Kenny King Gone From ROH By Alex Kalil

This past Thursday, TNA as a part of their X-Division Championship tournament featured a match between two popular independent wrestlers: Johnny Yuma aka Lars Only of PWG and NWA Hollywood fame and one half of the RockNES Monsters and Kenny King, one half of the current Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions with Rhett Titus as the All Night Express. The match itself was good featuring nice back and forth and some fun high spots. In the end Kenny King came on top and will now take part in TNA's Destination X PPV along with 7 other wrestlers to win the X-Division title. However later that same evening ROH spoke on the Kenny King situation.

In article posted on the company's website and Facebook page, ROH stated that Kenny King's contract with the company had expired 11 days ago and that ROH and King had come to a verbal and hand-shook agreement that extended the contract while King looked at another companies and possible another contract under the agreement he not appeare on television. At the same time, King would still work at ROH while another contract between the two was being written up. However, on Tuesday July 3rd King informed ROH officals that he had a meeting in Orlando with TNA officials on July 5th. The outcome of that meeting was Kenny King offered a match on television that night. King told ROH officials this and the officials warned that he was not allowed under his agreement. King took part in the TV match anyways so ROH made the decision that going forward the company with not being doing business with Kenny King. This also results in him being stripped of the Tag Team Titles, leaving his partner Rhett in a tough spot.

In my opinion, Kenny King made a judgement call. Kenny King is 30 years old with a daughter and has been wrestling with ROH since 2007 and in that time he has never really been pushed hard up until recently. Kenny King is a very underated performer and deserves a chance to shine. My hope that in TNA and maybe even one day WWE, he can do that. At the same time I do not blame ROH for ceasing doing business with Kenny King. King appeared on another wrestling company's television show and without permission. Seems pretty cut and dry to me. However this does leave the company in a bad way. The roster is already thin to begin with and few credible tag teams exist in ROH right now. So hopefully this will inspire the company to bring in more talented wrestlers to help out their roster.

In the meantime, I can only hope for the best for Kenny King. A truly talented wrestler that any company would be smart to sign. I will be sure to watch Destination X this Sunday in the hopes of seeing Kenny King win the X-Division title and have a new King reign in TNA.

Follow me on Twitter @AlexKalil for more of my thoughts on wrestling

PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter 2 Review By Darren Rogers

Progress Wrestling’s debut show, Chapter One, was heralded by those that attended it as one of the best wrestling shows that the UK had seen in quite some time. Highlighted by Marty Scurll and Zack Sabre Jr, the sellout crowd also saw excellent performances by Noam Dar, El Ligero, Colt Cabana and the man who claimed their inaugural championship (but don’t call it a nazi staff...), Nathan Cruz.
Wrestling fans are natural pessimists, so I’m sure that there were some ‘keyboard warriors’ wondering if the inclusion of Colt Cabana was the reason for the sell-out. Was it a one-off? Could Progress owners Jim Smallman and Jon Briley capture lightning in a bottle once again and sell out the Garage nightclub in Islington? Would the quality of the matches on the card match or even surpass those on Chapter One?

The answer to all those questions...is yes, yes, yes!

Chapter Two was not only as good as it’s predecessor, is was better.
The venue was sold out, infact they squeezed in even more people it seemed as places where I stood previously that were out of the way were now packed with fans.

The opening match was two debutants for Progress, Stixx against Lion Kid. Now, I have to apologise to Stixx as I’d seen him in IPW twice this year and I didn’t think that he had the personality or skill levels to get over with the Progress crowd. Remember, these aren’t your normal fans who just sit there and don’t interact with the wrestlers. From the word go, the fans chant (sometimes nonsensically) or just call out to get a response. Stixx responded in kind and had a running dialogue with ringsiders who berated him for his hairy chest. He also wrestled a damn fine match with Lion Kid, so my hats off to you Stixx, I was wrong! Lion Kid got the win after a roll-up but I’m sure that we’ll be seeing both these guys in Progress soon as this was a good match.

Match Two was again fought by two debuting wrestlers, Wild Boar and BWC Scarlo champion Mark Andrews. For me, this was the match of the night (and it had some serious competition later on!) as Boar turned a hostile crowd on his side with some brutal moves. Andrews, who played to the crowd and got them to chant for “Draco Malfoy” due to his white hair, had some great high flying moves but looked to be down and out after a pair of package piledrivers. The crowd went nuts when Andrews kicked out, then he suddenly got the win with a roll-up. I wasn’t too crazy in the finish, but both guys deserve credit for their crowd inter-action and Wild Boar especially, who was a cross between Tazz and Samoa Joe, and was really over.

After the bout, former BWC champion Xander Cooper ran in and almost knocked me over (the fiend) on his way to attacking Andrews – who made his own comeback as both guys fought to the back.

