Progress #370 - Ring of Victory Night 2: ‘The 2020 World Cup’

STRONG STYLE /strôNG/ /stīl/ 1. ‘... A style of wrestling evolved from Japanese Puroresu (プロレス) and traditional British Catch wrestling that incorporates full contact martial arts kicks and strikes with a strong emphasis placed on submission wrestling ...’ In Progress, the emphasis is more on the competition and the combatants fighting spirit rather than characters, and we settle things in the ring ....

* everyone on the show tonight are wearing black arm bands that say ‘Soupbone’ on them in memory of Hagen Jones .... *

LOCATION: London, England ARENA: Royal Albert Hall ANNOUNCERS: Mauro Renallo, Wade Barrett & Renee Young

Mauro, Wade & Renee are at ringside as we begin Day 2 of Ring of Victory .... Tonight the Progress World Cup concludes, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilley go to war in a Hybrid Fighting Rules match, Ronda Rousey makes her Progress debut and War Machine challenges for the UWF tag team titles in a ladder match! .... But first we go up to Lauren Brooke on the main stage, who is with a special guest: the 2020 Queen of the Ring and new Interim Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley!




Ripley comments on last night being the biggest night of her career .... she has always been different, but when she broke into this business she made the mistake of trying to be like everyone else .... only when she embraced her differences and stopped trying to hide them did she truly breakout, and now she’s the champion!  She addresses Charlotte, and says she will carry the title well and looks forward to facing her and tearing the house down when she is healthy enough to come back ....




Ripley is interrupted as Ronda Rousey’s music hits!  Rousey comes out and doesn’t even look in Rhea’s direction, totally blowing her off in a sign of disrespect .... Rousey continues on to the ring and it’s all business as we get ready for our first match ....



These two have history from their days in APW, but Bayley is after Rousey this time because of what Rousey did to her best friend Charlotte .... Bayley has targeted Shayna Baszler in the last couple of weeks to try to draw Rousey out, leading up to tonight ....

Bayley charges immediately .... big mistake .... Rousey judo tosses Bayley and goes full MMA ground and pound but Bayley is in the ropes .... Ronda owns the ring and dares Bayley to come back in, but Bayley lures Rousey into the ropes and grabs her leg and pulls her under the ropes .... she slams her leg into the ring post!  She does it again!  Rousey rolls to the floor and she’s noticeably limping as Bayley wipes her out with a dive to the outside! .... Fans are solidly behind Bayley here .... Rousey is momentarily off balance and on one bad leg, and Bayley strikes with a BAYLEY TO BELLY ON THE FLOOR!!!!  Bayley tosses Rousey back in and covers .... Rousey kicks out at 1!!!!  Bayley cinches up the headband, but another Bayley to Belly attempt is blocked and Rousey hits another judo throw slamming Bayley to the mat .... Bayley tries to get up but Rousey drills her with a wicked knee strike!  Just like that, Bayley crumbles to the mat and she‘s down!  The ref moves in to check on her but Rousey shoves her away and mounts Bayley, raining down hammer fists .... Bayley is taking unprotected shots to the face and can’t defend herself .... the ref steps in and calls the match off!!!!  Rousey is the winner via ref stoppage ....

Rousey dusts her shoulders off like beating Bayley was no big deal here .... Rousey laughs and walks out as the trainers check on Bayley who has a glassed over look in her eyes ....





This is Aichner power vs. the villainy of Scurll here .... Aichner vows to vanquish Scurll because he has no honor and he spits on the mat which Imperium has vowed to defend .... Aichner overpowers Marty early, but Marty turns the tide and works Aichner over with some joint manipulation .... Aichner powers out of the Chickenwing, but Marty grabs the fingers and snaps them!  Just kidding superkick drops Aichner to his knees, then Scurll unleashes a series of superkicks!  He mocks Shawn Michaels as he tunes up the band in the corner, then hits a version of Sweet Chin Music on Aichner!  Marty starts laughing, proud of himself, then hits the Black Plague on Aichner for the 3 count .... match time: 9 minutes ....



