Sermon on the Mat (Aug. 17, 2017): RevPro, AIW, APW, CMLL, Freelance, NOVA, NJPW, DDT, Glory Pro, PWX, & WWR cards

Welcome back to the Sermon on the Mat, your weekly one-stop shop for news from the wider world of wrestling beyond the big cable TV monoliths that get all the coverage.

Coming soon...

RPW Summer Sizzler (August 17, 7:30PM GMT)

1. Eddie Dennis vs. Martin Stone
2. Dalton Castle vs. Zack Gibson
3. Bully Ray vs. Sha Samuels
4. Jay White vs. Travis Banks
5. Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) vs. Ryan Smile & Shane Strickland
6. Marty Scurll vs. Rey Mysterio
7. Josh Bodom (c) vs. Jushin Liger (RPW British Cruiserweight Championship)
8. Chris Brookes vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. (c) (RPW British Heavyweight Championship)

RevPro are back in York Hall to kick off a hell of a week of pro wrestling! More on the rest of that a few entries down, but this right here is quite enough for the moment. Is there a single match on that card that isn't an absurd dream match on at least some level? Like, I'll level with y'all, I'm not exactly stoked about the idea of Scurll/Mysterio, but that it's happening is absolutely bonkers, as they say.

Tickets are sold out (and the show begins just a few hours after Sermon goes live in any case), but you can always catch the action on RPW On Demand, where it'll be up within the week after it happens.

AIW Enter the 36 Cryonic Chambers (August 18, 7:30PM Eastern)

1. AJ Gray vs. Parker Pierce
2. Frankie Flynn vs. Kurt Hurtz
3. Joshua Bishop vs. Mance Warner
4. Chase Oliver, Garrison King, & Tre Lamar vs. Johnathan Wolf, Malcolm Monroe III, & Myron Reed
5. Production (Colby Redd & Derek Direction) vs. Weird World (Alex Kellar & Evan Adams)
6. The Duke vs. "Big" Twan Tucker
7. Philly Marino Experience (Marino Tenaglia & Philly Collins) vs. Young Studs (Bobby Beverly & Eric Ryan)
8. Dedication Personified (Brian Carson & Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham) vs. Jollyville Fuck-Its (Russ Myers & T-Money)
9. Dominic Garrini vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman
10. Glacier vs. Joey Janela

AIW are back in Mentor-on-the-Lake, Ohio and my god, do I even need to do the hard sell once you see that Glacier is going to wrestle Joey Janela? Like, yeah, it's an excellent looking card full of up-and-comers (and the Duke) beyond that, and in particular Garrini/MJF should be the proverbial hottest of fire, but... Janela and Glacier wrestling each other in the year of our lord 2017. It sells itself, or at least it should.

Get your tickets here or check the show out on Smart Mark Video, folks.

APW Civic Slam 2017 (August 18, 7:30PM Pacific)

1. Bison Braddock & Will Cuevas vs. Boyce LeGrande & Rik Luxury vs. Douglas James & Jake Atlas vs. Lion Power (Marcus Lewis & Will Hobbs)
2. Funny Bone & Sinn Bodhi vs. Jacob Fatu & Jungle Boy
3. "Hurricane" Shane Helms vs. Styker Ngongoseke
4. Black Armada (Papo Esco & Synn) (c) vs. Sons of Stockton (Bobby Hart & Daniel Torch)
5. Brian Cage vs. Willie Mack
6. Candice LeRae vs. Nicole Savoy
7. Karl Fredericks (c) vs. Tommy Dreamer (APW Internet Championship)
8. Matt Cross vs. Timothy Thatcher
9. Jeff Cobb (c) vs. Penta el Zero M (APW Universal Championship)

APW are in Stocton, California tomorrow and the hits keep coming! Just to zero in on two of the matches here, LeRae vs. Savoy should be a hoot of epic proportions, and Cross/Thatcher is the platonic ideal of the grappler/flyer matchup and should be quite excellent. And that's not even homing in on the rest of the Lucha Underground talent or the guys like Dreamer and Helms!

