Anyone else feel guilty seeing an anti piracy message before something you legally purchased? Get it every time, no idea why.
Jim Smallman is welcoming us all to Night One of Super Strong Style 16 2019. He also points out an American fan and calls him a name to get the crowd chanting.
Jim is getting booed after telling people to pace themselves with their alcohol tonight after what people looked like after the weekend last year.
Crowd work now for all the newcomers to the show starting with David from Ireland the Ash from Guelph.
CHRIS BROOKES VS. ILJA DRAGUNOV – SUPER STRONG STYLE 16 OPENING ROUND MATCH
Really like that they are shaking up Ilja’s character on NXT UK at the moment but really going to miss this full speed ahead at all times Ilja.
Brookes is not having any of Ilja and giving shots right back to Ilja.
Really enjoy the lighting of Progress shows. It creates the perfect atmosphere for the action in ring.
Dragunov has set up Brookes in the front row making fans move but Brookes is able to counter into a piledrive variant on the concrete floor.
Love the clothesline from Dragunov after flipping backwards back in to the ring.
Both men are slowly getting up to their knees and are going back and forth with strikes until they are back on their feet.
We get way too much of Ilja’s rear end as Brookes holds on to the tights to prevent Ilja from hitting the ropes.
Ilja calls for it but Brookes blocks Torpedo Moscow but Ilja hits it out of no where during the following series and gets the pinfall victory to advance.
We get to see people from Melbourne, Australia for the show so Jim pokes fun at the Ireland guy again.
DAGA VS. KYLE FLETCHER W/ MARK DAVIS – SUPER STRONG STYLE 16 OPENING ROUND MATCH
Hey look, we are getting Mr. Tessa Blanchard. Can’t wait to see the next guy to know who I will be cheering for.
Great work at pointing out the couple from Australia right before the match with a member of Aussie Open.
Daga pie faces Kyle Fletcher for getting in his face but Fletcher pushes back and we’re on.
Daga lands BAD coming over the top rope hitting his hand and back on the floor.
Fans are not happy with the slap to the face of Fletcher from Daga and let him know with a chorus of boos.
Nasty looking Death Valley Driver from Daga on Fletcher to the hardest part of the ring.
Fletcher comes off the top turnbuckle to Daga on the outside and he lands a lot better than Daga did earlier.
Love the bits with Mark Davis on the outside trying to encourage his tag team partner. Really shows the team connection.
Fletcher gets the pinfall victory on Daga to advance to the Quarter Finals.
We hear about a fan not being able to make it because of his fiance going into labour.
DJZ VS. TRAVIS BANKS – SUPER STRONG STYLE 16 OPENING ROUND MATCH
Interesting to see him going as DJZ here as I had thought he was already with WWE at this time.
Won’t see a lot of Travis Banks matches again. Anyone else feel even a little weird when you watch back matches of guys like Banks?
DJZ is apparently able to get the sound people to play his annoying douche DJ sound when ever he wants. Banks doesn’t like it like the crowd does.
Banks dropkicks DJZ on the third time DJZ calls for the sound to be played.
I love DJZ but I will always cringe when he does high risk moves on to someone on the outside.
We are told this is the last of DJZ’s Indie Shows so it is apparently right when he was/had signed with WWE.
There is a minor logic hole with going over DJZ not available for future UK Indie dates when the winner of this tournament gets a shot at the promotions championship.
Great facial expression selling from Banks after DJZ hit the Lung Blower/Code Breaker.
Kiwi Crusher out of nowhere on DJZ from Banks and he gets the pinfall victory to move on to the Quarter Finals.
Post match, Banks asks for a microphone to first mock DJZ as they get him out of the ring then to put himself over on route to try and win the tournament a second time.
JORDAN DEVLIN VS. LUCKY KID – SUPER STRONG STYLE 16 OPENING ROUND MATCH
Crowd seem happy that Jordan Devlin is there but sometimes you don’t know if it’s because they love to cheer for or against someone.
I have no idea who Lucky Kid is at this point but he kind of looks like if the creepy brother from Wedding Crashers ended up becoming a pro wrestler.
Not sure how smart it is for Lucky Kid to be taunting Jordan Devlin, whether you have beat Walter in the past or not.
Love the aggressive pinfall attempt from Jordan Devlin. Really shows how much someone wants to win with every pinfall attempt.
Lucky Kid goes falling to the outside holding his side like he legit hurt it. Really great selling if it is a work.
Lucky Kid is slapping off Devlin as Jordan doesn’t seem to one to take it right to him.
Interesting spot from Lucky kid with him looking to fall out the ring but slowly reverses and hits a slice bread on Devlin.
Great spot with Devlin trying to counter the crossface with Lucky Kid just able to transition into different crossface variants.
Springboard Cutter from Devlin doesn’t get the pinfall but the suplex immediately after does sending Devlin to the Quarter Finals.
We know are being introduced to a fan who has come all the way from Brazil or is just from Brazil originally.