HBK is showing the signs of his brutal match with WALTER earlier, and Garza attacks early .... Garza controls a good portion of the match, with HBK fighting from underneath .... HBK fires back with a forearm, then kips up .... Garza avoids Sweet Chin Music and goes for the Wing Clipper, but HBK counters into a small package for the 3 count!  Michaels advances ....



We get some chain wrestling to start, with Ijla making the mistake of trying to power WALTER .... the first chop stops all that and draws blood from Dragunovs chest .... Good Lord!  Ilja with a lariat but WALTER isn’t taken off his feet .... WALTER with a big boot rocks Ilja and knocks him outside, but he misses a chop and strikes the ring post instead!  WALTER has to switch hands for the rest of the match, and Dragunov goes to work .... chop after chop but WALTER fires back with a lariat .... Boston Crab but Ilja fights to the ropes to break it .... WALTER sets Dragunov on top for a superplex, but Ilja slips out and turns it into a powerbomb!  TORPEDO MOSCOW!  1 ... 2 ... WALTER kicks out!  They stand nose to nose and start throwing bombs now .... WALTER with a big boot but Ilja rebounds with a huge lariat!  He readies himself in the corner .... TORPEDO MOSCOW IS CAUGHT IN MID-AIR INTO THE GOJIRA CLUTCH!!!!  WALTER takes Ilja down, but Dragunov fights back to his feet .... Until WALTER turns it into a sleeper suplex and drops Dragunov right on his head!  Cover and WALTER gets the pin in just over 12 minutes ....



McIntyre is fighting through a myriad of injuries still, having been hurt by Jacob Fatu as well as going through a war last night with PCO in round 1 .... The defending World Cup champion won’t use that as an excuse, and he’s ready to fight .... Meanwhile, Balor faced a tough test in beating Goto, but is clearly the fresher man .... They start out clean, but Balor quickly targets the ribs of McIntyre, drawing some boos .... McIntyre fights back with the Glasgow Kiss and both guys are down .... McIntyre goes for a super-plex, but Balor knocks him down and McIntyre hangs himself in the tree of woe .... Balor goes for a double stomp out of if but McIntyre powers up and hits a top rope belly to belly throw instead!  McIntyre goes for the claymore but Balor cuts him off with a slingblade!  Balor goes up top, but misses the Coup De Grace and McIntyre hits a Future Shock DDT for a 2.999999 near fall!  McIntyre sets for the Claymore, but Balor escapes outside and then hits McIntyre with a Shotgun Dropkick that drives him into the ring steps!  He tosses McIntyre back in .... ANOTHER SHOTGUN DROPKICK!  Balor up top and hits the Coup De Grace!  Cover ... McIntyre kicks out at 2!!!!  Balor pulls McIntyre up, but Drew can’t even stand .... He slaps Balor in the face in defiance!  Balor grabs the injured McIntyre and finishes him off with the Bloody Sunday and Balor is in the semi-finals .... Match Time: 14 minutes



*** The rules for this are that there are no pinfalls, just KO or submissions.***

O’Reilley immediately goes after the neck of Strong, but gets hammered back with stiff chops .... Strong goes for a submission early, but Kyle reverses into a cross armbreaker and we get a sequence where each man reverses into a submission only to have the other into a counter of their own .... it breaks down into strikes, and Strong KILLS Kyle with a sick kick that busts open Kyles mouth wide open .... he may have had some teeth knocked out!!!!  Kyle is bleeding bad but he fires up and hits a rolling elbow strike!  Strong no sells and chops O’Reilley right in the bloody mouth!  O’REILLEY SPITS BLOOD IN STRONGS FACE!  BACKDROP DRIVER TO STRONG!  Kyle locks on a guillotine choke but Strong powers him up into the End of Heartache!!!!  Strong picks O’Reilley up, Double Knee Gutbuster is blocked and into an ankle lock by O’Reilley!  O’Reilley starts kicking at the neck of Strong while he’s in the hold!  He lets go, then flips Strong upside down with a rolling lariat!  Strong is holding his neck O’Reilley sets him for the brainbuster .... Strong goes up and over and lands behind O’Reilley .... jumping knee!  Tiger Driver!  O’Reilley is on his knees, and Strong off the ropes and KILLS him with another Sick Kick to the face!  Strong puts him in a crossface while fish hooking him and tearing at the huge gash in his mouth!!!!  O’Reilley can’t take it and taps out!!!!







