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First of all…

I would like to say thank you to all of my family and friends that not only congratulated me or wished me good luck on this newsletter, but—during what was also Royal Rumble weekend—wishing me a happy birthday. I really appreciate it.

Not only that, I would also like to thank author and host John Scott of Wrestling With Johners for allowing me to use the Wrestling With Johners Facebook group to have me post this newsletter. I may be—as you can see on the top of the newsletter below the Pro-Darin logo—five issues too late, but I’m still sending my thanks to you John.

And now, onto the newsletter!

Royal Rumble

One of WWE’s five major events took place this weekend, and it was the Royal Rumble.

For those of you that keep score of home, it’s not the first time that Royal Rumble was the second Pay-Per-View/Premium Live Event of the year; I remember back in 2005 that New Year’s Revolution took place first, followed by Royal Rumble which took place on my birthday and that was before No Way Out—later renamed Elimination Chamber—became the official WWE event to have Elimination Chamber matches.

Both the 30-man Royal Rumble and the 30-woman Royal Rumble were very good, even though they do not get five-star ratings whatsoever; I wish there were better surprises besides those that were mentioned on episodes of Raw and SmackDown prior to this event (such as celebrities, WWE Hall of Famers, and past WWE competitors that are also labeled “WWE Legends”).

Not only did we have surprise additions as well as eliminations related to ongoing rivalries that occur on Raw and SmackDown (such as Naomi vs. Sonya Deville or RK-Bro vs. Alpha Academy who won the Raw Tag Team championship in Philadelphia early in January), but also some past rivalries renewed for a short time; this included Mickie James and Michelle McCool clashing during the 30-woman Royal Rumble, AJ Styles and Robert Roode renewing their TNA (or “Impact Wrestling” as we nowadays call it) rivalry, Bad Bunny competing in his second WWE Premium Live Event match (the first being last year’s WrestleMania of course), and so forth.

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I originally thought that AJ Styles and Sasha Banks would become winners of both of those prestigious battle royals, but I was wrong; in irony, both wrestlers that I predicted also started #1. Regardless of the lack of surprises that entered both battle royals like I mentioned, the well-known saying “Expect the unexpected” came true, especially when it came to who won both of those battle royals; we saw Brock Lesnar come in at #30 and win the men’s Royal Rumble, and a couple hours prior we saw the returning mixed martial artist turned pro wrestler Ronda Rousey come in at #28 and win the women’s Royal Rumble.

You read correctly…Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey. For those of you that missed the event, you’re probably asking “Wait, why was Brock Lesnar in the Royal Rumble? Wasn’t he defending the WWE championship against Bobby Lashley that night?” The answer is yes. The reason why Lesnar entered the Royal Rumble is because, an hour or so prior, he lost the title to Lashley after Roman Reigns—while the referee for the matchup was unconscious after being splashed in a corner, and then hit by Lashley’s legs during Lesnar’s F5—ran in and attacked Lesnar…even with help from the now former Lesnar advocate Paul Heyman.

What Reigns did to Lesnar that night made me a liar; I noted in the first newsletter that the feud between Lesnar and Reigns came to a screeching halt after Lesnar was inserted into a WWE championship match at Day 1 while Reigns had COVID-19 up until Lesnar defended that title at Royal Rumble.

I got a feeling that the feud will carry to this year’s WrestleMania, but this time with Reigns—once again—defending the WWE Universal championship. Speaking of championships, the rest of the title matches that occurred that night weren’t that bad (Seth Rollins fighting the aforementioned Reigns for the Universal championship, and Becky Lynch defending the Raw Women’s championship against Doudrop).

