PROGRESS World Championship

The Progress World Championship is a professional wrestling World championship created and promoted by the British professional wrestling promotion Progress Wrestling.^[2] The current champion is Man Like DeReiss, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Luke Jacobs in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match at Progress Chapter 183: Hundred Volts in London, England on August 25, 2025.

Progress World Championship
The current title design (2014 – present)
Details
Promotion	Progress Wrestling
Date established	March 25, 2012[1]
Current champion	Man Like DeReiss
Date won	August 25, 2025
Other names
PROGRESS Championship (2012 – 2016) PROGRESS World Championship (2016 – 2019, 2021 – present) PROGRESS Unified World Championship (2019 – 2021)
Statistics First champion Nathan Cruz Most reigns Marty Scurll (2 reigns) Longest reign Cara Noir (791 days) Shortest reign Mark Andrews (<1 days) Youngest champion Nathan Cruz (21 years, 197 days) Heaviest champion Big Damo (321 lb (146 kg)) Lightest champion Mark Andrews (159 lb (72 kg))

History

Inaugural champion, Nathan Cruz shown here with the staff representing the title (2012-2014).

Inaugural tournament (2012)

Main article: List of Progress Wrestling tournaments § PROGRESS Championship Tournament (2012)

	First Round (Progress Chapter One: In The Beginning March 25, 2012)[3]					Final (Progress Chapter One: In The Beginning March 25, 2012)[3]
	Nathan Cruz		Pin
	Colossus Kennedy		10:41[3]
	Noam Dar		12:01[3]
						Nathan Cruz		Win
	El Ligero		Pin
						El Ligero		26:05
						Mike Mason		–
	Mike Mason		Pin
						Marty Scurll		–
	Colt Cabana		10:07[3]
	Zack Sabre Jr.		21:45[3]
	Marty Scurll		Pin

Unlike conventional wrestling championships which are generally represented by a Championship belt, the Progress championship was initially represented by a large staff with an eagle head piece since its creation in May 2012. At Chapter 16 on 30 November 2014, the staff was replaced by a more traditional title belt. The title has been defended in the United States at the WrestleCon Supershow in Dallas, Texas, and subsequently defended in Italy on 30 April 2016^[4] and Ireland on 16 July 2016.^[5] On 5 May 2019, the World Championship and Atlas Championship were unified by Walter, defeating Trent Seven. The title was henceforth known as the Unified World Championship.^[6]

Vacant title tournament (2022)

Main article: List of Progress Wrestling tournaments § PROGRESS World Championship Tournament

Jonathan Gresham vacated the championship on 15 May 2022 due to a controversial defense. Progress Wrestling announced that the 2022 edition of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament finals from 6 June will also be for the vacant championship.^[7]

Round 1 June 3[8]

Quarter-finals June 4[9]

Semi-finals June 5[10]

Finals June 5[10]

Dean Allmark

11:17

Chris Ridgeway

Pin

Chris Ridgeway

Pin

Charlie Dempsey

11:06

Charlie Dempsey

Pin

Charles Crowley

12:44

Chris Ridgeway

Pin

Gene Munny

11:10

Malik

Pin

Callum Newman

11:23

Malik

9:24

Gene Munny

Pin

Rickey Shane Page

Pin

Gene Munny

14:32

Chris Ridgeway

Pin

Warren Banks

21:46

Robbie X

9:53

Aramis

Pin

Aramis

9:55

Johnny Progress

Pin

Jack Evans

12:06

Johnny Progress

Pin

Johnny Progress

10:26

Warren Banks

Pin

Kid Lykos

Pin

Maggot

10:26

Kid Lykos

5:10

Warren Banks

Pin

Big Damo

8:42

Warren Banks

Pin

Title history

There have been a total of 22 reigns and three vacancies shared between 19 distinctive champions. Nathan Cruz was the inaugural and is also the youngest champion, winning the title at 21 years. Cara Noir had the longest reign at 791 days and 17 successful title defences, while Mark Andrews had the shortest reign at less than a day and zero successful title defences. The current champion is Man Like DeReiss, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Luke Jacobs in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match at Progress Chapter 183: Hundred Volts in London, England on August 25, 2025.

Key

No.	Overall reign number
Reign	Reign number for the specific champion
Days	Number of days held
Defenses	Number of successful defenses
<1	Reign lasted less than a day
+	Current reign is changing daily

