WWE has announced that Sasha Banks will face Nikki Cross in singles action Monday night on Raw. The show will emanate from the Chase Center in San Francisco California. It’s the only match announced for the show thus far. Banks will have Bayley in her corner and Cross will have her partner, Alexa Bliss, in hers.
“With each of their respective partners in their corner, can Cross pick up the biggest singles win of her career or will The Boss make yet another bold statement en route to her Raw Women’s Championship Match against Becky Lynch inside Hell in a Cell on Oct.6?” a WWE press release for the match reads.
Monday’s match between Cross and Banks will be the first time the two have met in single’s action. They’ve met twice previously in tag-team action, however. Sasha Banks and Bayley defeated the team of Nikki Cross and Alicia Fox in February to qualify for the women’s tag-team title match at Elimination Chamber. Cross and Banks were on opposing sides of another tag team match on RAW earlier this month as well when Banks and Bayley defeated Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss.
One half of the current Women’s Tag Team Champions Nikki Cross recently appeared on Lilian Garcia’s Chasing Glory podcast where she discussed things like her time in NXT, being on TV and more.
While the rest of the Sanity members were called up to the main roster in April 2018, Nikki Cross spent some more time in the development territory and her main roster call up was made official on December 17 last year.
During the interview, Cross revealed that she found out about the call up on the same day it was announced and she recalled how she first thought that she was in trouble:
“It was a Monday afternoon; I was in Scotland, when I
got the news of getting called up. I saw that I had these missed calls and
voicemails and I thought I was in trouble. Matt Bloom had called me and told me
the news. He told me that I was going to see a graphic on Raw tonight and I was
going to get called up.”
Nikki replaced Alexa Bliss in the Women’s Money In The Bank match earlier this year in June after the former Women’s Champion was removed from the show due to an injury.
The two were then paired with each other and they recently
defeated the IIconics to win the Women’s Tag Team Championships during the
August 5th episode of Raw.
Talking about the title win, Cross said that it was Former United States Champion and current producer Fit Finaly who first told her about the title change and she went on to say that Finaly has helped her a lot.
Apart from this, Nikki Cross also talked about her career, saying that she wants to wrestle for as long as possible, and explained the difference between singles and tag team wrestling.
Alexa Bliss is currently one half of WWE’s Women’s Tag Team Champions alongside her partner Nikki Cross. In an interview with Fightful, ‘Lil’ Miss Bliss’ addressed her friendship with the former Sanity member, admitting that teaming with Cross has been “quite an adjustment” for her.
“We’re still getting there. You know what I mean. We’re still figuring it out. Because we both have such different styles. So you have to have tag moves, and that chemistry. So, we’re still working on that. Because our last two months we’ve just been costing each other matches by accident. So we’re adjusting to it. But our tag division is incredible.”
She said that, when they started teaming together, the two of them agreed they wouldn’t judge each other based on their past history. Instead, they wanted to go in fresh and develop a genuine friendship—one that extends into the ring and their teamwork.
“That’s what happens when you develop a friendship with someone,” Bliss said. “We agreed that we weren’t gonna judge each other on each other’s past; her past in NXT, my past with Nia and Mickie. And we understand each other, and we see a lot of each other in each other, and I think that’s what developed our friendship and the bond.”
Bliss then reflected on her time in NXT, recalling how Triple H saw something in her at the time and signed her to NXT. She added that, despite the crazy life being a WWE Superstar brings, she loves doing it because she loves performing and connecting with fans worldwide.
Charlotte Flair is scheduled to team up with RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch tonight at Monday Night RAW. They will face off against the team of SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley and Sasha Banks. The women, WWE’s Horsewomen, are known for being instrumental in WWE’s Women’s Evolution.
Speaking with Smacktalks, Charlotte discussed what might be next for the Women’s Evolution. She shared who she believes could be the next two break out female Superstars, and even named Stephanie McMahon as someone she’d like to tap out.
