Lee McAteer explains decision to sell PROGRESS to Big Damo and Nikki Cross
PROGRESS Wrestling’s former co-owner Lee McAteer has opened up about selling the promotion.
PROGRESS Wrestling released an official statement on May 26, 2026, revealing that former co-owners Martyn Best and Lee McAteer were done with the promotion. The statement further revealed that former WWE wrestlers Nikki Cross & Big Damo had successfully acquired the promotion.
Recently, in an interview with Cultaholic, McAteer shared a detailed explanation about his decision to sell the wrestling promotion to Big Damo and Cross.
“I wanted to give it to the people that I feel as though can take it further than I could. If that ever happened or if it came about, I was willing to basically move it forward. For me, I had dinner with Damo and Rockstar Spud…had dinner with them in Vegas and we chatted about a few different things, and one thing led to another, and the opportunity kind of was there and I just felt as though it was the right time to move it forward because I legitimately, and hand on heart, I feel as though they will take it to a level that I wasn’t able to do,” he said.
“No, I don’t think it was because they’d seen how much I’d given. I couldn’t give any more, Tom. It was really, really difficult because you put your heart and soul into something. You then hit a point, or at least I did, and I’m like, ‘I’m not sure I can do this to the level it needs to be.’ You need huge amounts of energy and there was so many different things that went into PROGRESS externally to do things, to keep the cash flow going, and everything else that went alongside that, that it was a lot,” McAteer further added.
McAteer mentioned that he had received higher offers for PROGRESS from other parties. However, he prioritized finding suitable custodians for PROGRESS over the highest financial offer, and thus settled on Big Damo and Nikki Storm.
“In truth, I’d taken on far too much. I just got to the point where I was like, ‘Do you know what? I’m not sure I can take this to the next level of where it needs to be.’ But I genuinely believe [Big] Damo and Nikki [Cross] definitely can.”
More details on PROGRESS Wrestling
Jim Smallman, Jon Briley, and Glen Joseph, in London, UK, established PROGRESS Wrestling in 2011. Following a successful run mixed with a few highs and lows, PROGRESS was acquired by Lee McAteer and Martyn Best in 2022.
Two years later, in February 2024, the promotion merged with DEFY Wrestling, an independent promotion based in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. And on May 26, 2026, both PROGRESS and DEFY were acquired by Cross and Big Damo.
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
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