5 Things You Didn’t Know About Nikki Cross AKA Nikki ASH

Written by John Duffy • Published 8th July 2021
Nikki Cross, AKA Nikki ASH

Nikki Cross or, as she is now known, Nikki ASH is the talk wrestling world with her new superhero character.

Gone are the tattered and torn jeans and jacket she was accustomed to wearing, now replaced with a gold and blue superhero outfit complete with mask and cape. Her outlook is no longer manic and crazed but rather inspirational and positive. The transformation is the next chapter in the story of Nikki Cross.

However, there have been many chapters that have come before and some you may know about. Here are 5 things You didn’t know about… Nikki Cross AKA Nikki ASH.

5. Nikki Cross was trained by her husband and former stablemate Big Damo (Killian Dain).

Long before their days in WWE Cross and Dain met at Source Wrestling School as student and teacher in 2008. A quick internet search led the future Nikki Cross to the Scottish wrestling school where she met her new coach. According to Dain, it was clear that a career in the wrestling business was on the cards for her due to her drive and determination.

In a 2016 interview with the Miami Herald, Dain spoke highly of his wife to be and what made her stand out as a trainee.

“She was fiery, determined, and if we told her she couldn’t do something, then she would go and do it 100 times over.

“This was at a time when women’s wrestlers were often treated with kid gloves at wrestling schools, but Nikki absolutely refused to be treated differently to her male counterparts and demanded the guys hit her as hard as they hit each other.

“She was crazily resilient. For example, she broke three bones in her hand and was back to training the next day. I struggle to think if she ever missed a training session.”

Cross and Dain became romantically connected in 2008 and married in a private ceremony in Scotland in 2019.

4. Nikki Cross has a multitude of academic achievements

As well as being a WWE Superstar, Nikki Cross – real name Nicola Glencross – is also a qualified fitness instructor, nutritionist and personal trainer. But that is not enough for go-getting Scot. Cross holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in History from one of the top 100 universities in the world, the University of Glasgow.

Cross continued to juggle her academic life with her wrestling commitments and enrolled in a college in Florida, to study art history, American history, and women’s history. Cross’ educational exploits prove that she is one motivated multi-tasker beating every challenge gives herself.

3. Nikki Cross appeared for TNA in 2014

In 2014 TNA ran their second season of ‘British Bootcamp’. The show was a “reality television” show that followed several British wrestlers chasing their dreams and a contract with TNA. It featured many future NXT UK Superstars such as Noam Dar, Rampage Brown, Kay Lee Ray and of course Nikki Cross.

Gail Kim, Al Snow and Samoa Joe were the judges on the show and chose Mark Andrews as the eventual winner. Despite not progressing as far as she’d liked Cross made a great impression with a killer promo on former WWE women’s and TNA Knockout’s Champion Gail Kim.

2. Nikki Cross has fought several WWE champions in other promotions

Before WWE Nikki Cross was Nikki Storm – The Best in the Galaxy. Her journey in wrestling took her all over the world and to multiple different promotions.

As Storm, she wrestled for ICW, SHIMMER, SHINE, WXW and PROGRESS to name but a few. While in these promotions she faced off with several wrestlers who would go on to be champions in WWE, IMPACT and AEW.

The names she fought on the independent scene reads like a who’s who of women’s wrestling. Names such as Mia Yim, Kay Lee Ray, Asuka, Candice LeRae, Hikaru Shida and Su Yung.

  1. Nikki Cross came up with her Almost A Superhero character

Nikki Cross debuted her new look and persona on the episode of RAW following Hell in a Cell. The gimmick was a shock to viewers who took to social media to lambast the company for giving her the character. But, Cross revealed that gimmick was her idea.

In a recent interview with El Brunch de WWE Cross said that while the gimmick seemed to come out of nowhere it was in the works for months.

“So, the idea started to form right about the Royal Rumble. For me, I’ve always really took a lot of inspiration, a lot of comfort, a lot of escapism in superhero movies and superhero television shows. Growing up in Scotland, as a little girl, I would always watch the X-Men cartoons and the Spider-Man cartoon. So for me, I really wanted to come up with something that was very inspirational to little girls and boys and just something that’s a very positive message. So for me, it’s the whole thing. The whole message is I don’t have superpowers.