34.

Rating: D+. For months, all I’ve heard about Noir is that no one wrestles like him and he can do all kinds of impressive things. All I saw here was Suzuki doing his thing and dominating Noir, who was mostly just trying to do the same thing Suzuki was doing. This didn’t show me a thing about Noir but rather that Suzuki is going to have his match and nothing else.

Progress World Title: Luke Jacobs vs. Michael Oku

Oku, with Amira, is challenging. They slug it out at the bell with Jacobs getting the better of things until a hurricanrana sends him outside. The big flip dive takes Jacobs down again but he catches another one to send Oku onto the apron. Back in and Jacobs slowly hammers away, setting up a slam to keep Oku in trouble. The crossface shots to the jaw rock Oku, who manages to come back with a missile dropkick.

A pair of DDTs gives Oku two and we slow down a bit. The half crab is broken up and Jacobs forearms the heck out of him. That just earns Jacobs an enziguri so he smashes Oku with a lariat. They go to the stage where Jacobs hits a suplex but stops to argue with Amira. That’s enough of a distraction for Oku to get a running start and hit a hue dive to drop Jacobs.

Back in and a frog splash gets two but Jacobs lariats him into a pop up powerbomb for two. The mostly out of it Oku is put on the top for a superplex, followed by a German suplex to drop Oku again. Somehow Oku is fine enough to grab a half crab, which is broken up as well so Oku blasts him with a superkick.

The frog splash sets up another half crab, with Jacobs doing a rather dramatic crawl over to the ropes. Jacobs is back up and gets taken down by a clothesline but is still able to uppercut him out of the air. A lariat gives Jacobs one, followed by another for the pin to retain at 17:08.

Rating: B. These guys told a good story out there and Jacobs got to beat a big name clean in the middle of the ring. Oku is someone who has built up a nice reputation so beating him is a nice moment for Jacobs. He’s been champion for almost a year now and there is a good chance that he’ll hold it for a few more months at least. This was a good win on a fairly big stage and that should be a nice boost for Jacobs. He doesn’t have the deepest style as he’s mainly just a powerhouse, but it still works.

Overall Rating: C+. This was just ok for the most part with only the main event really coming close to standing out. Hauser’s title win will get some attention and that’s a good move for the promotion. Other than that, pretty much nothing stands out on here and for a show where they had a different and enthusiastic audience, that isn’t the best sign. Not a bad show, but not the most thrilling effort.

Results
Lykos Gym b. Boisterous Behavior – Brainbuster to Slater
1 Called Manders b. Tate Mayfairs and Marcus Mathers – Lariat to Mathers
Mike D. Vecchio b. Kuro – Gutwrench helicopter bomb
Nina Samuels b. Rhio and Vert Vixen – Spinning knee to Vixen’s face
Paul Walter Hauser b. Adam Priest, Effy, Simon Miller and Charles Crowley – Hammerlock Downard Spiral onto a chair to Priest
Minoru Suzuki b. Cara Noir – Gotch style piledriver
Luke Jacobs b. Michael Oku – Lariat

 

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

 

I’ll spare you my bad travel issues.

Thursday

Stardom – I try to take in shows that I won’t get to see otherwise and when else am I going to get to see Japanese women’s wrestling?  I didn’t exactly know much about most of the names but I caught on fast enough and the matches were fun.  Toni Storm showed up in a great bonus moment near the end.  Fun show, but it was really short at only about an hour and forty minutes.

WrestleCon Supershow – It was a very fun show with some great action, but unfortunately I had a bad case of vertigo kick in about ten minutes before the show started and it only started clearing up about halfway through the next to last match of the night.  I could barely focus on the show, so this is going to need a heck of a rewatch.

Now that being said, the big ending was the Sandman making his full entrance, complete with Enter Sandman in the ECW Arena.  I’m far from an ECW fan but the Sandman was the coolest thing ever when I was a kid.  Seeing him getting to do that entrance in that building was one of the coolest moments I’ve ever seen at any show and it was absolutely special.

Related note: I went to Denny’s for supper after the show and a group of CMLL wrestlers were sat next to me.  They were unmasked and wouldn’t say who they were, but Barbero Cavernario was there and confirmed it was in fact them (Mistico was at another show so I definitely didn’t meet him).

Friday

WrestleCon – As usual, this is an insane amount of people in one place but thankfully they were spread out over multiple rooms.  The lines were long, but I did pick up a new book about the early 80s WWF and a gift for the wife.  It was cool to see the bigger names, but I didn’t really talk to any wrestlers due to the amount of fans there.  Granted it also doesn’t help when I’ve met most of them before anyway.

WWE World (Axxess) – Nope.  I’ve been to more WWE events than I can count and I do not remember being more disappointed than this.  It was badly lit, they only had some of the always cool pay per view banners hanging down, the lines were WAY too long to stand in and most of it was just for photo ops.  I actually spent more time walking (20 minutes) from WrestleCon to this than I spent at the event (15 minutes).  This was horrible and if Fanatics is running it again next year, it’s absolutely being dropped from the itinerary.

Progress – I got to this a bit late and knew almost no one on the card, but they pulled me in with everything they did.  This was a very entertaining show with some good action and some absolutely hilarious matches (even Bussy won me over, which I didn’t think was possible).  Fun stuff here and maybe the best mixture of quality and comedy I’ve seen at an indy show in a good while.  Also met a reader (Muffin Top Merkley) which is always fun to see.

Joey Janela’s Spring Break 8 – I don’t follow GCW but I knew enough of the people on this show.  It was the usual rowdy crowd (save for the main event oddly enough) and it worked well enough.  The show was long (as it tends to be) but it went well, with the biggest problem being the seating.  I got a sixth row seat with nothing specified on the ticket other than “sixth row”.  I sat in a seat but was told I had my own seat with my literal name on it, as they were apparently set up alphbetically.  This wound up being true, and I was stuck sitting between two good sized people, to the point where I couldn’t put my arms down for most of the show.  So if a buddy of mine and I buy tickets separately and have different last names, we can’t sit together?  That’s not a great plan.

 

Overall, good stuff so far, but we get to the big stuff tomorrow.

 

KB