Nikki Storm Details Run As ‘Nikki ASH’: “That Was My Brainchild”

Insight into Nikki ASH.

An extensive interview with Nikki Storm f.k.a. Nikki Cross was pushed out by Chris Van Vliet. As the chat moved along, she did a deep dive into the Nikki A.S.H. character that she portrayed in WWE.

“So that was my brainchild. The Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss tag team, she was kind of doing more stuff with Bray Wyatt. So I knew that was kind of coming to an end, and that was kind of it for me for a while. There was some time where there wasn’t anything for me in the storylines. So I was like, all right, I need something. So the idea of the superhero, I was always the biggest fan of Hurricane Helms, and I was always a huge fan of Mighty Molly, and I loved superheroes. I loved the X-Men cartoon when I was growing up in the 1990s.  So originally I was thinking of something like Nikki Rogue because Rogue was my favorite superhero character. So 16 years ago, when I’m at SWA in Glasgow, I’m thinking of superhero names. I’m thinking of Storm from X-Men. I’m thinking of Rogue. One idea was Nikki Starr, and then another one, maybe it was Nicky Sparkle. I don’t know. I’m glad we didn’t settle on that. I went with Nikki Storm because X-Men was my superheroes, and then I’ve always loved like Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, there was Batman. I’ve always been into that genre, and movies and television shows. Like right now I’m watching The Flash.”

Storm continued speaking about the brainstorming ideas and the meetings she had with WWE and Vince McMahon about it.

“Yeah. So I always loved superheroes. I needed something different, and there was a gap on the roster. We didn’t have anything like that. We hadn’t had anything like that in a really long time. You know, Hurricane Helms, Mighty Molly. So there was a gap, and superheroes, that genre, the Avengers, Batgirl, Wonder Woman had just came out, so there the box office numbers were talking, people love superheroes. So I ended up coming up with this entire pitch. I had a portfolio, a binder, and I did the market research for it. Okay, what were the box office numbers for Wonder Woman? Then went with Captain Marvel and Avengers, like all the big major superhero movies and the television shows and what was available on streaming. I put it together, put together possible names. I had certain ideas for the names that weren’t Nicky A.S.H., because that came a little bit later. I actually got an artist. I commissioned a Scottish artist to do a mock-up of me. So it was blue tights. It was a blue kind of leotard. It was a cape, and there was the mask, and there was a yellow cross to stick with Nikki Cross, and there was lightning bolts on there because the lightning bolt was always the symbol for Nikki Storm, so I was bringing in Nikki Storm into it. I wanted blue gold because it was X-Men colors, and I tried green as well, just in case the man in charge wants to see something else, so I gave a couple of different colors. So I had together this big presentation, waited outside Vince’s office for a few hours. Went in; Monday Night Raw’s not that far away from starting. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I just basically gave it to Vince and was like, ‘Hey, I’ve got an idea. This will make you money.’ I just went in and gave him like an elevator pitch. This will make you money. This is why. Here’s the proof. Here’s my pitch. Here’s my idea. Didn’t hear anything for a couple of weeks, and then I got a text on Mother’s Day from him saying, ‘I think your idea is genius.’ Hearing this from him, I was like, whoa! He’s literally saying this idea is genius. I knew it was a good idea. I don’t know if I would have used the word genius because I’m a little more humble than that. But he was like, ‘Tell Creative to get started on it.’ I literally texted every creative member who I knew who, and I had their number for, just said Vince really likes it. Let’s get going with it.’ Then he wanted Nikki Almost A Superhero because he ended up making the character more relatable. Because my original vision was Captain Marvel. Very intricate gear and I liked his idea was make this more relatable, make it more like Spider-Man. The early Spider-Man made his own costume.

Don’t get me wrong, I did not make this costume. My girl did it for me, and she’s incredible. But he wanted it a lot more relatable, and so he wanted it to be Nikki Almost A Superhero because almost is like she’s not quite a superhero, she’s like a superhero in training, but not what they’ve seen before. Because The Hurricane already did that story, so Vince wanted to be a bit more something like little girls could relate to. If they wanted to make themselves a Nicky A.S.H. costume, they could. She knows that she doesn’t have superpowers, but her mindset is that she’s a superhero and can take on the world, and that’s how I approached it. So when I understood his vision for it and what he wanted to do, the Nikki superhero character merged with his vision. It’s his television show, and so I understood that, and I really liked the idea of being relatable, and I loved that idea of a little girl in the audience can look up to me.