Match number three was the man who is facing AJ Styles later in July, Noam Dar and one half of the Bhangra Knights, Darrell Allen. Allen had suffered a serious injury at the last show so it was good to see him back, although he still wears a shoulder brace after popping it out last time! Dar is just amazing. He has so much character and personality it’s scary. And he can also wrestle pretty well too, as can Allen, so they put on a good match here. Again, crowd inter-action was in full effect as Dar pulled his chewing gum out and attempted to force Allen to eat it (that has to be a first in wrestling) and when Dar threw it in the crowd, they threw it straight back at him and hit him! This match also had one of the funniest chants of the night, when Dar was biting Allen as someone near me shouted “That’s not kosher” is reference to Dar’s Jewish background. Progress fans really are a clever and funny bunch! But back to the match, Dar caught Allen with a submission and despite valiant attempts to get out eventually submitted after kicks to the upper chest.

No time for a break, as match four was the culmination of the #BookHavoc campaign. What started out as a simple twitter request for names for the 2nd show, escalated as Jimmy Havoc re-tweeted it to his followers, then video submissions followed by blogs dedicated to reasons to #BookHavoc and then finally a hilarious training video montage complete with rousing soundtrack – this really was a great example of using social media to drive a storyline. Jimmy’s opponent was his former trainer, Danny Garnell. A great storyline twist, which only added to the great dynamic that was already in place. The fact that Jimmy Havoc can wrestle is well known, but the crowd pretended that he couldn’t, and they popped for the arm bar submission attempt like Zack Sabre Jr was about the win the WWE title at Wrestlemania! The match itself was laugh out loud funny.

On paper, it is hard to describe the hilarity of ‘foreigh objects’ (a spoon), the crowd chants (‘spoon the ref’, ‘fork him up Jimmy’) and the match itself was no joke – Danny Garnell playing the perfect straight man to Jimmy’s attempts to not revert to his hard-core tendencies. In the end, Garnell was the winner, but the crowd got what they wanted – Jimmy was also booked for the next show – and then both combatants did an impromptu spooning session with Jim Smallman. You had to be there...

Intermission, thank god, it was stiflingly hot in there – get some air-con ;-)
Next up, the newly formed tag team of The London Riots against the Velocity Vipers. Unfortunately, one half of the Vipers (Alex Esmail) broke his leg in 2 places after landing awkwardly after an exploder so the match wasn’t what it could have been. As it was, London Riots beat the crap out The Vipers much like The Pitbulls in early ECW used to destroy young babyface tag –teams. William Ospreay attempted a 720 (I think, I lost count of how many revolutions he did!) but he missed and one lariat later it was over. The Riots looked awesome and when Alex gets better the stage is set for a return grudge match maybe?

Triple threat match next, as El Ligero, Greg Burridge and RJ Singh battled to get a shot at the champion, Nathan Cruz. With the dynamic of 2 faces and 1 heel, Ligero and Burridge dominated (with some comedy added in for good measure, #ethnicsubmission anyone?) but then Burridge was attacked by Singh’s entourage and the tide turned. Eventually, Ligero pinned Burridge with a roll-up by holding the tights. Would Ligero turn heel to win a title? Time will tell, but this was a great match with non-stop action from start to finish.

Main event time – Nathan Cruz defending his title against Marty Scurll. I can’t wait to see this on DVD as there was so much going on, the match lasted 30 minutes, that I’ve forgotten most of what happened. I do know that they fought in the crowd and up the stairs at one point! Eventually, at 1 fall a piece, El Ligero came in and inadvertently super-kicked Scurll to give Cruz the victory. Or did he? Ligero simply shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

So, Chapter 2 left us with some intriguing storylines and angles to ponder over until the next show in September. Every wrestler on the card put forth a steller match, it’s a clique but they all could have been main events. And I must also give credit to referee, Chris Roberts, who also gets into the fun! Some fans were shouting “Ask him!” during submission spots before the wrestlers did so Chris would address them and tell them that the opponent said ‘no’...subtle but very funny!

If anyone hasn’t been to a Progress show, you really are missing out. This review doesn’t capture the fan inter-action, the comments by Jim Smallman between matches, and the work-rate that these guys produce. It was hot and humid yet Cruz and Scurll went 30 minutes. Good luck seeing a match of that caliber on your WWE or TNA UK tours!

Progress seem to have created something new and unique in wrestling. The combination of great workers and comedy (from all angles, the workers, Jim Smallman and the crowd) has created a unique mixture that transcends from just being ‘pro wrestling’ into a hybrid of wrestling and comedy. Much like Lucha Britannia, they have captured an audience that might not have gone to a UK indy show and the sky really is the limit for the promotion.

Check them out at www.progresswrestling.com as tickets are on sale for chapter 3 right now and they’ve sold out the front already!

This

Is

Progresss.

Love Or Hate, A Look At The Top Two Promotions in the U.S. By Nolan Glaze

So, here we are. In the middle of a small war within the wrestling community. Not on the TV, but within the fan base. Anybody who frequents the halls of the Internet Wrestling Community (you're doing so now if you're reading this) has seen the arguments between fans of Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wresting and World Wrestling Entertainment. Go to a YouTube video, you see an argument in the comments about how one of the companies "sucks" and the other "rules." The same goes for; Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and almost any forum. Seriously, just look.