Get your tickets here or check their YouTube channel to see if it gets carved up into episodes of APW Weekly, folks.

CMLL Super Viernes (August 18, 9:30PM Eastern)

1. Astral & Robin vs. El Cholo & Espiritu Negro
2. Cancerbero, Raziel, & Universo 2000, Jr. vs. Esfinge, Fuego, & Stigma
3. Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, & Sanely vs. Metalica, Tiffany, & Zeuxis
4. Dragon Rojo, Jr. vs. Stuka, Jr. (Lightning Match)
5. Angel de Oro, Niebla Roja, & Soberano Jr. vs. Gran Guerrero & Los Hijos del Infierno (Ephesto & Mephisto)
6. Diamante Azul, El Valiente, & Volador, Jr. vs. Juice Robinson, Marco Corleone, & Matt Taven

CMLL are back with your weekly Friday night dose of lucha libre action and the International Gran Prix is here early with that main event! Stoked to see Juice kill it in Arena Mexico like he's been tearing it up in Japan. Plus what should be a pretty slick lightning match and nothing super disappointing on the undercard and this one feels like a winner.

Check it out, as always, free for nothin' on ClaroSports as long as they remember to take the region block off, or hit CMLL's Facebook page for another feed.

Freelance Blood Feud (August 18, 9PM Central)

1. Air Wolf vs. Alex Ohlson vs. Jake Parnell vs. Kevin Lee Davidson vs. Kody Rice vs. Sheik Khan Abadi (Scramble Match)
2. "All Ego" Ethan Page vs. Rob Matter
3. Arik Cannon vs. Suge D
4. Darin Corbin vs. Isaias Velazquez
5. Brubaker & Kobe Durst vs. Superiority Complex (Roy Gordon & Tony Nas) (c) vs. Team BETA (Craig Mitchell & Kenny Sutra) vs. Zero Gravity (Brett Gakiya & CJ Esparza) (Freelance Tag Team Championship)
6. GPA vs. Stevie Fierce (c) (Freelance Championship Falls Count Anywhere Match)

Freelance are in their home base of Chicago Illinois and this is exactly what it says on the the tin, folks. GPA and Stevie Fierce have been locked in mortal struggle over the Freelance Championship, and things only got more intense at Freelance vs. CZW II when Stevie cracked a mirror over GPA's head in the process of betraying Team Freelance. It's gonna be wild Falls Count Anywhere action from two of Chicago's finest for sure.

Get your tickets here or check it out when it hits Smart Mark Video.

NOVA Pro Cool For the Summer (August 18, 7:30PM Eastern)

1. Allie Kat vs. Brittany Blake
2. Ace Perry vs. AC Hawkes vs. Dale Patricks vs. Donovan Danhausen vs. Isaiah Frazier vs. Sage Phillips
3. Arik Royal & Chet Sterling vs. Ugly Ducklings (Lance Lude & Rob Killjoy)
4. Chip Day vs. John Kermon
5. Fred Yehi vs. Tim Donst
6. Chuck Taylor™ & Veda Scott vs. Faye Jackson & Innocent Isaiah
7. Angelus Layne vs. Keith Lee
8. Brandon Greene vs. "Progressive Liberal" Daniel Richards
9. Carnies (Kerry Awful, Nick Iggy, & Tripp Cassidy) vs. the One Percent (Alexander James, Bobby Shields, & Logan Easton LaRoux)

NOVA Pro are back in Annandale, Virginia and as always our NOVA expert Duke (now on Twitter, toss the man a follow!) has a rundown of the show for us, folks.

Note to self: never, ever, EVER try to cripple the promoter of a company. Angelus Layne will find out the hard way that throwing a fireball in the face of a man who can put you in any match he wants can produce cool and unusual punishment as NOVA Pro prepares to bask in the glory of a righteous angel of vengeance. Elsewhere, Faye Jackson and Veda Scott continue their rivalry with new tag partners. Faye gets NOVA Pro darling Innocent Isaiah, while Veda teams up with Chuck Taylor… no, not the sexy one.

