Progress Wrestling

The company was conceived by Jim Smallman and Jon Briley in 2011, who were both massive wrestling fans. Smallman is a big fan of "Strong style" wrestling, Japanese in particular, and Briley was Smallman's agent.[1] The pair decided to put on a wrestling show in London, as not many shows were being put on in the capital itself, featuring the type of wrestling that they would both like to watch. The pair then spent seven months putting their first show together. Smallman is also a huge fan of punk music, and the pair decided to emphasize the fact that it would be a London-based promotion with a punk rock vibe. They also were keen not to be import-heavy, like other promotions, but to promote British talent. The pair eventually settled on The Garage in Islington for the venue, because of the size and also having a great reputation as a music venue. The Garage were also very supportive of what Smallman and Briley wanted to do, and the pair ran their first show on 25 March 2012.

After eleven consecutive sell out shows at the Garage, with the later shows drawing 350 fans, the promotion moved to the 700-capacity Electric Ballroom in Camden from Chapter 12 in March 2014 for their second anniversary show where the sell outs have continued. To date, Progress has sold out all London Chapter shows at The Garage and Electric Ballroom. For Chapter 36 in September 2016, Progress staged their largest ticketed show at the time at the Brixton Academy, to an audience of 2,400 and announced that they would return the following September. Though they have run most of their shows in London, in 2014 Progress held three shows at The Satellite Stage at the Sonisphere Festival, and in 2015 they appeared for five nights at Download Festival.[2] In December 2015, they began running regular shows at The Ritz in Manchester.[3] In 2017, Progress began to promote shows in Birmingham. For Chapter 55 on September 2017, Progress held their first show at the Alexandra Palace to an audience of 2,000. On 30 September 2018 Progress Wrestling held "Hello Wembley" at the SSE Arena. It was billed by the promotion as the largest independent wrestling show in England for 30 years. The event drew 4,750 people, making it the most attended event in Progress Wrestling history.[4] In 2018 the promotion expanded to run event's in Sheffield as well as touring across the United States and in 2019 it will be expanding further to run shows in Bournemouth and Newcastle.

The promotion have been reluctant to use imports (wrestlers for which the UK is not their home or one of their homes). Colt Cabana was the first wrestler to be included on a show as part of the debut show, Chapter 1, in a losing effort to Loco Mike Mason. Ricochet appeared twice for the promotion, losing to El Ligero at Chapter 6 and in a triple threat with Mark Haskins and Zack Sabre Jr. at Chapter 11. Adam Cole was the first non-European wrestler to register a win in Progress, defeating Mark Haskins at Chapter 10. Prince Devitt also appeared twice for the promotion, defeating Zack Sabre Jr. at Chapter 13 and losing to Jimmy Havoc at the Progress World Cup, his final match in the UK before signing with the WWE. Other talents that have appeared include Samoa Joe, Roderick Strong and Tommaso Ciampa; though Ciampa established himself as a Progress regular with seven Chapter show appearances.

In 2016 the company began working with other promotions. At Chapter 29 on 24 April in London, Progress hosted two qualifying matches for the WWE Cruiserweight Classic.[5] In 2017, Progress wrestlers such as Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, and Mark Andrews participated in the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament, culminating in Bate being crowned the first ever WWE NXT UK Champion.

In mid-2019, Jim Smallman left the management of PROGRESS, being replaced by PROGRESS commentator Matt Richards. Richards also took over Smallman's ring announcing duties from January 2020, with British independent wrestler Fraser Thomas replacing Matt Richards on commentary.

In June 2020, several female wrestlers complained about sexual harassment in pro wrestling, mainly in the British independent circuit. After several accusations, Progress decided to no longer work with David Starr, Marc Parry, Travis Banks, and El Ligero, as well as then- Tag team Champions Jordan Devlin and Scotty Davis, who vacated the titles.[6] Ring announcer and creative team member Matt Richards also left the promotion.[7] On June 21, 2020, it was announced that Glen Joseph was stepping down with Michael Oku, Vicky Haskins and James Amner all taking prominent roles in the company.[8]

Unlike conventional wrestling championships which are generally represented by a championship belt, the Progress championship was initially represented by a large staff with an eagle head piece. At Chapter 16, the staff was replaced by a more traditional title belt. The title has been defended in the United States at the Wrestlecon Supershow in Dallas, Texas, and subsequently defended in Italy on 30 April 2016[12] and Ireland on 16 July 2016.[13] On 5 May 2019, the World Championship and Atlas Championship were unified by WALTER, defeating Trent Seven. The title was henceforth known as the Unified World Championship.

As of 27 June 2020.

It was announced at Chapter 9 that beginning in November 2013 there would begin a series of matches to determine the first Progress Tag Team champions. The champions were crowned at Chapter 12, the second anniversary show, in March 2014. As with the Progress Championship not being a conventional championship belt, the Progress Tag Team Championship was originally represented by a shield with the Progress eagle on the front. The shield splits into two, one for each championship holder.

At Chapter 46 the Tag Team shields were replaced with traditional strap title belts, with the design on the front plate of each belt representing the defunct Tag shields.

As of 27 June 2020.

It was announced on 21 July 2019 that the old Progress Atlas Championship which was unified with the Progress World Championship will be replaced. The title was named after the shapechanging Greek god, Proteus. PROGRESS co-founder Jim Smallman said in the announcement that the champion will be able to pick the stipulation for the championship matches, subject to approval by the promotion. [14]

As of 27 June 2020.

It was announced on 24 April 2016, that Natural Progression Series IV would crown the first Progress Worlds Women's Champion. The tournament got underway in October 2016, with the champion to be crowned during the Super Strong Style 16 Tournament Edition 2017 weekend from 27 May 2017 to 29 May 2017. At the conclusion of the tournament at day two of the Super Strong Style 16 Tournament Edition 2016 weekend, Toni Storm was crowned the first Progress Women's Champion.

The Progress Atlas Championship was a championship exclusively for wrestlers over 205 pounds - the cruiserweight weight limit - in weight. Rampage Brown was the first champion after winning a tournament.

On 27 February 2019, PROGRESS announced that there would be a unification match between the Atlas and World championships at Super Strong Style 16 on 5 May of that year, with Walter winning and thus unifying the two titles.[15]

On 21 July 2019, PROGRESS announced that the Atlas Championship had been retired, to be replaced with the upcoming Proteus Championship.

Patrick Lennon, wrestling journalist for the Daily Star, has attended and reviewed Progress shows.[17]

Carrie Dunn, founder and main contributor of wrestling blog "The Only Way is Suplex",[18] published the book Spandex, Screw Jobs & Cheap Pops: Inside the Business of British Pro Wrestling.[19] Progress Wrestling features frequently in the book including opening a chapter regarding London based wrestling promotions.[20]

• WWE NXT UK

• Official website