Progress: United States #21

LOCATION: Providence, Rhode Island
ARENA: Dunkin’ Donuts Center
ANNOUNCERS: Mauro Renallo & Renee Young






PREVIOUSLY IN PROGRESS -

- We see highlights of War Machine winning the UWF world tag team titles from Rock N Roll Empire at ‘Wednesday Night Fights’ on Twitch

- Highlights are also shown of Johnny Gargano confronting Tomasso Ciampa at the Progress UK show, and the subsequent attack by Ciampa that left Gargano a bloody mess .... the screen goes black and white to censor the violence, and some of it is edited out due to the graphic nature ....




Progress USA Director MVP is in the ring to start the show .... he has the United States title with him .... MVP says we saw the footage at the top of the show .... he told Johnny Gargano not to confront Tomasso Ciampa, and he has no authority over the UK brand so there is nothing he can do about what happened .... Johnny Gargano is out indefinitely, and that means he is unable to defend the US title ....

Out comes the Miz along with his wife Maryse .... Miz says he never got his 1 on 1 rematch for the US title, so MVP should do the right thing and award the title to the Miz .... Before MVP can answer they are interrupted by the debut of SETH ROLLINS!


Rollins comes out and says that the United States title isn’t something that should be handed to anyone, it should be fought for in the ring!  Miz says Rollins has been here for about 30 seconds and he doesn’t realize that The Miz is the one that runs this place .... They are both interrupted by the debut of ELI DRAKE!


Eli Drake comes out .... Shut up dummies .... you need to sit there with ears peeled and eyes open and, whether you want to or not, LET ME TALK TO YA!  In case they didn’t know who he is let him tell you that he is E ... LI ... DRAKE!  He’s the Perpetual Motion Machine of Bad-assery and the moment he stepped foot in the door here he became the past, present AND the future of this company .... and he’s not in Progress to be handed anything, he’s here to take it and that includes the United States title .... So he’s going to load everyone up and take them all for a little ride on the Gravy Train and that’s not an insult, THAT is just a fact of life!

DEAN AMBROSE’S MUSIC HITS!  Ambrose comes out and enters the ring, and immediately gets nose to nose with former Shield teammate Seth Rollins!  It looks like the former Shield members are going to go at it when Ambrose just turns and kicks Miz in the gut and then hits DIRTY DEEDS!  Ambrose doesn’t say a word and he just turns and walks out ....


MVP turns this into an impromptu tag team match to start the show off!  Ambrose & Rollins vs. Miz & Drake!!!!




**** 1. Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. The Miz & Eli Drake when Ambrose pins Miz after Dirty Deeds .... ****

Miz is still down in the corner as we begin, and it takes him a while to recover .... things seem a little ‘off’ between Ambrose and Rollins, but as the match goes on they seem to get on the same page .... Ambrose wipes out Drake with a suicide dive, while in the ring Rollins nails Miz with the curb stomp .... before Rollins can make the pin, Ambrose slides in the ring and hits the Dirty Deeds on Miz and gets the pin ....

As soon as the pin is made, Ambrose rolls out of the ring and walks to the back, not even looking back at the ring .... Rollins is surprised by this, and he throws up his arms but doesn’t see that Eli Drake has recovered .... Rollins turns around and gets drilled with the Gravy Train from Drake, who stands tall ....



We go to Mauro Renallo and Renee Young at the announce desk and they talk about what just happened .... Mauro mentions Renee’s ‘relationship’ with Dean Ambrose and asks her what could be going on with him .... Renee declines to comment and wants to keep things professional so they move on .... Mauro puts over the show and what else we will see tonight:

- BRAND NEW UWF world tag team champions WAR MACHINE will make their first appearance since winning the tag belts ....

- Brian Cage takes on Keith Lee

- Shayna Baszler battles Toni Storm!


**** 2. Dalton Castle w/ The Boys vs. Elias Sampson .... ****

Elias tries to use the guitar, but the ‘Boys’ prevent him from doing so .... Elias argues with the Boys but turns around right into the Bang-a-rang from Castle for the pin ....





