At Chapter 169: The Devil On My Shoulder, Luke Jacobs, the 2024 Super Strong Style 16 winner and #1 contender for the PROGRESS Wrestling Men’s World Championship shocked the world with his dominant win over Kid Lykos in the main event. In this exclusive interview, we delve into Jacobs’ preparation and psyche, his thoughts on the match with Kid Lykos, and what PROGRESS will be like with him as the top star. Join us as we get an inside look at the mind of our new PROGRESS Wrestling Men’s World Champion.
Luke, congratulations on your victory tonight! How does it feel to finally capture the PROGRESS Men’s World Championship?
It feels incredible but it felt inevitable, lets face it there was no stopping me from take this title, the biggest achievement of my career so far, and I took it with complete dominance.
Can you walk us through the match tonight? What was going through your mind as you faced Lykos?
What was going through my mind? Ridiculous amounts of self confidence and a solid game plan, because I’m a professional and that’s what professionals do. I played to all my strengths and exposed his weaknesses.
What did you say to Lykos II at ringside… you appeared to be very vocal towards him after your win?!
You want to know what I said to Lykos II? I told him to get out of my sight because I can’t even look at him, I told him he could’ve sided with me and been the best mate and brother he was to me but he just couldn’t let go of that deadweight holding him back, his loss, not mine.
You said you wanted to rebuild PROGRESS with you at the front and centre of the company… what will a Luke Jacobs PROGRESS look and feel like?
Now that PROGRESS has a real world champion, we can rebuild and bring back the gritty side of pro wrestling, my PROGRESS is one of success and the rest… you’ll have to wait and see, because a new era has begun, my era.
Kid Lykos recently said that the burden of being PROGRESS Champion is heavy… How do you think you will fare with the burden now that you’ve won the title?
The burden? That sounds like the talk of someone terrified of the responsibility of being world champion, I won’t feel any burden, only pride and confidence. I want everyone gunning for me, try and take this title from me, because I will kick the fuck out all of them and prove my point over and over again.
In your previous interview, you mentioned wanting to bring a “punk rock” attitude to pro wrestling. How do you plan to embody that as the new champion?
The punk rock attitude is not giving a shit, not caring about who is stood in front of you, but knowing I will do everything to keep my world championship, no matter how much blood I have to lose, no matter how much violence I have to put myself through or inflict on others.
What message do you have for the PROGRESS Wrestling fans after you silenced them with with performance?
I’m sure you heard there were just a few people in the Electric Ballroom who were supporting me, at least a few fans have some sense, but in the end love me or hate me, you’ll never find a World Champion that gives a less of a shit about their opinions or criticisms, they can’t deny my incredible performance over Super Strong Style 16 weekend and can’t deny my absolute dominance when I took that title from Kid Lykos. I told them all what was going to happen and I made it all come true right in front of them. I hope it hurt.
You were wearing your Young Guns gear for this huge title match… any significance to that?
No matter where I am, or what I’m doing, whether I’m a World Champion or not, I will always be Luke Jacobs…one half of the Young Guns. It’s as simple as that.
You have the Pro Wrestling NOAH tour coming up, how excited are you to be part of that?
I am incredibly excited to a part of the NOAH tour representing PROGRESS as its world champion. NOAH is the place where so many of my idols and biggest inspirations in wrestling have been, Kobashi, Misawa, Go Shiozaki, KENTA and so many others, it’s truly an honour. However, I feel sorry for the lads that get put in front of me, because they’ll be facing the PROGRESS Men’s World Champion, and I will be relentless.
Finally, what’s next for Luke Jacobs as the PROGRESS Men’s World Champion?
What’s next? To start my journey as the greatest progress world champion and take on every single person who really thinks they can take this title from me and show each and every one of them that the new Luke Jacobs is just a step above the rest and nobody is on my level.
PROGRESS Wrestling tickets are available for all future shows via the dice app, including this August’s event, WRESTLING NEVER SLEEPS featuring KENTA vs Ricky Knight Jr for the DEFY World Championship. See you on Sunday, 28th July!
You can see Luke Jacobs matches in PROGRESS Wrestling, including his SSS16 win by subscribing to DEMAND PROGRESS PLUS.
