Nikki A.S.H. admits her current character on WWE television was a hail mary.
Nikki is the current Raw Women’s Champion. While she’s in the most prominent spot of her career, the Nikki A.S.H. character has drawn criticism. Those who take issue with the gimmick say that it spells doom for any babyface in 2021 due to its cheesiness.
The character was Nikki’s idea as she wanted to come up with something that would stand out to the WWE brass. The idea earned her a title run and she will be competing at SummerSlam against Charlotte and Rhea Ripley.
During a chat with Corey Graves on WWE After the Bell, Nikki discussed her superhero persona and how it came to fruition.
“Yeah, it really felt like alright this is it, this is the hail mary as you say. It’s so weird nobody has asked me that. I think it was and it was that hail mary moment, there needed to be a change and that was really apparent to me. That was really apparent to me right around the Royal Rumble, we told this fun story on social media and on digital about me qualifying for the match and we made a story out of that. Right around the Royal Rumble it was so clear and so apparent that there needed to be a change and that was it. I spent hours and hours researching this idea and getting this pitch right and I commissioned this artist to draw up what Nikki A.S.H would be as a cartoon character.
“You take it to the boss and it’s like you’re nervous but you’re also confident and I believed in this idea so much that you’re just like alright, let’s do it. You have to put your nerves aside and push down the butterflies. At the end of the day, I believed in the pitch on a personal level, I believed in it from a business sense, this is good business, this is a good idea. I also believed that in the heart of it it’s very pure and wholesome, something that I really wanted to portray, I wanted to portray something fun and joyful. It makes me happy and I want to try and make others and also for business I knew it was a great idea. It was just about swallowing the nerves and just going in and doing it. It did feel like a hail mary, that’s a good way of describing it.”
Thanks to her efforts, Nikki ended up winning the Money in the Bank briefcase. She successfully cashed it in on Charlotte on the July 19 edition of Monday Night Raw. This is her first singles title reign in WWE.
Time will tell if Nikki A.S.H. can maintain her hold on the gold this Saturday night. SummerSlam takes place on Aug. 21 inside Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
