The Dome, North London, is a unique building that has held some special wrestling events over the years. It felt like the perfect venue to run a midweek PROGRESS chapter that featured top CMLL talent, an ECW legend, and a former NXT Cruiserweight Champion.
Chapter 165: Diamond Dust was a top show. Here are Lee Tarrier’s (@leeseedub) top takeaways:
LYKOS DOMINANT IN FIRST DEFENCE OVER LIO RUSH
Kid Lykos has reached the top, it’s now about staying there! He started well by defeating top international talent and former NXT Cruiserweight Champion, Lio Rush. Speed was the order of the day as the two worked at breakneck speed, showing their rapid capabilities alongside some great strikes and major aerial moves. Rush made Lykos work hard for the W, but to get such a monumental victory to kick off your championship reign can only bode well for the wolf!
ECW LEGEND MASATO TANAKA GOES EXTREME AGAINST LUKE JACOBS
You wouldn’t expect anything less when it comes to Tanaka being in the ring. His match against Luke Jacobs was an Extreme Rules one, which even included Tanaka hitting Jacobs over the head with a full pint of Guinness (cue the “Holy S*&^” chants). It was hard hitting, bloody and brutal, with the ECW legend getting the win, although take nothing away from Jacobs, the guy is an absolute beast of British Wrestling and every match he is in, he excels.
CHEEKY LITTLE BUGGERS RETAIN AND WANT MORE CHALLENGERS
The team of Charles Crowley and Alexxis Falcon retained over Dominatus Regnum, using their brand of strong and unique tag work to overcome the brutal Bullit and the skilful Nick Riley. It was a good opener, greatly paced and well worked, showing that CLB have a solid future as champs, with them specifically asking for more challengers as they prepare for the PROGRESS show in Philly and many more on the return to the UK. WHo will step up to taken them on and try and take the titles?
ROBBO HAD THE PROTEUS BELT ALL ALONG
This was very unexpected. It has seemed for months that since Paul Robinson’s Proteus belt had been missing that the people helping him find it, Kosta and Malik, would be the ones hiding it, all before turning on one half of the Swords of Essex. However, it was a proper switch as Robbo had it all along and went on to batter Kosta and Malik and absolutely destroy owner Lee McAteer and the crowd on the mic. The horrible Robbo is back, and so is his belt. What can we expect now?
PRO WRESTLING NOAH AND MARUFUJI ARE COMING TO THE UK
It’s official. Pro Wrestling Noah are on their way! NOAH’s top stars will be seen, many for the first time, on U.K. soil, with Japanese legend Naomichi Marafuji competing on all dates.
Other talent will be announced over the next few weeks and these dates will feature a full NOAH roster appearing in the United Kingdom, supported by some of PROGRESS’s top talent.
Narihiro Takeda, director of NOAH expressed his pride on the announcement, “We are delighted to be visiting the U.K. in September for our largest U.K. tour ever. We have very many fans here who we know are very excited to see Marafuji and many of our other top stars. We wish to thank PROGRESS for all their help in our partnership with them.”
FULL RESULTS FROM CHAPTER 165 DIAMOND DUST:
PROGRESS World Tag Team Championships Match
Cheeky Little Buggers (Charles Crowley & Alexxis Falcon) (c) defeated Dominatus Regnum (Nick Riley & Bullit).
Singles Match
Nina Samuels defeated Emersyn Jayne.
Singles Match
El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. defeated Kid Lykos II.
Extreme Rules Match
Masato Tanaka defeated Luke Jacobs.
Singles Match
Connor Mills defeated Taishi Ozawa.
Tag Team Match
Sunshine Machine (Chuck Mambo & TK Cooper) defeated Mark Trew & Kieron Lacey.
Singles Match
Tate Mayfairs defeated Galeno del Mal.
PROGRESS World Championship Match
Kid Lykos (c) defeated Lio Rush.
Catch all the action amongst a whole library of amazing PROGRESS Wrestling action on Demand PROGRESS Plus
Pictures: PROGRESS Wrestling / Lee Pitman
