At the upcoming PROGRESS Wrestling show on September 15th from Alexandra Palace, titled Chapter 95: Still Chasing, it has been announced that the longest-reigning WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne will be making his return to the promotion. This will be The Bruiserweight’s first appearance for PROGRESS since December 2018.
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15th September.https://t.co/ApY6UIaaaU pic.twitter.com/2T0VQg9H4f— PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) August 11, 2019
Pete Dunne Returning To PROGRESS Wrestling
Pete got his start with PROGRESS in May 2014 as a participant in the second Natural Progression Series tournament, where he made it to the semifinals after eliminating Robbie X before being ousted by eventual winner Flash Morgan Webster. He wouldn’t appear for the company again until 2016, teaming with Damian Dunne to form The Dunne Bros. Together, they became one of the top teams in PROGRESS’ tag team division, battling the likes of Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) and FSU (Eddie Dennis and Mark Andrews). As we approached the end of 2016 however, that’s when Pete Dunne became one of the biggest stars in PROGRESS history.
It was at the July 31st show, Chapter 33: Malice In Wonderland, where he and Damian again faced Moustache Mountain. During the match, he turned on his brother while Trent turned his back on Tyler. Together, Pete Dunne and Trent Seven were now known as British Strong Style. Just two shows later, they captured the PROGRESS Tag Team Championships from The London Riots (James Davis and Rob Lynch). Momentum stayed in Dunne’s corner going forward, as he was then victorious in a seven way elimination match to win the vacant PROGRESS World Championship in November of 2016. With Trent Seven and now also Tyler Bate by his side, The Bruiserweight dominated the PROGRESS roster.
Successful defenses would follow against names such as Jimmy Havoc, Jeff Cobb, and Mark Haskins before one of the greatest title reigns in PROGRESS history came to a crashing halt when Pete was submitted by Super Strong Style 16 winner Travis Banks during PROGRESS’ first Alexandra Palace show in September 2017. Despite losing that title, Pete was still in possession of the WWE United Kingdom Championship, which he would defend in PROGRESS on a few occasions against Jack Gallagher, Joseph Conners, and Flash Morgan Webster to name a few. In addition, he also pinned Ilja Dragunov inside Wembley Arena last September in what was billed as the biggest match in European wrestling history. His farewell match against Tyler Bate came at Chapter 82: Unboxing Live! 3 – A Dukla Prague Away Kit in December as both men left to put more attention towards their NXT UK careers.
Although an opponent hasn’t been confirmed for Pete Dunne’s PROGRESS return at the time of writing, we can all agree that this will be a huge moment no matter who he comes up against. Also currently scheduled for that show is a Rumble Match to decide the inaugural PROGRESS Proteus Champion, Meiko Satomura challenging whoever is the champion at the time for the PROGRESS Women’s Championship, and 2019 Super Strong Style 16 winner David Starr receiving his shot at the PROGRESS Unified World Championship as he gets set to challenge his arch-rival, WALTER.
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