Nikki Cross is back and now it looks like she has returned to her old, unhinged self.
A couple of weeks back, we saw a distraught Nikki A.S.H take off her mask after losing to the returning Candice LeRae. Cross has been off TV since, returning on the 24th of October edition of Monday Night RAW. But before we discuss that, we need to go back further.
Nikki Cross has had many moments in NXT where she showed off her acting chops. She was clearly unhinged, and was involved in several large storylines and matches. However, she would not hold singles gold on the main roster or NXT while named as such. On November 6th in 2018, Nikki Cross would make her SmackDown debut, confronting Becky Lynch and saying two words. “Let’s play.”
While Cross would go on to lose to Lynch, but this was during Becky’s rise to superstardom and just days before Nia Jax broke Becky’s face. It is unknown if this angle was supposed to go anywhere after this match, but it was the main roster’s first experience of what Nikki Cross as a character is all about: Chaos.
Back to the present day, Nikki Cross is just a day removed from returning and as Kevin Patrick would say, she was not the superhero many fans knew her as recently. Commentary would briefly only use her first name, but once Nikki showed her face, he would scream her full name. This, plus her attacking pretty much everyone, fits in with what Nikki Cross as a character would do in NXT and initially on her main roster run.
Nikki Cross as a character did not last long on the main roster. By her 6 month anniversary of her debut, she was playing a face version of her character, forming a quirky tag team with Alexa Bliss that she would remain in until Bliss’ storyline with Bray Wyatt left her without a tag team partner and a toned down gimmick. She would leave for a while, and when she returned, she was Nikki Almost A Superhero. While this was a gimmick of Nikki’s own creation, many fans didn’t take to the gimmick, despite a RAW Women’s Championship and Money In The Bank win to her name. As mentioned above, Nikki removed her mask a few weeks ago and disappeared off TV. This has been a storyline that has slowly burned for quite some time, with Nikki slowly becoming more unhinged, arguing with her partner Doudrop in the background of segments and more. The payoff to this slow burn happened on RAW on Monday. Nikki Cross is back and its time for her to play.
Nikki is another case of a character that Triple H has successfully booked before. In NXT, she had multiple title opportunities and while she was not successful, she also took part in an incredibly convoluted storyline involving Aleister Black, Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano, where she was the only one who knew who attacked Black previously. This was perhaps Nikki’s shining moment in NXT, as her character work could have lead to the angle falling flat if she was off in anyway, but just like on RAW, she enjoys the chaos.
Cross is neither heel or face, as she simply doesn’t care. Her character is perhaps one of the finer examples of an unhinged character done right, up until her teaming with Bliss. It seems like she has done a complete character arc as the background details for Cross’ turn are there, whether its being in the background of segments arguing with Doudrop or removing her mask weeks ago, this wasn’t a take her off TV and repackage her, this was likely the plan going back months based off the many, many clues strewn throughout Nikki’s TV appearances over the last few months. Her character has gone through an arc that has lead to (pardon the pun) the loss of her sanity. Her attacking everyone on RAW in the way she did is reminiscent of how Cross would take on all comers because she was simply too crazy to care.
Time will tell what is next for Cross, but it could be the adrenaline shot her career needs at this crossroads.
Follow Corey at @CoreyBrennanBS on Twitter
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