Posted on 8/11/126 by Colin Vassallo
Nikki Cross sat down with Chris Van Vliet in Orlando, FL to
discuss her journey from being an extra on WWE TV to signing
with the company, her multiple personas including Nikki
Cross, Nikki A.S.H. and Abby The Witch, winning the Women’s
Championship as Nikki A.S.H., where the inspiration came
from for her superhero persona, being the final 24/7
Champion, purchasing PROGRESS Wrestling with her husband Big
Damo, and more!
Was it hard to say goodbye to that character? Because I feel
like all of the Wyatt Sicks getting released was very
unexpected.
“It was unexpected. For every character I’ve played. Whether
it be Sanity, whether it be Nikki A.S.H., even Nikki Storm
when I said goodbye to her in 2016 before I joined WWE and
Abby the Witch, I always feel attached to the characters, so
it’s always difficult to say goodbye. With WWE, I was there
for 10 years. I got to travel the world. I got to make
amazing friends, make these incredible friendships with
people like Sarah Schreiber, with people like Giulia, and I
get to take them forever. With WWE, I was there for 10
years, so it’s always hard to say goodbye to such a
substantial, significant chapter in your life. That being
said, I’m so excited for my next chapter, and I’m so excited
for what’s next for myself, and I can’t wait to go out to
the world and go out to the galaxy. It was unexpected, and
it’s always hard to say goodbye to a character in people
that you become so bonded with. Myself and Dexter and Joe
Gacy, Bo Dallas and Erick Rowan, we’ve shared something that
I don’t know if anyone will ever be able to relate to: the
five of us sharing this experience. So it’s always hard to
say goodbye, but I think I don’t ever want to be stuck in
the past. It was a great 10 years, but I’m also excited for
the next 10 years.”
You and your husband bought Progress Wrestling. So
congratulations. I feel like you are one of the very few
women who own a pro wrestling company.
“Yes, it’s been a crazy couple of months. It’s been insane
the last couple of months. It was just perfect timing. I
don’t know if it would have still happened if I was still
with WWE, so it just felt like perfect timing, the right
place, the right time, the right circumstances with Progress
Wrestling. Our goal is to make Progress Wrestling the number
one independent promotion in the world, and we’ve got a long
way to go. But that’s the mission, that’s the goal, that’s
our aim. We want to take young talent and give them
opportunities, and push them, and give them a platform. In
Europe right now, it’s a hotbed. So the talent is there and
just waiting to be tapped into, and that’s what we want to
do with Progress Wrestling. We want the style to be
aggressive and intense, but we also want the three-ring
circus. So we want our stories to be involved. We have such
funny, wonderful characters, funny wrestlers at Progress. So
we want there to still be space for them, but we really want
that three-ring circus and really push that aggressive,
intense ring style and become the number one company. Even
with the women’s wrestling, it’s such a hotbed right now in
Britain, and not only do I get to work with these girls in
the ring. I also can’t wait to work with them for Progress
and make it a hotbed because it is a hotbed. Progress
Wrestling, we want to be at the forefront of that, and we
want to work with all the companies we can. We want to
cross-promote. We want good relationships worldwide. Whether
that be in Japan, America, Canada, Europe, other places in
England, in Scotland, in Ireland, like we want it all
covered, and if we can do it. We’re excited for this next
step.”
With the Wyatt Sicks, how did that come about for you? How
did you get selected for it?
“So I was playing the Nikki A.S.H. character; she had been
turned villain, she had turned heel on Rhea Ripley, she was
a heel, and then at that point the creative had changed, and
Triple H loved the Nikki Cross, the SAnitY character,
because when I started at NXT in 2016, and it was Triple H,
SAnitY was his brainchild. So he always loved Nikki Cross as
that little crazy, little gremlin, mischievous, like wild
Tasmanian devil. So we made the switch to that, and I don’t
know when, but I think at that point Triple H started to
think about me being in the Wyatt Sicks. So I think that’s
how we kind of got from Nicky A.S.H. to Abby the Witch. We
went back to Nikki Cross, and then it was something was
happening. That was when you saw me staring off into the
distance, because I think at that point in the creative’s
mind they were like, we want to start to tell this story.
We’re not there yet because we’ve not debuted the Wyatt
Sicks yet, so we’ll have people know that something is going
on in our head. I’m a little crazy anyway, so it wasn’t a
big wide stretch. So it was, you know, being in the trance,
and something is going on there in kind of Easter eggs and
the slow-term storytelling, which I think the creative likes
that kind of longer style.”