The crowd is still buzzing from the previous match, then we get this gem .... HBK tried to stick and move early, but one chip from WALTER ends all that .... WALTER mauls HBK for a little bit, but Michaels fires back with a swinging neckbreaker .... HBK with a dive off the apron but WALTER catches him and rams him back-first into the ring post!  Powerbomb onto the apron!!!!  WALTER up top, but misses the big splash!  HBK kips up, but he is favoring the back .... up top and he hits the top rope elbow and he starts tuning up the band .... Sweet Chin Music!!!!  1 ... 2 ... WALTER kicks out!  HBK is stunned .... he’s going to go for it again but this time WALTER catches the foot .... BURNING LARIAT!  1 ... 2 ... Nooooo!  Michaels’ kicks out!  WALTER goes to finish Michaels with a powerbomb, but HBK hammers out of it with right hands .... WALTER drops him and HBK lands on his feet .... SWEET CHIN MUSIC FOR A 2ND TIME!  HBK collapses to the mat and both men are down .... The ref puts on his count, and Shawn is to his feet at 7 .... WALTER pulls himself up, but HBK is up tuning up the band .... WALTER turns around, right into a 3rd Sweet Chin Music!  This is enough to put WALTER down for the 3 count!  HBK is in the finals!



Scurll actually gets more cheers than Balor in this one, and every time Scurll uses his villainous tactics it just makes them cheer more .... Very methodical opening where both men are trying to get position, which ends with Balor having the advantage .... Balor dominates this stretch and is prepared to finish Scurll off with Bloody Sunday but Scurll counters out into an arm-wringer and slings Balor shoulder-first into the mat .... Scurll systematically destroys the arm of Balor, but every time Scurll goes for the Chickenwing Balor escapes .... Balor fires up and hits the Shotgun dropkick on Scurll, but the ref is caught in the crossfire!  Balor with the Coup De Grace but there is no ref!  Balor tries to revive the ref but Scurll is up and grabs the Atlas title from ringside .... BELT SHOT KO’s BALOR!  Marty tosses the title away and falls on the mat acting like he’s hurt .... ~VILLAIN~! .... Marty slowly crawls over and covers for the 1 ... 2 ... BALOR KICKS OUT!  Scurll is pissed .... Superkick to Balor connects!  Scurll goes for the Black Plague but Balor counters and hits Bloody Sunday!  Balor cant lift Scurll and clutches his arm in pain,  allowing Scurll to slip out and roll Balor up!  Balor reverses into a pin of his own, but Scurll reverses again into a pin on Balor .... handful of tights!  1 ... 2 ... 3!!!!  

Marty Scurll has just beaten the Atlas champion, and he surprisingly gets a big pop from the crowd!  People are cheering for the Villain!  Marty will now face HBK in the finals!





Brute strength for the challengers as they take over early, dispatching the champs to the outside .... Rowe and Hanson retrieve the ladders and climb, but the champs recover and stop them .... from here we get some spots with the ladders, including Hanson slamming Bulldog on a ladder and then Rowe slamming Hanson on top of Bulldog!  Rowe climbs, but Owen knocks him off with a missile dropkick .... Owen introduces a chair and takes out Hanson, then brings a table into the ring .... Bulldog is up and the champs double team Hanson .... Rowe is back up now and all 4 are fighting, ending with Bulldog putting Hanson through the table!  Rowe with shotgun knees takes out Bulldog, then a belly to belly on Owen sending him into a ladder propped in the corner .... Rowe climbs but Owen meets him there and they fight on top of the ladder .... Hanson is up, and Rowe tosses Owen off the ladder right into Thor’s Hammer from Hanson!!!!  Rowe is all alone on top of the ladder, but Bulldog has a chair and wipes out Rowe with it!  Bulldog and Hanson climb now, and Hanson hits rapid fire headbutts on Bulldog .... Hanson reaches up and starts to pull down one of the titles, but Bulldog has his hands on the other one!  They wrestle over the belts, and Bulldog uses the belt to smash Hanson in the face with it causing him to lose grip on the title and drop it .... right into the waiting arms of Owen Hart who is laying on the mat!  The ref calls for the bell and awards the match to the champs!!!!  

