PROGRESS owner Lee McAteer discusses talent being signed by AEW or WWE.
PROGRESS have been tied to some of the top names of the UK over the years, with big names in both AEW and WWE honing their craft in the promotion prior to being signed. Now in 2024, the promotions talent continue to draw attention from the major companies, with interest in talent such as Rhio.
While speaking to the A2TheK podcast in a recent interview, Lee McAteer addressed the possibility of PROGRESS talent being picked up by major promotions, noting that if that happens, then he has done his job.
"Well, first of all, if they get that much exposure, they're doing so well, and they end up going to, dare I say it, WWE or AEW, then do you know what? We've done our job properly, is that we've built a talent and we've got them to what is probably their overall career aspirations. Hopefully by doing that, in the future, those favours, well, not favours, that's probably the wrong use of language, but will be repaid. And for me, there was a lot of talent that were going over to the US without visas. And there was a number of very well-known cases in the industry where people weren't able to get back into the US. I always felt that for pro, and I'll be honest, this is before our arrangement with Defy, but I always felt for progress to grow, it needed those global aspirations. As much as I love the electric ballroom in Camden, et cetera, the reality is, is that for us to really grow, we needed to be able to be seen in a plethora of places. There's no bigger place for that than America. So that was the kind of starting point. Now, of course, all we can do is sort the visas out. It's then down to the talent to make the most of that opportunity."
Rhio, along with other talent such as Tate Mayfairs, have recently toured the United States with visas provided by PROGRESS, as first reported by Fightful Select.
Elsewhere in the same interview, Lee spoke about PROGRESS possibly becoming a WWE ID promotion. You can read more about that here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
