It truly is an amazing time in the world of professional wrestling.
The global scene has become easily accessible to fans through streaming services, YouTube and various other video platforms, and social media. There’s no more tape trading, or downloading matches from less than reputable websites. Now, within an instant a fan can watch the latest from WWE, the American indies, Japan, Mexico, and the U.K. — all within the span of an hour.
One of the companies that has benefitted from all this is Progress Wrestling, based out of the United Kingdom (London to be precise). The company, run by friends Jim Smallman, Jon Briley, and Glenn Joseph, is undoubtedly one of the hottest companies in an incredibly talent-laden, and extremely exciting wrestling scene.
The company’s punk rock ethos — a DIY spirit combined with a strong sense of community and inclusion — combined with its all-star level talent pool, and top-notch booking, has propelled it into the worldwide scene as well. The company’s passion, and love for wrestling can be felt on every show. It exudes from the wrestlers to the announcers to the fans and can be felt in every other aspect of the company from the merchandise to show graphics…to even show concepts like their wild 1978 show, or their annual “Unboxing” event.
It’s this love, and enthusiasm for wrestling that makes each and every Progress show stand out as an elite, must-see event. This hype has propelled them to the forefront of the global wrestling scene — including a legitimate coast-to-coast tour of the United States in August. Oh, that tour is right before their tour of Germany, and a massive show in Wembley Arena.
Recently, we had the honor to speak with Jim Smallman — Progress’ ring announcer, and co-owner, about the coast-to-coast tour. Jim tells us about the decision to tour America, the talent we’ll be seeing, kicking the tour off at the former ECW Arena, and he even quells people’s fears over World of Sport and NXT UK and their impact on the U.K. scene.
Progress is undoubtedly one of, if not the hottest wrestling companies in the U.K. right now. You’re running big venues, and every single show is a literal gathering of all-stars. So, what inspired you guys to make the decision to tour Progress literally across the United States of America? A lot of companies in your position would probably focus more on their home base and not decide to go to another continent and run shows.
We’ve always had a lot of subscribers to demand-progress.com from the USA. So, in 2017 we decided to do shows in Orlando, New York and Boston and we were blown away by the support we got for those shows. Since then, and since New Orleans this year, we’ve been repeatedly asked to go to certain cities in the States and we want to be able to give our fans there shows to attend whilst the company is doing relatively well! It’s amazing to get the opportunity to do this, and whilst we still have a lot of shows in the UK to concentrate on too, we enjoy challenges like this and being as busy as we can be.
We’re still about a month out from the tour (and you’ve got a number of shows in the UK to do) — how do you (and your partners Jon Briley and Glen Joseph) feel about this ambitious endeavor to the U.S.? Nerves, or are you guys just excited to get there?
I don’t tend to get nervous about these tours, just excited. I’m getting to see cities that I’ve never been to before and genuinely can’t wait to meet our fans out there. I’m more eager to get started than anything else, and we’re finalizing the cards as we speak and that’s only making me more excited.
You’ll be splitting the shows with Evolve, except in Seattle when you work with Defy. How important have these two companies been in making this tour happen?
Super important. They know the venues and local markets and things like that which we would struggle with. Plus they’re great companies that we get on super well with; we enjoy their products as fans so it’s great to work with them. They also get what we’re about and understand where our shows would work, which is really cool.
The roster for this tour was announced recently via social media — and it is absolutely stacked with talent. However, since you are sharing shows with Evolve, and Defy [in Seattle] — will be seeing any U.S.-based competitors on these shows?
Oh yes. We always love having the opportunity to see American talent on our shows, whether its wrestlers that we’ve seen before or getting a chance to see new talent with an eye on our shows in the UK like Super Strong Style 16.
[Editor’s Note: As of this publication, non-European talent announced include: Rickey Shane Page, Flamita, Bandido, Rey Horrus, LAX, and Progress regular “The Product” David Starr.]
Also in regards to the roster. Fans will know Tyler Bate, or Pete Dunne, or Toni Storm and many others due to appearing on WWE programming. Who is a talent/are talents, who are on this show that you think people are going to be blown away by on these U.S. shows?
I think the USA getting to see CCK – Chris Brookes and Kid Lykos – for the first time will blow their minds. They’re a great team and both wonderful individual wrestlers too. I know people have been excited by the roster we’re bringing over, as we wanted to bring over as many people as possible. Some won’t be doing every show, and I know some guys are more well known than others in the states, but everyone will leave a lasting impression over there.
One of the big announcements that came, seemingly out of nowhere, was that Progress locked in a date at The 2300 Arena aka The ECW Arena. On a scale of one to Oh My God! (in full-throated Joey Styles fashion) — how excited are you for the chance to run in the world’s most famous bingo hall?
Within the space of a couple of months I’ll get to MC at ECW Arena and Wembley Arena in London. That’s basically all my ambitions completed. When we got given the chance to run a show there we had to take it up. I know it meant rescheduling a show in New York City but it really is a once in a lifetime chance for us, especially as we grew up watching ECW from afar. (And we still adore NYC).