Okay, time to cue “Ballin” by Logic featuring Castro, it’s time for the results of the matches that took place at the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri…

Match #1: Seth Freakin Rollins defeated Roman Reigns by disqualification

…after Reigns refused to break the Guillotine while Rollins was holding the bottom rope; Reigns retained the WWE Universal title. Rollins unnerved Reigns throughout the entire match with the Shield entrance, as well as his Shield attire. My score: 3.5/5

Match #2: Ronda Rousey won the 30-woman Royal Rumble. Order of entries:

Sasha Banks, Melina, Tamina, Kelly Kelly, Aliyah, Liv Morgan, Queen Zelina, Bianca Belair, Dana Brooke (w/ Reggie), Michelle McCool, Sonya Deville, Natalya, Cameron, Naomi, Carmella, Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair, Ivory (the Right To Center Ivory to be more specific), Brie Bella, Mickie James (with the Impact Knockouts championship), Alicia Fox, Nikki A.S.H., Summer Rae, Nikki Bella, Sarah Logan (who had a brief reunion with Liv Morgan before the two got eliminated by the Bella Twins), Lita, Mighty Molly, Ronda Rousey, Shotzi, and Shayna Baszler. My score: 4/5

Match #3: Becky Lynch defeated Doudrop to retain the Raw Women’s Championship;

Doudrop dominated most of the match until Becky came right back and defeated her with the Manhandle Slam from the middle rope. My score: 3.75/5

Match #4: Bobby Lashley (w/ MVP) defeated Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman)

to become the new WWE Champion after Roman Reigns—with help from Heyman—attacked Lesnar while the referee was unconscious (and before the second referee came in to count to three). My score: 2.75/5

Match #5: Edge & Beth Phoenix defeated the Miz & Maryse;

Despite the Miz and Maryse attempting to take an easy way out several times, Edge and Beth came right back several times including near the end with a double spear to the Miz followed by defeating the Miz and Maryse with a double Glam Slam (or “Glamazon Slam” as Jimmy Smith erroneously called on commentary). My score: 1.25/5

Main event: Brock Lesnar won the 30-man Royal Rumble.

Order of entries: AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Austin Theory, Robert Roode, Ridge Holland, Montez Ford, Damian Priest, Sami Zayn, Johnny Knoxville (w/ Jasper Dolphin, Preston Lacy, and Wee Man), Angelo Dawkins, Omos, Ricochet, Chad Gable, Dominik Mysterio, Happy Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, Rick Boogs, Madcap Moss, Riddle, Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, Rey Mysterio, Sir Kofi Kingston, Otis, Big E, Bad Bunny, Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, and Brock Lesnar. My score: 4/5

Progress Chapter 127: And the Word Was Progress…

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January 2022 continues, and this time we head to the United Kingdom where Progress Wrestling’s first chapter of 2022 began.

Last year, Progress Wrestling came back in action in an empty Theatre Beckham in England. This year, the first chapter of 2022 took place at a fan filled Electric Ballroom in London, England. It has been 700 days since Progress had a fan filled arena, going back to early 2020.

I’m so glad that I discovered Progress Wrestling last year after seeing WWE Network—a month or so before entering the Peacock era—advertise it on social media, along with ICW and wXw. Not only was I able to keep track of all empty arena episodes, but also taking a look at past episodes of those three aforementioned shows from Europe. Progress has been the best of my three favorite discoveries, and I am still enjoying it today.

This includes the first chapter of 2022 known as “And the Word Was Progress…”, and not only did it start off with a welcome back and thank you to the fans courtesy of the master of ceremonies Simon Miller, but also with a great handful of matches that ranged from—taking this idea from the ratings in the magazine “Consumer Reports”—fair to excellent (and not a poor match in sight). Even though the show began with a slow yet fun start courtesy of “That Damn Dirty Dog” Gene Munny and Lykos Gym, the rest of the show did the same thing comedic rock group Spinal Tap did back then…go to 11.

All three women’s matches were pretty good—Taonga vs. Session Moth Martina, Charli Evans vs. Lana Austin, and Rhio vs. Mercedez Blaze—especially the final round of the Revelations of Divine Love tournament. I had a gut feeling that Rhio was going to win that match, mainly because of tension going on between Mercedez and Taonga ever since the tournament began late last year. Other than that, I really look forward to seeing Rhio fighting Gisele Shaw for the title.

(Speaking of Gisele Shaw, good luck wishes go out to her as she heads to Impact Wrestling in the near future!)

