Who doesn’t love a wrestling tournament? Especially one that lasts the whole of a (hopefully) balmy May Bank Holiday weekend? There is rarely a better thing than enjoying some of the good graps, storylines and angles thrown out by a showcase trio of events as favourites level all in their path, upsets occur and dark horses arise from the shadows.
PROGRESS Super Strong Style 16 is still the premier European wrestling tournament and one that competes in terms of notoriety with the best in the world. The movement of talent to ‘greener pastures’ has meant that the bookers have had to dig deep into their playbooks in order to find the right talent for the weekend, leaving us with an interesting mixture of PROGRESS veterans, upcoming talent and interesting fly-ins from around the globe. This also has left many people feeling that the tournament is wide open as there is definitely no clear standout winner who is head and shoulders above the others.
With the brackets having been announced earlier in the week, we at least know the way things look in the first round and the paths that need to be negotiated to reach the final. With this in mind, I will be running through the first round matches, offering my thoughts, feelings and the odd prediction as I try and work out who will be the one man left standing by the end on Monday’s show.
Chris Brookes versus Ilja Dragunov
Dragunov had looked to become more of a fixture in a PROGRESS ring at the end of 2018, yet hasn’t been seen since a victory over Timothy Thatcher in January. During Dragunov’s time in the promotion, Brookes has been in and around both the World and Tag Team Title pictures, but has generally come out on the short end when all is said and done. Brookes went out in the first round at 16 Carat Gold at wXw’s premier weekend tournament, and I can’t really see any other way for things to play out other than a Dragunov victory. The Russian is a dark horse in the tournament, as much as someone who beat Tyler Bate can be. However, it is worth noting that he has already lost to Travis Banks in a PROGRESS ring at the tail end of last year.
Trevor Lee versus Aerostar
Two newcomers to the PROGRESS ring, Trevor Lee and Aerostar meet in an interesting mix of styles in the opening round. Lee has been a bit of an under-the-radar independent hero for a while with his performances in CWF Mid-Atlantic, though he admittedly has raised his head above the parapet with a recent signing to WWE. Aerostar will be familiar to those who don’t follow AAA due to stints in Lucha Underground and matches in CHIKARA amongst other US promotions In recent months, Aerostar won AAA Rey de Reyes, meaning he is another star with pedigree in these knockout tournaments. To me, Aerostar has a feeling of someone who is booked for their potential across the weekend – a wild body to throw themselves around in a tag match or a scramble. Have to go with Trevor Lee on this one.
Travis Banks versus DJZ
The former PROGRESS World Heavyweight Champion has maintained some momentum over the past six months, alongside rejoining TK Cooper and aligning himself with NIWA, another wrestler from New Zealand. With the support of his countrymen and his willingness to bend the rules to suit his needs, Banks is a viable winner of the whole tournament. DJ Z has impressed me personally when it comes to his appearances at numerous Wrestlemania Weekend shows over the past couple of years, whilst he also already has a win over Angelico in the promotion. His talent has also seen him signed to the WWE, so is definitely a talent to keep an eye on. However, Banks is the name here and he will free DJ Z up to impress us at other points of the weekend.
Artemis Spencer versus David Starr
Spencer is an experience veteran of the Canadian wrestling circuit who has already joined PROGRESS on one of their American tours. Unfortunately for him, he is facing a man that I legitimately believe has a claim to be one of the best in the world at the moment. David Starr has hit 2019 out of the park so far, with the only thing really holding him back in this tournament potentially being his lack of involvement with the promotion up until now – is he ‘name’ enough to win their biggest tournament? Whatever the case, he is definitely making it through to round two.
Kyle O’Reilly versus Chris Ridgeway
This is the one big conundrum match for me. On one hand, you have O’Reilly coming over from WWE/NXT and is a big name that carries a significant amount of cache for the promotion and the fans who are likely to attend. Do you bring him over to lose in the first round? On the other hand, Ridgeway has challenged recently for the PROGRESS World Heavyweight Title in February. Admittedly, it was a losing effort, but Ridgeway has felt like someone who is primed to be escalated to the top of a premier British promotion for a little while now. What better to do than to win SSS16? Still, I’m going to have to plump for O’Reilly here – where this leaves Ridgeway will be interesting to see.
Darby Allin versus Paul Robinson
Darby Allin is a wrestler who has grown to usurp Jack Evans circa his ROH run as the guy historically that I’ve enjoyed watching get beaten up the most. Paul Robinson is a guy who likes to beat people up and call the crowd a bunch of c*nts whilst doing it. This is the type of match you don’t realise you want until it is thrown into your laps in this fashion. Allin will valiantly get eliminated, before perhaps having other things to do at the weekend – perhaps in a wild fight opposite Havoc on Night Three? Just putting that one out there.