Do you see parallels, in any way, between Progress and the original ECW?
I don’t think we have the same influence on the wrestling world, that’s for sure! There will never be another ECW. I do love it when people compare the atmosphere at our shows in London to the ECW shows in Philly and NYC back in the day, that’s a huge compliment for us. When we ran in Queens last August we had a lot of fans tell us that the show reminded them of ECW, and these guys were fans who had been to ECW shows at the Hammerstein, so that was seriously cool.
The reason I ask that question is, because as a fan of both, I feel that Progress has that same magic ECW does — where this isn’t just another wrestling company, it’s a community. Was that feeling of community something you wanted to establish in Progress from the start, or was it some that just evolved?
It wasn’t a specific goal when we started the company; the goal then was just not going bankrupt! As the company grew, we realized that our own individual ideals had a lot in common with our fans, and that the three of us running the company just wanted everyone to feel welcome and happy watching wrestling. From there the community spirit grew by accident, but it really is one of the very best things I’ve ever been involved with. I love our in-ring and storyline output, but the thing I’ll always value the most is that sense of community.
Back to the tour for a second…what are some things that you personally are looking forward to on this tour, outside of wrestling? On Twitter you recently mentioned visiting Portland.
I’m obsessed with Portland as I’m a Trailblazers fan and I’ve never been there; also as a straight edge vegetarian who is covered in tattoos I’ve been told I’ll fit right in! I’m going to drive there from Seattle just to spend an evening there, the day before our show with Defy. I’m also excited to see the other cities; I’ve never been to Philly, Seattle, Chicago or Detroit so am hoping I get to see them a little bit. I’ve been to New York and Boston but that doesn’t mean I’m any less excited to go back there, either (and it means in Boston I can have a frozen hot chocolate from Dunkin Donuts every day).
In the past few weeks we’ve seen the announcement of NXT UK, and the trailer for World of Sport. Some on social media, as people on social media tend to, became very worried that both companies could have a negative impact on companies like Progress. What’s your take on these people’s worries?
People shouldn’t worry at all; but I understand that often this worry comes from a real love of companies, like us and others, that they value and enjoy. Projects like this have come about because British wrestling is so hot, not because other companies want to destroy things. Look at the USA: NXT existing there hasn’t stopped independent wrestling. I’m excited for the future rather than fearing for anything.
There’s a number of people I know who are coming out to see Progress based solely on the roster alone, and just because of the buzz about the company. If someone has never seen a full Progress Chapter show before, what would you recommend they check out on Demand-Progress.com to fully get what Progress is all about?
If they’ve got the time, I always tell people to check out the most recent Super Strong Style 16 tournament, all three days. If they’ve only got time for just one chapter, maybe check out the last Unboxing show from last December. That was pretty nuts.
[Editor’s Note: Progress also has Chapter 13: ‘Unbelievable Jeff!’ available for free on YouTube]
Progress, like ECW, has an incredible soundtrack. Who has your favorite entrance theme of all-time in Progress?
There’s so many. Jimmy Havoc made me like an AFI song [‘I Hope You Suffer’] for the first time in my life. CCK come out to the Cramps [‘Human Fly’], which always pops me. Best singalong has always been Rampage Brown coming out to Hatebreed [‘I Will Be Heard’].
You’ve mentioned your love of Portland Trailblazers hats.Will you be pulling a John Cena and wearing a city specific hat at each show (e.g. 76ers in Philly, Celtics in Boston, etc.) or can we expect the classic CCK “DEATH” hat?
I’ll probably try to buy a basketball jersey in every city; ideally one for me and a tiny one for my son too. The DEATH hat is currently my lucky hat, and I’m really superstitious so it may well still be being worn on the tour, plus I’m not sure if people in Seattle will be super stoked about my love of the Trailblazers! I’ll no doubt go hat and sneaker shopping whilst I’m in the states. I should not be allowed my own money.
On your podcast, Tuesday Night Jaw, you often use the phrase, “I love professional wrestling.” I can literally hear you smile when you say that on the podcast. What is it about wrestling that you love? And how do you feel now that you’ve decided to go into wrestling as a full-time job? Is it surreal, or basically the coolest thing ever?
I love professional wrestling for so many reasons; I think mainly because it’s the finest art form on the planet, the perfect blending of athletic ability, storytelling, violence and pop culture. I’ll watch wrestling until the day I die, and hopefully will be working around it until then too. Doing it full time is crazy, especially when I think back to the first shows we did and we kept losing money but we just wanted to make it work… again, because we love it so much. I think if you put a lot of hard work and love into what you do, eventually people will get it and you’ll be rewarded. We’re very lucky to be in the position that we’re in.
Here’s all the ticket info to Progress Wrestling’s Coast to Coast Tour:
