Dexter Lumis says the Wyatt Sicks should have been used across every WWE brand, including Nikki Storm working women’s matches with him as her valet.
Lumis was a guest on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet in an episode released September 1, his first long interview since WWE released the remaining members of the group on April 24. He talked about the frustration of watching the faction sit idle after a planned WrestleMania 42 match against The Judgment Day was scrapped. Lumis said the match was on the whiteboard seen in Netflix’s WWE: Unreal and was called off because of a health issue with a member of the group, whom he did not name.
“Like we could all, in our minds, the Wyatt Sicks should have been all over WWE programming. Shouldn’t have just been RAW or SmackDown. It should have been Gacy shows up in NXT and has a program with somebody. You know, Nikki shows up in a women’s match and I could valet for Nikki,” Lumis said.
Storm, who wrestled in WWE as Nikki Cross for a decade, had not wrestled on WWE television since September 2024 by the time the release came. She played Abby the Witch in the Wyatt Sicks from June 2024 on, and the group’s last match was against MFT on April 17, a week before the cuts.
Lumis also said this release feels different from his first one in 2022. “It does feel a little more final. You always hear, you know, the door could always still be open,” he said, adding that under TKO “the bottom line is the dollar.” He said Paul Heyman told him late in the run that WWE needed to make him a singles wrestler, and that he had pitched a match with Brock Lesnar.
Storm filed trademarks for “Nikki Storm” and “The Best In The Galaxy,” the name and tagline she used on the independents before signing with WWE in 2016, four days after her release. On May 26, she and her husband Damian Mackle, who wrestled as Killian Dain in WWE and works as Big Damo, announced they had bought PROGRESS Wrestling in the UK. Their stated goal is to make PROGRESS the top independent promotion in the world.
“I’m coming back as a co-owner, and I’m also coming back as an independent professional wrestler,” Storm told PWPonderings last month. “I want to see the world again. I’m not the same person I was when I was 23. I want to do the next 10 years now and see the world again.”
Her return to the ring came on July 23 at OTT in Ireland, teaming with Mackle. She won the GAW Women’s Championship in Germany two days later and wrestled her first PROGRESS match in more than ten years on July 26 at Chapter 196 at the Electric Ballroom in London, beating Session Moth Martina. On Sunday, she lost to Kay Lee Ray on the Manchester stop of the PROGRESS Odyssey Tour.
The tour continues this week. Storm faces Trent Seven on Saturday, September 12 at the O2 Academy in Bournemouth, on a card that also has Rhio defending the PROGRESS World Championship against Kay Lee Ray. She is booked for Sunday, September 13 at the O2 Academy in Birmingham, with her opponent still to be announced. PROGRESS returns to the Electric Ballroom in London on September 27 for Chapter 198: When September Ends. Tickets for all three are on sale at progresswrestling.com.
Storm also has a title match on the other side of the Atlantic. She challenges Gisele Shaw for the MLP Women’s Canadian Championship at Maple Leaf Pro’s Northern Rising on October 3 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, a show that is already sold out.
In WWE, Storm was a three-time Women’s Tag Team Champion, twice with Alexa Bliss and once with Rhea Ripley, won the 2021 Money in the Bank ladder match as Nikki A.S.H. and cashed in the next night to win the Raw Women’s Championship from Charlotte Flair. She was the last 24/7 Champion before the title was retired.