Women’s Evolution
Addressing the Women’s Evolution, Flair listed its next steps as “[…] continuing the momentum and headlining WrestleMania again and proving that it wasn’t a fluke. The women can continue to deliver like this at high levels. It’s gonna take a couple of years to show that. Maybe we’re not the main event this year, but it’ll happen again.”
When it comes to new rivals for her in the women’s division, Charlotte Flair named both Nikki Cross and NXT’s Bianca Belair as Superstars ready to breakthrough.
“I’m expecting big things from Nikki Cross. I’m a huge fan of hers,” Charlotte admitted. “I know she’s been on RAW and SmackDown for a few months now, maybe a year. It takes time, and I think she’s gonna have that breakout moment soon. I’m 100% behind her. From NXT, Bianca Belair just has it. She doesn’t have to try. She has that natural swag. She’s a star, and that’s one thing you can’t teach. You can teach someone how to wrestle and come up with a character, but whether you have it or not is on you, and she has it. I think she’s the next big thing.”
Tap Out
Having recently faced off against WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus, earning a submission victory in the process, Flair was then asked about who she would like to face from WWE 2K20’s roster of legends. She explained that having already tapped out Trish Stratus, “it would probably be tapping out Stephanie McMahon.”
Past tonight’s tag match on RAW, Charlotte Flair will be facing Bayley in a match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at Clash of Champions on September 15th.
Nikki Cross is currently one-half of the women’s tag team champions along with Alexa Bliss. The pair won the titles on the August 5th RAW from Pittsburgh. They defeated the Iconics, Kabuki Warriors and Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville in a 4-way elimination match to win the belts.
Cross recently spoke with RondaRousey.com about her team with Bliss and her former team of Sanity.
“Working with those guys was such an amazing experience because, obviously, I was working … alongside my husband, which is always fun,” Cross said regarding working with Sanity. “He’s also got such a fantastic mind [for the business]. And then I was working with [Alexander Wolfe], who’s a really, really good friend of mine. Working with him was amazing because he’s got such a creative mind. He would help me in so many different ways. And then there was Eric Young, and … all three guys have been in the business for such a long time.”
“It was so much fun working with SAnitY. … It was such an amazing time to look back on and it was so much fun,” she continued.
Nikki Cross on Teaming With Alexa Bliss
Cross was also asked about her current team with Alexa Bliss during the interview.
“Me and Alexa discovered that we have really good chemistry, in terms of [how] our personas very much bounce off each other very well. And we just have so much fun together—we’re having a lot of fun right now. Like I was just saying … anything where we just get to show different elements of the characters—which people might not have necessarily seen before—there’s nothing more exciting than that to me. I think a lot of people are enjoying that. I think people are really compelled by it. They’re intrigued by it and I’m excited to see what’s next.”
Is she crazy? Brilliant? Both? Walk the thin line between genius and insanity with @NikkiCrossWWE in our newest exclusive!https://t.co/z69SsHxfuz
The IIconics (Billie Kay & Peyton Royce) have been dethroned by Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross as the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.
During Monday’s episode of RAW in Pittsburgh, PA at the PPG Paints Arena, WWE held a Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match. In this contest, Bliss and Cross beat The IIconics, Kairi Sane & Asuka, and Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose to win the titles.
The IIconics beat Bayley and Sasha Banks at WrestleMania 35 back in April to win the titles. Nia Jax & Tamina, Beth Phoenix & Natalya were also part of the Fatal 4-Way Match at this show.
The company has already made it known that they’re going with the idea of one set of champions defending the gold on both brands – Monday Night RAW and SmackDown Live.
As of this writing, there’s no word yet on when The IIconics will get their rematch for the titles.
Although not confirmed, it’s possible that they will get a rematch against Bliss and Cross at Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view event.
What are your thoughts on Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross winning the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.
Bayley was originally scheduled to face Alexa Bliss Sunday at Extreme Rules in a one-on-one match for the Smackdown women’s championship. Nikki Cross was recently added to the match, however, making the match a 2-on-1 handicap with Bliss and Cross against the champion.
