Vaughn Vertigo Explains Why He Tried To Avoid Wrestling In The US For Years

Since early 2025, Vaughn Vertigo has taken a significant amount of bookings in the United States.

As it turns out, PROGRESS and Defy helped him secure an international visa. Vertigo talked about this in a new interview with Fightful Overbooked’s Joel Pearl.

“I guess for years, I kind of avoided going to the US or if I did, I was very careful about it. That’s why I ended up going to Europe and wrestling for the first part of my career. An opportunity opened up where PROGRESS and Defy were starting to get international talent visas and I inquired about it. I was able to be on it for the first round along with Michael Oku and LJ Cleary, Subculture. A lot of guys that I’m familiar with and friendly with. It was a good group of people to be included with. When it came time to do a renewal of it, I was able to get on that as well. Last year, I spent so much time traveling to every indie that I could to try and get an opportunity. If you look at where I was on Cagematch last year, it’s like literally all over the map of the States, which is what I wanted.”

The momentum has continued in 2026, with Vertigo competing for US promotions like Pro Wrestling Junkie and Big Time Wrestling.

Elsewhere in the interview, Vaughn Vertigo spoke about the importance of Maple Leaf Pro. Check out his full comments by clicking here.

Fans can check out Fightful’s full interview with Vertigo in the video linked at the top of this article.