The other one. Daniel Richards’ "Hillary Clinton Superfan" gimmick has been making waves in the Mid-Atlantic, and now he brings it against a man who thinks being rich means the rules don’t apply to him. Expect massive amounts of banter in this one. John Kermon and Tim Donst continue their all-challengers routine, trading off opponents from their June show — now Donst gets Yehi and Kermon gets Day.

Topping it off is a battle between two heel factions that proves that uneasy alliances will fall apart. The Carnies loaned Tripp Cassidy to Logan’s One Percent to help with his battle to fend off Arik Royal, but after being treated less as a teammate and more as a hired gun, Cassidy walked out. Neither side is happy with the development, and both have promised to destroy the other. Throw in a tag match that looks like Rock and Sock vs. The Hardys on the NOVA Pro level, plus a wild six-way and another women’s match, and Cool for the Summer could blow the roof off of the VFD, especially with rumors of a sellout crowd.

Get your tickets here or check the show out when it hits Smart Mark Video, folks.

CMLL / NJPW / RPW / ROH War of the Worlds UK (August 18-20)

—London (August 18, 7PM GMT)—

1. Mark Briscoe vs. Ryan Smile
2. Jay Briscoe vs. Kenny King
3. Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) vs. Los Guerreros del Infierno (Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero)
4. Bully Ray vs. Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young vs. Sha Samuels
5. Dalton Castle & the Boys (Brandon & Brent) (c) vs. Delirious, Jushin Liger, & Mistico (ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship)
6. KUSHIDA (c) vs. Titan (ROH World Television Championship)
7. Bullet Club (Adam Page, Cody Rhodes, Marty Scurll, Matt Jackson, & Nick Jackson) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito)

—Liverpool (August 19, 6PM GMT)—

1. Mark Haskins vs. Silas Young
2. Adam Page vs. Kenny King
3. Jay Lethal vs. Josh Bodom
4. Los Guerreros del Infierno (Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero) vs. Mistico & Titan
5. Bully Ray & the Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL, & Tetsuya Naito)
6. Dalton Castle vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA (c) vs. Marty Scurll (ROH World Television Championship)
7. Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) vs. Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) (c) (ROH World Tag Team Championship)
8. Cody Rhodes (c) vs. SANADA (ROH World Championship)

—Edinburgh (August 20, 7:30PM GMT)—

1. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Mark Haskins
2. Josh Bodom vs. Kenny King
3. KUSHIDA, Mistico, & Titan vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito)
4. Bully Ray vs. EVIL
5. Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) vs. Los Guerreros del Infierno (Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero)
6. Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young (Edinburgh Street Fight)
7. Bullet Club (Adam Page, Matt Jackson, & Nick Jackson) vs. Dalton Castle & the Boys (Brandon & Brent) (c) (ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship)
8. Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) vs. Bullet Club (Cody Rhodes & Marty Scurll)

War of the Worlds is coming to the UK and it's bigger than ever, folks, with all four promotions under the NJPW/ROH axis represented this time out. Quick hit highlights, for me, include Mark Haskins pulling the magic trick of working for Evolve and ROH in consecutive weekends, including what should be a barnburner against Hiromu Takahashi, basically everything the Briscoes are doing, and that oddball team challenging for the six-man tag titles on night one.

Get your tickets here, or you can catch the Liverpool show on iPPV, or just wait for VODs, which SHOULD end up on NJPW World and RPW On Demand in addition to ROH's a la carte system, although those may well be region-locked.

DDT Ryogoku Peter Pan (August 20, 3PM JST)

