Progress: United States #24

LOCATION: Hartford, Connecticut
ARENA: XL Center
ANNOUNCERS: Mauro Renallo & Renee Young






PREVIOUSLY IN PROGRESS -

We see highlights of last weeks show, where Johnny Gargano returned and attacked US champion Low Ki ....

The Briscoes made their Progress debut, defeating the USO’s but the USO’s were attacked afterwards by the Kings of Wrestling who were also making their debut

In the main event, new Progress USA signee Matt Riddle battled Austin Aries in a match that saw the ONE%, AJ Styles AND ‘The Machine’ Brian Cage all get involved ....




New United States champion Low Ki comes out to start the show and calls out Johnny Gargano for his cheap shot last week .... He says he’s the US champ because Gargano wasn’t man enough to keep it and he challenges Gargano to come out and fight him if he wants his title back, because it belongs to Low Ki now ....

Instead the Miz comes out with Maryse .... Miz says he sees all these shiny new toys around here but everyone seems to have forgotten about The Miz .... All of this is because of him and Low Ki has this opportunity because the Miz paved the way .... Low Ki challenges The Miz to a fight right now and he will put the title on the line ....


**** 1. (C) Low Ki def. The Miz w/ Maryse to retain the United States title with the Ki Krusher 99 ****

After the match Johnny Gargano’s music hits and he comes out on stage .... Low Ki dares him to come to the ring to fight him and Johnny heads to the ring but Candice LeRae comes out to stop him .... Johnny tries to push past her but MVP is out and says he doesn’t want a lawsuit .... Johnny isn’t medically cleared so he needs to leave ....



Candice LeRae is talking to her husband Johnny Gargano .... She is trying to convince him to just leave the arena pand not cause anymore trouble .... she says he’s become obsessed with the US title .... Johnny claps back and says the US title belongs to him!  Candice says he’s  not even cleared yet .... Johnny finally calms down and agrees to do what she asks ....

Johnny gets in his car and drives off, and Candice heads back inside and happens to walk by Lacey Evans, who is getting interviewed for www.thisisprogress.com .... Evans gets mad for being interrupted and calls herself the greatest wrestler in the world because she beat Charlotte .... Evans starts talking about Johnny being unstable and says it’s because Candice can’t satisfy him as a wife .... Candice gets pissed and tackles her to the ground .... they are separated and Candice says her and Lacey have unfinished business .... Evans says she will teach her a lesson and challenges her to a match tonight ....



’The Machine’ Brian Cage is interviewed and asked about why he got involved in the main event last week .... Cage says he has been undefeated for months in Progress, and he keeps being put in gimmick matches like ladder matches and crap like that .... he wants a REAL opportunity at the Progress Atlas title .... Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilley come in and interrupt Cage, but Matt Riddle shows up like he’s there to have Cages back .... O’Reilley and Strong laugh and then challenge them to team up against them in a tag match .... they will even put the tag belts on the line .... Riddle speaks up and accepts the challenge .... The ONE% leave, and Cage turns to Riddle and tells him he doesn’t need his help and to stay out of his way ....


**** 2. The Horsewomen (Marina Shafir & Jessamyn Duke) w/ Shayna Baszler def. Jayme Jameson & Marti Belle with a double team pop-up GTS ****

After the match, Baszler enters and slaps the Kirafuda Clutch on Kellie Skater and chokes her out .... she takes the mic and calls out Charlotte for costing her the Universal title at the World Cup, and she reminds Charlotte that she was the one that put her on the shelf .... she challenges Charlotte to fight her again and this time she will finish the job .... Charlottes music hits and she comes out on the ramp and accepts the match!



Kenny King promo .... he’s still got the tag team title shot case .... he’s interrupted by the Kings of Wrestling and they beat him down .... MVP breaks up the beating and says they aren’t in XWA anymore and they aren’t going to run wild all over the place .... Cesaro says they deserve to be in the mix for the tag team titles and MVP says they won’t get there acting like this .... King wants to fight, but Ohno dares MVP to send him home but instead he orders a match between King and Ohno for tonight ....


** It is confirmed that it will be Charlotte vs Shayna Baszler in 2 weeks .... **


**** 3. Austin Aries def. Flip Gordon by submission with the Last Chancery ****

Aries continues to attack Gordon after the match .... this brings out AJ Styles to make the save and he chases Aries from the ring .... AJ cuts a promo their match for the Atlas title next week, and he calls Aries back to the ring .... Aries comes back and the fight is on and we get a pull-apart brawl between them that has to be broken up by an army of Progress officials ....



A video package airs for the UWF 10th Anniversary Show on February 23rd from Atlanta, Georgia .... this marks Progress’ return to the southeast .... we see highlights from Progress UK, where UWF world champion Adam Cole and Drew McIntyre had a face to face that ended with McIntyre taking out BOTH Cole and Bad Luck Fale to stand tall ....


**** 4. Kenny King def. Kassius Ohno with a quick rollup ****

Cesaro joins Ohno in a double-team beatdown of King after the match .... The USO’s hit the ring and chase off the KOW, but they want to fight them because of the attacks on last weeks show .... MVP comes out and books the match for RIGHT NOW ....


**** 5. Kings of Wrestling (Antonio Cesaro & Kassius Ohno) def. The USO’s (Jimmy & Jey) in a long and excellent tag team match after hitting the KRS-1 on Jimmy ****



Matt Riddle is interviewed backstage .... Alicia asks him if he and Brian Cage are on the same page and he says they both want gold and they will get it tonight .... but he makes it clear he is going to use the Atlas title case and challenge the winner of the Aries-Styles match next week ....


**** 6. Candice LeRae def. Universal Women’s Champion Lacey Evans in a non-title match after Evans was distracted when Toni Storm’s music hit .... Toni came out on stage and showed footage of her having Evans pinned for a 10 count during their match at the World Cup, which allows LeRae to cradle her in a schoolgirl rollup for the 3 count ****



A vignette airs hyping the debut of Paige Van Zant .... she makes her Progress debut next week ....


**** 6. The ONE% (Kyle O’Reilley & Roderick Strong) def. Matt Riddle & ‘The Machine’ Brian Cage to retain the Progress tag team titles when Austin Aries interfered and took out Matt Riddle with a brainbuster on the floor .... this allowed Strong and O’Reilley to hit their ’Down with the Sickness’ finisher on Cage, but he kicked out!  With Strong & O’Reilley in shock, Cage hulked up only to get hit with another sick kick from Strong and then the Ax & Smash from O’Reilley!  Cage hulked up again, but Strong countered with the End of Heartache followed by the Down with the Sickness again and that was enough to put Cage down for the 3 count  ****

After the match, Riddle tries to get back in the ring only to be taken out with ‘Down with the Sickness’ from Strong & O’Reilley .... AJ Styles runs out and tries to hit the Phenomenal Forearm on Aries but he moves out of the way and Styles takes out O’Reilley instead!  Strong gets hit with the phenomenal blitz and knocked outside, while Aries escapes .... Styles holds up the Atlas title while Aries and the ONE% escapes ....