Only a month after departing from WWE, Nikki Cross is making a big move alongside her husband Big Damo, aka former WWE star Killian Dain. On Tuesday morning, the couple shocked the wrestling world, announcing they had purchased both UK indie promotion Progress Wrestling and United States indie promotion DEFY Wrestling. The first Progress show held under Damo and Cross’ ownership will take place on June 7 at the 02 Ritz Academy in Manchester, England.

“It is not lost on me that there are few female owners in professional wrestling, so I want to bring my experience and insights to the table and elevate Progress and DEFY to new levels,” Cross said in a statement. “We were deeply encouraged by the first Progress Women’s Super Strong Style 16 tournament. Rhio and Gisele competed in an incredible main event, and Rhio proved to be a worthy winner! We will soon be announcing that next year, in 2027, we will host the first stand alone female Super Strong Style 16. We are also in the process of bringing Progress to new cities across the UK, and will be excited to announce those details soon”

Launched in 2012, Progress became one of the most well recognized independent promotions in England during the UK wrestling boom of the mid-2010s, and later developed a working relationship with WWE. By 2020, however, a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Speaking Out movement led to Progress going on hiatus, returning only in 2021. The promotion’s relationship with WWE soon ended, and Progress was later purchased by Lee McAteer and Martyn Best, who would run Progress until selling it to Cross and Damo.

As for DEFY, the Pacific Northwest promotion launched in 2017 under Matt Farmer, and had run shows consistently through 2025. In 2024, DEFY and Progress announced that the two promotions would be merging. No follow up report regarding the merger ever emerged, though Cross and Damo’s purchase of both promotions suggest that the merger was ultimately completed.