Over the last few years, we've seen drastic changes in the world of main stream wrestling. TNA brought in Hulk Hogan, WWE finally let one of it's stars speak their mind. However, it seems that no matter what the companies do, they'll keep having "haters."

Now, do I choose a side? No. I'm honestly neutral on the argument. I support all companies, even those that I don't watch (i.e. Combat Zone Wrestling.) I look at the state of these two companies in specific, in see major things that need to change. So, let's begin my critique of the companies shall we?

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, aka IMPACT Wrestling: I've been watching TNA since it's time on Fox Sports Network here in the United States, and was automatically captivated with the X Division and the severely missed 6-sided ring. Since my discovery of TNA about six years ago, I've watched every episode I could, and even bought a few PPV's. I've watched as the talent of the company continue to grow at an alarming rate. When you have the like of AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Kurt Angle, and now Austin Aries, the roster is by far as impressive as the WWF "Attitude Era" when it comes to talent. However, Dixie Carter and the others who run TNA backstage continue to bring in these big stars who aren't absolutely needed. In 2008, they brought in Mick Foley. Now, they brought him in as a management role under the title "Executive Shareholder," but it didn't take long for them to slap the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on him. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Mick Foley. Have been since his days in the all brown attire in his Mankind days.

In 2009, they brought in Hogan and Bischoff. These two men, who had such a been hand in the 80's, 90's, and early 2000's, have caused the most pain towards TNA. In fact, they have caused huge fans of the company to quit watching. They got rid of the 6-sided ring, pushed themselves in multiple storylines, and even dropped the ball on one of the biggest stories in TNA history, AJ Styles being mentored by Ric Flair. Now, three years later; the wrestling quality is great, most of the stories are great, and the fan base is once again growing. However, we are now force fed Brooke Hogan, Garrett Bischoff, this pregnant junky story, and the list continues to grow. The fans that TNA lost over the last four years have yet to return because most of have lost faith in the product, much like the disappointed fans from the "Attitude Era" turning their backs on WWE, which leads us to the next paragraph.

World Wrestling Entertainment, what can I say about the largest, most successful wrestling company(if you can even call it that now) in history? I've watched WWE(WWF) since before I can remember, I've watched it go from the boring product of the early to mid 90's to the "Attitude Era" and then the product we have now. In the early 90's, WWE(WWF at the time) put on the over the top, close to cartoony product that is common on the WWE YouTube series "Are You Serious?" With the likes of Papa Shango, Repo Man, and the Bushwhackers on our TVs every week, the people who watched the wrestling from the 70's were unamused. With the older audience growing tired of the childish product put on by WWF, the growing company that was a former NWA promotion, World Championship Wrestling grew into power. Over the next half a decade, WWF was hurting and needed to shake things up. This is when we witnessed my personal favorite "Era" in the "Attitude Era."

It was during this time that we saw the rise of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, Shawn Michaels(hitting his peak,) and the birth of so many more. The people raised in the 90's, or didn't watch wrestling until the 90's, remembers this time very fondly. It was a time where wrestling was, at times, played very close to the knuckle.

Anyways, last I checked this is a critique, not a history lesson. So let's zoom to 2010, the title is switch hands between Randy Orton and John Cena, the overall WWE product has been dulled down to fit with USA channel's request for a "family friendly" wrestling show, and the majority of the fans growing tired of a boring product. Ok, now let's zoom to June 27th, 2011. WWE Monday Night Raw is on TV, and in the closing segment, CM Punk grabs a microphone and sits on the stage. He cuts a promo saying what so many fans had been saying for years. Everything he said hit deep in my heart, I still get chills when I watch it on YouTube. With one man's words, a fire was ignited. A fire that was fueled by the passion for wrestling of every single last fan.

Now, it's June(almost July), and we have some great up and comers in the company. Richie Steamboat, Kassius Ohno, Seth Rollins, and many more are coming through the ranks of FCW and NXT. I feel the young superstars showing their skill in NXT and FCW will bring on a new era in WWE. However, until then we will continue to see CM Punk, Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan, and the others be over shadowed by WWE's narrow minded sight as John Cena continues to be the main event of the PPV's.

Find me on twitter @TexanFreakshow

Rhianna - Have You Cena? By Stel Stylianou

There’s something about being stuck in London traffic which makes my mind wander. Perhaps it’s the mind numbing boredom and repetition caused by needless roadworks, overpopulation, or reckless drivers.

So I’m sat there, channel hopping on the radio, hoping to hear something which may stimulate my mind.

Preset channel 1 is playing yet another Rihanna song. Exactly how many songs has this wretched woman released in her career thus far? Christ, she sounds like a turkey who has swallowed electric screwdriver.

Preset channels 2 and 5 are playing the same Rita Ora song (after all, she’s only got 2 songs – right?), whereas 3, 4 and 6 have the nerve to play a Coldplay featuring (you guessed it) Rihanna, Jessie J and Will I Am respectively.

I’m going somewhere with this. Trust me.

After five minutes or so of more hopping, something dawned on me which was blatantly obvious, although I hadn’t really thought about before.

