Nikki Cross recently spoke with Rick Ucchino of Sportskeeda and previewed her WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship Match with Bayley at WWE The Horror Show at Extreme Rules.
Here are some highlights:
On the evolution of Nikki Cross’ character:
Cross: “I think fans are seeing, you know, they see flashes of the NXT, wild and erratic and reckless Nikki, and then I think they also see, I think they’re seeing a lot of, creatively, I think they’re seeing a lot of my real personality. I think there’s, you know, a lot of things I say and a lot of the ways I act, like that’s very much Nikki that you’ll see backstage or a Nikki you see outside of WWE. So for myself, it was just bringing more elements of that in. And it was, it sounds cheesy, but it was very much like, okay, I’m going to be myself here. How would Nikki really act in this situation?”
“And I think it’s just bringing in those real elements of myself and just really being myself. And I thinks that the result has been, you know, I think people have liked that, and I’ve always said this, if I can make one person smile, then I feel like I doing my job.”
“There’s different aspects to everyone’s personalities, and I think that I’m just enjoying exploring that, and I like the fact that I can kind of take people on a journey with me.”
On working with Sasha Banks and Bayley:
Cross: “I think that the fans have been able to see me and Alexa [Bliss] work and compete with Sasha and Bayley and you know, we’re always pushing each other, we’re always pushing to bring out the best in each other. You know, we’re always trying to be innovative, we’re trying to be creative . If we’re trying to just work for us, we’re telling these stories, and we want people to enjoy these stories. We want people to tune in. We’re trying to tell all these different stories, and that for us is the most important thing. You know, right now, we’re telling the story, you know, Sasha and Bayley…me and Alexa, we’re trying to get back our WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. I’m going for my first ever SmackDown Women’s Championship on pay-per-view on the network in singles competition. So you know, we’re trying to take down this power trip, we’re trying to fight for these opportunities. So for ourselves, I think we bring out the best in each other, and we’re pushing each other. And it is a competition. In the way that we want to tell the best stories we can.”
On what winning the SmackDown Women’s Championship would mean to her:
Cross: “It would mean everything. I started training when I was 18 years old. Started in Glasgow, Scotland, worked in England, Wales, Ireland, all over Europe. I went and lived in Japan for four months by myself. Traveled to Japan, Canada and America, literally tried to fight for this dream all over the world. Came to WWE four years ago, had my own journey in NXT, then came up to RAW and SmackDown. For me, it would mean the 12,13 years of fighting for this, leaving a family in Scotland, you know, I really want to win that singles championship and be able to you know, show my mom, ‘Hi this is why I moved, this is why I left for America.'”
“And you know, if I’m not doing that for my family, then you know, what am I doing this for? So for me, you do it for yourself, you do it for your family. You do it for the ones you love, and you really want that reward, you want that prize. You want what you fought for because you know that that’s what you sacrificed for.”
The full interview is available here:
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