Progress #373

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 ....

Atlas Champion: Finn Balor Hometown: Bray, County Wicklow Ireland Finisher: Coup De Grace Bloody Sunday Reign: 12/17/19

Interim Women’s Champion: Rhea Ripley Hometown: Adelade, South Australia Finisher: Riptide Metal Health (Full Nelson Slam) Prism Trap (Hanging Reverse Cloverleaf) Reign: 05/18/20

LOCATION: Cardiff, Wales (United Kingdom) ARENA: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena ANNOUNCERS: Mauro Renallo, Wade Barrett & Renee Young TV: Fox in United States; Sky Sports in United Kingdom

* Kyle O’Reilley defeated Roderick Strong in a brutal cage match when Bobby Fish returned and reunited with O’Reilley

* Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu was made official for the July 4th Great American Bash All Star show

* Interim women’s champion Rhea Ripley and UFC Star Ronda Rousey exchanged in a verbal war on Twitter

* The field of the upcoming Cruiserweight Classic was finalized

* Tessa Blanchard made her surprising debut by accepting Rhea Ripleys open challenge

*****


* We go to Mauro Renallo, Wade Barrett & Renee Young at the announce desk and they put over tonight’s show as we are ready for our first segment *


Atlas Champion Finn Balor comes out and talks about defending the title against Keith Lee at the Bash .... He puts over Lee .... Balor says he is a fighting champion, but all he hears is how he doesn’t stand a chance against Keith Lee .... People have forgotten just who he is and he’s here to remind them .... This is the house that the Prince built .... He will show Lee that he has limits .... Balor will prove it and he challenges anyone to come out and he will make them famous .... but when they come for the Prince they better not miss ....

This brings out ‘Hangman’ Adam Page!  Page has a beer in his hand and he’s looking for a fight .... more importantly, he’s looking to make an impact in his short time in Progress ....


(Atlas Champion) Finn Balor (IRELAND) 0-0
- vs -
‘Hangman’ Adam Page (UNITED STATES) 1-0

Balor is overly aggressive and is out to prove a point .... the fans don’t seem to like this new side of Balor and they rally behind Page, who turns in a star-making performance .... Page connects on the Buckshot Lariat, but Balor rolls to the floor to avoid the pin .... Page won’t take the count out and goes out after Balor, who lures him in and hits the shotgun dropkick into the steps followed by another into the guardrail .... Balor tosses Page in and hits 2 consecutive Coup De Grace for the pin ....

POST MATCH: Keith Lee comes out on the stage and gives Balor applause afterwards .... Balor holds up the Atlas title ....


Marty Scurll promo on John Cena .... he challenges Cena to show up in Progress and face the Villain ....


Bayley (UNITED STATES) 0-0
- vs -
Nikki Bella (UNITED STATES) 0-0

This is Bayleys first match since suffering a concussion in her match with Rousey at Ring of Victory .... Bayley pins Nikki with the Bayley to Belly ....

POST MATCH: Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir & Jessamyn Duke come out and welcome Bayley back .... Baszler wants to bring her up to speed on how things are since she’s been at home nursing the bump on her head .... Baszler is at the top of the food chain .... She proved Tegan Nox isn’t the next big thing because she beat her .... Bayley needs to know her place and stay out of the Horsewomens business or next time she will be out for good .... Bayley of course won’t back down and she goes after Shafir & Duke but then everyone jumps on her .... Baszler picks the bones clean by locking in the choke on a weakened Bayley and choking her out .... Bayley is left laying ....





Back in the arena, Genesis champion Drew McIntyre comes out to the ring .... he admits he’s busted up but he will be damned if he backs down .... Fatu and MVP targeted him when they walked through the door, but he will show them he can bring the violence ....

MVP interrupts .... He tells Drew to relax because Fatu isn’t here because EC3 has mandated that they can’t touch each other before their match on the July 4th All Star show .... but MVP is pissed that McIntyre put his hands on him during the contract signing, so MVP has put out a $50,000 bounty on McIntyre .... and this man is here to collect it!

McIntyre turns around and gets cut in half with a spear from ... MOOSE!!!!  MVP takes the mic and says his client is the global dealer in violence and on July 4th MVP won’t be responsible for what he does to McIntyre .... but tonight, Drew will face Moose!



Angel Garza (MEXICO) 0-0
- vs -
Apollo Crews (UNITED STATES) 0-0

Garza wins a competitive match with the Wing Clipper, building momentum heading into the Cruiserweight Classic ....


* * * * * www.thisisprogress.com EXCLUSIVE * * * * *

We are shown a pre-taped interview Renee Young conducted with Tessa Blanchard after she made a shocking debut last week and accepted Rhea Ripleys challenge ....

~ Tessa talks about losing the world title and how Beth Phoenix was the better woman ON THAT NIGHT .... she could have demanded her rematch immediately but she took some time off and re-evaluated her career ....