These radio stations are encouraged to promote and over play these “artists” in a tactical ploy to basically brainwash listeners to buy/download (legally, *pffft*) their albums and singles.

It’s almost as if they’re forcing people to spend their hard earned cash on this crap..errr..I mean, Music.

“You WILL like this Music and you SHALL conform”

Then it got me thinking about the state of the WWE at the moment.

John Cena has been the number 1 face of the company for God knows how long. He has had title reign upon title reign, main event after main event, and a ridiculous amount of TV and promo time.

So, what is it about John Cena that I really dislike?

I am not a Cena fan, but I am a fair person. I won’t criticise someone without looking at both sides of the coin. It is easy to say “I hate the c**t”, but unless there’s a feasible reason behind this notion, then it’s a bit of a harsh statement to make.

In my honest opinion, Cena’s in ring style is very clumsy and reckless – although those aren’t the reasons why I dislike him.

He seems like a nice bloke. Granted, he’s a Wrestler and it’s his job to act like a “nice guy” for the fans. I haven’t been bothered to do any research about his private life, nor do I care if he refused to give someone his autograph. Don’t care, won’t care.

Looking at all of this again, realistically he hasn’t done anything wrong for me to dislike him.

Hogan had the title for a while and was always in the spotlight, as was Shawn Michaels and Triple H.

So, why the Cena “hating”?

It’s obvious when you delve into it.

When I was between the ages of 9 and 18 the top Faces had their fair share of TV time, but none of us were really forced to like them. Sure, there has always been and always will be a huge emphasis on squeezing as much money out of the Faces by the WWE. That’s how they have got where they are today.

I can’t begin to imagine the profit margins following “Hulkamania”, “Austin 3:16”, “DX”, etc merch sales. The WWE’s marketing team has well and truly “earned its corn” over the years.

None of us were forced to like Hogan because we had other “goodies” (didn’t know the term “face” back then) as options. Personally, I preferred the Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage, purely because they weren’t so predictable – and the Undertaker used to make me s**t my pants (OK, not literally. Milk Shakes, yes. Undertaker, no)

As I got older, I began to appreciate Wrestling more. I no longer saw it as “bad vs good”, but more like “who entertains me more”. Bret and Owen Hart, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon and Diesel were the names who stood out at the time. Each one of these guys got their fair share of TV time and I’d say at least 80% of storylines they were involved in were interesting.

I was 16 when Wrestlemania 13 came around, and was fascinated with the Bret Hart – Steve Austin matchup. At the time, it seemed a bit too brutal for Wrestling. Granted, “brutal” may be an over exaggeration, but it wasn’t what I was used to seeing from the WWF.

Austin then went on to win the KOTR, had numerous title reigns and an amazingly written and performed feud with Vince McMahon.

As we all know, during this era it was WWF vs WCW. Austin and Vince vs the nWo. This is how I remember Wrestling at its best.

Austin, The Rock, Shawn Michaels, HHH, Mick Foley and The Undertaker were all huge Faces in the years which followed, but none received the treatment that Cena has.

Could it be because none of these guys started off with a “white rapper” gimmick (cringe)? After all, it’s quite obvious that there is a link between Wrestling and Metal/Rock and Rap music is frowned upon.

Maybe it’s because Cena lacked and still lacks the in ring technical abilities of Bret Hart and Chris Benoit. Then again, I don’t remember the Stone Cold character having an array of moves.

Perhaps Cena was made to win Royal Rumbles and titles straight after coming back from injuries? Ummm, I’m sure he’s not the only person to have done this.

OK, how about his mic work? No one likes a 5-10 minute monologue, right? Oh..That’s happened before with others.

I think I have it! Maybe it’s because he beat a load of fan favourites like Edge, Orton, HHH? Nope. That’s not it either.

In my honest opinion, there are a few factors which has caused all this Cena hate, and none of them are his fault.

If I am not mistaken, the purchase of ECW by the WWE coincided round about the same time John Cena became a main event character.

We all know ECW changed the face of Wrestling, one way or another. Its unorthodox, controversial and quite literally extreme dynamics altered the mentality of many Wrestling fans. It was a different “animal”. Faces and Heels were adored, and the company gave fans what they wanted.

Once ECW perished, its hardcore support was left bewildered. Who would they follow as an alternative? Their options were limited.

Let’s put this into perspective. Whilst ECW fans were adoring the likes of Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, Sabu etc, John Cena was rising to main event status in the WWE.

Needless to say, the ECW fans who submitted to the WWE’s dominance and rekindled it’s interest in the brand, were none too happy with seeing their heroes (indirectly) replaced with Vanilla Ice’s “jacked up” double.

All of a sudden “Cena sucked!” even more.

Vince had won the war with both WCW and ECW over a short period of time. There was no competition. He and his creative team could do whatever they wanted, and whether or not Wrestling fans liked it – there was nothing they could do about it.

The WWE slowly moved away from the “Attitude Era” to a more “PG” format. Clearly the marketing team and money men of the company had a plan – and it was simple.

Capitalise on the dominance. Make the product more appealing to the kids. It is they who will bring in the money.