The title matches were good as well. Like I said in the past, Cara Noir’s one-on-one matches have never disappointed me, and neither did the First To Three Falls match against Chris Ridgeway for the Progress World Championship that Cara Noir retained. The best of the title matches that occurred however was the tag team match between the Sunshine Machine and the Smokin’ Guns for the Progress World Tag Team championship; both Chuck Mambo and TK Cooper of the Sunshine Machine proved that they can be serious business besides being a fun-loving tag team (cream pies, airhorns, beach balls, and all).

Here are the match results from London…

(NOTE: The only match I didn’t add was AEW competitor Anthony Ogogo defeating Hari Singh, mainly because it wasn’t on Peacock’s broadcast of Progress Chapter 127 for some reason.)

Match #1: Gene Munny defeated Kid Lykos (w/ Kid Lykos II) with a jumping DDT;

Munny came into the ring wearing an astronaut suit. After the match, Gene thanked the fans for coming, and also for cheering for him in the past. My score: 2/5

Match #2: Dean Allmark defeated Tate Mayfairs with the Clash Driver;

Axel Tischer was supposed to face Allmark, but was pulled out due to a medical issue. My score: 3.5/5

Match #3: Session Moth Martina defeated Taonga with a Codebreaker from the middle rope;

Kind of like what happens when Popeye eats spinach or when Mario eats a mushroom, Martina would get fired up by drinking a can of beer during the match. My score: 3.25/5

Match #4: The Smokin’ Aces defeated the Sunshine Machine to retain the Progress Tag Team titles with the Smokin’ Ace Crusher; all four men shook hands afterwards.

After the match, Lykos Gym ran in and attacked the champions Charlie Sterling and Nick Riley with powder and trays, and then took the titles from them; they challenged the Smokin’ Aces for the titles afterwards. My score: 4.5/5

Match #5: Charli Evans defeated Lana Austin with a Saito suplex followed by a Burning Lariat.

My score: 3.75/5

Match #6: Warren Banks defeated Man Like Dereiss, Malik (w/ Kosta Konstantino)

Roy Johnson, Dan Moloney and Jody Fleisch in a six-pack challenge to become the #1 contender for the Progress World Championship. Before the match, Kosta mocked Danny Black—who was in the crowd—for being in attendance; later on, Malik and Kosta got distracted by Black.

Banks won after hitting three of his opponents with the Bullet Vehicle (spear), followed by a fireman’s carry into a falcon arrow to Dereiss. Afterwards, Banks said that he was fighting for the title on March 25 at the Progress 10th Anniversary Show at the Garage in London, England. My score: 3.5/5

Match #7: Rhio defeated Mercedez Blaze (w/ Taonga) in the final round of the Revelations of Divine Love tournament to become the #1 contender for the Progress Women’s Championship.

During the match, Taonga distracted the referee who was unable to count the pins for both Rhio and Mercedez; Mercedez got mad at the ejected Taonga afterwards. Rhio won after hitting Mercedez swinging neckbreaker. Post-match, Rhio vowed to defeat Gisele Shaw for the title, calling herself “North West Strong.” My score: 3/5

Main event: Cara Noir defeated Chris Ridgeway 3-2 in a First To Three Falls match to retain the Progress World Championship.

Cara Noir took the lead after surprising Ridgeway by counting the North West Crossface with a rollup. Then, Ridgeway tied it 1-1 after countering headscissors with a pin. Ridgeway would then take the 2-1 lead after a running punt to Cara Noir before working on his left leg for the rest of the match.

Cara Noir came back with a 2-2 tie after making Ridgeway submit quickly to a sleeper hold. Near the end, Cara Noir gave Ridgeway three (you read correctly!) package piledrivers; one was on the apron, another was in the ring for a two count, and the third and final one was also in the ring and for the three count this time. My score: 4.25/5

ICW Fight Club

Meanwhile, we stay in the United Kingdom in the month of January 2022; this time, we move from a fan filled Electric Ballroom in London, England to—once again—an empty GPWA in Glasgow, Scotland.

