Progress Wrestling

Progress Wrestling (stylized as PROGRESS) is a British professional wrestling promotion that was established in 2011 by comedian Jim Smallman, events and comedy promoter Jon Briley, and later, actor Glen Robinson (professionally known as Glen Joseph). The company is now co-owned by Lee McAteer, Martyn Best, and Matthew Buczek.

Progress Wrestling

Progress Wrestling's logo
Acronym	Progress
Founded	2011
Style	Professional wrestling Sports entertainment
Headquarters	London, England
Founder(s)	Jim Smallman Jon Briley
Owner(s)	Lee McAteer Martyn Best
Merged with	DEFY Wrestling
Website	ProgressWrestling.com

History

Progress was conceived by Jim Smallman and Jon Briley in 2011, who were both wrestling fans. Smallman is a fan of "strong style" wrestling, Japanese in particular, and Briley was Smallman's agent.^[1]

In 2015, Progress appeared for five nights at Download Festival.^[2] In December of that year, they began running regular shows at The Ritz in Manchester.^[3] On 30 September 2018, Progress Wrestling held "Hello Wembley" at the Wembley Arena. Billed by the promotion as the largest independent wrestling show in England for 30 years, the event drew 4,750 people; making it the most attended event in Progress Wrestling history.^[4]

In 2016, the company began working relationships with other promotions. At Chapter 29 on 24 April in London, Progress hosted two qualifying matches for the WWE Cruiserweight Classic.^[5] In 2017, Progress wrestlers such as Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, and Mark Andrews participated in the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament, culminating in Bate being crowned the first ever WWE UK Champion.^{[citation needed]}

Smallman left Progress at the end of 2019 after Chapter 100. In June 2020, Progress reacted to reports of sexual harassment in the British independent circuit. After several accusations had been circulating of behaviour at other wrestling promotions, Progress decided to no longer work with David Starr, Travis Banks, and El Ligero, as well as suspending indefinitely then- Tag team Champions Jordan Devlin and Scotty Davis, who vacated the titles.^[6] Ring announcer and creative team member Matt Richards also left the promotion.^[7] On 21 June 2020, it was announced that Glen Joseph was stepping down with Michael Oku, Vicky Haskins and James Amner all taking prominent roles in the company.^[8] By the time the company returned to running shows, only James Amner would remain involved, and Amner played a key part in the future ownership of the company.

In 2021, Progress announced its return amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, travelling to South London to set up a temporary home at Theatre Peckham for Chapter 104: Natural Progression on 20 February, eventually producing 23 shows behind closed doors which featured on the WWE Network. On 31 December that year, ahead of their return to live shows in January 2022, it was announced that Progress had been acquired by Lee McAteer and Martyn Best - taking over ownership from Briley.

On 9 February 2024, it was announced that PROGRESS Wrestling would merge with DEFY Wrestling, an independent promotion based in Seattle, Washington in the United States. It was created to bring a "global presence" to both brands and aid further expansion plans.^[9]

Demand Progress Plus

Demand Progress Plus is Progress' video-on-demand service that launched in 2023, replacing the previous service on Pivotshare.^[10]

January 2017 had seen the first episode of Freedom's Road, a new series from Progress which would feature matches taped specifically for the show and have a heavy focus on characters and plots.^[11]

Championships

As of August 5, 2025.

Current champions

Championship	Current champion(s)		Reign	Date won	Days held	Location	Notes	Ref.
PROGRESS World Championship		Luke Jacobs	1	28 July 2024	373+	London, England	Defeated Kid Lykos at Chapter 169: The Devil On My Shoulder	[12]
Progress Wrestling Atlas Championship		Mike D Vecchio	1	27 July 2025	9+	London, England	Defeated Axel Tischer in a Tables match at Chapter 182: Stay Humble.	[13]
Progress Wrestling Proteus Championship		Paul Walter Hauser	1	17 April 2025	110+	Paradise, Nevada	Defeated Simon Miller, Effy, Adam Priest and Charles Crowley in a Five-way scramble match at Chapter 179: Progress Las Vegas.	[14]
PROGRESS Tag Team Championship		Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos and Kid Lykos II)	2 (5, 2)	29 June 2025	37+	London, England	Defeated Sunshine Machine (Chuck Mambo and TK Cooper) at Chapter 181: Far From Ordinary People.	[15]
Progress Women's Championship		Rhio	2	4 May 2025	93+	London, England	Defeated Nina Samuels in a Title vs. PROGRESS Career match, in which Kanji was a special guest referee at Super Strong Style 16 Night 2.	[16]

Progress Proteus Championship

Progress Proteus Championship[17]
Details
Date established	21 July 2019
Current champion	Paul Walter Hauser
Date won	17 April 2024
Statistics First champion Paul Robinson

The Progress Proteus Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the British professional wrestling promotion Progress Wrestling. The title was named after the shapechanging Greek god, Proteus. Progress co-founder Jim Smallman said in the announcement that the champion will be able to pick the stipulation for the championship matches, subject to approval by the promotion.^[18] It was announced on 21 July 2019 that the old Progress Atlas Championship which was unified with the Progress World Championship will be replaced. The Atlas title was later revived.

Reigns

Key

No.	Overall reign number
Reign	Reign number for the specific champion
Days	Number of days held
Defenses	Number of successful defenses

No.	Champion	Championship change			Reign statistics			Notes	Ref.
		Date	Event	Location	Reign	Days	Defenses
1	Paul Robinson	15 September 2019	Chapter 95: Still Chasing	Haringey, London	1	1,869	9	This was a 30-person rumble match. Paul Robinson lastly eliminated Danny Duggan to become the inaugural champion. Robinson's selected stipulation was that he could only lose the title by being knocked out or by tapping out. Between 2021 and 2024, the title was inactive until Robinson returned to the promotion and defended it at Progress Chapter 167: One Bump Or Two? on April 21, 2024 against Homicide, declaring the reign as uninterrupted [19]	[20]
2	Simon Miller	27 October 2024	Chapter 172: Werewolves Of London	Camden Town, London	1	172	7	Simon's announced stipulation is that all stipulations for his defenses will be decided by fan poll via social media or live events.	[21]
3	Paul Walter Hauser	17 April 2025	Chapter 179: Progress Las Vegas	Paradise, Nevada	1	110+	0	This was a Five-way scramble match, also involving Effy, Adam Priest and Charles Crowley.	[22]

Reception

Patrick Lennon, wrestling journalist for the Daily Star, has attended and reviewed Progress shows.^[23]

Carrie Dunn, founder and main contributor of wrestling blog "The Only Way is Suplex",^[24] published the book Spandex, Screw Jobs & Cheap Pops: Inside the Business of British Pro Wrestling.^[25] Progress Wrestling features frequently in the book including opening a chapter regarding London based wrestling promotions.^[26]

See also

• List of major Progress Wrestling events
• List of Progress Wrestling tournaments
• NXT UK - Brand of the U.S-based WWE from which several Progress talent have competed for.