Dave Meltzer Comments On Nikki Cross & Big Damo Purchasing PROGRESS & DEFY Wrestling

Major moves were made in the world of independent wrestling on May 26 as former WWE Superstars Nikki Cross and Killian Dain, now better known as Nikki Storm and Big Damo, formerly announced that they had purchased UK indie company PROGRESS, as well as the Washington based promotion DEFY Wrestling. Both PROGRESS and DEFY merged in early 2024 as a way to expand their respective international footprints, and the new owners are looking to continue that trend as 2026 goes on.

However, the amount of each company that Storm and Damo actually own was brought by Dave Meltzer on a recent episode of "Wrestling Observer Radio," who was told that the former WWE Superstars actually own the whole of one company, while only holding a majority stake in another. "They own a percentage of DEFY but they don't own the company. But they own all of PROGRESS though, so they bought PROGRESS, and so what the deal is PROGRESS owned points in DEFY, do they get the points that PROGRESS own?" Both Storm and Damo are listed as DEFY's owners on the company's Wikipedia page, though unlike PROGRESS, no statement regarding the changing ownership has been released.

Storm was already announced to be competing at PROGRESS Chapter 196: Scorchio on July 26, which would also act as her first independent appearance after the conclusion of her 90-day non-compete clause following her release from WWE in April. Damo competed for PROGRESS as recently as April of this year, challenging Paul Walter Hauser for the PROGRESS Proteus Championship in a losing effort at the company's event over WWE WrestleMania 42 weekend. He last competed for DEFY back in April 2024 while Storm has never appeared in the promotion.

Please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.