Progress Wrestling was once the pride of the United Kingdom independent scene, but since NXT UK came in and took all their stars, they have been floundering. Other people pivotal to the success of Progress in owners Jim Smallman and Glen Joesph would also become involved with NXT UK. This lead many to call the company sell outs. They branded themselves for years as ‘Punk Rock Pro Wrestling’, only to hook up with the biggest company in the game today. It was a smart business move, but it lost them many fans. The new era of Progress Wrestling has not gotten much attention, and part of that is they are detaching themselves from stars of the companies past. One of these is Chris Brookes.
Chris Brookes In Progress Wrestling
Chris Brookes is one of the rising stars in professional wrestling, with a cool image and great in ring ability, he proved himself to be one of the best tag team wrestlers in the UK alongside Kid Lykos & Jonathan Gresham as part of CCK. CCK is just one name for the Calamari Catch Kings, as there have been more variations than anyone can remember. This group came in around Progress Chapter 50 in 2017. They would quickly beat Trent Seven & Tyler Bate to claim the tag team titles, and start a promising run in the promotion. However, things have changed. Brookes was last seen in Progress in September of 2019.
Chris Brookes Doesn’t Fit In The New Era Of Progress
He recently took to a stream and made some comments about Progress Wrestling. A second hand account of the stream reveals the following. He was upset after being told that Progress has nothing for him going forward, not even being given a chance to say goodbye to the fans. Another sore spot was that after years of having his advice to book Cara Noir being ignored, they made Cara their champion while also cutting the man who recommended him out of the company. This is a very good reason to be upset with a company, especially one which he gave a lot of his time. He was thrown aside like a piece of trash.
He took to Twitter to double down on his comments made. Stating the following. “Apologies for getting sour about certain things early on the stream but I meant what I said. It’s no disrespect to Cara. I’m happy for him but people can be quick to forget. I’m sad I won’t get to say goodbye but hey it’s a different place now and I don’t fit in it.”
Glen Joesph Bites Back
The tweet that Brookes sent out prompted Progress owner and fan assigned sell out to state the following in response. “Ok Chris I’ll bite, particularly as being an edgelord online is more important to you than actually replying to your “friends”, or is that just a term you use while you’re getting booked? Not like I bent over backwards to get you booked in the first place eh. You’re welcome.” These are pretty strong and defensive remarks in response to something fairly mild.
This is a situation which has only just begun, but whatever Brookes said on the stream has demolished any semblence of a bridge he would have back to Progress or NXT UK. This is fine though. Brookes is making a name for himself in Japan as part of DDT Pro, and runs what is being seen as a successor to Progress in Schadenfreude & Friends. He will do just fine without an easy path to NXT.
What are your thoughts on this situation? Let us know in the comment section down below.
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