Lucky Kid versus Jordan Devlin
This is one that pains me. There are very few wrestlers that I enjoy watching more than Lucky Kid, especially as my wXw viewing charted his growth since his breakout match against Timothy Thatcher at 16 Carat 2018 all the way to his win at 16 Carat 2019. He has the tournament pedigree, but Devlin is just a hotter property at the moment pretty much across the board. His work in OTT and involvement with NXT UK makes him feel like a viable winner, which is sometimes the main thing that matters. If Brookes goes out Round 1 as well, at least we might get some CCBLAAAAH at another point of the weekend. I can but hope.
Kyle Fletcher versus Daga
Daga is probably the wrestler on across the weekend that I have the least amount of knowledge about. A wrestler for AAA, Daga did grace a few of the Wrestlemania Weekender shows and looked to be a decent enough high flyer, perfect for this type of event. Seeing Fletcher in here without Mark Davis somewhere is definitely interesting, especially as it would appear that Fletcher is at least going to make it to day two. I’ve seen people tip Fletcher as someone with an outside chance of going far, though I feel that an exit on day two to set up a tag team match on Monday might be more likely to occur.
And the winner is…
Having offered suggestions as to who I believe will make the second round, I’m going to put my neck on the line and name who I think will win the Super Strong Style 16 tournament. On one side, it comes down to Starr or Dragunov making the final, whilst I think Devlin is the guy on the other side of the bracket. With that being said, I’m going with Devlin to beat Dragunov in the final, opposing my heart which feels that the promotion might stick Starr in to go against Devlin due to their high profile feud in recent months over in OTT.
Non-tournament Action
Saturday
WALTER © versus Trent Seven © (PROGRESS World Title versus Atlas Championship Unification Match)
Having started off well, the ATLAS title has faltered in recent times, not helped by the lack of viable opponents on the UK scene at this time. This match will end it as a championship, subsuming it into the PROGRESS World title in the process. A potential belter of a match is on the cards as both men can dish out and take a lot of punishment, though I don’t think Seven is the guy who should be beating WALTER at this time. With a guy like WALTER, a victory can be used to really make a guy in a promotion, something I don’t feel Seven needs. It won’t surprise me if Seven comes out of the tournament weekend with the PROGRESS World Title, but it isn’t what I am expecting or particularly want to happen.
Mark Haskins, El Ligero, Jimmy Havoc, Mark Andrews versus Do Not Resuscitate (Drew Parker, Spike Trivet, Chuck Mambo and Bill Eaver) – No DQ match
A world away from the action of the tournament sees a potentially wild eight man tag team contest in which the young upstarts of DNR try and defeat the PROGRESS stalwarts. It does somewhat provoke contradictory feelings: being the heel team, we should want DNR to lose, yet it would make more sense from a promotional perspective for the younger upcomers to go over, especially when the veteran team are now spread far and wide in their endeavours away from the company. If I had to put my neck on the line, I think Haskins et al wins. However, this will be a fun distraction from the rest of the weekend’s events.
Sunday
Jordynne Grace © versus Millie McKenzie versus Nina Samuels versus Jinny/Session Moth Martina (PROGRESS Women’s Title Match)
The winner of a qualifying match between Jinny and Martina on Saturday gets added to the four way contest for Grace’s women’s title on Sunday. For whatever reason, Grace hasn’t been in a position to defend her title since winning it, which makes me think that they are unlikely to have someone who could potentially be so dominant lose it on the first go around. It would have been nicer to have a clear build to a heated women’s match (a la Killer Kelly versus Toni Storm at 16 Carat Gold), but it could be a good way to remind people exactly what Grace is capable of. A sneaky outside feeling from me has Martina perhaps winning the whole thing if Grace is unable to retain the gold.
Jimmy Havoc’s Farewell Match
Your mileage may vary on Havoc as an in-ring performer, but it is hard to argue that the man hasn’t given his all to entertain the fans. With MLW and AEW both taking a punt on Havoc, this is officially his last match in the promotion and is against an as-yet-unnamed opponent. This could mean that they are involved in the tournament, in which case I’m pulling for a wild brawl with Darby Allin, or it could just mean that they have a big surprise lined up. Whispers have suggested that Zack Sabre Jr. might fit the criteria for a mystery opponent who ties in with Havoc’s wrestler career – I guess we’ll just have to wait to find out.
There you have it. A comprehensive preview of what should be three days of barnstorming wrestling action that will no doubt offer plenty to talk about.