This is precisely how the WWF operated in the late 80’s – mid 90’s. WWF/WWE figurines, replica title belts, t-shirts, badges, posters, mugs, whatever it takes to make the company more valuable and profitable.

So, as Hulk Hogan was the man kids adored in the 80’s and 90’s, the WWE needed a 21st century Hogan.

Cena was already over with the kids. His “battle raps”, attitude and personality resembled a certain Marshall Mathers, who had set a precedent by being the first white bloke to be accepted into the Rap industry. His style appealed to most Rap fans and gained the Industry more white fans – Yes, I “went there” with the race thing..ZZZZZZZZ. Once again, RAP MUSIC is frowned upon by a lot of Wrestling fans. Yet another excuse to dislike him.

However, Cena was obviously a much “watered down” character to Eminem. There were no references to killing ex-girlfriends or taking drugs. No. Cena was and still is clean cut. There were no prayers or vitamin quotes, but quirky alternatives like “U Can’t C Me”, “Rise Above Hate” and “Hustle, Loyalty, Respect” with the latter being an extra positive slogan which was a “cool” thing for kids to say and enabled the WWE to line their top face with their anti bullying campaigns.

As time progressed, Cena was shown more and more on TV. He was given a title run for a year, was put in feuds which (naturally) he’d overcome. Kids love his wit, women love his charm. It’s a combination which goes hand in hand up a successful marketing path.

Nevertheless, the more Cena was on TV, the more older male fans despised him. They felt robbed.

“Who does this guy think he is? Why are we being forced to endure this bulls**t every week?”

Cena clearly was the new unacceptable and unforgivable face of Wrestling.

Unfortunately for Cena, it was “cool” to cheer heels and to make matters worse for him, it was also “cool” to shout “Cena sucks”

Hogan was rarely chastised as a face, but things were different back then. There wasn’t as much emphasis on promoting a Wrestler’s merchandise and character. Modern technology has changed the way we all live, so it is normal that the WWE would use this to exploit their target audience.

Cena’s character has been forced upon all Wrestling fans and it seems that over the years, the WWE’s determination to put him over as a bigger Hogan backfired just a little.

Regardless if you love or hate Cena, he’ll be a main event superstar for a long time.

Unfortunately, the WWE hasn’t yet put as much emphasis on current and future main event Wrestlers, but that is purely for business reasons. It is clear that they are attempting to squeeze as much money out of the Cena brand as possible. Once he becomes less marketable, they’ll just do what they normally do and move on to the next “Superstar”.

Cena will always sell more merchandise than, say, CM Punk purely because he appeals to a younger crowd, whereas Punk has a more mature following – given his background in the industry and outspoken character.

In all fairness, little of this Cena hatred is his fault. Truth be told, his charity work and support for the US Military should be commended. There’s no doubt that he’ll be a future hall of famer – and good luck to the bloke.

Does he honestly care that he is being booed by a minority of people? Not really.

He’s been in films, appeared on talk shows and his fan base continues to grow. In fact, the only threat to his career is his soon to be ex wife. Cena is up against the biggest challenge he’s ever faced.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if Liz Huber-dooby-deau is awarded a huge sum of money, walked out of the courtroom and cut her own promo by saying “U Can’t See Me!!”?

That’s your lot…for now

Feel free to follow me on Twitter @Che_Stel

British Wrestling is Doing Just Fine By Stuart Rodgers

British wrestling has some fine young workers at the moment, I think it's the best crop of guys I have ever seen while being into the British scene. Some of the better ones we have come from not only England but Scotland and Wales too.

I myself am a big fan of Wolverhampton based wrestler MK McKinnan, all the times I have been there in person to watch him live, and there has been quite a few, I have never seen him have a bad match. I really think MK could go far if given the right opportunity and on July 6th that will of arrived when he gets to go one on one with former ROH triple crown champion and current Fight Club: Pro champion Eddie Edwards at FCP's "Die Harder" show in Wolverhampton.

From north of the border we have Noam Dar who is a tremendous worker himself. His stock has risen greatly over the last 12 months, from wrestling a dark match at Dragon Gate UK's excellent show in Nottingham last year to being booked all over including in his native Scotland for the also great Lionheart Adrian McCallum's promotion Pro Wrestling Elite. In July & August Noam has two massive matches one against AJ Styles for PW Elite and against Davey Richards for SouthSide Wrestling in Nottingham. This guy really has got the breaks already and it's just going to get better for him.

Representing Wales there is 'White Lightning' Mark Andrews. Mark is a terrific wrestler, has a great move set and does some great high-flying moves. Mark doesn't limit himself to the UK, like the other 2 guys, he travels round venturing into Europe quite a bit. Mark was in the MOTN at the PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter 2 show on June 24th and good things lay ahead for the young man from Cardiff.

Some of the more well-known British wrestlers on the scene at the moment are Marty Scurll, Zack Sabre Jr, The Rockstar Spud and some to look out for are Ryan Smile, Pete Dunne and Nathan Cruz who is the current PROGRESS champion.

Another promotion who I think will be making waves in the coming months is New Scene Wrestling and it will overall be an exciting time.

