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MANY wrestlers are living the dream in the UK, but the same could be said of several promoters too.
When Progress supremo Jim Smallman walked around Brixton Academy, he was the first to admit that staging a show in the iconic South London music venue once seemed like a pipe dream.
But it’s happening this month on the 25th and it will be the biggest Progress venture to date.
“Even when we first had a look round the venue, we sort of went: ‘Wow. This is a nice little dream but it’s not going to happen,” says the stand-up comedian and compere for the Strong Style London promotion.
“If we didn’t have such loyal fans who were willing to travel from all over the country and all over Europe – indeed, all over the world – to come and see our shows, then we wouldn’t have a shot at somewhere as huge as Brixton.”
And huge is the word. From small beginnings in Highbury’s Garage, Progress have upgraded to their regular monthly home of Camden’s Electric Ballroom, and have spread their wings to Manchester and beyond in recent times.
Old school 90s grunge heads like FT will recognise a particular symmetry in those venues. Progress have always been candid about having an underground, adult edge to their product, so the Brixton Academy, where we all moshed about in our youth, is a natural progression.
“It’s always been an underground movement,” agrees Jim. “So to be able to graduate to a venue that’s housed amazing music gigs, to put on our brand of wrestling there, just fits in with how British wrestling is being reflected at the minute.”
That element of “cool” has been touched on here in recent times with several wrestlers. Jim argues that Progress has set its roots in a formerly anaemic London scene precisely because the people running the company are fans themselves.
Passionate
He says: “It’s organic because I’m one of them. Most of our fans are going to look a little bit like me. They’re a similar age to me, they’re going to be as tattooed like me, they’ll be dressed the same as me.
“I think what we’ve been really lucky with is that for every show we do, there are 700 people who are all on board and want to support British wrestling.”
FT can’t say for certain whether lifelong Leicester City fan Jim has in fact returned from cloud nine since May, but he is also celebrating the birth of his son, a couple of weeks old at press time. Congratulations!
We muse on the efforts Progress go to to engender a family feel – their fans belong to a committed, passionate, alternative group. Their ProJo training school is bringing through a raft of new talent. The best workers in the independent scene are keen to sample the atmosphere.
WWE-bound Tomasso Ciampa will wrestle his final UK independent date against Zack Sabre Jr but he’s the only import from across the Pond in Brixton. His pedigree at Progress shows is long standing.
Tommy End, yes, a Dutchman by birth, is as much a fixture of the UK scene as anyone, and the main event between him and the excellent Marty Scurll and Mark Haskins, above, certainly whets the whistle.
The first Atlas champion will be either Joe Coffey or Rampage Brown.
And as well as that we will have London Riots against Trent Seven, and Pete Dunne for the tag straps; a six-woman tag match; and a huge eight-man take with El Ligero, Zack Gibson, Nathan Cruise and Dave Mastiff vs. Mark Andrews, Eddie Denis, Jack Gallagher and Damon Moser. It really is the best of British.
In closing we pay tribute to the outstanding Jimmy Havoc, whose championship reign has a huge amount to do with the fact Progress have the opportunity at all.
Jim says: “If I quit wrestling tomorrow, the two-year story arc that Jimmy had would be the thing I would be most proud to be associated with. The way he handled himself and carried himself as our champion was wonderful.”