According to a recent report from Wrestling Observer Radio, the reason Cross was added to the match is that Bliss is suffering from a sinus infection.
“Alexa Bliss has a real bad sinus infection. Originally, they were not going to do the handicap match. The handicap match was a late change. Everything that happened on TV Monday and Tuesday, with no Alexa Bliss, was because of her sinus infection. They re-wrote that whole storyline.”
He would continue to say that the reason the Beat the Clock challenge with Bayley and Nikki took place this week week was due to the angle being re-written.
“That’s the reason for it. They just felt that due to the situation they needed to do this.”
Bayley vs lexa Bliss – Head to Head
Alexa Bliss holds the edge in the head-to-head stats between Bayley and her on the main roster. Bliss won 2 singles matches against Bayley (both for the RAW women’s championship) on PPV in 2017. On RAW, they are each 1W-1L against each other, with Bayley winning once in 2017 and Bliss winning on an episode from this April. Bayley got her first PPV single’s victory over Bliss at Stomping Grounds putting their head-to-head single’s record against each other on the main roster at 3-2 in favour of Bliss.
Bayley and Bliss wrestled 3x on NXT, however, and Bayley won all 3 of those matches.
In multi-person matches they’ve both been involved in (not including Royal Rumbles) Bliss is 3-0 against Bayley. Bliss won a Fatal 5-way for the RAW title in 2017, an Elimination Chamber match in 2018 and then the Money in the Bank match in 2018 as well.
We noted before how one half of the former NXT Tag Team Champions Authors Of Pain, Akam was reported to have been cleared to return to action earlier this month.
The injured star, along with his partner returned to action
this week and wrestled in a SmackDown Brand Live event from Glens Falls, NY on
Monday Night.
This duo competed against the team of Ali and Matt Hardy but they were not able to win this bout. It’s worth mentioning that despite working the SmackDown event, the tag team is still listed as part of the Raw roster.
Nikki Cross Is Ready To Play
This week’s episode of SmackDown Live saw a confrontation
between Nikki Cross and Bayley with the Goddess Alexa Bliss missing the show.
Cross then went on to defeat Carmella in a one on one bout. After the show went off the air, Nikki was interviewed backstage and in the interview, as seen below the former NXT Star explains that she is ready to play:
Nikki Cross won a beat the clock challenge on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw. The win earned her the right to choose the stipulation for Alexa Bliss and Bayley’s match at Extreme Rules PPV and she chose to make the bout a 2 on 1 handicap match.
Now Bayley will be defending her title against both Cross and Alexa Bliss and it would be interesting to see what will happen if the duo of Nikki and Alexa end up winning this match.
WWE Superstars and former Sanity members, Killian Dain and Nikki Cross, were officially married this past week. Their ceremony took place in Cross’ hometown of Glasgow, Scotland.
The happy couple have been together for a number of years, and got engaged in 2018. They announced their relationship in January when Cross uploaded a social media post containing a picture of their wedding bands. This was accompanied by a picture of her and Dain from 2008.
Nikki Cross is currently a member of the RAW brand. She will be accompanying Alexa Bliss for her championship matchup this Sunday at WWE’s Stomping Grounds PPV.
Like Tyler Breeze, Killian Dain has recently returned to NXT. This comes after a brief stint as a SmackDown Live Superstar.
Superstar Attendance
Several NXT UK Superstars and WWE officials were in attendance for the ceremony. Joe Coffey, and NXT Performance Center coaches Robbie Brookside and Johnny Moss were all there.
Moss uploaded a photo of himself with the newlyweds, accompanied with the caption:
“Very rare 2 genuine people achieve their dreams together! So pleased to have been a witness to their success! @killiandain @nikkicrosswwe #happilyeverafter”
This week also saw 205 Live General Manager, Drake Maverick and former Mae Young Competitor, Renee Michelle, get married. Their ceremony would be crashed by R-Truth, who would successfully reclaim the 24/7 Championship from Maverick.