1. Kouki Iwasaki & Yuki Ino vs. Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ueno
2. Azusa Takigawa vs. Maho Kurone (c) vs. Marika Kobashi vs. Miyu Yamashita vs. Mizuki vs. Rika Tatsumi vs. Shoko Nakajima vs. Yuka Sakazaki vs. Yuna Manase vs. Yuu (DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship Battle Royal)
3. Team Oishi (Ken Ohka, Lady Beard, LiLiCo, Makoto Oishi, & Super Sasadango Machine) vs. Team Owashi (Kazuki Hirata, Joey Ryan, Saki Akai, Toru Owashi, & Yoshihiko) (KO-D Ten Man Tag Team Championship)
4. Kaz Hayashi & Keisuke Ishii vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Soma Takao vs. MAO & "Speedball" Mike Bailey vs. Yankee Two Kenju (Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto)
5. Jiro Kuroshio vs. Shunma Katsumata
6. Antonio Honda, Dick Togo, & Yasu Urano vs. Shuten Doji (KUDO, Masahiro Takanishi, & Yukio Sakaguchi) (c) (KO-D Six-Man Tag Team Championship)
7. Akito vs. Daisuke Sasaki (c) (DDT Extreme Championship Hair vs. Hair Match)
8. Danshoku Dino vs. Sanshiro Takagi
9. HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kazusada Higuchi & Shigehiro Irie (c) (KO-D Tag Team Championship)
10. Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Tetsuya Endo (KO-D Openweight Championship)

It's long overdue but we're finally welcoming DDT here to Sermon on the Mat now that their biggest show of the year is coming up! Traditionally these last few years Ryogoku Peter Pan has featured a few big names from New Japan, but this time they're going it light, "just" bringing NOAH's Marufuji in to challenge for the KO-D Tag Team Championship alongside DDT ace HARASHIMA. Plus Dick Togo and Mike Bailey in action, the prospect of Joey Ryan wrestling Lady Beard, one of their trademark Ironman Heavymetalweight battle royals, and it's all pretty exciting.

Check it out on DDT Universe, folks.

Glory Pro Sleep When We’re Dead (August 20, 3PM Central)

1. Aaron Dzinic vs. Barackus vs. Gary Jay vs. Jake Parnell vs. Matt Kenway vs. Matt Knicks vs. Trey Miguel vs. Tyler Matrix
2. Hakim Zane vs. Zachary Wentz
3. Austin Theory vs. Chuck Taylor vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Sean Orleans
4. Jake Something vs. Jeff Cobb vs. Kevin Lee Davidson
5. "All Ego" Ethan Page vs. Space Monkey
6. Danny Adams vs. Paco Gonzales (Dog Collar Match)
7. Curt Stallion vs. Fred Yehi
8. Besties in the World (Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett) (c) vs. Everett Connors & Michael Elgin (United Glory Championship)
9. Alex Daniels vs. Myron Reed (c) (Crown of Glory Championship)

Big Mike Elgin's Glory Pro is back in Alton, Illinois and at long last, Elgin has booked himself in a title match! Jokes aside, it's a really strong card with a great mix between big names and rising figures, the kind of show where you tune in, say, to see Fred Yehi and you walk away with a few new favorites. What's more, the winners of Adams/Gonzales and Stallion/Yehi will go on to a #1 contender's match for the Crown of Glory Championship at the next Glory Pro show!

Get your tickets here or check it out when it hits Smart Mark Video, folks.

PWX Eye of the Beholder (August 20, 3PM Eastern)

1. James Drake vs. Joshua Cutshall
2. High Profile (Shea Shea McGrady & Will Demented) vs. the Syndicate (TJ Boss & Timmy Lou Retton)
3. Black Cloud vs. Chip Day vs. Ethan Case (X16 Qualifying Match)
4. Corey Hollis vs. Sugar Dunkerton
5. Pop Culture (Jason Cade & Veda Scott) vs. Ugly Ducklings (Lance Lude & Rob Killjoy)
6. ACH vs. Tracer X
7. Darius Lockhart vs. Elijah Evans IV (c) (PWX iTV Championship)
8. Anthony Henry (c) vs. John Skyler vs. Martin Stone vs. Matt Riddle (PWX World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Match)

PWX are back in the Cabarrus Arena in Concord, North Carolina with yet another stacked show for us. From that crazy elimination four-way through to Tracer X taking on a titan of the indie flyers in ACH, to Hollis/Dunkerton, a match that may not even end up happening if Corey's bad attitude continues to take hold, it's gonna be pretty sweet.

Get your tickets here, or best of all, check it out live on iPPV through FITE, or just wait for it to go up on Highspots Wrestling Network, folks.

