PROGRESS Wrestling has stripped Jonathan Gresham of the World Championship.
After Gresham lost to Gene Munny via disqualification at PROGRESS Chapter 134: “No Mountain High Enough”, the company vacated the title. Lykos Gym attacked Munny before the bout, and even when management announced that Gresham would be stripped of the gold if they interfered during the bout, they again attacked the challenger during the contest.
PROGRESS issued the following announcement:
Jonathan Gresham stripped of PROGRESS Wrestling World Championship After Controversial Chapter 134 Main Event
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday 15th, May (London, England): PROGRESS Chapter 134: ‘No Mountain High Enough’ took place today at The Electric Ballroom in London and ended with the PROGRESS Wrestling World Championship being declared vacant as well as the fulfillment of one of the longest-held desires of the PROGRESS hardcore fanbase.
This surprising turn of events came as a result of the main event match between PROGRESS World Champion Jonathan Gresham and fan favourite, Gene Munny.
The stipulation of the match would see Munny qualify for June’s Super Strong Style 16 tournament if he were to defeat Gresham, with both men having not suffered a loss in PROGRESS in 2022.
Before the match, Gresham’s long-time allies, Lykos Gym, attacked Munny, leading to management inserting a stipulation that if Gresham was disqualified he would be stripped of the PROGRESS Championship.
Shockingly, not only did the Lykos pair attack Munny again later in the match, leading to the disqualification, they also did it in deliberate view of the referee, ensuring that Gresham was to lose the title he won from Cara Noir in March.
After Lykos revealed their deception was long in the planning, Munny demanded a match with one of the Wolves, not being satisfied with a place in the tournament unless he got a clean pinfall victory. Just minutes later, he got it, pinning Kid Lykos One’s shoulders for the 1-2-3.
Whilst this unexpected ending sees PROGRESS with a vacant world championship for only the third time in the title’s ten-year history, it also sees Gene Munny finally fulfil his long-stated ambition of being entered into Super Strong Style 16, which takes place in London over three nights, 3rd-5th June.
Whilst fans will rejoice at Munny being part of said tournament, they will be keen to hear from PROGRESS management in the coming days what this means for the immediate future of the championship.
When you open the Twitter app it says “What’s happening?”
You know what, @twitter…we’re not sure. It’s absolute chaos here at the Ballroom.
In short…it looks as though Jonathan Gresham is NO LONGER champion. Management will have to address this title issue. #Chapter134 pic.twitter.com/9lwIzUi7xV
— PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) May 15, 2022
Gresham previously won the title by defeating Cara Noir in a Champion vs. Champion Match at the “Chapter 130: Dodge, Dip, Duck, Dive, Dodge” event on March 20.
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