The countdown to Square Go! continues; not only do we have wrestlers throwing their hats into the battle royal of the same name, but also championship matches that will occur.

Recently added was the ICW Tag Team championship rematch between the Kings of the North and the Nine9. Bonesaw and Corvin accepted the challenge this week after hosting a “funeral” for the death of the careers of Dickie Divers and Jack Morris; the reason why the champions hosted the “funeral” is because they vowed to leave the Nine9 “dead and buried” once they defeat them at Square Go! and retain the tag team championship. I would love to see this rematch occur, even if the Kings of the North will have their first title defense in the form of that aforementioned rematch per se.

Speaking of tag teams, ICW’s tag team division has been on a roll as of late. A couple weeks ago on ICW, we saw Sinergy debut. This week, we saw a team that we have also seen on Progress and other shows; that team was the Greedy Souls, the team of Brendan White and Danny Jones. I’m not going to lie, I like seeing wrestlers from Progress, ICW, and wXw crossing over to compete; if seeing crossovers in movies, TV shows, comic books, and video games are good, why not in professional wrestling as well? Just my opinion…

Back to ICW, the women’s division has been on a roll as well. Not only did we see Lizzy Evo debut on ICW, but also another competitor that we would see on NXT UK on occasion (including this week’s episode of NXT UK that I’ll talk about in the next two pages); that competitor is Myla Grace. Even though she ended up losing in her debut this week, she still did very well. Perhaps she can compete on ICW more often besides make appearances on NXT UK.

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I was a big fan of the main event between Leyton Buzzard and Theo Doros. Storylines coming into the matchup were Buzzard showing that he has what it takes to step foot into the Square Go! match and then eye on the ICW World heavyweight championship, and Doros being a hypocrite—besides a self-proclaimed “wrestling god” (ala JBL)—by sneaking in something like an eye rake during a match with a 20-minute time limit. (Remember those rules came into play after Doros defeated Ravie Davie in November of last year?)

Here are the results of the matches that occurred in the empty GPWA…

Match #1: LJ Cleary defeated Tallon Jr. with a standing Meteora.

My score: 3.5/5

Match #2: Ravie Davie defeated Eddie Castle (w/ Alexander Darwin McAllen) in a Scheme Rules match.

(Just a quick heads up, I thought Davie said “Extreme Rules” a few weeks ago until it turned out to be “Scheme Rules”; I apologize for that error I made a few weeks ago in the newsletter.)

All hell broke loose near the end of the match as Xero appeared from under the ring until Grant McIvor—equipped with a chain—came and attacked Xero; then, Che Monet got involved, ditto Dylan Thorn and—Thorn’s future opponent—Daz Black. Davie and Castle joined in the brouhaha until, as soon as the smoke cleared, Davie defeated Castle with a spike DDT. My score: 2.5/5

Match #3: The Greedy Souls defeated the Woke Academy with a catapult/Boss Man Slam combo to Robbie Balfour.

My score: 2/5

Match #4: Molly Spartan defeated Myla Grace with a pop-up powerbomb.

Post-match, Molly attacked Myla until Lizzy Evo ran in and chased Molly out with a steel chair. My score: 2/5

Main event: Leyton Buzzard defeated Theo Doros with the X Marks the Spot (450 splash).

My score: 4.25/5

NXT

Now we leave both the United Kingdom and the month of January 2022, and enter Orlando, Florida and the month of February 2022.

Even though the women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic didn’t begin this week (probably next week), we finally have a team that will be entering that tournament. That team is of course Cora Jade and Raquel Gonzalez. Raquel continuously declined Cora’s offer to team up with her for that upcoming tournament until—after a brief physical altercation with her last week—Cora decided to fight her in a match this week. After Raquel defeated Cora, she decided to team up with Cora for the upcoming women’s DRTTC.

More on the women’s roster, I was pretty sure that we would see both the NXT Women’s championship and the NXT Women’s Tag Team championship on the line at NXT Vengeance Day.