WWR The Show Must Go On (August 20, 3PM Eastern)

1. Gabi Castrovinci vs. Sonya Strong
2. Davienne vs. Maria Manic
3. Team Adams (Karen Q & Tasha Steelz) vs. Team Sea Stars (Ashley Vox & Delmi Exo)
4. Alexxis Nevaeh & Taeler Hendrix vs. Twisted Sisterz (Holidead & Thunder Rosa)
5. Jordynne Grace vs. Priscilla Kelly (c) (Shine Nova Championship)
6. Awesome Kong vs. Deonna Purrazzo

Empty spaces, what are we living f-- er, right, wrestling show, not the last great Queen song! Anyway, WWR Pro are back in Providence, Rhode Island after a bit of time off. They've not announced the full card as I type this, but what we have is pretty great sounding, especially Kong/Purrazzo and Kelly/Grace (with Shine gold on the line, no less!).

Get your tickets here, or check it out when it hits Beyondemand, folks.

Free matches here!

Mia Yim vs. Shayna Baszler

From the fine folks over at AIW, we have some excellent women's action here. Yim was for the longest time the only woman in AIW that could put Baszler away, and you can see how it all started right here with their match from Girls Night Out 17. Check it out!

Donovan Dijak vs. Keith Lee

Beyond's Dijak Week rolled on! They also uploaded a Tall Don vs. Biff "Oney Lorcan" Busick that you can check out right here, but who am I to turn down an entry in one of the hottest big man feuds in recent memory? Lee vs. Dijak from the aptly-named GIGANTIC, don't miss it!

Dominic Garrini vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman

From the good people over at Tier 1 Wrestling, you don't have to wait for AIW because they did you the courtesy of putting their Garrini/MJF up free for nothin'! Enjoy!

Results

Evolve 90 / 91 (August 11-12)

—Evolve 90 (August 11)—

1. Troll Boyz (ACH & "All Ego" Ethan Page) over Doom Patrol (Chris Dickinson & Jaka)
2. Darby Allin over Craig Mitchell
3. Austin Theory over Jason Kincaid
4. WorkHorsemen (Anthony Henry & James Drake) (c) over Rory Gulak & "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams to retain the Evolve Tag Team Championship
5. Keith Lee over Timothy Thatcher
6. WALTER (c) over Fred Yehi to retain the Progress Atlas Division Championship
7. Matt Riddle over Lio Rush

—Evolve 91 (August 12)—

1. "All Ego" Ethan Page over ACH
2. Darby Allin over Timothy Thatcher
3. WorkHorsemen (Anthony Henry & James Drake) (c) over Fred Yehi & Jason Kincaid to retain the Evolve Tag Team Championship
4. Mark Haskins over Austin Theory
5. Doom Patrol (Chris Dickinson & Jaka) over South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper & Travis Banks)
6. Matt Riddle (c) over Keith Lee, "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams, and WALTER to retain the WWN Championship

As always when I have a recap to point you to, I'll go ahead and do that (Evolve 90, 91), but suffice it to say Evolve had a fine weekend. 90 was a bit more uneven but still capped off with a few dynamite matches, but 91 was a really enjoyable show top to bottom. And in an unusual note for Evolve, I'd like to single out the tag division, which had a lot of one-offs in it this weekend, but was still fire, and in no small part due to the efforts of tag champs the WorkHorsemen, who have really quickly gelled to be one of the best tag teams going today.

Check the VODs out on FloSlam, folks.