Things are looking good for British wrestling and it's a good time to be a fan.

This is PROGRESS - Stel Stylianou Gives His Thoughts on Chapter 2

I’m not starting this blog by mentioning how non wrestling fans frown upon people like me and you, because we’ve already heard it all before.

In fact, it’s not even worth giving examples of the things that are said – because, well, we’ve already heard it all before.

However, one of the things I love about wrestling fans is that we’re proud to admit it. I’ve rocked into Pubs and Bars wearing my Colt of Personality T-Shirt and decided from now to wear my “Ask Him” T-Shirt when I go to my Cousin’s Birthday do in Camden, at the end of July.

At the beginning of March I was sent to Newcastle for work. Our company bought a branch up there and we had to make the trip up there to make sure their systems were up to date, and staff trained on the new system we were about to implement.

Those of you who work in IT (especially Systems Support) would probably agree with me in the sense that it can be quite a mundane and repetitive job – so I often keep myself occupied by listening to podcasts.

During a wrestling podcast I was listening to, I heard an interview with Jim Smallman who was promoting a wrestling event called “Progress Wrestling, Chapter 1”, which was being held at The Relentless Garage in Islington. Also, one of my favourite wrestlers, Colt Cabana, was scheduled to make an appearance – so my mind was already made up. I jumped on the Progress website and bought a pair. Seeing as my Mrs has been into the WWF/WWE since she was a kid, I knew she’d love to go.

I took her to a live RAW show a few years ago, but I had a feeling that Progress would bring something special – and boy did it deliver.

Admittedly, I hadn’t heard of many of the names on the card as my knowledge of UK Wrestling wasn’t that great. Nevertheless, after Chapter 1 the names El Ligero, Noam Dar, Zach Sabre JR, Marty Scurll, Mike Mason etc won’t be forgotten.

I even got to meet Colt Cabana and buy some merchandise. I guess that seeing as Progress paved the way for me to meet someone I admire, the organisation has my loyalty for life.

It was the first UK Wrestling event I had ever been to, but definitely not the last.

Once I received the Newsletter from Progress regarding Merchandise and the Chapter 1 DVD, I got the Credit Card out and prepared to abuse it. It was so difficult to contain my excitement when the date for Chapter 2 was announced.

I was sat in front of the TV one evening and received the Newsletter on my phone. I immediately grabbed my Laptop, Credit Card and bought 2 front row seats for the event. There was NO WAY I was missing out on this one.

A few days later and another Newsletter was received, this time for the pre-order of Chapter 2 T-Shirts. Aside from the fact that it was a T-Shirt for the event, I loved the Soviet look to it. Given that I’ve got a soft spot for the Commies, this guaranteed another appearance from my Plastic friend.

So, the 24th of June arrives and I’m pumped for the event. Weeks of Tweeting people who also follow Progress and counting down the days was over.

An old friend of mine, Paul (who is also a huge Wrestling fan) had bought tickets to the event for himself and his nephews – based on the amount of excitement I had shown on Twitter – and they weren’t disappointed.

For certain reasons I won’t go into why his **ahem** 14 year old nephew was one of the stars of the show, but buy the DVD. Trust me, it’s going to be GOLD!

Unfortunately, my Mrs had made other plans with my Mother In Law, so I took my friend John instead. He wasn’t a Wrestling fan though. Sure, he watched the old days of WWF and knew who The Undertaker, Hogan, Savage, etc were, but that’s as far as it went.

However, to his credit, he was more than happy to come along and see what all the fuss (that I had been making for months) was all about. Needless to say, he was very surprised with what he saw.

Now, I know I’m not the only one who makes Wrestling references in their day to day lives. I’m pretty sure that some of you have yelled “Holy Shit” or “ECW” when you’ve seen a minor Car accident, or done a Ric Flair style “Woooooooooooo” at inappropriate times.

I once silenced my Gym by doing a Daniel Bryan “Yes,Yes,Yes” after looking down at the scales and saw I lost 3lbs in 4 days.

So, imagine the laugh everyone in The Garage, Islington had when The Lion Kid entered the ring and gave his trademark “ROAR”, which was followed by a Daniel Bryan inspired “ROAR, ROAR,ROAR”. At one point, someone yelled out that African “Arseneeeeee Wengerrrrrr” sounding intro to the Lion King music. Brilliant.

His opponent Stixx was the typical Heel and played his role very well – although he was slated for the amount of chest hair he had. Then again, having a Mediterranean background, I was in no position to poke fun.

We then saw an entertaining match between Mark Andrews and Mike Hitchman.

The banter continued when Paul decided to make it known to everyone in the building that Andrews resembled Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter – which led to loads of hilarious Harry Potter references. This was actually the first time I had ever seen a Face heckled more than a Heel, but its WRESTLING. Not everything is supposed to make sense or go to plan.

There was even a run in after the match.

Up next was, I think (I say “I think” because I can’t remember the bloody order in between the first 2 and final 2 match ups) Noam Dar vs Darrell Allen.

