Alexa Bliss has one of the most extensive character histories in modern WWE, and on the Nikki & Brie Show, she gave a detailed look into her process, crediting the late Windham “Bray Wyatt” Rotunda for revolutionizing her approach to performing.
Learning from a Master
Bliss admitted that her early “Goddess” persona was less about deep research and more about imitation. “When I was doing the goddess persona, that was very much just like people I went to high school with,” she said. However, her perspective completely changed when she began her storyline with “The Fiend.”
“When I started working with Windham, it was like, ‘Oh, so there needs to be research that goes into this,'” Bliss recalled. “He immediately, when I was joining his inner world of the Wyatts… was like, ‘Alright, you need to watch this documentary. Watch this documentary. Watch this movie. Watch this, research this.’ And because he had put so much into his character, it made me feel like, ‘Okay, I’m going into your world and I can’t be the one to mess it up.'”
The Psychology of “Playground Alexa”
This new approach, which she continues today with weekly acting classes, directly informed the creation of her “Playground Alexa” character, complete with the doll, Lily. Bliss explained the persona was based on real-world psychology.
“That was a character that was based on, you know, a traumatic event when I got attacked by the Fiend,” she explained. “What happens a lot of times, when people go through a traumatic instances, they kind of revert back into a child-like mind state… So that was kind of what I took from that into the playground Alexa character with Lily and with the pigtails and with the overalls… turning into playground Alexa was the coping mechanism.”
The spirit of Bray Wyatt continues to be a major force on WWE programming. The “Wyatt Sicks” faction, led by Uncle Howdy and featuring twisted versions of Erick Rowan, Dexter Lumis, Joe Gacy, and Nikki Cross, continues to cause chaos on WWE SmackDown.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit The Nikki & Brie Show with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