It seems Nikki Cross is still getting used to having a friend in WWE.
Cross replaced her new friend, Alex Bliss, in a Fatal 4 Way match. She would emerge victorious this past Monday on RAW, defeating Naomi, Natalya, and Dana Brooke in the process.
After the match, WWE caught up with her to gauge her feelings. She was aksed not only about the match, but also about her newfound friendship with Alexa Bliss.
“I got here a few months ago, and Alexa’s really been the first person to welcome me to Monday Night RAW. Being here at Monday Night RAW in London…I grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, and I spent years and years performing in front of the crowds in the United Kingdom before coming to WWE, and it just feels amazing to come here, not only getting to perform but get to win my match. My first huge victory on Monday Night RAW and I get to win that for me, I get to win that for Alexa. We got the win together, and I just couldn’t be more happy, I couldn’t be more excited.”
“That’s What Friends Do”
When asked how Alexa reacted to her victory, Cross shared that she received a huge hug before commenting that Bliss has been going through a “hard time” recently.
“I was glad I could help. She just gave me a big hug, and she just said ‘thank you for your help,’ and it made me feel good. I just hope that one day she would do that for me and she would return the favor, because that’s what friends do. It’s so weird, I’m just getting used to, like, having a friend. It’s just hard to get used to.”
Nikki Cross recently revealed she could finally call RAW her home after languishing on the main roster without a brand association.
During that reveal, she teased that things may change for her going forward. Her new attitude change on RAW has at least landed her a friend in Alexa. For now.
Ex-Sanity member, Nikki Cross, finally has a WWE brand that she can call home.
During a post-match backstage interview, Cross revealed that she is the “newest RAW Superstar” before expressing her frustration at having lost her match that night on Main Event. She would compete against one half of the current WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Peyton Royce.
“Tonight…tonight was my chance. The newest RAW Superstar, Nikki Cross…it was my chance to make an impact on Main Event tonight. It was my chance, and I lost. I lost. Is there something I need to change here? Do I need to change? What needs to change? Do I just fight from the ground up, scratching and clawing? What needs to change? I’m always talking in the dark. Maybe it’s time to step out of the dark and take a long, good hard look in the mirror.”
Nikki Cross accompanied several NXT Superstars to the main roster last year. However, whereas her colleagues were eventually associated with either RAW or SmackDown, Cross was left in relative limbo for months.
Now, with her officially on Monday night’s, it appears that she is teasing a possible change to her style and attitude going forward—one that could help her to immediately establish herself within the women’s division.
SaNITy has been seemingly disbanded with Eric Young’s move to Monday Night RAW. There is, however, one former member of the group that has been lost on the main roster for some time, long before the group’s breakup—Nikki Cross.
With WWE’s Superstar Shake-Up having taken place earlier in the week, many Superstars now have a different brand to call home. That includes a number of NXT Superstars who were called up months ago in December.
These NXT call-ups were utilized on both shows, appearing backstage and performing on both RAW and SmackDown for months before finally being signed a specific brand. Nikki Cross, however, is the only NXT call-up to still be unaffiliated.
Until now it seems, as it appears as though Cross can finally call Monday Night RAW her home going forward.
At the time of writing, the WWE website itself still lists Cross as having no official brand affiliation, but she has revealed her upcoming schedule via Instagram—a schedule that factors in working RAW Live Events that would see her in the vicinity of next Monday’s RAW in Des Moines, Iowa.
She has invited the WWE Universe to “come and play” as she will be appearing for the company on Friday in St. Louis, Saturday in Springfield, and Sunday in Moline.
Nikki Cross has made her intentions known towards WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Asuka through the power of Twitter.
Cross recently tweeted, “Hehe remember this Asuka?!?! Naughty Nikki is looking for a new toy?!? But shhhhhh keep it a secret! Hide and seek!!! Hehe ok I come find you PEEKABOO!”
