Major Change To PROGRESS Wembley World Title Match

PROGRESS Wrestling has announced a major change to their upcoming event in September. The ‘Hello Wembley’ show will be taking place on Sunday September 30th from the hallowed grounds of Wembley Arena in London, England and is easily the biggest show in company history…and it already appears to be creating more headaches for the PROGRESS co-owners Jim Smallman, Glen Joseph and Jon Briley than perhaps initially anticipated.

First came the news that Will Ospreay would no longer be able to compete in a long anticipated rematch against rival Jimmy Havoc. The two men are responsible for arguably the hottest angle in company history which many fans claim put PROGRESS ‘on the map’ in terms of independent wrestling. The cancellation of Ospreay’s appearance was due to an unforeseen booking conflict with New Japan Pro Wrestling; Ospreay is contractually obligated to appear on the planned United States show on September 30th for NJPW.

Once the news broke of Ospreay’s absence from PROGRESS’ biggest ever show fans questioned whether another big time performer for the company would also be missing the date in London…

Zack Sabre Jr competed in and was the eventual winner of this year’s Super Strong Style 16 tournament, outlasting the field and gaining himself a World Title shot against Travis Banks at an event of his choosing. ZSJ informed the PROGRESS fans that he would be taking the shot at Wembley but PROGRESS co-owner Glen Joseph took to Twitter to confirm that Zack would not be appearing due to his New Japan commitments and he also revealed the contingency plan for this massive event in Wembley Arena.

Joseph announced that “between Chapter 74 and Chapter 75 inclusive and the whole USA Coast to Coast Tour any wrestler that puts together 3 back-to-back consecutive singles wins in competition will qualify for the World Championship match and indeed the main event at Wembley Arena.”

It is messy situation however this does give the #CoastToCoast tour in the United States an extra shot of importance and does embody the spirit of competition that the company was built upon.