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Last year saw the inaugural SSS16 tournament; a sixteen-man, single elimination, tournament with the winner earning themselves a shot at the PROGRESS Title. Eventual winner Will Ospreay would use his title shot to finally capture the belt from Jimmy Havoc; with the tournament also featuring PROGRESS débuts for eventual regulars like Tomasso Ciampa and Big Daddy Walter.
This year's tournament would feature the following sixteen talents:
Mark Andrews
Rampage Brown
Sami Callihan
TK Cooper
Matt Cross
Pete Dunne
Tommy End
Jack Gallagher (replacing the injured Zack Sabre Jr)
Zack Gibson
Mark Haskins
Chris Hero
Dave Mastiff
Damon Moser
Big Daddy Walter
Kenny Williams
Mikey Whiplash
DAY ONE: SUNDAY 29th MAY 2016
The start of the show was delayed due to a late arriving ring as the van broke down. The ring crew must have worked incredibly hard to get the show to start only an hour behind schedule; but it meant that the first few matches seemed rushed, and the ring seemed a bit wobbly in places.
FIRST ROUND: MARK HASKINS vs. PETE DUNNE
Mark Haskins is always on absolute top form, and Pete Dunne seemingly gets better each time I see him. The aforementioned ring issues may have plagued the match a bit, but it was still a great bout which saw Mark Haskins earn the win via submission.
WINNER: MARK HASKINS
FIRST ROUND: MIKEY WHIPLASH vs. DAMON MOSER
It's rare I'll say this about a PROGRESS match, but I felt this match never got out of first gear. Neither wrestler did anything particularly memorably and they didn't seem to click. Whiplash scored the victory in this one.
WINNER: MIKEY WHIPLASH
FIRST ROUND: ZACK GIBSON vs. KENNY WILLIAMS
Gibson cut a great heel promo beforehand complaining about how the PROGRESS fans are unfair to him, and about how he's going to lock Williams in the Shankly Gates – his finisher – for the submission. Low and behold, the match did indeed end with the débuting Williams tapping to Gibson in a good match.
WINNER: ZACK GIBSON
FIRST ROUND: JACK GALLAGHER vs. TK COOPER (w/ Dahlia Black)
Cooper attempted to attack Gallagher before the bell but Gallagher fought his way around Cooper's onslaught. Lots of great technical work from Gallagher, and Cooper – as well as Dahlia Black at ringside – are some of the best at selling I've seen in a long time. Their facial expressions are priceless.
WINNER: JACK GALLAGHER
FIRST ROUND: BIG DADDY WALTER vs. DAVE MASTIFF
This was also a group stage match in the Atlas Championship tournament which would see both wrestlers awarded a point if the contest went to the usual Atlas 15 minute time minute (although the bout would continue for the purpose of the SSS16). This was irrelevant though as Walter picked up the victory with time to spare.
WINNER: BIG DADDY WALTER
It was time for the interval where the ring crew feverishly tightened up the ring.
FIRST ROUND: MARK ANDREWS vs. CHRIS HERO
I'm not too familiar with Chris Hero's work but – and I'll admit this is going to be an unpopular opinion – I wasn't that impressed with him here. He looks out-of-shape, and the match mostly consisted of him no-selling the much smaller Andrews and hitting the same stiff strikes repeatedly. The match picked up as it went on, with Andrews getting more and more offence in, but it was mostly David trying and failing to beat Goliath.
I'm definitely in the minority with my opinion though, as I've seen many others claim this to be their match of the weekend, so different strokes for different folks.
WINNER: CHRIS HERO
FIRST ROUND: SAMI CALLIHAN vs. MATT CROSS
This was a great, great match. My only real experience of Callihan was his uninspiring NXT run so I was pleasantly surprised to see how much he had to offer. The match highlight was probably Matt Cross holding his own body up on the ring post – for several seconds – before dropping the elbow on a prone Callihan. Callihan got the victory by distracting the referee whilst low blowing Cross.
WINNER: SAMI CALLIHAN
FIRST ROUND: TOMMY END vs. RAMPAGE BROWN
The final first round match saw two favourites battle each other in a great contest which saw End eventually come away victorious, and both men shaking hands afterwards.
WINNER: TOMMY END
With the first round complete, the quarter final looks like:
Mark Haskins vs. Mikey Whiplash
Zack Gibson vs. Jack Gallagher
Big Daddy Walter vs. Chris Hero
Sami Callihan vs. Tommy End
TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: THE ORIGIN (Nathan Cruz & El Ligero) (c) vs. LONDON RIOTS (Rob Lynch & James Davis)
This was a great match with many near falls. Original referee Chris Roberts was knocked out by El Ligero, leading to replacement ref Marc Parry taking charge. Parry didn't last long though and we ended up with our third official Joel Allen in charge. Allen blocked an attempted strike from Ligero and struck him instead. Throw in a bunch of shenanigans involving Cruz and Ligero's Origin teammates Mastiff and Gibson; as well as some vicious looking spears from Davis and Lynch; and you had a great tag team contest which ended with the Riots finally claiming the PROGRESS Tag Team shields.
WINNERS: LONDON RIOTS
The Riots cut a promo afterwards with some not-so-subtle references to Ring of Honor, EVOLVE and New Japan.
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