The indie buyout that nobody saw coming

Stop scrolling through your Twitter feed for a second. We have officially reached the point in the wrestling calendar where former WWE talent is pivoting from taking bumps to signing checks. Nikki Storm, who you remember as Nikki Cross, and Big Damo, formerly Killian Dain, have purchased PROGRESS Wrestling and DEFY Wrestling.

Yes, you read that right. Two staples of the former NXT Sanity faction just bought their way into the boardroom. I’m waiting for the punchline, but it seems like we lost that somewhere between the acquisition of the UK indie giant and a cult favorite promotion out of Seattle.

PROGRESS and DEFY are now headed for a weird new chapter

PROGRESS Wrestling has been at the center of the UK scene for over a decade. It birthed the rise of stars like Will Ospreay and Pete Dunne. Damo knows that ring better than his own living room. He performed there countless times before the Stamford machine swallowed him up.

Then you have DEFY. That promotion is basically the gold standard for independent wrestling atmosphere in the Pacific Northwest. If you’ve ever seen a clip of a match at Washington Hall with the lights flickering and the crowd losing their minds for a 450 splash, that was probably DEFY. Putting these two under one umbrella is a massive gamble.

As reported by BodySlam.net, the deal officially transfers control to the former performers. It’s a total shift in power dynamics. Wrestlers buying the companies that once provided them a platform to get signed by bigger entities feels like the circle of life in the most aggressive way possible.

The booking risks attached to this move

Here is where I start to sweat. Buying a promotion is not the same as taking a bump. PROGRESS has struggled with consistency since the WWE partnership era effectively gutted the soul of the UK scene years ago. Trying to revive that magic while simultaneously juggling a Seattle-based company is a logistical nightmare.

Can they handle the travel? Can they keep the booking fresh without turning these shows into a vanity project? If they start pushing their own friends instead of the talent that actually drew the crowd, they will alienate the fans within six months. Indie wrestling fans are the most fickle people on the planet. They will turn on you faster than a heel who just betrayed his tag-team partner for a title opportunity.

What this means for the talent

We are looking at a potential pipeline change. Will these promotions maintain their independence, or are they going to serve as fancy showcase rooms for future WWE or AEW recruits? If Storm and Damo turn these into glorified developmental camps, the authenticity of the product dies immediately.

However, if they actually respect the grassroots feel of these shows, we might see a renaissance. They know what it is like to be stuck under a bloated company contract. Maybe they create a system where talent actually gets paid fairly without being buried in a catering room for three years. That would be a win for the sport. If they screw it up, we get another series of dead promotions being sold off for parts in 2028.

I am curious to see if they keep the current rosters intact. There is a lot of hidden talent in those lockers that deserves a spotlight. Maybe, just maybe, this is the start of a trend. Former stars deciding to build their own fiefdoms instead of begging for a spot on a main event roster that already has too many moving parts. It is a bold, insane, and potentially genius move.

But hey, we are talking about an industry where pro wrestlers becoming owners makes more sense than half the storylines we saw on television this month. Grab your popcorn. I’ll be watching the first show under their banner with a very cynical eye and a hopeful heart.