WWE teased fans who should be in line for a SmackDown Women’s Championship next as they shared this post on Twitter with Lacey Evans, Naomi, Carmella, Mandy Rose, and Nikki Cross listed.
Over the past week, there have been rumors that Charlotte Flair was originally slated to be Asuka’s opponent WrestleMania 35. This would’ve served as a rematch from WrestleMania 34 in 2018 where Flair broke Asuka’s undefeated streak to retain the SmackDown Women’s Title.
Plans changed as Flair has since been added to the RAW Women’s Championship Match against Ronda Rousey. The belief is that Becky Lynch will be added to the contest to make it a Triple Threat Match.
Dave Meltzer recently reported that Asuka’s opponent at WrestleMania 35 was once slated to be against Lacey Evans. It’s possible that WWE books Cross against Asuka at the next pay-per-view event.
WWE presents the Fastlane event on March 10, 2019 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio that will air on the WWE Network. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks.
Killian Dain and Nikki Cross are now married. The former SAnitY partners announced the news in recent messages that were posted on their official Twitter accounts. Although there were some rumors going around that they just got engaged, WWE.com is reporting that they are married as they congratulated the couple.
Dan wrote, “Only took us 10 and a half years but when it’s right, its right. I love you @NikkiCrossWWE. ”
Earlier this week on an episode of SmackDown Live, WWE announced that WWE United States Champion Rusev would make his next title defense against former champion Shinsuke Nakamura at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, January 27, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona at Chase Field. Rusev won the title from Nakamura on the Christmas night episode of SmackDown Live.
Rusev took to his official Twitter account to react to the news when he wrote, “Let me check my schedule….. oh It’s falls on #RusevDay ! Get ready Phoenix we gonna celebrate together.”
Nikki Cross has made her WWE RAW debut by teaming up with Bayley and Natalya in a six-woman tag team match to take on The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott, and Sara Logan) on this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW in Memphis, TN at the FedExForum on the USA Network.
Prior to the match, Michael Cole made it known that all of the NXT stars that are being called up to the main roster will appear on both RAW and SmackDown Live before being assigned to a brand. On a side note, EC3 also appeared on this show by being shown in a backstage segment pitching to be Brock Lesnar’s opponent at the Royal Rumble.
Lacey Evans, Lars Sullivan, and Heavy Machinery are the other stars expected to be called up to the main roster in the near future.
It turns out that Cross has actually worked on the main roster before. In November, during a SmackDown TV taping in Manchester, England at the Manchester Arena, Cross took on then-SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch alongside the other SAnity stablemates (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain). The match was short as it only went five minutes with Lynch winning by submission.
LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY LET NIKKI PLAY#RAW @NikkiCrossWWE pic.twitter.com/XOiJVi8cHQ
On this week’s episode of WWE NXT, both Nikki Cross and EC3 wrestled their final matches for the black and yellow brand prior to their imminent main roster debuts.
The two were named in a hype video that WWE released, highlighting a number of NXT superstars that had been called up to appear on either Monday Night Raw or SmackDown Live.
Taking to her Twitter account, Nikki Cross reminisced on her time with the company, saying, “See you down the road @WWENXT This isn’t goodbye…we caused far too much mischief and had too much fun doing it for this to be it…”
Nikki Cross would compete in a losing effort against rising NXT superstar, Bianca Belair. EC3 would wrestle later that night against Undisputed Era member, Adam Cole. He would also come up short during their match, thanks to outside interference from the rest of UE.
There is still no official word as to which brand Cross and EC3 will end up on. It is rumored that EC3 may end up on Raw, with Nikki Cross joining her Sanity cohorts on SmackDown Live.
Other NXT wrestlers that have been called up include Lars Sullivan, Lacey Evans, and Heavy Machinery.
Which brand do you think suits each superstar? Do you think they’ll debut soon? Who would you want to see them feud with?
