Jimmy Havoc & Mark Haskins vs The Origin (Nathan Cruz & Zack Gibson)
06/25/2017
Electric Ballroom, Camden, Greater London, England, United Kingdom
(reviewed 10/02/2017) Two of the best faces in PROGRESS facing the best heel and his friend! Good match here, one that feels like an actual match and not just a series of spots unloaded in a ring. The Origin do a great job isolating their individual opponents and wearing them down. Gibson, per usual, shines here, drawing heat like none other, doing little things like scratching at the scar tissue on Havoc’s shoulder from TOD just two weeks before, even drawing blood. Eventually Havoc and the birthday boy Haskins are able to make a comeback before long, being one of the more capable duos you could put together in PROGRESS, but in their exuberance they accidentally take out the referee while stomping on Cruz in the corner. They take advantage by introducing a steel chair, wrapped in wrapping paper for Haskins’ birthday. Before they’re able to use it, Gibson recovers and takes out Haskins before turning to Havoc with the chair. Seeing that the referee is stirring, Gibson tries to pull an Eddie Guerrero and fake a chairshot on himself before tossing the chair to Havoc just as the referee turns around, looking for a disqualification win. As he does so, the referee collapses again and Havoc just beats Gibson with the chair straight away. Brilliant stuff. Cruz comes and saves his partner and together they overwhelm Havoc before Haskins retrieves the steel chair. He goes to chuck it at Gibson but the Liverpudlian ducks and the chair careens into Havoc instead in a reversal of the situation from Chapter 49. In the confusion, Gibson’s able to roll up Haskins for the win. Lovely little match here, something heated and balanced and charming, something that so many matches try to achieve but fail miserably at.
Brock Hates Wrestling 