09/08/2025

© Progress Wrestling

Progress

Chapter 183: 100 Volts

August 25th, 2025
Electric Ballroom, London, UK
Watch On: Triller+

Progress closed out a busy Bank Holiday London weekend with their one hundredth show at Camden’s Electric Ballroom. “Chapter 183: 100 Volts” on Monday, August 25th was headlined by a TLC match for the Progress Men’s World Championship between Luke Jacobs and Super Strong Style 16 Tournament winner Man Like DeReiss. Jacobs has now held the top men’s title in the promotion for a full calendar year and spent much of the build looking past DeReiss, having defeated the Birmingham wrestler twice previously. Man Like DeReiss was looking to convert his sixth title shot, having failed in the previous five and has made the babyface declaration of guaranteeing the win. It feels like a result viewable from space that could then lead to a rematch to also give DeReiss a pinfall over Jacobs as well.

Progress has done a great job since DeReiss won the Super Strong Style 16 tournament back in May building to this match, and that continued on the night, with a great video package leading into the match. They (and DeReiss) should also be commended for the sensational entrance the challenger had to this match which began with a violinist playing The Lightning Seeds’ “It’s Coming Home” before a rapper added his own spin on things on the other side of the entrance way. The opening beat of football anthem “Freed From Desire” hit and was also accompanied by the violinist before Man Like DeReiss arrived in front of the crowd just as the song hit its chorus.I am by no means doing this entrance justice in this recap, but it looked and felt phenomenal, and was only added to by the crowd holding up their multicoloured glowsticks and waving them along to the music as the Lyrical Dragon added his own rap to the song as it came towards its third part. Jacobs’ entrance, in contrast, was a much more standard affair, and with no Ethan Allen by his side.

The match began with strike exchanges before quickly getting the weapons involved. This was the first TLC match to be held by the promotion in the Electric Ballroom and the two went for the chairs element first, dueling with them before DeReiss was able to knock the chair out of Jacobs’ hands and throw his own into his face. A backdrop onto the ladder followed, and the challenger looked to be in control. He miscalculated the smarts of Jacobs though, with a tope to the outside being met with a steel chair rather than his opponent.

Jacobs would take control from there and looked to really set the deck against his opponent by tying his hands with duck tape. DeReiss would survive repeated attempts to strike him over the head with a chair whilst his arms were tied, hitting a superkick into a chair that smashed into Jacobs face (which would bust him open), an impressive fallaway slam and a couple of shotgun dropkicks followed by a kip up. A fan managed to cut him free from the binds, leaving Jacobs stunned and his challenger stood over him. DeReiss would get in multiple chairshots to Jacobs’ back before looking for more furniture.

The first table was brought into the ring by DeReiss, who had a hard time getting the legs to stand in place before eventually getting the setup done. He would find his way through the table though, as he was powerslammed through it after attempting to climb the ladder. The next ladder climbing attempt ended in a superplex, whilst the one after saw Jacobs take the scissors that were left in one corner and stab DeReiss in the side of the head with them. Jacobs would then piledriver his challenger through four setup chairs before beginning his next plot, ripping up the ring coverings to expose the wood and covering it in thumb tacks. His distraction would end up his own downfall though, as it was he that was ultimately sent from the ladder and into the thumb tacked boards at the end of the match. Man Like DeReiss would finish his climb and bring down the Progress Men’s World Championship from the roof of the Ballroom as “Freed From Desire” broke out once more.

DeReiss celebrated in the crowd, being paraded around on fans shoulders before heading back to the ring to give his thank you speech. DeReiss’ music played once more and he began greeting and thanking fans outside the ring once more. A fairytale ending? Not quite. As he raised the belt above his head on the ramp, the lights went out and came back on to reveal Cara Noir standing directly behind him. Noir immediately applied a blackout, leaving DeReiss choked out on the floor before giving a sarcastic bow. His heel turn is complete.

Coming the other way from Pro Wrestling NOAH will be Owadasan. The Team 2000X member will debut for Progress on this show, following on from faction leader OZAWA and Yoshiki Inamura in making an excursion to the UK. Owadasan’s first outing was against Charlie Sterling in a heel versus heel matchup where both competitors were willing to take the cheap option in order to gain an advantage in the match.

