A wrestling power couple has bought the Progress promotion and are the co-owners of Defy.
Damian Mackle (Killian Dain, Big Damo) and his wife Nicola Glencross (Nikki Cross) now own the independent promitions.
Mackle is a former Progress Men’s World Champion as well as a tag team and Atlas Champion.
“We are delighted to be the new co-owners of Progress. We both started in the UK and Ireland and fully believe this is host to the greatest talent pool on earth and Progress is well positioned to showcase this generation and the next generation. We are also very excited to be the new co-owners of Defy Wrestling. Home to the most feverish fan base in the Pacific North West. Nikki and I have an affinity with Seattle, and I always had an incredible experience wrestling on the DEFY shows in front of the Defyance,” said Mackle.
Mackle had nothing but praise for the former Progress owners.
“We would like to thank Martyn Best and Lee McAteer for being wonderful custodians and bringing new levels of professionalism to our industry. They steered Progress after a worldwide pandemic, created an incredible wrestling network in Hooked On Wrestling TV, created a phenomenal working partnership with Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan and DEFY in USA and showed ambition, and an incredible drive to give multiple talented men and women visas to compete in the USA, and opportunities in so many other countries,” he said.
Mackle recognizes there is a lot of work to be done though.
“Our job now is to guide Progress through the coming years, identify new talent and integrate them with the current phenomenal roster. I’m proud to say we have some of the best wrestlers in the world performing for us right now. Our men’s World Champion Cara Noir and Charlie Sterling are performing at the highest level. Our Tag Team Champions Luke Jacobs and Ethan Allen are two of the best wrestlers in the world under 30. Our women’s division is host to some of the best women wrestlers alive. Women’s champion Alexxis Falcon, Rhio, Kanji, Emersyn Jayne and so many more. We also have Hollywood actor Paul Walter Hauser regularly walking the Hollywood red carpets with his PROGRESS Proteus Championship belt. Then there is Gene Munny, Charles Crowley, former WWE star Axel Tischer, Hollie Barlow, Simon Miller, Man Like DeReiss, Spike Trivet, Lykos Gym, and so many more”, he said.
Glencross, a former WWE Women’s RAW World Champion, Money in the Bank Winner and also WWE Tag Team champion with Alexa Bliss and Rhea Ripley, becomes Progress Wrestling and Defy Wrestling’s first female co-owner, bringing a completely fresh point of view.
“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,” she said.
