As reported earlier by PWMania.com, former WWE Superstars Nikki Storm (also known as Nikki Cross) and Big Damo (formerly Killian Dain) have recently acquired the UK-based promotion PROGRESS Wrestling, along with Defy Wrestling.
Damo discussed various topics in an interview with Aidan Gibbons from Cultaholic, including the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of PROGRESS Wrestling.
Damo said, “Genuinely, this was not on the bingo card for us, either. We have talked about a million different scenarios for a long time. We have been wrestling for 22 years, Nikki has been wrestling for 18 years, so we know there is a time limit. We are going to have to start thinking about what is the future and we thought that was going to be with our little Scottish promotion in Glasgow. This opportunity came along a few weeks ago. Not long after Nikki had been released, actually. It was only a few days after. I’ll just be honest, I was in Belfast about to jump on a plane going to another show, and I had to sit thinking about it on the plane like, ‘This is wild. There’s no way this could happen.’ Then I come off the plane, and we start talking about it seriously. At first, we were talking with James Amner, he’s been in situ at PROGRESS for a long, long time. He’s one of the hidden gems. He hates credit in every single way, but he’s one of the reasons PROGRESS has been ticking over at all for maybe a decade.”
On dealing directly with former co-owner Martyn Best:
“When I broached Nikki with it, she was like, ‘What?’ So there’s been plenty of conversations and, listen, the boys made it very easy. I dealt directly with Martyn Best…and he was very patient with me, and we were able to come to the best agreement for both of us. That was one of the most amazing experiences in terms of how easy he made that for me. This could have been very, very difficult, and this could have been out of our reach, realistically, because we are living in the United States. That is still our home. Obviously, that will change in the next few years, but that is our handicap, effectively, in one regard. But now it’s putting us in a position where we’re starting to think about, ‘Okay, what do we want to do next?’ and PROGRESS Wrestling has answered a lot of those questions very quickly.”
On their goal for PROGRESS:
“We can now start thinking about long term, and that’s something Nikki and I were talking about the other day. Our goal is to make this into the number one independent promotion on the planet. Number one. Letter A. Don’t get me wrong, we want to give back to the industry, but PROGRESS is going to be the number one wrestling company in the world.”
The first event under the new ownership of Storm and Damo will be PROGRESS Chapter 195: Wonderbrawl II, taking place on June 7th at the O2 Ritz Academy in Manchester, England. Additionally, PROGRESS has scheduled a homecoming show at the Electric Ballroom in London. Storm will also be making her first UK appearance since leaving WWE at PROGRESS Chapter 196: Scorchio on Sunday, July 26th. Both shows will be streamed live on Hooked on Wrestling TV.