TREVOR LEE VS. AEROSTAR – SUPER STRONG STYLE 16 OPENING ROUND MATCH
Should be interesting to see Trevor Lee since I have got so used to seeing him as Cameron Grimes. Doubt there is going to be much difference. He is pointing to the WWE logo on his jacket to the fans.
Does Aerostar give anyone else Max Moon vibes? Like Max Moon and DJZ put together.
Cameron Grimes decides he needs to be the one to introduce himself so he can get some Heel heat. He says they must not have been able to get Fenix or Pentagon and Aerostar has heard enough.
Trevor Lee going for the cheap heat of going for the mask of Aerostar, or he is just trying to turn the LED lights off, either or.
Great move from Aerostar coming off the ropes before hitting a cutter on Lee. Have to wonder how the fans feel when the wrestlers land on them at ringside.
Trevor Lee takes advantage of a distracted referee to get a pinfall victory and advance to the Quarter Finals.
Loved that they checked with the crowd members that had Aerostar land on them to be sure they’re okay.
Fun bit with them watching as the referee for the next match tries and fails to flip and kip up.
DAVID STARR VS. ARTEMIS SPENCER – SUPER STRONG STYLE 16 OPENING ROUND MATCH
Wow. Quite a few people on this show that won’t be on future shows.
Always great when the lack of crowd reaction matches with my own, who is this guy reaction.
“Your favourite wrestlers, wrestler” doesn’t hold up for David Starr, does it?
Even worse when the guy you don’t know is the only wrestler in the tournament from your country.
Great variation on the 619 from Artemis Spencer with hitting Starr in the face over the top rope.
Spencer hits a beautiful Spiral Tap on David Starr but Starr rolls to the outside by the time Spencer can gather himself to attempt a pin.
Starr hits the knees to the back of Spencer and gets the pinfall victory to advance to the next round.
PAUL ROBINSON VS. DARBY ALLIN – SUPER STRONG STYLE 16 OPENING ROUND MATCH
The only things I know about Paul Robinson is the stuff I have seen of his from Progress that have taken place after this match.
Well, with what I know of Robinson and what we all know about Darby Allin, I am sure this match is going to be insane, in what way will remain to be seen.
Robinson pie faces Darby Allin for getting in his face leading to Darby flying on to Robinson on the outside without Paul seeing it coming.
Allin is using a crutch from one of the fans at ringside on Robinson. The bell hasn’t rung yet so everything is legal as long as they stay on the outside.
They’re in the ring and the bell has run to officially get the match underway.
Really like how everyone seems to be able to adapt with Robinson in his matches so he can fight people of almost any style.
Nice looking counter from Darby Allin hitting a running Canadian Destroyer and back in 2019 it wasn’t AS overused as it was in 2020.
Darby appears to have popped a blood capsule in his mouth before spitting blood on Robinson who rubs it off and even licks some of it off.
Robinson is able to avoid a move from Darby Allin by putting the ringside crew between him and Darby leading to Darby Coffin Dropping on to the crew instead.
Curbstomp from Robinson allows him to get the pinfall victory and advance to the Quarter Finals.
KYLE O’REILLY VS. CHRIS RIDGEWAY – SUPER STRONG STYLE 16 OPENING ROUND MATCH
Haven’t heard of Chris Ridgeway but assuming since he is in the main event of Night One he has to have some talent and is relatively known to the local crowd.
You have to love that the arrangement with Progress and WWE allows WWE wrestlers to not only appear but with their WWE music.
The ring crew actually asked Ridgeway to toss one of the streamers over because he didn’t want to have to do it himself.
Kyle starting the match on the mat on his rear end with Ridgeway not too happy about it telling O’Reilly to get up.
Great job by the commentary team showing the difference between Kyle and Trevor Lee earlier with Kyle wanting to prove he can wrestle and succeed in this style of wrestling.
O’Reilly hits a couple of Butterfly rolls on Ridgeway but it seems to get under the skin of Ridgeway as he is firing up and hitting repeated kicks.
Lots of great mat wrestling so far as one would expect based on how they were talking the match up before the match started.
Great spot with Kyle O’Reilly being able to counter a lay down ankle lock from Ridgeway into a Sharpshooter so fluidly.
Both men are trading kicks while standing on the edge of the ring until Ridgeway is able to get an ankle lock on but Kyle is able to get out of it before any damage can be done.
Always a great visual when a wrestler is selling a kick and the spit comes flying out of their mouth.
Nice spot with Kyle throwing a punch that would make Orange Cassidy’s kicks look powerful but it was a great way to show how exhausted the men are.
Kyle O’Reilly is able to get the ankle lock secured and Ridgeway has no choice but to tap out.
Post match, Kyle shows respect to Chris Ridgeway with a handshake after a great wrestling match. The two then have an Air Guitar contest to the delight of the crowd.
#WeAreProgress #Progress #NXTUK #Wrestling
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