This was a relatively quick matchup in the end with Owadasan making the mistake of spitting in Sterling’s face, who responded with a Smokin’ Ace crusher for the pinfall. Sterling continues to pick up singles wins on these shows, making him a natural contender for Man Like DeReiss in his forthcoming reign.

© Progress/Triller

Lykos Gym were forced to defend the Progress Tag Championships against Sunshine Machine in a rematch from June’s show in Manchester, where Kid Lykos used a loaded knee to capture the titles for his team. Lykos is a tweener heading heel with a face partner and had insisted the titles had been won fairly. The promotion has run the story over social media in recent weeks, posting close up footage of Kid Lykos putting metal into his kneepad to lead up to the return match announcement.

The dynamic between the tag champions because of what happened in Manchester was the story of much of this match, as Kid Lykos would constantly take shortcuts, much to the disappointment of his tag partner, who didn’t seem to understand what was happening with his friend. It also led to Chuck Mambo and TK Cooper adopting a far more aggressive style when it came to wrestling Kid Lykos then they did with their tag team partner.

The match turned into a more traditional contest for a while, with a run of high spots and near falls, before Lykos II hit a moonsault onto TK Cooper on the outside, leaving Kid Lykos alone with Chuck Mambo. The two fought on the ropes, with Mambo eventually delivering a hurricanrana to Mambo that sent him to the outside (after Mambo had originally had an unfortunate rope incident on his first attempt). Lykos was pulled back into the ring and lifted up onto Mambo’s shoulders but crumpled after receiving two normal looking knees to the head that would normally simply allow his opponent to escape the lift. Mambo is so knocked silly (in kayfabe) that Kid Lykos can barely roll him over to pin him, but he eventually makes the cover for the three. This was another case of the loaded knee from Kid Lykos,even if he claimed his innocence in the aftermath when confronted by his own tag team partner on the issue.

Kid Lykos chose to leave his tag partner in the ring and conveniently, he left just before Connor Mills and Nico Angelo would hit the ring to attack Lykos II and TK Cooper. Lykos stands on the entrance way watching as Mills and Angelo wreak havoc, before walking back to the ring, but only to pull out the tag belts from the corner of the ring, leaving his tag partner and Cooper laying in the middle of the ring.

Ricky Knight Jr. returned to the promotion for the first time since December 2024 to face an out of sorts Cara Noir. Knight Jr. headed to Progress partner NOAH for the N1 after this show, so it isn’t surprising to see him reappear here just beforehand. And it was Knight Jr. who took control of this one early, chopping Noir around the ring and on the outside after his opponent had rolled out in order to find himself. It was an onslaught, with Ricky suplexing Noir into the sixth row to put an exclamation point of his early dominance.

Noir would eventually get back into it, attempting to slow Knight Jr. down by repeatedly going for and applying his fail safe blackout sleeper. Knight Jr managed to escape by lifting his body up with Cara Noir still wrapped around him and backing into the turnbuckle. This causes Noir to shift to an armbar on his next submission attempt, only for that to end in a powerbomb from Ricky. A quick follow up with a Rikishi driver is enough to give Knight Jr. the win.

The Norwich man left triumphant, but it was the man left in the ring who was the story. Cara Noir took off a pad and began to wipe off his face paint, in what was the precursor to what would happen after the main event finished.

(c) Progress

The Progress Women’s Championship was defended by Rhio against Kanji after they were both deemed to have pinned Rayne Leverkusen in the main event of last month’s “Stay Humble” show in Camden. Rhio had added Kanji to the match after her “Loser Leaves Progress” match with Nina Samuels had been delayed due to Samuels suffering an injury. Rhio felt disrespected by Kanji in the aftermath, leading to this match in the first half main event.