Progress: New York City & Boston (August 12-13)

—Progress: New York City (August 12)—

1. Jack Gallagher over Zack Gibson
2. Deonna Purrazzo & Jinny over Dahlia Black & Dakota Kai
3. Timothy Thatcher over Donovan Dijak to become #1 contender to the Progress Atlas Division Championship
4. Jimmy Havoc over Joey Janela (No Disqualification Match)
5. Mark Haskins over Austin Theory, Keith Lee, and Mark Andrews
6. British Strong Style (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) (c) vs. South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper & Travis Banks) went to a no contest (Progress Tag Team Championship)
7. Travis Banks over British Strong Style (Handicap Match)
8. Matt Riddle over WALTER (c) to win the Progress Atlas Division Championship

—Progress: Boston (August 13)—

1. Jeff Cobb over Mark Andrews
2. Dakota Kai over Deonna Purrazzo and Jinny
3. Jack Gallagher over Travis Banks
4. Matt Riddle over Martin Stone
5. Jimmy Havoc over Zack Gibson
6. British Strong Style (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) (c) over Ringkampf (Timothy Thatcher & WALTER) to retain the Progress Tag Team Championship

As always when we're looking at a show I'll be recapping, I like to keep it show, but not as always, I'm gonna pass the stage to Chris Colgan (drop him a follow on Twitter!), who was at the New York show and has a great big ol' pile of thoughts for us!

Tasked with following up a stellar Evolve show in the same building with less than an hour between shows, Progress certainly did not disappoint in their New York debut. The crowd was insane from the get-go, despite the oppressive heat (apparently the building’s air conditioning broke down at some point during the day). These fans were familiar with the product and knew the cardinal rule every time Jim Smallman asked us for it - “Don’t be a dick!”

Smallman himself acted as ring announcer for the show and started off by reminding us of Pete Dunne’s unfortunate injury from the previous night’s Battle Club Pro show. Dunne himself came out and proceeded to run down the crowd, telling us that he wouldn’t have performed here even if he was healthy. He then proclaimed that he owned New York, Progress, and WWE.

This brought out Dunne’s previously scheduled opponent for the evening, Gentleman Jack Gallagher. After a few excellent quips (“You own WWE? That’s funny, because I don’t remember seeing you at TV last week!”), Gallagher asked for a handshake agreement to do the WWE UK title match on a later date. Dunne slapped Gallagher’s hand away and left, prompting the Gentleman to request a new opponent for the evening since he was ready to go.

Zack Gibson answered the call, but the thunderous boos and “Zack is Crap!” chants he received rendered his promo response all but inaudible. They had the match right then and there, a fun sprint that saw Jack fight through Gibson’s vicious offense to land multiple headbutts and win off a top rope elbow and corner dropkick.

Women’s tag action came next - Jinny and Deonna Purrazzo versus Dahlia Black and Dakota Kai. The crowd was ridiculously loud for both New Zealanders, and Jinny received the appropriate level of boos that the Fashionista would be accustomed to in London. The match itself saw Dahlia play face-in-peril as Jinny and Deonna worked over her previously injured leg, with Dakota being the house of fire hot tag. In a surprising turn of events, though, it was Deonna Purrazzo scoring the pinfall victory on Dakota Kai, following a draping neckbreaker.

Deonna was the most impressive in this match, which is no slight against the other three women involved, as all of them were great. But Deonna showed a lot more of her arsenal than many fans would expect of her, and proved that she belongs as more than just a jobber to the stars in NXT.

Following this, we got a #1 contender’s match for the Atlas Division title between Timothy Thatcher and Donovan Dijak. Very interesting clash of styles here, as Thatcher tried to ground Dijak with his extensive mat-based skill, while Dijak attempted to weather the storm to land his big power moves. Dijak looked to have things well in hand, but a distraction from Stokely Hathaway allowed Thatcher to knock Dijak to the ground and slap on the Fujiwara Armbar for the win. Fun match, even though I’m not the biggest fan of Thatcher (Rev’s note: Well, nobody’s perfect!), and a great sign of things to come as Tall Don concludes the Farewell Feast and heads to the Performance Center.

The first half of the show ended with a match not for the squeamish - Jimmy Havoc versus “Bad Boy” Joey Janela in a No Disqualification match. Chairs, tables, a giant plank of wood, thumb tacks, and cinder blocks all came into play during this hellacious match. How these men survived the match without profuse bleeding or internal injuries is beyond even me. The closing sequence involved Havoc removing Janela’s boots and socks, taking a bite out of each of Janela’s big toes (to which the crowd chanted the customary “You sick fuck!”), and launching him feet-first onto the thumb tacks, following it up with a German suplex onto the cinder blocks. One Acid Rainmaker later, it was time for cleanup and intermission.