Now, Dar opened Chapter 1 with El Ligero and was subjected to many anti-Scottish jibes, seeing as he is from up there. In fact, during Chapter 1, someone came up with one of the funniest chants I have ever heard, which was “Deep Fried Mars Bars”. If you don’t get the joke, look it up.

This time, however, the bloke who came up with the chant brought a SIGN with “Deep Fried Mars Bars” written on. Classic.

During an exciting match, Dar was given more abuse and at one point he bit Allen's arm and someone yelled “That’s not Kosher” – once again, look into it.

Allen was wearing a black Shoulder protector which he injured at PROGRESS Chapter 1 and someone got away with “Take his BRA OFF”.

After was the first ever Tag Match in Progress – the London Riots vs the Velocity Vipers. Judging by the size of both men, we knew it would either be a squash match or one with a lot of high flying moves. Truth be told, it was both. The London Riots were huge individuals who threw the much, much smaller Vipers all over the place.

Unfortunately, we witnessed our first serious botch when Viper Kid fell awkwardly and had to be carried out. At first we thought it was a work, but found out the day after on the Progress Twitter that he’d broken his leg in 2 places. We’re sure he’ll be back though and wish him all the best in his recovery.

It ended up being a handicap match which can only be described as Funkasaurus and Matt Morgan vs the 1,2,3 Kid (OK, slight exaggeration, but I’m doing this off the cuff, alright?!).

Following the interval, we were reminded that Paul’s nephew was 14 – but given the kid’s sense of humour, he pointed out that he’d just turned 15 – cue a building full of people singing “Happy Birthday”. Unreal. Just unreal.

The first matchup after the interval was the much anticipated Progress debut of Jimmy Havoc. We demanded blood, but we got, errr a Spoon – plus a very entertaining matchup with Danny Garnell.

Truth be told, we all knew that Havoc can do more than just Death Matches.

Garnell was very impressive and showed some ridiculous strength. At one point, Havoc was up against the ropes, upside down, and balancing on his head. Damn, that looked painful.

We saw some “Bro-mance” spooning and even Jim Smallman got some “man love” too. Don’t worry though, it wasn’t in the Homoerotic sense.. Just buy the God Damn DVD man and you’ll see.

The penultimate match up was a 3 way between El Ligero, RJ Singh and Greg Burridge to determine the number 1 contender for the Progress title.

Burridge came out to a massive pop. Clearly “The Cockney Geezer” was a fan favourite. He walked towards Paul’s **cough cough** 15 year old nephew, threw him over his shoulders and walked around the ring. Cue a bigger pop.

In a match full of entertainment, comedy and some high flying moves which resulted in a few bumps outside the ring, a number 1 contender was determined.

Our main event was Nathan Cruz vs Party Marty Scurll in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the Progress Staff.

Those of you who aren’t aware of this, Progress does not have a championship belt. It is a Staff with the Progress Eagle on top.

Once it was unveiled at Chapter 1, a chant of “Nazi Staff” kicked off – and it’s stuck.

Scurll came out to a huge pop and the fist pumping from the crowd began. Cruz, on the other hand got a load of Heel Heat and upon walking to the ring, two rows stood up and did the Nazi raised arm – saluting the Staff. This was so wrong on so many levels, but it was abso-frickin’-lutely hilarious. I took a couple of photos of this and, had my manager not been on my Friends list on Facebook, I’d use it as the cover photo..It was GENIUS.

This match had it all: Near falls, high flying moves, manoeuvres which made you shout “Holy Shit”. There was also a very funny incident which involved an attempted count out and audience participation, which caused a hilarious botch.

The winner was decided via outside interference.

Notice how I haven’t really stated who won? It’s intentional. Of course most of you probably know who won, and if you don’t you can Google it – but I’ve pointed out the funny bits because they alone are worth forking out for the DVD. However, this was one of the best events I have been to. I’ve seen the WWE when they’ve been over here and none of their cards were as entertaining as this.

So, congratulations to Jim, Jon, Progress employees, staff at The Garage, Security, Wrestlers, fans and everyone involved in Chapter 2. This is one event that I, and many others will never forget.

Roll on Chapter 3

Follow me @Che_Stel, OR, check out my Blogs on http://www.platesmashing.com/site/blogs/stelectric-avenue

WWE Wrestlers: Mid Year Thoughts By Shaun Nichols

As we are approaching the end of June, it seems an appropriate time to give some thoughts on those in the WWE who are doing well and indeed not so well and give a little bit of insight as to why I think that is the case.

John Cena - Although he's been kept well away from the WWE title picture this year, don't be fooled into thinking that he's anything other than the undisputed top dog in the WWE. We can see this by the fact that it is Cena rather than CM Punk who is main eventing PPV shows and Cena more often than not is the all important final angle of Raw. He attracts fans that simply other WWE stars cannot and while the promotion's attempts to get the fans to cheer against The Rock failed he does seem to be more liked by fans as a whole in his feuds with Lesnar & Laurinaitis. The 'Cena Sux' chants are nowhere near the levels of earlier on in the year. Look for Cena to continue to be Mr Nice Guy (even if it annoys a lot of us) and be the franchise player for the WWE for a long time to come.