This match felt strange from the off- the crowd were not interested in booing Kanji and she started out the more aggressive of the two until Rhio simply lifted her above her head and tossed her to the outside like she was “a bag of washing”, according to commentator Warren Banks. Rhio’s power was Kanji’s biggest enemy in this match, and she fought back by targeting one of Rhio’s arms with a series of submissions, wrenches and strikes all targeted at the limb. All this did was frustrate Rhio, causing the match to break down into a brawl and finally get something from the crowd. The crowd chanted “Tap!” when Kanji caught the champion in a triangle choke but Rhio was able to escape and hit some vicious back elbows.

Rhio thought she had it sewn up after hitting her signature package piledriver but Kanji somehow kicked out at one, firing up to the delight of the audience. The kickout only led to Rhio upping her aggression though, landing a series of forearms to the back of Kanji’s head, leaving Kanji unable to defend herself. The referee called for the bell as boos rang out.Kanji had no idea the match was even over, still desperately trying to fight whilst clearly being completely out of it. There was no sympathy from the Champion to her former friend though, offering her nothing more than a set of locked eyes before leaving the ring.

Kanji eventually found the energy to stand and soak up an ovation from the crowd, only to find that cut short by other means as well. Nina Samuels, who had returned from her injury absence earlier in the weekend, attacked her from behind and declared that their postponed “Loser Leaves Progress” match will take place on the September 28th “Camden Lockup” show.

Progress

Paul Walter Hauser appeared for the promotion in the UK for the first time to defend the Proteus Title he won in Las Vegas against Simon Miller, Charles Crowley and Bullit. Bullit had broken up a number one contender’s match between Crowley and Miller on the previous show in order to set up the four way, which felt like it guaranteed he would be taking the pin in this match. And that proved to be the case as he took a Haus arrest from the top rope onto a chair after losing the battle with Hauser up top. Hauser used a firm grab of his tights to ensure the win after Bullit, with Charles and Crowley unable to break it up after Bullit had launched them to the outside a short time beforehand.

Hauser has announced on social media that it will also be a “Fans Bring the Weapons” match and it seemed that the main weapon of choice ended up being the rubber chicken, with multiple chickens being used in the opening minutes of the match in a scene which would have made Cody Rhodes proud. Charles Crowley, in particular, was cheered in everything he did, Progress has something with him and their crowds that they should keep an eye on.

Lana Austin faced Alexxis Falcon on the show, without the ability to use Hollie Barlow to get her out of the match like she did at “Stay Humble”. Falcon won a somewhat plodding match in order to lift the ban on her challenging for the Progress Women’s Championship, making belt motions after the final bell was rung. The crowd was more invested in Austin throughout, it has to be said.

Mike D Vecchio was unable to make a successful defense of the Progress Atlas title that he picked up last month in a three way against former family members Will Kroos and Gene Munny. Munny and Kroos were due to face each other on the previous show but Kroos was unavailable due to his WWE tryout in New Jersey. Vecchio is confirmed to be heading to the American company in September and Progress is without a confirmed relationship with WWE at the moment (not for the will of trying), so the likelihood of a transitional reign for the Belgian wrestler has always been quite high.

The match opened the show and was high on energy and big moves, with hurricanranas and moonsaults off of the middle rope from Mike D, back sentons from Will Kross and even a moonsault to the outside from Munny after a run of dives. The personal issue between Kroos and Munny felt like it took a backseat for most of this match to Mike D, who was the crowd favourite throughout, they cheered from beginning to end and forgave his botches. Vecchio can carry out some impressive aerial feats for such a large man, but it is his ability to build a crowd connection that will assist him most during the next part of his wrestling journey.

There was time for one last big aerial feat here, as he and Kroos delivered a great looking Spanish fly from the top rope. The efforts of both ended up in vain though as Gene Munny stole the pin from Kroos at the end to win his first ever Progress singles championship on his birthday. Kroos made it clear that he would be challenging Munny in the near future for his newly won title before paying tribute to Mike D as he closed out his last appearance for Progress. Vecchio offered no words, instead thanking the crowd without words as his music played him out.

Progress also announced on this show that their Progress streaming service will be rebranding to “Hooked on Wrestling TV” and will also feature content from US promotion Defy and the UK’s TNT Extreme Wrestling.

