Michael Oku made his return to PROGRESS at Unboxing 7, and he commented on his return after the show. Oku defeated Mark Haskins in his return to the promotion on December 29th and he spoke in a digital exclusive after the show about how it felt to be back.
“I pictured what this would look like,” Oku began (per Fightful). “I wondered how the crowd would be. But more importantly, I wondered how I would be. I just thought I’d be all like, I don’t know, CM Punk with a purpose. Angry, I’m here and I’ve got, you know, names and whatever. But that’s not what happened, is I got really emotional immediately. I think the reason that happened is because when I walked through that curtain and stepped into the Electric Ballroom for the first time in five years, I thought about the fact that PROGRESS Wrestling was where I had my very first professional wrestling match.”
He continued, “There’s fans in that crowd that were there to see me at match number one, and have been there 500 matches later. They’ve seen my rises, they’ve seen my falls, they’ve seen my triumphs, they’ve seen my biggest victories, my biggest defeats, and to walk through that curtain to wrestle a pillar of PROGRESS Wrestling in Mark Haskins. For us to kill it, because that’s what happened. It’s better than any scripted return that I could have written on a piece of paper. I wanted it to be exactly like this. Now, this overtook it. This was overwhelming. I don’t have the words. But the most important thing is, I am back. Maybe. Maybe this isn’t the last time you’ll see me.”
“It was better than anything I could have scripted”
🦀 Michael Oku speaks to us backstage after returning to PROGRESS Wrestling for the first time in FIVE years!#PROGRESSWrestling pic.twitter.com/OBMA7BUrZ0
— PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) January 3, 2025