Randy Orton - Things are not going quite so well for Orton, they teased that he would win the Royal Rumble but ended up going with Sheamus, Daniel Bryan's title run involved The Big Show until Mania. This left Randy treading water, he had a reasonable feud with Wade Barrett and then got stuck with Kane which led to being booked in a Wrestlemania match that nobody can remember. For the record he lost, though won the feud overall on Smackdown. Was heading for programmes with firstly Chris Jericho and then Dolph Ziggler until suspensions got in the way. Should be back for SummerSlam but doesn't seem quite as secure as the clear Number 2 that he was last year.

CM Punk - On the positive side he's been the WWE champion throughout 2012 and has had generally pretty good matches and one excellent atch with Daniel Bryan. He also seems to have replaced Orton in the pecking order which he'll be pretty pleased with. However his promos which helped him really breakthrough last year seem to be a thing of the past. He comes across annoying on a fairly regular basis and his feud with Jericho didn't really seem to hit the heights which many of us hoped for. As I stated with my comments on Cena, Punk is far behind him in terms of importance to the product. Although a lot of fans really like him he has yet to capture the broad base of the really successful WWE stars of the past. He could also do with removing himself from the AJ angle where it really isn't doing anything for him.

Daniel Bryan - Nobody as probably had a better 2012 than Bryan, given the World title after cashing in the MITB case after promising to wait until Wrestlemania. The heel Daniel Bryan was off and running, but you wouldn't have been surprised if he was giving the title reign only reserved for Rey Mysterio & Jack Swagger. Yet this as not happened, showing a surprising talent as an interview and fully embracing the antics of MMA star Diego Sanchez (Yes, Yes, Yes) meant that not even an 18 second loss at Wrestlemania as slowed him down. Infact it only made the fans determined to ensure Daniel Bryan was the most over regular at the following night's Raw. His PPV match with Punk was outstanding and you know that there is a babyface turn that can happen at anytime which will continue his elevation.

Sheamus - Given the biggest push of the year, was a surprise winner of the Royal Rumble. This in hindsight probably didn't help him that much, as the fans were more disappointed that Jericho lost rather than pleased that Sheamus won. Followed by his 18 second win over Bryan also saw fans angry though this time it would have been the length of the match. And the 2/3 falls match between the two was pretty well received. He should stop trying to get the fans to chant 'Brogue' it hasn't worked, and the fans have yet to really love him. At the No Way Out PPV the fans were cheering for Ziggler, no matter what Jerry Lawler had to claim. He should keep the World title for a while but I would have thought that he would have been more over then he is due to the push he's been given.

Brock Lesnar - A while ago, I wrote a blog that lamented the decision to have Lesnar lose to Cena and I certainly haven't changed my mind on that. To me the WWE need to make their mind up about Brock, do they want to give themselves a chance to make money with Brock or call it a day. They are paying Lesnar a fortune for the dates he's working, if they want to make him a special attraction then he needs to beat Triple H clean. If he doesn't then you have to wonder why they brought him back at all. Having Lesnar as a unique personality with Paul Heyman as his regular mouthpiece it could still be an entertaining ride. I'm just not overly confident that the WWE will have the common sense to do it.

Chris Jericho - Like most fans, I was looking forward to seeing the next chapter of Jericho's wrestling career but I have to be honest it hasn't quite met my expectations. As it been bad? No it hasn't it just has not got any better than good. The storyline that Jericho was mad at Punk for stealing his gimmick seemed sound, but in virtually every angle Punk came out on top. Jericho also lost all the big matches as well. He recently stated that his music was more important to him rather than his wrestling career because he feels that he can continue to advance in that field. What that indicates is that whether Jericho is a heel or a face he'll be putting over his opponents the majority of the time.

Dolph Ziggler - He has good matches, he's really started to show some personality and they have finally moved him away from Jack Swagger a partnership that could have worked but in the end did absolutely nothing for either man. You would therefore think that Dolph should be doing really well, what's happening is that he's losing a lot on TV infact I think he's only won about 3 of his last 15 TV matches. The danger being is that you'll condition your fans to see him as nothing more than a loser no matter how talented he actually his. By all accounts he seems to be the favourite to win Raw's MITB match this year which of course makes perfect sense in the disturbed world of WWE bookers. Thinking about you could say exactly the same thing about Cody Rhodes if you were looking at the Smackdown brand. So if Ziggler & Rhodes both prevail at MITB remember where you heard it first.

The Big Show - Say what you want about The Big Show, but he's shown himself to be able to play a number of different roles. He played his part in the success of Daniel Bryan, then found himself in a fairly mediocre feud with Cody over the fact that he had a hopeless record at Wrestlemania. Ignoring the obvious lack of logic in his firing then his re-hiring by John Laurinaitis he's now re-packaged as the unstoppable monster, this will be interesting to see what they'll do with Mark Henry when he returns as he had a similar gimmick. A short term feud with Cena which he'll lose will be first on the agenda but what happens during the latter part of the summer seems to be up in the air. But he's had an entertaining first six months and hopefully he will keep that run going.