Full Results

PROGRESS Atlas Title: Gene Munny defeats Mike D Vecchio (c) and Will Kroos (12:46)

Alexxis Falcon defeats Lana Austin (10:18)

PROGRESS Proteus Title Fans Bring The Weapons Match: Paul Walter Hauser (c) defeats Bullit and Charles Crowley and Simon Miller (13:06)

PROGRESS Women’s Title: Rhio (c) defeats Kanji by referee’s decision (24:09)

Ricky Knight Jr. defeats Cara Noir (20:31)

PROGRESS Tag Team Titles: Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II) (c) defeat The Sunshine Machine (Chuck Mambo & TK Cooper) (15:12)

Charlie Sterling defeats Owadasan (5:52)

PROGRESS World Title Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match: Man Like DeReiss defeats Luke Jacobs (c) (35:07)

© Rev Pro On Demand

Rev Pro News

Revolution Pro Wrestling held their biggest weekend of events this year at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre on August 22nd and 23rd. The venue was more of a challenge in regards to location but the promotion was able to deliver cards strong enough for fans to travel to them rather than to other competing shows.

“Global Wars” on the Friday night show saw talent from CMLL, New Japan and Ring of Honor competing on the show. The main headline to come out of the show was Mercedes Moné defending her Women’s Championship against Emersyn Jayne whilst also picking up Jayne’s Discovery Wrestling Women’s Championship in a title vs title affair. Hiroshi Tanahashi also wrestled his last match in the promotion, as part of a 5 v 5. Tanahashi teamed with Michael Oku, Katsuyori Shibata, “Speedball” Mike Bailey and Zozaya against Kyle Fletcher, Hechicero, Robbie X and Cowboy Way in what was easily the most interpromotional match of the entire weekend.

The non wrestling headliner for this show was the Hall of Fame induction for Jushin “Thunder” Liger who memorably headlined York Hall alongside Prince Devitt for the promotion back in 2013 at “When Thunder Strikes”. It was a show that helped to build significant buzz around the promotion and led to a stronger working relationship for them with New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Night two on August 23rd was the “13th Year Anniversary” show, and saw Sha Samuels successfully challenge for the Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship, defeating Ricky Knight Jr. to win the title for the first time and fend off any talk of retirement. 

Mercedes Moné and Hechicero were the only talents competing on all four days in the UK this week. The commitment of both is commendable.

CMLL and Rev Pro have announced several more names for the “Fantastica Mania UK 2025” double show event on October 18. Zandokan Jr., Esfinge, Titán and Mascara Dorada have been added to the lineup.

RevPro’s “Contenders” show on August 16th at Buckland Community Centre in Portsmouth was cancelled the day before the show. No public reason was given for the cancellation but it is believed to be down to a scheduling conflict for the venue.

“Raw Deal 2025” will take place on September 13th in Stevenage and feture the return of the Good Brothers to the promotion.

Next year’s 14 Year Anniversary show is already set for a date and venue, with Rev Pro taking on their most adventurous booking to date, having announced Wembley Arena for August 29th, 2026

© Kamikaze Pro

UK and Ireland 

Kamikaze Pro
Live 57
August 15th, 2025
Kamikaze Pro Dojo, Birmingham, England
Notes by Peter Edge

Kamikaze Pro Wrestling, out of Birmingham, put on their fourth “Relentless Rules” show on August 15th at their dojo next to The Custard Factory in Digbeth. The theme of the show was that all matches had stipulations. While that can be seen as wearing to an audience, the six match card (with intermission) meant it was less exhaustive than it could have been.

The roster for this show consisted of a number of West Midlands based wrestlers, some of them trained in the Kamikaze dojo in Digbeth on top of others prominent in the British wrestling scene. This led to a fun show with the highlights being a table match with the CPF duo of Joe Lando and Maverick Mayhew versus The Future is Meow (“The Future” Zac Walker and Son Vu Ho), which was mostly a comedy match until Zac ended up with an inadvertent crimson mask, leading to the intensity being ratched up. CPF drove Ho through a table for the win.