No.	Champion	Championship change			Reign statistics			Notes	Ref.
		Date	Event	Location	Reign	Days	Defenses
1	Nathan Cruz	25 March 2012	Chapter One: In The Beginning	Highbury, London	1	245	1	Defeated Marty Scurll, El Ligero, and Mike Mason in a four-way tournament final match to become the inaugural champion.	[11]
2	El Ligero	25 November 2012	Chapter 4: The Ballad of El Ligero	Highbury, London	1	245	3		[12]
3	Rampage Brown	28 July 2013	Chapter 8: The Big Boy's Guide to Strong Style	Highbury, London	1	119	2		[13]
4	Mark Andrews	24 November 2013	Chapter 10: Glory Follows Virtue As If It Were Its Shadow	Highbury, London	1	<1	0	Successfully cashed in his Natural Progression Series title shot.
5	Jimmy Havoc	24 November 2013	Chapter 10: Glory Follows Virtue As If It Were Its Shadow	Highbury, London	1	609	9	Used the open contract given to him by Jim Smallman to make an immediate title match.	[14]
6	Will Ospreay	26 July 2015	Chapter 20: ThunderBastard: Beyond ThunderBastard	Camden Town, London	1	182	4	Successfully cashed in his Super Strong Style 16 title shot.	[15]
7	Marty Scurll	24 January 2016	Chapter 25: Chat Shit, Get Banged	Camden Town, London	1	154	7		[16]
8	Pastor William Eaver	26 June 2016	Chapter 32: 5000 to 1	Camden Town, London	1	35	1	Successfully cashed in his Natural Progression Series title shot.	[17]
9	Marty Scurll	31 July 2016	Chapter 33: Malice in Wonderland	Camden Town, London	2	56	1		[18]
10	Mark Haskins	25 September 2016	Chapter 36: We're Gonna Need a Bigger Room... Again	Brixton, London	1	35	1	This was a triple threat match also involving Tommy End.	[19]
—	Vacated	30 October 2016	Chapter 38: When Men Throw Men At Men	Camden Town, London	—	—	—	Haskins vacated the title due to injury
11	Pete Dunne	27 November 2016	Chapter 39: The Graps of Wrath	Camden Town, London	1	287	11	Defeated Jimmy Havoc, Matt Riddle, Sebastian, TK Cooper, Travis Banks, and Trent Seven in a seven-way elimination match to win the vacant title.	[20]
12	Travis Banks	10 September 2017	Chapter 55: Chase the Sun	Haringey, London	1	318	17	Successfully cashed in his Super Strong Style 16 title shot	[21]
13	Walter	25 July 2018	Chapter 74: Mid Week Matters	Camden Town, London	1	417	15	Unified with the Progress Atlas Championship on May 5, 2019 following Walter's win over Trent Seven.	[22]
14	Eddie Dennis	15 September 2019	Chapter 95: Still Chasing	Haringey, London	1	126	2	Successfully cashed in his title opportunity gained by defeating Mark Andrews at Chapter 76. This was a triple threat match also involving David Starr.	[23]
—	Vacated	January 19, 2020	—	—	—	—	—	Dennis vacated the title due to a shoulder injury.	[24]
15	Cara Noir	19 January 2020	Chapter 101: Dalmatians	Camden Town, London	1	791	17	This was a four-way match also involving Ilja Dragunov, Kyle Fletcher and Paul Robinson.	[25][26]
16	Jonathan Gresham	20 March 2022	Chapter 130: Dodge, Dip, Duck, Dive, Dodge	London, England	1	56	2	This was a winner takes all match, in which Gresham defended the ROH World Championship.	[27]
—	Vacated	15 May 2022	Chapter 134: No Mountain High Enough	Camden Town, London	—	—	—	Jonathan Gresham stripped of the title due to interference by Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos and Kid Lykos II).	[28]
17	Chris Ridgeway	5 June 2022	Chapter 135: Super Strong Style 16 Night 3	Camden Town, London	1	69	1	Ridgeway defeated Warren Banks in the Super Strong Style 16 tournament final to win the vacant title.	[10]
18	Big Damo	13 August 2022	Chapter 137: The Deadly Viper Tour - Codename: Copperhead	Sheffield, England	1	15	2		[29]
19	Spike Trivet	28 August 2022	Chapter 139: Warriors Come Out To Play	London, England	1	546	17		[30]
20	Kid Lykos	25 February 2024	Chapter 163: Twisted Metal	London, England	1	154	3	This was a Steel Cage match.	[31]
21	Luke Jacobs	28 July 2024	Chapter 169: The Devil On My Shoulder	London, England	1	393	13		[32]
22	Man Like DeReiss	August 25, 2025	Chapter 183: Hundred Volts	London, England	1	121+	7	This was a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match	[33]

Combined reigns

As of December 24, 2025.

†	Indicates the current champion

Rank	Wrestler	No. of reigns	Combined defenses	Combined days
1	Cara Noir	1	17	791
2	Jimmy Havoc	1	9	609
3	Spike Trivet	1	17	546
4	Walter	1	15	417
5	Luke Jacobs	1	13	393
6	Travis Banks	1	17	318
7	Pete Dunne	1	11	287
8	El Ligero	1	3	245
	Nathan Cruz	1	1	245
10	Marty Scurll	2	8	210
11	Will Ospreay	1	4	182
12	Kid Lykos	1	3	154
13	Eddie Dennis	1	2	126
14	Man Like DeReiss †	1	7	121+
15	Rampage Brown	1	2	119
16	Chris Ridgeway	1	1	69
17	Jonathan Gresham	1	0	56
18	Mark Haskins	1	1	35
	Pastor William Eaver	1	1	35
20	Big Damo	1	2	15
21	Mark Andrews	1	0	<1