Instead, we will see Mandy Rose defend the NXT Women’s championship one week prior to Vengeance Day against Kay Lee Ray, whilst the tag team titles are defended by Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne against Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta. I believe they decided to have Mandy Rose vs. Kay Lee Ray take place next week because they already have—besides the women’s tag team title match—a lot of tag team matches such as the final round of the men’s DRTTC tournament and whatever matches coming from the women’s DRTTC tournament. By the way, the match for next week—Mandy against KLR—was done after KLR chased Mandy outside and inside the venue after Mandy was declining the offer of a title match repeatedly; KLR went to extreme lengths such as hiding Cora and Jacy elsewhere in Toxic Attraction’s own SUV, prior to chasing Mandy into the locker room (where she stumbled into Edris Enofé and Malik Blade in comedic fashion as the two gentlemen were fantasizing about Mandy) and then the catering room before heading back into the ring where she finally said yes.

Speaking of teams, last week I thought that we were going to see a 2-on-3 handicap match for this week’s episode of NXT after Tommaso Ciampa came and teams with Bron Breakker when they encountered Legado del Fantasma. We would later learn as soon as the episode aired that it was a regular tag team match with Santos Escobar and Elektra Lopez managing Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza who would take on Ciampa and Breakker that night. This match I was okay with besides the 2-on-3 handicap match. Plus, it was a good buildup for the feud between Breakker and Escobar for the NXT championship heading into NXT Vengeance Day.

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The opening match was my favorite out of all matches, mainly because we have a good rivalry between two heel stables, which are Diamond Mine and Imperium. The last time I saw a good rivalry involving two heel stables was in the mid-2000s, a year or so after Cornelia, Georgia’s Wild Side Wrestling/NWA Wild Side became NWA Anarchy (nowadays known simply as Anarchy Wrestling because it’s no longer affiliated with National Wrestling Alliance); it was between the NWA Elite led by Jeff G. Bailey and the Devil’s Rejects led by “The Rev” Dan Wilson. Back to February 1, 2022 in Orlando, Florida, the opener was very good, even with some moments such as Roderick Strong suffering effects from a cheap shot he received from Imperium prior to the bell being rung. In the end, Imperium was victorious, even though what’s happening between that trio and Diamond Mine isn’t over by a long shot, even with the Creed Brothers getting ready to focus on the DRTTC tournament.

Here are the match results from Orlando…

Match #1: Imperium defeated the Creed Brothers & Roderick Strong (w/ Malcolm Bivens and Ivy Nile)

…afterwards Gunther hit Brutus Creed with a powerbomb. My score: 3.75/5

Match #2: Raquel Gonzalez defeated Cora Jade with the Chingona Bomb;

…post-match, Raquel said yes to being Cora’s tag team partner for the women’s DRTTC tournament. My score: 3/5

Match #3: Sarray defeated Kayla Inlay with a uranage into a capture suplex.

My score: 1/5

Match #4: Joe Gacy (w/ Harland) defeated LA Knight.

Near the end, as soon as Knight was thrown out of the ring, he noticed Sanga at ringside, leading to Grayson Waller appearing and blindsiding Knight (despite having a restraining order against him); then, as soon as Knight came back in the ring, Gacy defeated him with a handspring clothesline. My score: 1/5

Match #5: Wendy Choo defeated Amari Miller.

Towards the end, Tiffany Stratton came and handed Amari her credit card (the deal from early in the day was that if Amari won, Tiffany would take her shopping) until Wendy defeated her with a running Polish hammer; post-match, Wendy took Tiffany’s credit card and walked away with it! My score: 1/5

Match #6: Andre Chase (w/ Bodhi Hayward) defeated Draco Anthony;

Near the end, Anthony took Hayward’s flag and stomped on it until Chase attacked him in anger before defeating him with an arm-trapped flatliner. My score: 1.5/5

Main event: Bron Breakker & Tommaso Ciampa defeated Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza (w/ Santos Escobar and Elektra Lopez);

Near the end, Ciampa pushed Wilde off the top rope and through the announce table, while Breakker pinned Mendoza after hitting him with a powerslam. My score: 3.25/5

NXT UK

We now head back to the United Kingdom, but this time, it’s February. However, for some reason, the BT Sports Studios was empty this week. Probably because they decided to tape matches after showing us the empty arena match between Ilja Dragunov and Jordan Devlin, for the NXT United Kingdom Championship (which we saw Dragunov retaining after surviving that battle), we saw last week?

