Shane "Swerve" Strickland To Challenge For PROGRESS World Title

Shane "Swerve" Strickland won't just be performing in PROGRESS Wrestling at the promotion's Chapter 129 show on February 20 - he will challenge for the world title.

PROGRESS announced on Monday that Strickland will face Cara Noir inside the Electric Ballroom on February 20, tweeting: "@Cara_Noir now faces a huge challenge to his PROGRESS Wrestling title in the form of @swerveconfident. With so many people now vying for his title the odds are starting to be really stacked against him. There is no doubting how real this threat is..."

February 20 will also be Strickland's return to PROGRESS. He previously competed for the British indy a handful of times from 2016 until 2018, facing the likes of Will Ospreay, Mark Andrews and Moustache Mountain's Trent Seven and Tyler Bate. 

Strickland's challenge also comes at an interesting time for PROGRESS World Champion Cara Noir. 

The Black Swan successfully defended his title against Dean Allmark on Sunday at Chapter 128 in Manchester but NXT United Kingdom Champion Ilja Dragunov interrupted Noir following the match, signalling they will rekindle their 2019 feud.

How their rivalry will progress remains to be seen, though.