Candice LeRae is interviewed about her husband Johnny Gargano .... Candice is nearly in tears when talking about it, and she says Johnny is not doing good .... it was hard to leave his side just to be able to come to work, and she talks about how close Johnny and Ciampa are and how she can’t believe Ciampa would do that .... Universal Women’s champion LACEY EVANS interrupts .... Evans says that LeRae is societal trash because a real woman would not have left her husbands side .... Evans says maybe Johnny needs a ‘real’ woman to take care of him .... CANDICE SLAPS EVANS!  Candice tells Lacey to meet her in the ring so she can show her what a real woman is! ....


Up next, new UWF tag team champions WAR MACHINE arrive in the arena to a HUGE pop .... Rowe has a mic and says The Rock N Roll Empire made a living on running away from fights .... But now War Machine is bringing the WAR to the UWF tag team division and it’s going to start with The ONE% .... and they have someone that is willing to go to War with them and they bring out Atlas Champion AJ Styles!  AJ lays out a challenge for the ONE% to face them with the odds being even, and they want a 6 man tag match TONIGHT!  AJ says they just want a fight, but Rowe takes the mic and says they don’t want a fight, they want a WAR!

This brings out The ONE% .... Aries says they are not interested in a 6 man tag team match .... what they are interested in is money and titles and taking over .... Step one of that was the Progress tag team titles .... But let them be the first to congratulate War Machine on being the new World Tag Champs, because now that means The ONE% can just take those belts too .... Aries will agree to the 6 man match under one condition: WHEN the ONE% wins, then Aries gets a shot at the Atlas title .... AJ agrees, and we have our main event ....





We get a video package hyping the debut of Jordynne Grace .... Coming Soon


**** 3. Women’s Universal Champion Lacey Evans vs. Candice LeRae in a non-title match .... ****

LeRae attacks with fire to start and dominates the champion .... Evans fights back, gaining a near fall after a slingshot elbow drop .... Candice avoids the Woman’s Right and gets a rollup for a very close 2 count, but then she misses a Lionsault!  Evans hits the Woman’s Right out of nowhere and gets the 3 count ....

After getting the win, Lacey Evans continues the attack on Candice LeRae .... Toni Storm runs out of the back and chases Lacey out of the ring, but as Toni checks on Candice we get the music of SHAYNA BASZLER .... Baszler comes out flanked by the Horsewomen and I guess we are going to have this match RIGHT NOW!


**** 4. Toni Storm vs. Shayna Baszler w/ Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir .... ****

Lacey Evans is still at ringside, and Baszler stops to threaten her .... Toni attacks with strikes but Baszler stops all that with a roundhouse kick and then takes over with the joint manipulation .... Toni fires up and takes the fight to Shayna, and she suplexes Shayna over the top rope and both women spill over the top to the floor .... Evans grabs Toni and tosses her in the ring, but when she tries to toss Shayna into the ring Baszler attacks her!  Baszler lights Evans up, but Toni wipes them both out with a suicide dive!  All 3 women are down!  The ref starts the count, and Toni manages to roll inside but when Shayna tries to get back in the ring Lacey grabs her leg, causing her to get counted out! ....

Baszler is furious and attacks Evans for getting her counted out .... She tosses Evans into the steps, then gets back in the ring and challenges Toni to return .... Toni comes back and they keep fighting, but Shafir gets involved allowing Baszler to get Toni in the Kirafuda Clutch!  Evans re-enters the fray and cheap shots Baszler with the Woman’s Right!  Toni comes back and hits Storm Zero on Evans, then covers her for the pretend 1 ... 2 ... 3 as the fans chant along with the count .... Toni holds up the Women’s Universal title and says she’s going to be the next champion!




* * * *

We get a rundown of the card for the PROGRESS WORLD CUP show ....