Okay, I’m done with the guessing games…right now, I want to focus on the storylines as well as the matches that occurred on this week’s episode of NXT UK.

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This week, we had a pretty good start to the show, which was of course the final round match to determine the #1 contenders for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship; it was been the team of Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter and the team of Dave Mastiff & Jack Starz. I know that Mastiff and Starz are a fairly new tag team, but in my honest opinion, I think it’s too soon to have arguments that early in their run as a tag team; I mention this after seeing Mastiff and Starz arguing over who gets tagged in and who doesn’t. Long story short, it was still a good way to showcase two underdog teams that had the same goal in mind which was go after Moustache Mountain for tag team gold.

However, we move from an exciting opener to a main event that ended abruptly. The main event was Meiko Satomura defending the NXT UK Women’s Championship against Blair Davenport in a Japanese Street Fight. After seeing both women fight with kendo sticks (including one Blair brought to the ring), chairs, nunchaku, a chain, and a spare turnbuckle, Blair climbed to the top rope and hit Meiko with a double stomp to the apron which then ended with Blair breaking her left ankle in the process. Meiko was declared the winner, retaining the title, after the referee stopped the match due to injury.

This is not the first time that a main event title match was marred by injury on NXT UK. Back in December of 2021, we saw Ilja Dragunov defend the NXT United Kingdom Championship against Rampage Brown; it ended with Dragunov KO’ing Brown with an enzuigiri.

Get well wishes go out to Blair Davenport and Rampage Brown; we hope to see them again real soon!

Onto the match results…

Match #1: Oliver Carter & Ashton Smith defeated Dave Mastiff & Jack Starz in the final round of the NXT UK Tag Team title tournament.

Moustache Mountain joined Andy Shepherd and Nigel McGuinness on commentary. Towards the end, Mastiff argued with Starz who wanted to tag in, leading to him missing Carter on the Into the Void attempt; this led to Carter and Smith defeating Mastiff with an assisted moonsault. My score: 3.25/5

Match #2: Isla Dawn defeated Myla Grace in three minutes with the Alabaster Terror (fireman’s carry into a sidewalk slam).

My score: 0.5/5

Main event: Meiko Satomura defeated Blair Davenport in a Japanese Street Fight to retain the NXT UK Women’s Championship via referee stoppage.

My score: 2.25/5

205 Live

Last but not least, we wrap up this week’s lengthy newsletter with a return to Orlando for 205 Live.

With the exception of the main event that lasted for around three minutes, the other matches that occurred were pretty good, fairly better than the matches that occurred in the last two episodes.

It was more of a Briggs & Jensen episode of 205 Live. Not only did we see Brooks Jensen defeat Bodhi Hayward in the opening match, but he and Josh Briggs got together to watch Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter in tag team action; we have seen Briggs & Jensen getting together with Kacy and Kayden lately on episodes of NXT, hence the reason why they watched the second match which was my favorite on that episode.

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Here are the results of the matches that occurred in Orlando…

Match #1: Brooks Jensen (w/ Josh Briggs) defeated Bodhi Hayward (w/ Andre Chase)

…after hitting Jensen with the Three Point Stance—ala “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan—twice, Hayward went for the third until Jensen countered with a knee to the face and pinned him for the win. My score: 2/5

Match #2: Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter defeated Fallon Henley & Lash Legend with a neckbreaker/450 splash combo to Lash;

As noted, Briggs & Jensen watched the match from ringside. My score: 2.5/5

Main event: Kushida defeated Damon Kemp by submission with the Hoverboard Lock.

My score: 1/5

Next time…

Not only am I recapping the usual four shows—ICW Fight Club, NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live—but I am also taking a look back at part 1 of wXw Back To the Roots.

Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next time!

(Photos shown in the newsletter are from WWE, Progress and ICW.)