Nikki Cross did not see her WWE release coming, and says the hardest part of it was not the job but the people and the characters she had to leave behind.
Cross was released on April 24 after ten years with the company, along with the rest of the Wyatt Sicks. She had spent roughly eight years on the independents before signing.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, she said it caught her out.
“It was 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. It’s always hard to say goodbye to such a substantial, significant chapter in your life.”
The part she keeps returning to is the four people released alongside her.
“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.”
She has spent the months since going through her gear, because the Nikki Storm wardrobe now has to replace three others.
“I’ve been sorting out my wardrobe, because now Nikki Storm is here, so the wardrobe’s going to change. And I’m looking through my old Nikki A.S.H. outfits, my Nikki Cross outfits, my Abby the Witch outfits, and there’s joy over seeing these costumes because I know what I achieved, and I’m so proud of the career I’ve had.”
“It’s bittersweet because there’s some people you’re not going to see as much. But it’s just gratitude.”
She was clear about not lingering on it.
“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.”
“I started watching wrestling when I was 10 years old, and I always wanted to be a wrestler, and I was in Glasgow, Scotland, and now I’m here. After being in WWE for 10 years, being on the independents for eight years before that, I’ve been able to live my dream. And the exciting thing is the dream isn’t over. The dream has morphed into something else.”
What it morphed into was ownership. Cross and her husband Big Damo have bought Progress Wrestling, the British promotion WWE had owned since 2019.
“You kind of get to sit and figure out the next steps, and the next step was buying a wrestling company. What a sentence.”
Cross is also midway through a history PhD at the University of Edinburgh, writing a thesis on women’s wrestling.