When I first got the call from the company and I posted something on my Instagram and Twitter. The first photo I used was a little girl holding my hand, I’m Nikki A.S.H., and I’m holding the Raw Women’s Championship in my hand, and that was what I wanted to do with the superhero character. I just wanted something that when I was that age, I had someone to look up to and relate to. That photo is framed in my office because I will never forget that little girl’s face. I don’t know if she’ll ever see this, but thank you for giving me that moment. I understood in that very moment why make the superhero relatable. To me, that moment was so special that I understood the call. What I love about it is that all the ideas that I had that didn’t come to fruition on WWE, no matter the character, all the characters, all these ideas that didn’t come to fruition, I can use them. So I’m excited for people and what they get to see next from me, because there are ideas that I’ve been holding on to for the last 15 years. It’s so important for me to always relate it to something within me or something that’s happened in my past. Going forward, I’ve got so many ideas now that I can bring forward.”

Storm went on to recount being told she was winning the Money in the Bank contract.

“So I didn’t know I was winning Money in the Bank until we got to the rehearsal, and even then, I didn’t know. It wasn’t until the producer was like, ‘Okay, Nikki’s going to win this.’ You just don’t want to have a big reaction in that moment because you’re so happy, but you also realize that there’s five other girls that aren’t getting that, so you want to be very respectful of your peers and your co-workers and your colleagues. But I also want people to know, hey, I’m really happy about this. But again, don’t rub it in people’s faces. I always want to try and be empathetic and respectful, and everyone was happy for me. We do the match, and I just thought maybe I’m gonna have a bit of a run with it. They’re gonna have me do fun stuff as a superhero with the briefcase. I get there to Raw the next day, I don’t think anything’s happening. There’s nothing in the script. So I’m like, oh, maybe I’m just doing something on social media. Maybe I’ll just film something for digital. Maybe I’m just doing a quick interview. Then all of a sudden, a writer comes up to me and they’re like, ‘Okay, Vince wants to see you in his office.’ I’m like, the seed starts to form. No way they’re going to do a cash-in the next night, no way. Okay, let’s just see how it goes. Let’s just see what happens. I get in there, Rhea’s in there, Charlotte’s in there, Vince’s in there, and he tells us the plan. Again, I don’t know if sense is the right word-but you’re like, okay, professional environment. Be a businesswoman, okay. Then you’re like, thank you so much for also this opportunity. I’m going to kill it.”

“I will never forget that night. I’m in Gorilla. Rhea and Charlotte are having their match, and I’m like, don’t fall. Do not trip and fall! I’ve always loved running, as you’ve probably seen with some of my entrances. I’ve always been a runner. I did the Disney Marathon last year. I love running, so I was like, don’t trip, don’t fall. Again, it was one of those: if you trip and fall, it’s game over. Don’t ruin this, and the show was almost out of time. I have never ran so fast in my life, and ran up, did the top rope cross body, 1, 2, 3, and I was Women’s Champion. I got to celebrate into the crowd, and that’s something I had always wanted to do. So I loved being able just to jump into the crowd because no matter what, we don’t have a show without the fans. The fans are so so critical to what we do. They’ve got me to where I am. There was so many days where preparing for a tryout on Christmas Day, you’re meant to be at Christmas dinner and I’m at the wrestling school by myself running these drills. Every moment, every time where it got really hard, it’s always the buzz from the crowd. It’s always the reaction of the fans, it’s the support from the kids in the audience, the girls in the audience, everyone. So it was super important to get that moment in. So yeah, I maybe could have stayed in the ring longer, but I was like, no, go be with the people. I’m a woman of the people. So I was super grateful that we got that moment, and then it was there. Then with the next Monday Night Raw, I got to like do the introduction, like ‘Welcome to Monday Night Raw.’ Again, you’re telling the 10-year-old girl, hey, look what you got to do. But at the same time, I always knew I had that talent and that ability, because that’s what I trained for. That was always my mindset. So, being at the top of the mountain and getting to enjoy that moment was incredible.” 

After winning the Money in the Bank briefcase, Storm went on to capture the WWE Raw Women’s Championship.

“It was what I’d built my career towards. I always wanted to be that person for the company. I wanted to be the top girl. After winning Money in the Bank and after cashing in, leading up to SummerSlam, I did the triple threat with Charlotte and Rhea, I was so blessed because that time leading up to SummerSlam, I was doing all the press interviews, I was doing all the media interviews, and it was great. It was great preparation. I look at everything like a learning experience. So that month, you’ve got me doing all the interviews and doing all the major newspapers in Britain. First of all, I thought, what a compliment! The one month before one of the big four, right? WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, Survivor Series. 60,000 people in that arena at SummerSlam. So what a compliment that the company saw something in me to give me that ball and trust me to present the company as the top woman, and that’s something I always wanted and I worked towards. Getting to do that, carry out those responsibilities, and I feel like I did myself proud. I did the company proud, and I made my family proud, and to me, that’s the most important thing. As long as I’m making myself proud and my family proud, that’s key.”

Storm’s 10-year run with WWE came to an end in April 2026.