On yesterday’s episode of Monday Night RAW, the show was opened up by an announcement from The McMahon Family. Triple H, Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and Shane McMahon all shared the ring. The four said that changes would be coming to WWE and deemed the WWE Universe the new “Authority.”
Those changes previously mentioned will include new Superstars. That can only mean NXT call-ups. While NXT star Lars Sullivan has been teased to make his main roster debut for weeks now, several more names recently joined him. WWE is now advertising EC3, Heavy Machinery, Lacey Evens, and Nikki Cross to join the main roster soon.
These NXT stars took to Twitter during the show to react to the news. Here’s what they had to say:
“My brother @WWEDozovic and I have been living the #STEAKSandWEIGHTS life together for 2 and half years. We formed the unit #HeavyMachinery and the goal for us was always #Raw or #SmackDown. The Blue Collar Boys are hungry and we’re coming to eat!”
“Where oh where will Nikki go?! Hehe or haha? Red or blue? Blue or red? Big blue sky or shiny red red gem? To a galaxy or a universe hehehe haha follow the yellow brick road OH MY”
As part of the McMahon Family’s effort to “shake things up” on Monday’s edition of WWE Raw, it was announced that several NXT stars will be getting called up to the main roster soon. Those stars include EC3, Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross, Lars Sullivan, and Heavy Machinery.
It turns out that Cross has actually worked on the main roster before. Last month during a SmackDown TV taping in Manchester, England at the Manchester Arena, Cross took on then-SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch alongside the other SAnity stablemates (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain). The match was short as it only went five minutes with Lynch winning by submission.
There have been rumors for months that the company could be moving up some NXT stars to the main roster and now those rumors have come true. It should be noted that WWE has yet to announce when these talents will make their main roster debuts or which brand that they’ll be featured on.
It’ll be interesting to see if WWE makes another announcement with more NXT stars being called up on Tuesday’s SmackDown Live. If so, this could be an indication as to who will be featured on which brands.
Which of these Superstars do you think has the best chance of making an impact on the main roster?
WWE will air two previously unaired shows with matches taped inside LA’s Staples Center tonight. NXT will feature matches taped before WarGames on Saturday and 205 Live filmed last night before Smackdown.
NXT 11/21 Preview
NXT will feature both Nikki Cross and Lars Sullivan tonight. Cross has been up and down from the main roster a couple of times this year while vignettes featuring Sullivan’s pending call-up have appeared on both Raw and Smackdown this week.
Candice LeRae vs Nikki Cross
Candice LeRae says she’s ready to”play” with Nikki Cross this week. With the rivalry between Shayna Baszler and Kairi Sane coming to a likely end at Takeover on Saturday, the field is wide open for a new contender to emerge from the NXT women’s division. That contender could easily be the winner of this match, although Bianca Belair is likely the front-runner, however.
Lars Sullivan In Single’s Action
The last time Sullivan wrestled he defeated Velveteen Dream. Tonight, Lars will be in singles action in front of a live Los Angeles crowd. His opponent has yet to be named, however, which likely means they are enhancement talent.
Keith Lee In Single’s Action
Keith Lee will also see in-ring action tonight. As with Sullivan, Lee’s opponent has yet to be officially named by WWE, likely meaning they are enhancement talent.
Fallout From WarGames
WWE will also be airing highlights from all the action from Saturday’s Takeover: WarGames event tonight as well.
205 Live Preview 11/21
TJP vs Gran Metalik
TJP used to wrestle as a luchador in Mexico but that doesn’t mean he respects the culture. The former Cruiserweight Champion has gone out of his way to disrespect the masks of the Lucha House Party. He’ll be in tough tonight, however, when he goes one on one with Gran Metalik.
Don’t forget Maria Kanellis is now aligned with TJP as well. She’ll likely be around to help her new client.
Buddy Murphy’s Next Challenger Revealed?
With Murphy having taken care of Mustafa Alli at Survivor Series, it opens the door for a new number one contender to be named. Drake Maverick will likely have something to say on this matter tonight. That is, only if he isn’t in segments where he is urinating himself, that is.