Kidd Bandit visited Kamikaze for the last date in a UK and European excursion, here wrestling Chantal Jordan in a Falls Count Somewhere Match in which the fall can only happen in a place that only the referee knows (can you guess where it was?) The action went to the public car park, with attempted pinfalls happening on top of a burger stall in Digbeth. Chantal won the match and yes the winning fall was in the ring.

Edgar Adams beat Millie McKenzie in a “Suplex City” match in which the winner was the first to complete five suplexes. Edgar won 5-4 after Millie’s 5th Suplex was deemed to be a brainbuster (where’s VAR when you need it).

And in the main event Man Like Dereiss defeated Connor Mills in a Bloodsport match with a Sharpshooter submission. It’s matches like this that helps me draw a conclusion that Connor is having a low-key top five year for a British wrestler here in the UK.

Kamikaze Pro will have their next show in October called “Bank on It” (take a guess what this is reference to)!

© Pro Wrestling EVE

Nyla Rose defeated Nightshade at “Eve X The World” on August 23rd to become the new EVE Champion. Celebrations were cut short though when Rhio attacked the new champion from behind. Rhio defeated Lucy Sky in a number one contenders match for a title shot on November 7th earlier on in the evening.

Pro Wrestling EVE have made a number of talent announcements for upcoming shows, EVE International Champion Kris Statlander will return on September 5th in Walthamstow to defend against Nina Samuels, whilst her friend/rival (take your pick really) Willow Nightingale will be part of “Elite Encounters” on November 7th. Also announced for the 7th is Sendai Girls’ Yuu, for what will be her last UK appearance before she retires on December 28th. Veny and Su Yang will also return on October 3rd.

Sadie Gibbs announced via social media that she has suffered a serious knee injury during a tour of Japan. Gibbs will return to the UK immediately for further scans and treatment but has been able to confirm she has torn an ACL in her knee as well as potentially an additional MCL tear. We wish her all the best in her recovery.

Thunder Rosa, who is currently on injury leave from AEW, was also pulled from last Thursday night’s Riot Cabaret show. Rosa is a regular with the promotion and will return when next able to do so. There was a surprise on the show though, as Pete Dunne made an appearance after the main event, saving Nino Angelo from a beatdown from Dunne’s former friend Mark Andrews.

Riot Cabaret are the first UK independent to announce a date for “All In” weekend in 2026, with “ALL sINging ALL dancINg 2026“ set to take place on August 28th, 2026 at the Clapham Grand in London.

TNT will run multiple shows at the Fusion Nightclub in Liverpool at the end of September. All women show “Sirens Fury: Where The Big Girls Play!” is the highlight for September 27th and will be headlined by TNT Undisputed Women’s Champion Lana Austin defending her title against Session Moth Martina. Women’s Tag Team Champions The Experience will defend against the She Wolves. Deka is also scheduled to debut for the promotion on this show while Hannah Taylor will return. “Effy’s Big Gay Brunch” will also run earlier on the Saturday afternoon.

Lewis Johnson will take on Liam Carr in a Three Stages of Hell match on the afternoon “IGNition: Aftershock” show on September 28th. IGNition champion MVK faces Rampage Brown in a Knockout or Tapout match. The weekend will round with the “Thrill Kill” tournament on Sunday night.

CBL, fresh off of a WWE tryout in New Jersey, has been scheduled to appear at Fight Factory’s “18 Year Anniversary” show in Dublin on September 5th.

© wXw

wXw News

Peter Tihanyi will challenge 1 Called Manders for the wXw Unified World Championship that he never lost after winning the “Shortcut To The Top” battle royal for a second year in a row on August 16th in Oberhausen. Tihanyi had been forced to vacate his title in the spring after suffering a shoulder injury, but will now challenge the man who took his place at the top of the hill in Oberhausen at the end of September. 1 Called Manders had defeated Ahura in the opening match in very convincing fashion, so much so that it appeared to eliminate any change of his program with Ahura and Blem continuing into a three way.

