PROGRESS Chapter 190: In Brightest Day

That's (also) a Green Lantern reference

Due to the Men’s Six Nations rugby being on at the moment, I watched this on a bit of delay. Which meant I got to skip the interval, which is always a dip for me. Positive.

The signal on the live feed drops out as Jerry Bakewell is making his opening speech. But it comes back in time for Charles Crowley’s appearance.

Charles Crowley vs a mystery opponent

Crowley is one of British wrestlings most charismatic names (and has been for years at this point). His unnanounced opponent is Drew Parker, who in a very different way has his own cult hero aura.
Unfortunately just as they are about to start the signal drops out again but it is back without much having obviously changed. Crowley mixing some technique with some misdirection and mind games as I get to watch the match in small chunks of clarity. Commentary use the word ‘tekkers’ at one point which makes me curl up with cringe. Interesting clash of styles but if you’ve seen plenty of both men you’d expect a meeting in the middle, and they do work well together. Crowley wins after a “Merry Go Down” to 'pick up some momentum’ before Super Strong Style 16.

Josh Holly vs Simon Miller - Super Strong Style 16 First Round

Both a grudge match that has been coming for a while, but also a first taste of the Men’s 2026 SSS16 in the Ballroom. Early advantage for Miller turns in Holly’s favour after an exposed turnbuckle comes into play. Holly largely on top for a spell, Miller struggling with one of his legs after it is targeted by Holly. Miller gets some flurries in but barely avoids getting counted out and gets trapped in a ‘figure-four’. Holly gets overconfident and runs himself into the still exposed turnbuckle, Miller hits a spear and the ‘ups and downs’ to win and advance in SSS16.

Saxon Huxley vs Gene Munny - PROGRESS Atlas Title

The MothDog family drama continues after Martina’s betrayal at Chapter 189. Gene Munny is looking to get the Atlas title back after his brief reign last year, with it since passing from his ‘nephew’ Will Kroos to his ‘cousin’ Saxon Huxley. It has been good to see the Atlas title getting regularly defended (contrast that with the MIA Proteus title). A Martina speech does a good job of leading into the match. Which itself has enjoyable transitions from a comedic tone into hard striking. I’ve long admired Munny’s ability to mix his personality with versatile in ring skill. And Huxley’s power is always impressive to watch. There are some close pinfalls for both men, including one where Martina puts Huxley’s foot on the ropes, getting carried away by Kouga for her trouble. This gives Munny the opening to win the match and become a two-time Atlas Champion. Hopefully this second reign is longer than his first, and fingers crossed Huxley sticks around too. The ‘family’ antics have been enjoyable silliness.

Man Like DeReiss & Michael Oku vs Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II)

The continued breakdown of Lykos Gym, and the aftermath of the big schmozz at the last show which saw open discord between DeReiss and Kid Lykos. DeReiss and Oku teamed on a PROGRESS adjacent DEFY show at Mania week back in Philadelphia but this is their first time together in the PROGRESS proper. Lykos isn’t especially dressed to wrestle until he takes his jacket off. Across three entrances and the slow start to the match this is the first dip in the shows pacing. Not in a bad way, although Lykos is entirely in the dark when he heads to the floor. Classic shithousery from the ‘Shitwolf’. Actual wrestling breaks out once Lykos II takes over. Some clever detailing from Lykos working behind his own partners back. The general pace of the action is very high, very fluent. DeReiss and Oku have some miscommunication which leads to Oku getting knocked into Amira on the outside. This opens things up for Lykos to hit DeReiss with the unprotected elbow guard for a cheap win.
The dissension between the two Lykos’ continues post match as Lykos II leaves. Lykos having a pinfall over the World Champion is an interesting thread going forward (even if it was dirty as hell).

Spike Trivet vs Bullit

They were part of Dominatus Regnum together during Trivet’s reign of terror, he’s now back trying to make amends. Trivet has lost to Big Damo, and Drilla Moloney, since coming back. But Bullit was an ally of Trivet’s back in that era, so this is a different kind of personal. The match is your classic size vs speed collision, which includes a lot of fighting on the outside where the lighting means you may as well be watching a radio play. Bullit largely dominates but pulls out a pinfall. The fact neither man feels like the most sympathetic character at the moment makes it difficult to decide who to invest in. Bullit is the wronged man but also has a huge size advantage and is wrestling in a cocky manner. Trivet still hasn’t been forgiven for his previous indiscretions himself. Bullit gets the win in the end.
Whilst Bullit gets a microphone post match and doesn’t get a positive reception, he asks Trivet to bring back ‘The Vulture’. Trivet responds with his own insults and gives up on his redemption arc. They brawl more after this. The general melodrama of this thread isn’t hitting with me but I’m interested in where Trivet is going at least. And at least by the time it all wrapped up it was clear how both were being presented.