One WWE NXT star has made their main roster debut on the blue brand. WWE taped tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live earlier today in Manchester, England at the Manchester Arena.
At the tapings, SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch came out to the ring where she cut a promo about being fired up and looking for a fight. This is when Nikki Cross came out to a big pop from fans who were in attendance for the show. This led to a match taking place.
Cross came out to the ring alongside the other SAnity stablemates (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain). Unfortunately, the match was short as it only went five minutes with Lynch winning by submission.
There have been rumors for months that the company could be moving her up to the main roster after SAnitY was called up after WrestleMania. Now, it appears that has happened. For those who haven’t been watching NXT TV on the WWE Network, she had been the person who held the secret about who attacked former NXT Champion Aleister Black.
SANITY ARE HERE AND THEY HAVE NIKKI CROSS WITH THEM!!
Last night (Mon. July 23, 2018) on Monday Night RAW the show opened up with a historic announcement by Stephanie McMahon as both the RAW and SmackDown Live women’s rosters were on stage. The WWE will hold its first all female pay-per-view (PPV) on October 28th in Long Island, New York entitled “Evolution”.
Many professional wrestling fans noticed on social media that Nikki Cross was one of the women on stage for last night’s announcement. This has raised a lot of speculation as to if Cross will make her main roster TV debut soon.
Part of the reason that Cross was on stage is because she was working with Asuka and Naomi this past weekend as WWE held live events in Springfield, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri.
There’s currently no word yet on if Cross is officially a member of the SmackDown Live roster yet, but we’ll keep you updated.
You can check out some footage of Cross from over the weekend in the WWE’s Tweet below:
NXT will present a taped show from Full Sail University tonight. The main event is scheduled to be a triple-threat match to determine a new #1 contender to Shayna Baszler’s NXT Women’s Championship.
Another important match in the women’s division will take place as well. Additionally, Kassius Ohno will return to single’s action on tonight’s show.
NXT 7/18
Candice LeRae vs Nikki Cross vs Kairi Sane
Bianca Belair was originally scheduled to take part in this match as well. A back injury forced her eventual removal from the match, however.
Cross dropped a match to the champion at Takeover: Chicago II.
Sane defeated Baszler in the finals of last year’s Mae Young Classic but lost to Baszler on an episode of NXT from February of this year.
LeRae also lost to Shayna Baszler in the quarter-finals of the Mae Young Classic last year.
Dakota Kai vs Lacey Evans
This is another important match in the Women’s division.
Dakota Kai dropped a title match to Baszler on an episode of NXT from May.
In her most revent match, Kai defeated Santana Garrett, however. She also defeated Lacey Evans back in February.
The First Lady of NXT has won some and lost some since debuting with the brand last year. She’ll be looking to avenge her loss to Dakota from February.
Evans was likely pushed out of title contention due to her loss to Candice LeRae in June.
Kassius Ohno Returns To Single’s Action
Ohno has dropped 4 straight single’s matches on NXT programming. He’s lost to EC3, Tommaso Ciampa, Adam Cole, and the Velveteen Dream. If Ohno wants to avoid falling to the very bottom of the single’s rankings in NXT, he’ll have to put together some wins soon.
No opponent has been officially named for Ohno tonight. Whoever his opponent is, however, Ohno will be looking to break out of his current losing streak.
A lot of fans were upset when it was revealed that Nikki Cross won’t be a part of Sanity when they make their main roster debut as part of the SmackDown Live brand.
Though the female star has finally made her first main roster appearance now and she wrestled in a SmackDown brand Live Event on July 9th from Augusta, Maine.
The event saw the NXT Star teaming up with former Women’s Champion Becky Lynch to defeat the duo known as the Iconics. Below is a video of the two after their victory:
Although it’s worth mentioning here that WWE has had a number of NXT Stars work main roster Live Events in the past but many of them have been kept on the Development Territory for long after that.