The “Pro Wrestling Grand Prix” weekend in Oberhausen from the 26th to the 28th of September will host three tournaments on top of the title match, as well as an “Extreme Party” adult only show on the Friday. The “Femme Fatales” eight women tournament has a full quarter final lineup in place, with Safire Reed facing Stephanie Maze, Emersyn Jayne taking on last year’s winner Anita Vaughan, Leyla Hirsch wrestling Baby Allison and Orsi against B3CCA. B3CCA is a late replacement for Jane Nero, who suffered a knee injury whilst making her debut in Rev Pro last weekend.

The tag team tournament first round matchups consist of Violence is Forever against the Gulyas Bros, french team Hype Dawgs versus Planet Gojirah, Dragongate’s Dragon Kid and Dragon Dia challenging Greedy Souls, and The Grind facing KxS. Francisco Akira, who suppressed a wrist injury on the same Rev Pro show, has withdrawn from the “Konig der catcher” (King of Catchers) tournament and will be replaced by current Deadlock National Champion Labron Kozone.

Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI will appear for wXw on the afternoon show on the 27th in Oberhausen. There was an expectation that the pair were going to appear as part of the “Shortcut To The Top” battle royale but Naito told Tokyo Sports that visa delays spurned any chance of the pair travelling to Europe in August. It is a note of interest that the appearances of Naito and BUSHI in Europe so far have been with New Japan’s partners in the region. 

Matthew Justice, who will wrestle across the weekend, will be in Germany a week early, as he wrestles Elijah Blum on the “We Love Wrestling” show in Bad Hersfeld on September 19th. Masha Slamovich is also over for that show, and will take on Ahura.

© APC Catch

Mainland Europe

Aigle Blanc finished up his time on the European independents by saying goodbye to his home promotions of APC Catch and Banger Zone Wrestling on the outskirts of Paris on August 30th and 31st. Aigle Blanc has not only been a breakout star for the French scene but also spent a great deal of time training young athletes. He has a tremendous amount of respect within their scene and will be missed. Blanc wrestled Mecca and Bobby Lashley on the “French Touch” joint promotional show on the 30th, where France’s leading promotions were looking to replicate the model of Rev Pro and Pro Wrestling EVE in attracting big crowds to the Paris outskirts who are travelling into the city for the WWE show the following night. The match was won by Lashley, who raised the arms of both Mecca and Blanc after his victory.

Both promotions’ world champions defended on this card, with BZW’s now longest ever reigning champion, Joseph Fenech Jr. seeing off Progress Wrestling’s Cara Noir. APC Catch Champion Kuro  combined a defense with a feud ender in defeating Connor Mills. Elsewhere on the card, Megan Bayne will bested Celine and Joey Janela was the only import to take a loss, being pinned by Thiago Montero.

Blanc’s final goodbye was on the Sunday at APC Catch’s “The Last Dance” show at their regular venue of Studio Jenny in Nanterre. The show has sold out well in advance and saw Blanc finish things out teaming with Champion Kuro, Ricky Sosa and Mecca against the La Tactique faction and Josh-T.

Banger Zone have announced a weekend of shows and events for October 31st to November 2nd in Faches-Thumesnil in France. BZW “Miracle”, “Bangover” and the hardcore themed “Deadline” will provide the follow up to “Just An Illusion” on September 27th in Bapuame, which has NJPW’s ELP, Super Crazy and Arez announced. Arez is rumoured to be joining a major US company, so that is a booking to keep an eye on.

Scandinavian promotion Bodyslam will celebrate their 10th anniversary on September 20th in Aarhus, Denmark. The promotion regularly holds dates across the peninsula but will return to the city where they debuted for the celebratory show. Dane and Bodyslam wrestler Madison Marley is currently on tour with SEAdLINNNG in Japan.

The German Wrestling Federation are bringing in TK Cooper and Chuck Mambo for their Berlin show on September 7th. GWF ran a joint show with Revolution Pro Wrestling last month.

Italian promotion Squash A Jobber return from their summer hiatus on October 4th for “Rashomon” in Milan, with JJ Gale, Tony Deppen, Dragon Kid and Dragon Dia already announced for the show. Maki Itoh will also appear for SAJ on November 29th alongside regular tag partner Miyu Yamashita, it what is being described as her only European appearance for the foreseeable future. 

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