Black Country wrestlers to enter the ring at London event

Held over three nights at London’s Alexandria Palace, the event will see 16 people strive to win one of the biggest tournaments in pro-wrestling, with last year’s tournament having the largest attendance of any tournament outside of Japan.

This will be the second time Tipton’s Chris Brookes has entered the field, something he told the Express and Starr he considers a great honour. “To me it means both validation for your hard work to be regarded among the performers PROGRESS could bring together," he said.

"This event is also an opportunity to prove myself and show why I should be there when there will be so many eyes on Alexandra Palace”.

For the first time he will be joined in the field by Kyle Fletcher, whose participation in the tournament is a capstone to a wild two years for the young Australian since he moved to Wolverhampton.

“The past two years in the U.K. have been incredible," he said.

"I left Australia in April 2017 with the intention of making a name for myself in the world professional wrestling and I’m super proud of how far I’ve come.

"I’ve been able to accomplish so much and now the possibilities for the future are really exciting.

"I don’t plan on going anywhere any time soon, I hope to continue to travel the world but I see the West Midlands as my home base for at least the foreseeable future”.

Soon after he entered the UK, Fletcher attend Super Strong Style16 as a fan. He urges other people in the West Midlands to make the trip down.

“Super Strong Style 16 is one of the biggest wrestling weekends in the entire world, and for it to be as easily accessible as only a train trip to London is something most wrestling fans could only dream of," he commented.

"This year not only do you get to see the best of the British wrestling scene, but the tournament is filled with the best of the best from all over the world.

"Coupled with being in such a iconic building, the weekend will be absolutely unmissable. Definitely worth getting to if you can”.

It’s worth noting that all PROGRESS shows finish by 8pm, which should plenty of time for people to get the train back should they only want to sample one night.

Although remember that due to London Euston being closed over the Bank Holiday, people will need to travel to Birmingham Moor Street and then get the train to London Marylebone.

Kyle Fletcher enters the tournament on a hot run of form, having won the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles with Mark Davis at the previous show in a brutal ladder match against Paul Robinson and Will Ospreay.

“The match with the Swords of Essex was genuinely one of the biggest tests I’ve ever had to put my body through," Kyle commented.

"The energy in that room and the nerves I felt just before walking through the curtain were something I’ve felt very few times in my life.

"I am very proud of what we were all able to accomplish in that match and to be standing on the other side of that war having regained the PROGRESS Tag Team Championships is a great feeling”.

Paul Robinson is also in the tournament field, but both men will be doing well to meet each other, as they can’t meet until the semi-finals. Fletcher will instead face Mexico’s Daga on Saturday.

the other side of the bracket Brookes will face WWE superstar Ilja Dragunov. That match will be Brookes’ 55th match of the year so far, something that he explains can be difficult to manage.

“I think at times the mental aspect is almost harder than the physical side. When you're doing a minimum of three shows week-in-week-out you become conditioned to that and the types of aches and pains that would bring most people to a halt you just deal with," he said.

"Mentally it can be draining. I think it's important to have interests outside of it so that during the off-time in the week you can remove yourself from it and keep a clear head”.

Should Brookes get past Dragunov he is on the path to face another Australasian resident of the West Midlands, Fight Club: PRO’s head coach Travis Banks, in the semi-finals.

Whatever happens in Fletcher and Brookes matches on Saturday, after the PROGRESS show, proceedings will take a strange turn, as Kaiju Big Battle take over the Alexandria Palace for a late-night after show attraction.

This will see performers from across the pro-wrestling show perform whilst costumed as various archetypes from Japanese giant monster movies.

Brookes got to see them present event in New York City last month. “Kaiju truly is a completely unique experience in and of itself," he recalled.

"There's nothing like it anywhere else in the world. Expect outlandish costumes, ridiculous plots and one of the most entertaining nights out you'll find anywhere. It has to be seen to be believed”.

Beyond the tournament, there is also local representation in the main event of the second night, with Wolverhampton’s Trent Seven facing Austria’s Walter in a match that will create an undisputed world champion for the promotion by unifying the heavyweight and openweight titles.

This will be the first men have met in a singles match since the two men fought for the WXW World Title in Wolverhampton back in 2011.

Despite Seven’s strong run of successful defences as heavyweight champion, both Brookes and Fletcher feel it will be the Austrian who will triumph. For Brookes, it was Walter’s performance in defeating Birmingham’s Pete Dunne to win the WWE UK Champion that has made him reach that judgement.

“I think had you asked me this question a few weeks ago my answer would've been very different but everyone in the wrestling world saw NXT Takeover: New York and that cemented it for me," he said.

I believed Pete Dunne to be simply unstoppable and The Ring General dethroned him. I think Trent is going to need a miracle to put away Walter at Super Strong Style 16”.

Whatever happens, the weekend promises both many great matches, and twist and turns.

PROGRESS Super Strong Style 16 takes place at Alexandria Palace across this Bank Holiday Weekend, May 4 to 6, with the shows being available on Video on Demand afterwards through PROGRESS On Demand. Tickets can still be purchased any of the weekend’s shows here.