Since as of this writing Cross is not scheduled to be a part of this week’s SmackDown Live, it’s hard to say if this appearance means something for her future.
For those who don’t know, when WWE announced that Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain will be joining SmackDown Live, it was reported that the company has decided to keep Nikki on NXT for the time being.
The reason for this was described to be the call up of other top female talents of the brand and the Officials reportedly kept her on NXT because the Champion Shayna Baszler needed an experienced name to work a strong feud with.
WWE has announced a new match that will take place at NXT TakeOver: Chicago II.
The sports entertainment company announced on this week’s episode of NXT on the WWE Network that Shayna Baszler would be defending her NXT Women’s Title against Nikki Cross at this upcoming event.
The NXT TakeOver: Chicago II event takes place on Saturday, June 16, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena and will air on the WWE Network.
The reveal of former UFC Champion Ronda Rousey at this past Sunday’s Royal Rumble has given WWE some massive massive exposure. Outlets from outside of the wrestling ‘bubble’ are now starting to mention names such as Asuka, Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks as potential Wrestlemania opponents for ‘Rowdy’ Ronda and giving the WWE valuable reach into an entirely new audience…something that would certainly not be happening if the cultural phenomenon hadn’t made her way over to the squared circle.
The question marks around Rousey’s full time contract and her upcoming matches are still shrouded in mystery, however it is fairly safe to assume that a match against Charlotte Flair has been considered and a bout against Women’s Royal Rumble winner Asuka will come to fruition at some point. But outside of the already established names being thrown around who else is there for Ronda to face in WWE?
Here’s three names that we feel should be considered for the ‘Rowdy’ one:
Nikki Cross
Photo Credit: WWE.com
The first name we’re throwing in for consideration is Nikki Cross. The former Pro Wrestling: EVE champion and ICW alum has been an integral part of the Sanity stable since their formation and an eventual call up to one of the main roster shows possibly alongside her stablemates must surely be near.
As a fan of the independent scene there is a good chance that Rousey is already aware of Nikki’s abilities, her fire, aggression and unpredictability all combine to create one of the most intriguing superstars in NXT’s Women’s division.
The likelihood of this happening isn’t exactly high, Rousey will most probably be used sparingly with select dates and specials on WWE Network against the alread- mentioned established main roster names. That said, the Scottish NXT Superstar is ready to make that jump and what a way to establish her on WWE’s main roster.
Mickie James
Photo Credit: WWE.com
What better way to introduce Ronda to the WWE style? Mickie James has been slotted perfectly back into WWE’s ranks and could act as a mentor to guide Ronda through her first few months in a completely new industry. Whilst Rousey is a self proclaimed mega fan of pro wrestling it is a very different prospect when you actually get inside the ring and Mickie’s experience, skill level and name value could see her guide the new recruit.
Out of the three that we will mention this has a fairly high chance of coming to fruition, James can act as the ‘Chris Jericho’ type gatekeeper for Ronda and gaining experience/knowing how to perform for a television audience as well as a live crowd will be essential if Ronda is going to thrive in WWE.
Bayley
Bayley
There are two ways that a feud against Bayley could work for Ronda. There’s no doubt that the insanely popular former NXT Women’s Champion Bayley has been under-utilised on WWE’s main roster, a chance to go toe to toe with Rousey could present an opportunity to either turn Ronda heel, or in a complete u-turn actually finally get Bayley to turn to the dark side.
Bayley could easily use the exposure from a bout against the former UFC Champion, she is a solid in ring performer and has the ability to draw emotion from a crowd of all ages, something that WWE is sorely lacking right now (Cena and Roman I’m looking at you here).
Granted Bayley is so low down on the pecking order that a match against Rousey is probably furthest from WWE’s mind, however if you want to get a crowd to be invested in Ronda then you could do a lot worse then giving Bayley a shot.
Who would you like to see Ronda in the ring with? Let us know in the comments.
