Chris Ridgeway explains his absence from Progress Wrestling.
In 2022, Ridgeway wrestled his final match to this day in Progress Wrestling, losing the world championship of the promotion to Big Damo in his final appearance. Until now, his absence has not been explained, but it has now.
In a new video posted to Progress' social media pages, Ridgeway would explain his abscence from Progress.
"I'm just going to sort of ramble here a little. I feel like a tweet or an Instagram post doesn't quite justify or help you understand, really, my position. Firstly, I'm buzzing to be back at Progress. I'm so excited to be back in the Progress ring. Some of my best memories in wrestling, some of my best matches in wrestling, I've been inside the Progress ring. Yeah, I wrestled for Progress for years upon years upon years. I'm just going to take you back a little bit. Super strong until I was 16 when I won it. Okay, I beat four incredible wrestlers then. Dean Allmark, Charlie Dempsey, Gene Munny, Warren Banks, all over that weekend. I got to stand there at the top of the ramp in the Electric Ballroom. Progress World Championship one hand, GHC Junior Tag Team Championship in the other. That picture is a career defining moment for me and I go back and look at that picture every now and then. I have good memories, really good memories of that weekend. However, what you could see there with me holding them two belts, as successful as that looks and as it looks like I'm having the best time in the world, I am when I'm in the ring. Then when I leave and I leave the venue, the real me, my real life wasn't going well at the time. There's a lot going on. There are things that I don't really want to get into right now and I'm not going to divulge too much. I'm not proud to admit, at rock bottom. I was living out of a suitcase. I was living at my friend's house. God bless him for taking me in, you know. But you fast forward to now. That's all in the past. Them moments aren't there anymore. I'm much stronger here. I've been all over the world. Wrestling all sorts of different styles of wrestlers from different places. Some of the best in the world. Some of the best kept secrets in the world. I've learned so, so much since that, as me as a person and as me as a wrestler in the ring. So now it's great to be called out by you, DeReiss. A current Super Strong Style winner. So you'll know what it feels like to be on top of the mountain. You'll know what it feels like to have that adrenaline pumping in your heart, that fighting spirit, man. Every time you get in the ring, you're like, yeah, this is my fucking moment. This is my ring. I always like that too. I can see that in you. Like they say, man, DeReiss is on fire and you are. But please don't mistake these things that I've said for any weakness or softness. That's just real life. These things happen, but we move on. We get stronger, we roll with it. DeReiss, thank you for calling me out. It would be great to be stood in this corner and looking across into the other corner, looking at you, looking at someone that I know is as hungry as me. We're so alike in the sense that we've been all over the world, travelled all over the place, wrestled for all sorts of companies. Our differences in the ring, our different styles in the ring, will make this match incredible, I'm sure. But believe me, I'm more dangerous than ever these days. I'm more clever these days. I'm much more scientific about my wrestling these days, man. So when you come up Manchester, you come up my way, I'm going to show you why North West is strong."
“I was at rock bottom… but that’s all in the past”
— PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) June 17, 2025
Chris Ridgeway addresses his almost three year absence from PROGRESS Wrestling ahead of his return in Manchester next week to face Man Like Dereiss.
Watch in full below -- #PROGRESSWrestling pic.twitter.com/daoRcn36z2
Ridgeway and DeReiss are scheduled to face off on June 29th at Chapter 181.
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