JUST ANNOUNCED:

Hell in a Cell Match: William Regal vs. ‘The Villain’ Marty Scurll

Women’s Universal title: Lacey Evans defends against Toni Storm




Ricochet (UNITED STATES)
Drew McIntyre (SCOTLAND)
Aleister Black (NETHERLANDS)
WALTER (AUSTRIA)
Axel Dieter Jr. (GERMANY)
Travis Banks (NEW ZEALAND)
Buddy Murphy (AUSTRALIA)
Zema Ion (PHILLIPINES)
Owen Hart (CANADA)
Justin Gabriel (SOUTH AFRICA)
Katsuyori Shibata (JAPAN)
Sheamus (IRELAND)
Nigel McGuiness (GREAT BRITAIN)
Fabian Aichner (ITALY)
Gran Metallik (MEXICO)

* * * *


**** 5. ‘The Machine’ Brian Cage vs. ‘Limitless’ Keith Lee .... ****

Their last match ended in a no contest .... Big hoss battle to start with Lee actually over-powering Cage .... Cage battles back, hitting a springboard into a tornado DDT!  Lee comes back with a huricanrana!!!!  Lee up top but Cage crotches him and climbs up to hit a THUNDEROUS super-plex!  Cage scoops Lee up and drills him with the F’N-5, BUT LEE KICKS OUT!  Cage lays in strikes, but Lee powers up and they trade bombs .... Lee explodes with the POUNCE and Cage is sent to the floor!  Lee with a slingshot plancha and back in he covers for 2 .... Cage fires back, and catches Lee off the ropes with an impressive powerslam, then a Lionsault .... Lee kicks out again!  Lee comes back with a spear, but then he goes for the Spirit Bomb and Cage slips off the back and lands behind .... Lee turns RIGHT INTO THE DISCUS LARIAT!  1 ... 2 ... 3!  Lee gets his shoulder up a half a second after the 3 count, but it’s too late ....[/color][/i]

Afterwards, Cage finally offers his hand to Lee and they shake hands ....





MVP announces that next week there will be a match to crown a NEW United States title .... MVP says there are a lot of deserving people who will compete for the title, but he is interrupted by Eli Drake ....

Drake is livid and says they lost the tag match tonight but he isn’t the one that got pinned .... Drake says he’s there to kick down doors and he wants an opportunity .... or is MVP just gonna keep giving handouts to the same ole people? .... The Miz busts in and interrupts now .... he’s livid too and screams at Drake about how this is HIS show .... Drake doesn’t get to walk in here and demand ANYTHING! .... Drake says he carried the Miz that whole match, and that’s not an insult THAT is just a fact of life! ....

MVP tells them both to shut up and he says they are both in the match but they’re going to be in there with 4 other guys because it’s a 6 man LADDER MATCH!  MVP says he’s going to hang the title above the ring and he doesn’t care who pulls it down!  Next week we will have a new champion!


**** 6. The ONE% (Austin Aries & Progress tag team champions Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilley) vs. Progress Atlas Champion AJ Styles & UWF World Tag Team Champions War Machine (Rowe & Hanson) .... ****

Straight brawling as we start .... The action goes all over the ringside area, up the ramp, and into the crowd .... AJ scores with a springboard shooting star press to the outside that takes out the entire ONE% .... AJ gets worked over as they try to keep the bigger War Raiders out of the ring, but AJ battles back and makes the hot tag .... The action breaks down as all 6 men end up in the ring .... AJ goes for the Phenomenal Forearm on Aries, but Aries ducks out of the way and AJ takes out O’Reilley instead!  LOW BLOW FROM BEHIND BY ARIES! .... Aries locks the Last Chancery on AJ!  War Machine are brawling with Strong & O’Reilley outside the ring, and AJ is trapped all alone and forced to tap out!!!!

Aries, Strong & O’Reilley celebrate the win, and Aries is clapping his hands indicating that he made AJ tap out .... Aries makes the belt motion across his waist and tells AJ that he is going to take the Atlas title from him ....