The second half of the show was supposed to start with a triple threat pitting Mark Andrews, Mark Haskins, and Zack Gibson against each other. However, with Gibson having already competed earlier, he was replaced in the match by the equally-hated Austin Theory, making his Progress debut. Once all three were in the ring, though, Jim Smallman announced that they had decided on the fly to make the match a Fatal Four-Way, given that it was such a big night. Out came Keith Lee to deafening cheers and the shock of the other three competitors.

Understandably, big chunks of this match thus featured Lee being double- and triple-teamed by his smaller opponents, as they tried to prevent the Friendly Fellow from bringing his power to bear too much. This match featured a lot of crazy spots, including an insane Tower of Doom involving Lee, Theory, and Andrews. In the end, though, this match ended the same as the Haskins-Theory bout in Evolve from earlier in the day, with Theory tapping out Haskins’ Sharpshooter.

Next was supposed to be a match for the Progress Tag Team Championship between South Pacific Power Trip and British Strong Style. However, that bout ended early after TK Cooper attempted a corkscrew moonsault from the top rope to the floor and landed horribly. Cooper suffered a serious injury to his right ankle and had to be carried to the back.

Running hot on emotion after seeing his friend’s injury, though, Travis Banks requested a handicap match against Tyler Bate and Trent Seven, declaring that it was about family, not the titles. What followed was a hellacious bout that saw Banks fight through the trickery of BSS (including a low blow from Seven while the referee was busy ejecting Pete Dunne from ringside) to get the pinfall victory and build up his title match against Dunne next month.

The main event was an Atlas Division Championship match between Matt Riddle and WALTER. If you’ve ever heard the sound of a meat tenderizer hitting a slab of pork, then you know most of what you need to know about this match, because that’s what it sounded like every time WALTER delivered a chop to the chest of Riddle. WALTER’s power is scary, and he thwarted many comeback attempts by Bro with ease. However, eventually Bro found an opening, and started to wear the big man down. It took three Bro 2 Sleeps and a lot of other crazy offense, but eventually Riddle was able to lock in the Bromission and secure his second Atlas Division title reign.

All in all, Progress NYC was a spectacular show, and I already can’t wait for them to come back to New York again. The announcement that Progress would be running two shows during Wrestlemania weekend also makes it even harder to resist booking a trip to New Orleans. If you will be in that area during Mania season, make a point of attending both Progress shows. You will NOT be disappointed.

Check 'em out when they go up on Demand Progress, folks.

Beyond Bye Bye Beautiful (August 13)

1. Wheeler YUTA over Rory Gulak
2. EYFBO (Angel Ortiz & Mike Draztik) vs. Mike Verna & Ryan Galeone by disqualification
3. JT Dunn over Martin Stone
4. Brandon Watts over Zenshi
5. Doom Patrol (Chris Dickinson & Jaka) over Chosen Bros (Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle)
6. John Silver over Zack Gibson
7. Travis Banks over "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams
8. Donovan Dijak over WALTER

Would you believe that I only just put together that Dijak is the beautiful Beyond is saying goodbye to with the title of the show? Wordplay is hard sometimes, folks.

Anyway, the big takeaways here, beyond (heh) Dijak saying goodbye with a win over the (former) Atlas Champion, have got to be Zack Gibson making his Beyond debut and getting all the thunderous boos he's accustomed to as he proclaimed his intention to be Beyond's #1, as well as Banks/Williams, which just sounds like an absolute blast.

Check it out on Beyondemand, folks.

As always...

Remember folks, no matter what type of wrestling you like, no matter how down you feel about the state of WWE, Impact, ROH, or any other "big-time" pro wrestling, there's something out there for you. There's a pro wrestling product that can hit you in the right spot and make you love wrestling like you thought you'd never be able to love it again. It's there, I promise. You just gotta reach out and find it, and that, my friends, is what the Sermon on the Mat is all about.