~ It wasn’t widely reported, but while Tessa was at home she became a free agent and she had options .... she fielded calls from every promotion in the UWF but at the end of the day, Progress was the right fit for her .... it has the deepest women’s roster in the UWF and she can’t wait to get in the ring with the women of Progress

~ Renee brings up Tessa’s complicated relationship with Charlotte Flair .... They broke in to the business together as Four-tune, then had a bad breakup .... Tessa says that she’s not here for Charlotte or because of her .... their names will be linked forever, and she welcomes the chance to get in the ring with her again

~ Next up, Renee asks about Rhea Ripley .... Tessa says she’s full of piss and vinegar because she’s got a belt .... it takes more than winning a battle royal to be a champion .... Ripley laid out the challenge, and that over-confidence was her first mistake, and Tessa will take her into deep waters and expose her ....

~ Tessa says her attorney looked over the contract to make sure everything is in order, and next week Rhea Ripley is going to get the competition she’s looking for, and she might end up being sorry that she asked for it .... Because Tessa Blanchard is undeniable, and her rise back to the top starts with Rhea Ripley ....

* * * * * * * * * * [/b]


(Genesis Champion) Drew McIntyre (SCOTLAND) 0-0
- vs -
Moose (UNITED STATES) 0-0

Moose controls a large part of the match by attacking McIntyre’s ribs, but Drew survives and fights back with the Glasgow Kiss .... Moose misses a spear and collides head-first with the buckles, allowing Drew to hit the Claymore and then the Future Shock for the pin .... MVP is pissed his plan didn’t work ....




‘OOOOOOOH ... OH SHAWN!’ .... back in the arena, Shawn Michaels’ music hits and HBK comes down to the ring .... his head is bandaged from the bloody battle with Marty Scurll 2 weeks ago, and HBK means business .... He takes the mic and calls out Killer Kross for attacking him 2 weeks ago .... He says better men than Kross have tried to take him out, but better men have failed because HBK is still standing here .... and if Kross wants to make a statement he will have to do so at someone else’s expense because Shawn Michaels is here to fight!

Kross gives zero fucks and comes right out .... HBK attacks him with crazy fists as he climbs through the ropes, and hammers him back .... Kross stops all that by snatching HBK up and hitting an exploder suplex .... Kross stalks HBK, who fires up again with rights .... HBK off the ropes but runs into a Superman punch (* a REAL Superman punch not that Roman Reigns bullshit) and HBK is dropped .... Kross lets an evil smile cross his lips as Scarlett hands him a roll of athletic tape .... Kross starts wrapping the tape around his fist, then he mounts HBK and hammers him with right hands using the tapes fist!  Kross quickly re-opens the cut on HBK’s head and he’s bleeding everywhere .... Kross yanks HBK to his feet like a rag doll .... DOOMSDAY CLOCK!  HBK is left laid out as Kross and Scarlett leave ....


PROGRESS TAG TEAM TITLES:
(Champions) Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) ~ GREAT BRITAIN [0-0]
- vs -
Imperium ~ Marcel Barthel (GERMANY) & Fabian Aichner (ITALY) [0-0]
- vs -
Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae (UNITED STATES) [0-0]

Fans have been waiting for this one and the crowd is MOLTEN HOT for the husband/wife duo of Johnny and Candice .... the announcers don’t miss a chance to talk about how they are making history in so many ways tonight .... Candice is obviously a woman, and a smaller woman at that, but she isn’t afraid to stand toe to toe with the men .... but because of the circumstances (with it being a tag team match plus being a triple threat), that kind of disguises things and levels the playing field a bit ....

Johnny goes most of the distance for his team, determined to protest Candice, but Candice eventually tags herself in .... She dives off the top into the crowd of people on the floor, then hits a suicide dive into a tornado DDT on Gibson!  She tosses Gibson back in, but he stops her with a clothesline .... Drake is back in .... TICKET TO MAYHEM!  1 ... 2 ... CANDICE KICKS OUT!  Gibson is in disbelief, and he goes for a super kick but Johnny is back in just in time and sacrfices himself for Candice!  BALLSPLEX INTO THE CORNER TO GIBSON!  Barthel breaks it up!  Imperium sets Johnny up for the Enigma Code, but Candice knocks Barthel off the top and he takes out Drake & Gibson on the floor!  Low blow to Aichner breaks up the powerbomb!  GARGANO ESCAPE ON AICHNER!!!!  Aichner is trapped in the center and no one is there to make the save!  HE TAPS!!!! OH MY GOD THEY’VE DONE IT!!!!

Johnny and Candice collapse in each other’s arms as history has been made!  




NEXT WEEK: Rhea Ripley vs. Tessa Blanchard for the Women’s title ....