War Machine is pissed after it’s over and they turn their fury on the champs as they celebrate .... they lay out the champs and then pull out some tables from underneath the ring .... Double powerbomb puts Owen through the table!  Bulldog is up, but he gets the Fallout as War Machine stands tall amidst the chaos .... they take the UWF tag team titles and look at them, then lay them across the chests of the champions and walk out ....


*** BACKSTAGE ***

Alicia Atout is outside the dressing room of ‘The Villain’ Marty Scurll .... Scurll steps out and is ready to go to the ring, and Alicia asks him for his thoughts .... Scurll says ‘Well, well, well.  Look where we are.’  Scurll says he exorcised his demons when he beat Finn Balor ‘fair and square’ and now only Shawn Michaels stands in his way of the World Cup .... Marty feels like HBK doesn’t deserve to be in the World Cup, but he’s beaten some good competition .... Now, he just has to beat the Villain but he can’t .... Long ... Live ... the Villain!’


Scurll makes his entrance to the ring, with a surprisingly number of people chanting for him and doing the ‘Whoop Whoop’ along with his theme song ....




*** BACKSTAGE ***

As Scurll waits in the ring we go back to Alicia Atout, who is outside of Shawn Michaels’ dressing room this time to get his comments .... she knocks on HBK’s door, but no one opens it .... Alicia tries to enter, only to find the door locked .... Alicia says HBK must have left for the ring already .... she sends it back to ringside for the final match of the night ....


HBK’s music hits, but he doesn’t come out .... Scurll seems surprised by this as well .... we see a camera crew backstage where trainers are tending to Shawn Michaels who has been laid out in a hallway somewhere in the arena!!!!  Everyone immediately looks to Scurll as the culprit, but Marty immediately swears up and down that he’s innocent .... EC3 is out now and he’s talking to Marty, also suspecting him of being the one behind it .... Scurll insists it wasn’t him, and he and EC3 argue when HBK’s music hits!!!!  The fans pop as Michaels makes his way out, but he’s clearly limping and hurt .... officials are waving him off and trying to stop him but Shawn pushes his way past them .... he slides in and tells EC3 to ring the bell!  EC3 tries to calm Shawn down, but HBK grabs him and yells again ‘RING THE BELL!’




EC3 reluctantly rings the bell to start the match, and Scurll moves in for the kill .... HE WALKS RIGHT INTO SWEET CHIN MUSIC!!!!  


Both guys are down .... Michaels wills himself to crawl over and cover Scurll ... 1 ... 2 ... Nooooo!  Marty kicks out, but he is shaking off the cobwebs allowing HBK a moment to strike with right hands!  HBK with a slam and slowly climbs to the top rope .... TOP ROPE ELBOW CONNECTS!  HBK is going to do this!  He tunes up the band .... Sweet Chin Music is countered into the ‘just kidding’ superkick by Scurll!  Black Plague!  1 ... 2 ... HBK kicks out!!!!  Now Marty tunes up the band, mocking HBK!  Marty tries to hit Sweet Chin Music on Michaels but he dodges it .... Michaels locks Scurll in the Chickenwing!  He can’t get the fingers locked and Marty grabs the hand of Michaels .... FINGER SNAP!  Michaels drops to his knees holding his hands and Scurll KILLS him with a superkick!  



Scurll picks Michaels up .... BIRD OF PREY (inverted crucifix dropped into an emerald flowsion) CONNECTS!  




1 ... 2 ... 3!  Scurll is the 2020 World Cup winner!  


Scurll looks down at HBK kind of disappointed at how things turned out, but that quickly passes as he is handed the World Cup trophy .... Scurll has earned himself a world title shot at the Great American Bash ....