Did you know Nikki A.S.H. had the potential to be a main
event character? Because you win Money in the Bank, the next
night you cash in, and now you’re the Raw Women’s Champion.
“It was what I’d built my career towards. I always wanted to
be that person for the company. I wanted to be the top girl.
After winning Money in the Bank and after cashing in,
leading up to SummerSlam, I did the triple threat with
Charlotte and Rhea, I was so blessed because that time
leading up to SummerSlam, I was doing all the press
interviews, I was doing all the media interviews, and it was
great. It was great preparation. I look at everything like a
learning experience. So that month, you’ve got me doing all
the interviews and doing all the major newspapers in
Britain. First of all, I thought, what a compliment! The one
month before one of the big four, right? WrestleMania,
SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, Survivor Series. 60,000 people in
that arena at SummerSlam. So what a compliment that the
company saw something in me to give me that ball and trust
me to present the company as the top woman, and that’s
something I always wanted and I worked towards. Getting to
do that, carry out those responsibilities, and I feel like I
did myself proud. I did the company proud, and I made my
family proud. And to me, that’s the most important thing. As
long as I’m making myself proud and my family proud, that’s
key.”
Do you remember being told you’re going to win Money in the
Bank, and you know what this means? You’re going to cash in.
“So I didn’t know I was winning Money in the Bank until we
got to the rehearsal, and even then, I didn’t know. It
wasn’t until the producer was like, ‘Okay, Nikki’s going to
win this.’ You just don’t want to have a big reaction in
that moment because you’re so happy, but you also realize
that there’s five other girls that aren’t getting that, so
you want to be very respectful of your peers and your co-
workers and your colleagues. But I also want people to know,
hey, I’m really happy about this. But again, don’t rub it in
people’s faces. I always want to try and be empathetic and
respectful, and everyone was happy for me. We do the match,
and I just thought maybe I’m gonna have a bit of a run with
it. They’re gonna have me do fun stuff as a superhero with
the briefcase. I get there to Raw the next day, I don’t
think anything’s happening. There’s nothing in the script.
So I’m like, oh, maybe I’m just doing something on social
media. Maybe I’ll just film something for digital. Maybe I’m
just doing a quick interview. Then all of a sudden, a writer
comes up to me and they’re like, ‘Okay, Vince wants to see
you in his office.’ I’m like, no! The seed starts to form.
No way they’re going to do a cash-in the next night, no way.
Okay, let’s just see how it goes. Let’s just see what
happens. I get in there, Rhea’s in there, Charlotte’s in
there, Vince’s in there, and he tells us the plan. Again, I
don’t know if sense is the right word-but you’re like, okay,
professional environment. Be a businesswoman, okay. Then
you’re like, thank you so much for also this opportunity.
I’m going to kill it.”
“I will never forget that night. I’m in Gorilla. Rhea and
Charlotte are having their match, and I’m like, don’t fall.
Do not trip and fall! I’ve always loved running, as you’ve
probably seen with some of my entrances. I’ve always been a
runner. I did the Disney Marathon last year. I love running,
so I was like, don’t trip, don’t fall. Again, it was one of
those: if you trip and fall, it’s game over. Don’t ruin
this! The show was almost out of time. I have never ran so
fast in my life, and ran up, did the top rope cross body, 1,
2, 3, and I was Women’s Champion. I got to celebrate into
the crowd, and that’s something I had always wanted to do.
So I loved being able just to jump into the crowd because no
matter what, we don’t have a show without the fans. The fans
are so so critical to what we do. They’ve got me to where I
am. There was so many days where preparing for a tryout.
Christmas Day, you’re meant to be at Christmas dinner and
I’m at the wrestling school by myself running these drills.
Every moment, every time where it got really hard, it’s
always the buzz from the crowd. It’s always the reaction of
the fans, it’s the support from the kids in the audience,
the girls in the audience, everyone. So it was super
important to get that moment in. So yeah, I maybe could have
stayed in the ring longer, but I was like, no, go be with
the people. I’m a woman of the people. So I was super
grateful that we got that moment, and then it was there.
Then with the next Monday Night Raw, I got to like do the
introduction, like ‘Welcome to Monday Night Raw.’ Again,
you’re telling the 10-year-old girl, hey, look what you got
to do. But at the same time, I always knew I had that talent
and that ability, because that’s what I trained for. That
was always my mindset. So, being at the top of the mountain
and getting to enjoy that moment was incredible.”