We then get a video message from MIA Proteus Champion Paul Walter Hauser, who hasn’t defended that title in the UK since last August 2025. He’s hurt himself but won’t be dropping the title. He gets booed. As someone who dislikes titles going missing overseas I can’t wait for the title to return to UK shows regularly.

Diamond Eyes (Jay Joshua & Nico Angelo) vs Sunshine Machine (Chuck Mambo & T K Cooper) - PROGRESS Tag Team Championship Tornado Match

Back in November last year Sunshine Machine lost a title match to Nico Angelo and Connor Mills. Without prior announcement Mills isn’t here and Jay Joshua is stepping into his place, Diamond Eyes using the Freebird rule.
Tornado tag rules means the match immediately feels different to the earlier tag match, with all four men involved far more often. Gives it automatically a different feel, which is smart.

The match spends a fair bit of time early on on the ouside of the ring, portions of which are illsutrated by the above screenshot. When the action goes back to the ring it definitely gets more interesting, and more of the crowd are making noise as well, always helps.
Some interesting double team work and close calls for a Sunshine Machine victory. But Joshua locks Mambo in a hold, Angelo keeping Cooper away from breaking it up, and Mambo is forced to tap. It’s a shame from the stream perspective that it lost momentum with the bits I couldn’t see on the outside.

Alexxis Falcon vs Rhio - PROGRESS Women’s World Championship

It’s important going in that you know the history and friendship between these two. Rhio comes out with her ICW, EVE, and 4th Rope titles. Falcon’s fairytale of becomign champion came true at the last chapter (and she comes out with three titles, True Grit and NGW joining the PROGRESS title). I’m sure Alexxis’ gear is a Disney reference that I am too uncultured to get. Very Northern feel to the match with Sandy Beeches as the ref.
Respectful tone early on to the exchanges. Clean but hard fought competition between two people who know each other well. Until it isn’t, Falcon apologising profusely the first time she bends the rules a bit. The gradual ramping up of tension as the match progresses, the degradation from respectful, is brilliantly done. I’ve written elsewhere about how good Falcon is with her body language and facial experssions, and that was on show yet again here. Falcon rakes Rhio’s eyes (seemingly by accident) and Rhio responds by hitting the referee with a piledriver in the confusion. Things finally start to break down between the two as Oscar Harding takes over as the referee. Rhio hits a ‘muscle buster’ and Falcon kicks out, Falcon hits her rope hung DDT and Rhio reaches the ropes. Oscar Harding is also knocked down in the confusion, Falcon using the title belt with no referee in sight. A third referee comes down and Falcon pins to win and retain.
Falcon spits on Rhio post match to further undelrine the break in their friendship. Great match between two of the best in the country.

Overall

I’ll get this out of the way to start with, thank god the audio issues have been fixed after what feels like a few years of complaining. Olie Spring no longer peaks his microphone and it has become infinitely more enjoyable to watch whilst wearing headphones. Big positive for that. The in ring lighting has noticeably improved although sadly it is almost entirely impossible to see any of the action once it heads into the crowd areas. Definitely something to sort out going forward, it was a plain black screen at some points.

Watching on delay did mean I was able to fast forward through the extraneous moments and the interval meaning it felt like a brisk show for me. Given I usually think PROGRES events are too long, this was a benefit to me.

The main event and the Atlas title match were my two standouts, because they both realigned things in the direction I was hoping they would go. Gene Munny as Atlas champ will be very entertaining, and Alexxis Falcon morphing into the ‘Wicked Bitch’ feels right. She’s a remarkable wrestler either way, but it jsut feels a bit more intriguing with her in this form. Elsewhere things were ticking along nicely, towards Super Strong Style 16, towards Lykos Gym’s dissension boiling over, towards wherever the Spike Trivet stuff is going. Not a blowaway show, but it built a lot and sometimes those shows are absolutely fine.