Chris Ridgeway Wins PROGRESS Super Strong Style 16 & PROGRESS World Championship

Malcolm Bryce Photography

The winner of PROGRESS Wrestling’s Super Strong Style 16, and the new PROGRESS World Champion, was crowned during today’s (June 5) final.

The final of the tournament saw Warren Banks take on Chris Ridgeway, which Ridgeway came out on top in, crowning him the new champion.

PROGRESS issued the following statement on the final:

Chris Ridgeway Wins PROGRESS Wrestling Super Strong Style 16 Tournament And Wins PROGRESS World Championship

Sunday, 5th June – (London, England) Chris Ridgeway is the new PROGRESS Wrestling World Champion.

In Sunday’s final of the 2022 edition of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament, Ridgeway prevailed against a valiant Warren Banks.

To advance to the final, both Ridgeway and Banks had already wrestled, and won, three matches over the weekend. Ridgeway beat Dean Allmark on Friday, followed by Charlie Dempsey on Saturday, and crowd favourite Gene Munny in Sunday’s semi-final.

Banks’s route to the final saw him defeat Big Damo, Kid Lykos and Johnny PROGRESS, an impressive set of performances against three wholly different opponents. Eventually, though, Ridgeway proved to be one obstacle too far for the Nigerian Kaiju.

This was the first Super Strong Style 16 tournament since 2019 and the first time that the winner of Europe’s most prestigious wrestling tournament also earned the PROGRESS World Championship.

Ridgeway’s win adds another prestigious title to his proverbial trophy cabinet. In April, he won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles in Pro Wrestling NOAH along with partner Yoshinari Ogawa during a Japanese tour in which Ridgeway was unbeaten in seven matches.

As Ridgeway embarks on his first reign as PROGRESS champ, all eyes will now turn to whoever emerges as his first contender.

Elsewhere on a stacked three-day long Super Strong Style 16 weekend, two other titles changed hands.

On Saturday, Sunshine Machine (Chuck Mambo and TK Cooper) won their first PROGRESS Tag Team Championships in a chaotic ladder match against defending champions The 0121 (Man Like Dereiss and Dan Maloney) and former champions, The Smokin’ Aces (Charlie Sterling and Nick Riley)

On Sunday, Kanji returned from an injury enforced sabbatical to take the PROGRESS Women’s Championship from long-term champion, Impact Knockout Gisele Shaw in an incredible two-out-of-three falls match.

For Further information please contact Rob McNichol (Rob@Progresswrestling.com)

🏆 The winner of Super Strong Style 16 and new PROGRESS Champion is @chrisridgeway__ #SSS16 pic.twitter.com/5T6yDq23yB

— PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) June 5, 2022

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